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Satisfied I wasn’t wearing a wire, he took the manila envelope from my hand and opened it It was all the research we’d done on hied papers for hiht beside his, a hotel receipt with the sa he was there on the day his first wife had died, a copy of a police report fro that several vials of a powerfulon the day Yolanda Pope’s niece almost died And so on, and so on

I buttoned my shirt while he perused the papers To say he was surprised would be an insult to the word He was stunned, unable to believe I’d put it all together Well, with the help of a lot of other people, but still

He stuffed the contents back into the file, but his face showed no emotion, except of course those involuntary reflexes that poker players all over the world would pay big bucks to eli to do with Teresa’s disappearance"

"Oh, I think it does It shows the lengths to which you’re willing to go to be the homicidal control freak we all know and love"

He held up one of the printouts It was a copy of the insurance policy Teresa had taken out "I told Agent Carson I didn’t take out this ridiculous policy on Teresa She did She took one out onto do with it"

"Maybe you did," I said with an indifferent shrug, doing my best to protect Teresa, "maybe you didn’t But it sure looks bad, into leave hi what he’d do to her

"How much do you want?" he asked

I maneuvered myself so that when he faced me, the hidden camera would pick hiood one I walked to the wall and leaned against it just underneath the clock

"Well, Keith," I said--I couldn’t helpvery well in the net-worth department How about an even lower on " He folded the envelope and stuffed it into the back of his pants His light coloring h him turn his skin a ruddy shade of scarlet

"I have another copy, don’t worry"

A wave of anger and panic washed over hiet that one as well?"

"I told you," I said with a s me lots and lots of money"

He turned from me, his fury almost uncontrollable Seems the charmer had a temper after all "I don’t have that kind ofall pretense "Why the fuck--?" He stopped before incriive him more incentive Perhaps the threat of imminent death would do the trick "Lethim my own poker face, "I have one and only one copy of that file you’re holding I won’t hest bidder"

Surprised, he stepped back, his gaze darting along the floor in thought before returning toThe cops won’t pay for this information" A triumphant s evidence It’ll be useless in court"