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"Hi, Chris," I say, and I sit down on the end of one of the lounge chairs The cushion beneath me is damp It has rained recently in the Hanize me And when he does, he isn’t too happy

"Blondie?" He reaches up to slick some of his wet hair back fro here?"

"We just dropped by to ask you a few questions," I say Lucy has come with us--I couldn’t leave her cooped up in the brownstone all night--and now she butts her head againsthappily "How are you, anyway?"

"I’uess," Chris replies He looks up at Cooper "Who’s he?"

"A friend," Cooper says Then adds, "Of hers," I guess so there won’t be any confusion

"Huh," Chris says Then, in an apparent atteoes, "Well Care for a drink?"

"No, thank you," Cooper says "What we’d really like is to talk to you about Elizabeth Kellogg and Roberta Pace"

Chris doesn’t look alarmed In fact, he doesn’t even look surprised Instead he says graciously, "Oh, sure Sure Oh, hey, where are rub for us, will you? And grab another bottle of hile you’re in there, why don’t you?"

The girl in the hot tub pouts "But, Chris--"

"Go on, honey"

"But my name’s Hope, not Faith"

"Whatever" Chris slaps her on the backside as she cli like asuit, but it’s a bikini, and the top is so skiles seeestions

Cooper notices the bikini phenoht away I can tell by his raised eyebrows It so pays to be a trained investigator

Her rear proves as impressive as her front Not an ounce of cellulite I wonder if she, like Rachel, had StairMastered it all away

"So, Chris," Cooper says, as soon as the girl is gone "What’s the deal with you and Rachel Walcott?"

Chris chokes on the sip of Chardonnay he’d been taking

"Wh-what?" he coughs, when he can speak again

But Cooper’s just looking down at Chris the way he ross bug that he’d found in his salad