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Rules for Con Artists

One

Ugh, Los Angeles! The city held too many bad memories for me, and this police station threatened to beco experience The police were not otten over that feeling So even entering the buildingdown narrow stairways and poorly lit hallways full of locked steel doors, I felt truly lost Ironic, because I was looking for the lost-and-found depart to the lost and found But I had a reason for being nervous: I was pretty sure I was about to co a clai stuffed panda I lost in the park last week, without getting arrested But since I'd just landed here in Los Angeles and hadn't been near that park in years, my claim was a lie

But worse than the lie, I worried there was so unusual about that panda This had to beplush toy, because the person anted me to e two, and an accomplished con artist If Bea wanted me to do this, then it was no ordinary panda

I hadn't returned to Los Angeles to see Bea In fact, I'd left here seven years ago, because of her When ere young, ht to cheat and steal A fun thing to do, back then, but when the cruelty and danger of such a life becaet out So I ran away to New York City-rather abruptly-and hid from my foster mother

In New York, I ht-no, I hoped-that I'd never see Bea again But she called me yesterday in a panic because my Uncle Carl had been arrested He neededprison term, so I had to coht me to paint, which was my livelihood now Of course, a skilled painter can also be a skilled forger, so Carl and I had done quite a bit of that, too With hiht with explosives, and unless he could furnish a proper federal license for it, he'd be in trouble Bea also pointed out that Carl had been in theabout a lost panda Which is why I was here, looking for the lost and found