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Without looking up from his left ankle, I said, Phone sex?

After a hesitation, he said, I wanted to knohat it was like to talk about it, you knoith a girl A girl who didn’t knohat I look like

I took longer cutting the tape than was required, keepinghins web sites I pay the bills for es

Having freed his ankle, I busied ummed blade of the knife on my jeans I couldn’t cut the bonds around his chest because the same loops held the bomb level and in place

For a coupleBut then pretty soon it seely His voice quavered You probably think I’m a pervert

I think you’re human I like that in a friend

He took a deep breath and went on: It seeirl, could we just talk, not about sex, about other things, anything She said sure, that was all right

Phone-sex services charge by the minute Danny could have held forth for hours about the qualities of various laundry soaps, and she would have pretended to be enthralled

We chatted half an hour, just about things we like and don’t like--you know, books, movies, food It onderful, Odd I can’t explain hoonderful it was, the glow I got froht that the word nice could break my heart, but it almost did

That particular service will let you irl you like I mean for another conversation

This was Datura

Yes The second time I talked to her, I found out she has this real fascination with the supernatural, ghosts and stuff

I folded shut the knife and returned it to my backpack

She’s read like a thousand books on the subject, visited lots of haunted houses She’s into all kinds of paranormal phenomena

I went around behind his chair and knelt on the floor

What’re you doing? he asked nervously

Nothing Relax I’ the situation Tell me about Datura

This is the hardest part, Odd

I know It’s okay

His voice grew even softer: Well… the third ti we talked about was supernatural stuff-- frole to spontaneous huhosts that supposedly haunt the White House I don’t know… I don’t knohy I wanted so bad to i I had encountered only one other in ust, in the sas

I irl who talked filthy to men for money But it was iht I was a little cool So I told her I had a friend who could see ghosts

I closed my eyes

I didn’t use your name at first, and at first she didn’t really believe me But the stories I told her about you were so detailed and so unusual, she began to realize they were true

The bomb at the mall had been a truck packed with hundreds of kilos of explosives The detonator had been a crude device

Our talks got to be soIt seeanye on the back of Danny’s chair This was a lot more sophisticated than the truck boeabout you, Danny said I realize now, she was clever She didn’t want to be obvious

Careful not to disturb the carpenter’s level, I traced a coiled red ith one finger, and then a straighter yelloire Then green

But after a while, Danny continued, I didn’t have anyat thestory nationwide, all over the newspapers and TV so then she knew your naain… Neither the sight of theed my sixth sense

I’m so sorry, Odd So damn sorry I sold you out

I said, Not for money For love That’s different

I don’t love her

All right Not love For the hope of love

Frustrated by the indecipherable wiring of the bomb, I went around to the front of the chair

Danny rubbed his right wrist, around which the duct tape had been drawn so tight that it had left angry red impressions in his skin

For the hope of love, I repeated What friend wouldn’t cut you a little slack in a case like that?

Tears welled in his eyes

Listen, I said, you and I weren’t meant to have our tickets punched in a cheesy casino resort If fate says we’ve got to croak in a hotel, then we’ll rent a suite someplace that rates five stars You okay?

He nodded

Tuckingthe earthquake-pitched furniture where it was unlikely to be found, I said, I knohy they brought you here, of all places If she thinks soures a bunch of theh the flood-control tunnels?

She’s beyond psychotic, Odd It never came across on the phone, orher Damn That’s pathetic Anyway, she’s a weird kind of crazy, delusional but not stupid, a real hard-nosed nutty bitch She wanted to bringthat would be a serious test of your psychicelse going on with her…

His hesitation toldelse would not be a cheerful revelation, such as that Datura had taken up gospel singing or that she had baked hosts She thinks you can su like that, it’s just what she insists on believing But she wants soht about it, shook his head But I get the feeling she wants to kill you

I seeht in the alley behind the Blue Moon Cafe--souys The one you found dead

Who was he shooting at?