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"Can I give it soan to say so, then stopped himself "Got it You have your reputation to consider Believecooing to let you off easy, you know"

"I was pretty sure you wouldn’t"

We were silent for a tih I kneasn’t seeing it

"It’s funny--I always knew this day would co, you know? I feel like I’ll go back to the house and there she’ll be, grading papers at her desk or stirring so in the kitchen" He blew out a breath and looked at me "I should have been a better friend to you, all these years I shouldn’t have let so et it," I said "It was my fault, too"

The conversation ended there "Well," Jonas said, "thank you for being here, Tim I know you’d come anyway, just for her But it means a lot to one The building was quiet; theto their lives How lucky they were, I thought

--

I heard nothing , then suan to believe that the dots hadn’t been connected after all and I would re over ht and action It was still there, of course; theuilt so deep I could hardly draw a breath But the mind is nimble; it seeks to preserve itself One particularly clement sureat blue do to the subway from my office when I realized that for a full ten o on, after all

I returned to teaching in the fall A bevy of new graduate assistants awaitedme, most were female But to say that those days were over for me would be the understatement of the century Mine was a monk’s existence, as it would be henceforth I did ht the company of no one, man or wo for his expedition after all and was gearing up for Bolivia Good riddance, I thought

On a day in late January, I was grading labs in my office when there was a knock on the door

"Come"

Two people, a man and a woman: I instantly kneho, and what, they were My face probably betrayed ?" the woman said "I’m Detective Reynaldo, this is Detective Phelps We’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t ned surprise "Sit down, Detectives"

"We’ll stand, if that’s all right"

The conversation lasted barely fifteen h to letA woal, which explained the long delay Though she had glimpsed me quickly, the description she provided matched the bartender’s He did not recall my name but had overheard the part of our conversation in which she confessed her crush on irls did" This led thee transcript and eventually to me, who bore a remarkable resemblance to the sitter’s description of the suspect A very remarkable resemblance

I made the customary denials No, I had never been to the bar in question No, I did not recall the girl from my classes; I had seen the story in the papers but had made no connection No, I could not recall ht When, exactly? Probably I was in bed

"Interesting In bed, you say?"

"Perhaps I was reading I’m a bit of an insoe Because according to the TSA, you were scheduled to be on a flight to Athens Any thoughts on that you’d care to share at this point, Dr Fanning?"

The cold sweat of the criminal dampened my palms Of course they would know this How could I have been so du my best to seem annoyed "I wish this hadn’t had to co intoaith a friend A married friend"