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It’s just a hunch But I’ll try

This new Chief Hoss Shackett radiated affability so brightly that being in his coht involve a risk of melanoma

He said, So…what do you want out of life, son?

Well, sir, I iht be nice

Tire sales?

Putting people back on good rubber, getting theain, after life threw a blow-out at the

I can see your point But since we’re just iht

If you had a big drea o, son?

My best girl at ether all our lives Yes, sir That would be terrific

I was serious That would have been some life, me and Stormy and an ice-creaardedalong, it would be nice to have a business you could rely on

Little one? I asked

The baby Your girl is pregnant

Bewilderment is, for irlfriend? Then youto be a father?

You were talking to her this afternoon Utgard saw you Before you jumped off the pier

I looked disappointed, shooktsunairl, sir, I don’t know her

Maybe you just don’t re her

No, sir When I caed, and I had aht, well, maybe I often went to the pier and she would knoho I was

But she didn’t know you

Not a clue

Her name’s Annamaria, he said

That’s a pretty na her live above their garage rent-free

Rent-free? What lovely people they ooder morons, he said in the nicest ith his warirl, I sympathized She didn’t tell me that she had amnesia, too What’re the odds of that, huh?

I wouldn’t take the bet The thing of it is--the same day, here you are with no first naic Beach isn’t a big city, sir You’ll help us find out e are I’m confident of that

I don’t believe either of you is fro If I’m not from around here, hoill I find out where I’m from? And if I can’t find out where I’m from, hoill I find anyone who knoho I aood hu, though he did close his eyes for a lanced at Mr Sinatra to see hoas doing

He gave me two thu ed all his life to encounter, he said, I want to go back to the big-dream question

Still an ice-cream parlor fordrea dreaood always to have new dreams

Chief Hoss Shackett the Nice ren of Chief Hoss Shackett the Mean, though he resorted to the silence and the direct stare hich he had regarded me when he had first entered the room

This stare had a different quality from the previous one, which had been crocodilian Now the chief s, his eyes adored h a pet-shop , conte to have to trust you, son Trust isn’t an easy thing foran officer of the law and having to deal every day with the scum of the earth…Well, sir, a little cynicis to trust you totally See… drea, sir I didn’t know youan ice-cream parlor

And my dream has come true I have my money

That’s wonderful I’m so happy for you Was it the lottery?

The full value of the deal, he said, was four hundred est, but several others here in Magic Beach have beco to spread the good fortune around, sir ‘Everyone a neighbor, every neighbor a friend’

I’ four words to the motto--‘Every man for himself’

That doesn’t sound like you, sir That sounds like the other Chief Shackett

Sitting forward on his chair, folding his ar with bonho rich, I’m not without problems, son

I’m sorry to hear that

Such a wounded look of disappoint hiest problem, he said I don’t knoho you are I don’t knohat you are That dreaard

Yes, sir I’ little dream

And so spot-on accurate Clearly you know too ht now, bury you somewhere like Hecate’s Canyon, and nobody would find you for years

In his Chief Hoss Shackett the Nice persona, he had brought to the moment such a spirit of camaraderie and such fine intentions that the low concrete ceiling had seeh vault Now it so suddenly crashed down again that I ducked ain I could detect the smell of vomit under the pine disinfectant

If I have a vote, sir, I’m opposed to the kill-and-bury-in-Hecate’s-Canyon solution

I don’t like it, either Becauseyou to report in

Fake-pregnant?

That’s what I suspect Good cover The two of you corants, the kind nobody looks at twice You’re like some surf bum, she’s like a runaway But you work for somebody

Sounds like you have soency They have a slew of them these days

Sir, how old do I look to you?

Twenty You ht be twenty-three, twenty-four

A little young to be an undercover spy, don’t you think?

Not at all Navy SEALs, Arers, the best of the best--soun phobia

Yeah Right

I had leaned on the table, as well He reached out and patted my arm affectionately

Suppose you don’t check in with your partner, this Annaets on the horn to your controllers back in Washington or wherever

A a cool and deadly governent I said only, Suppose

In a spirit of trust, which I sincerely hope you genuinely do appreciate, I’ll tell you--the job that ht In teeks, I’ll be living in another country, under a new identity so tightly guarded I’ll never be found But leaving the right way, the careful way, is going to take teeks

During which you’re vulnerable