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But no such luck The cab has been sitting empty on the first floor, and when the doors slide apart, there’s no one inside

"Get in," Rachel orders, and I do as she says Rachel follows, then inserts her pass key and presses twenty

We’re going to the penthouse And there won’t be any other stops along the way

"Girls like you, Heather," Rachel says, not looking at irls like you h life thinking everybody owes you soet the record contracts and the prouys, while people like me? We’re the ones who do all the work Do you know that Pansy is the first award I’ve received into kill me I don’t see any reason to be polite to her any up after your own irls’ files--about Elizabeth’s es revoked, and Mrs Pace not liking Lakeisha--that stuff never even happened, did it? Those women never called you You s with those girls What did you talk about when you werewith them, anyway? What kind of twisted, sick stuff were you terrorizing them with?"

"Heather" Rachel looks at me critically "You’ll never understand, will you? I’ve worked hard alleasily, like you Not anything, et, I keep Like Christopher, for instance And this job Do you have any idea how hard it was to getas hi tooaround, I’d have let you live We ht I mean, when I stand next to you, I look extra thin That’s a real bonus in an assistant"

The elevator pings, and the doors slide open We’re on the twentieth floor, in the hallway outside the president’s penthouse I know thethat the uard’s desk Would Pete glance at the un?

Please look, Pete I try to use Vulcan h he’s twenty floors down Look, Pete, look Look, Pete, look…

Rachel pushesout the building’s master key "I bet you alanted to see where the president lives Well, now’s your chance Too bad you won’t live long enough to enjoy it"

Rachel unlocks the front door to the Allingtons’ apartment and steers me into the foyer Tiled in black and white, this is where Mrs Allington had stood and accusedafter her son like a harlot The foyer opens into a spacious living roo out onto the penthouse terrace Like the Villa d’Allington, the predo theme appears to be black leather, and lots of it Martha Stewart, Mrs Allington apparently is not Well, I kind of already guessed that

"Nice, isn’t it?" Rachel says conversationally "Except for those hideous birds"

Just off the foyer, in that six-foot-high wicker cage, the cockatoos whistle and dance, eyeing us suspiciously Rachel aiht of the leaping blue flarabs hold ofme toward a set of French doors "Coure a star like you wouldthe elevator surfing route You’re going to plunge off the roof of Fischer Hall…kind of like that turtle, in thatabout Only you, unfortunately, won’t be saved by a rope shot from inside your shell"

Before I have a chance to react, a door on the far side of the living roo suit, stares at us