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"Swopes?" I finally h the door?"

"Yes," Uncle Bob said

"Garrett Swopes was shot?" I simply couldn’t wrap my mind around it "No, that was Reyes It had to be He crashed through the door and … the gun went off"

"Sweetheart, why don’t you get soht for a front seat in my convertible to la-la land They had to be et out of bed "Is he here? I have to see him"

Uncle Bob lowered me back onto the ot hi to be so pissed"

"You can’t, hon" Uncle Bob lowered his head, sorrow and regret colanced at Cookie, at her red-rimmed eyes, and the dread that crawled up , it sed me where I lay I forced led hat to say, hoord it; then he raised his lashes and whispered, "He didn’telse slipped away

26

Soht at the end of the tunnel is a train

--T-SHIRT

Slowly, and with a sharp pain that echoed off the holloalls of otten a man killed, a friend, sank in There comes a time in every woman’s life when she has to reevaluate her priorities Did I really want to kill off all ht surfaced, one that centered on the fact that the um at the same time True, my track record didn’t instill a lot of confidence, but I’d solved case after case, I’d weathered ridiculous odds, and da it

A ain reotten a man killed Not just a ent with er than I had in my whole body I replayed the scene intoward him, too fast for hi it was Reyes, I figured he could react, he could defend hiainst those odds Had I known it was Garrett, would I have done more? Would I have tried harder? Could I have?

If Reyes had just trusted ht that played itself over and over in my mind If he had just trustedplan Quite frankly, Reyes Farrow could biteneedles and tubes out of every available surface of my body, Uncle Bob ju?" he asked, trying to stop o home"

"You need to lie back"

"Uncle Bob, you kno fast I heal And I’ll heal even faster at home I just want out of here I’ve been here for teeks"

"Hon, you’ve been here for two days"

"Are you serious?" I asked, more than a little appalled "It seems like forever And then some"