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She cleared her throat " Andy has been hanging around my desk a lot"

Her voice was so low I had to lean forward "Go on"

"It started the day Jewel left on vacation and Mac told hiested you for the Wood/Warren fire claiht it’d be easier to pressure ht Darcy’s OJ and the cherry Danish

Darcy broke the Danish into s each with care before she popped it in herup on the subject of Andy Motycka, as apparently no fonder of her than he was of ot in trou-ble with Mac because Andy said the file sat on ot to you That’s an outright lie Andy took it home with him I saw him put it in his briefcase Tuesday when the fire-department report came in" "Did you tell Mac that?"

"Well, no Why bother? It sounds like I’ all the blaht I found myself in the same position," I said "Look, if Andy falsified the fire-department report, he probably did the dirty work at home, don’t you think?" "Probably"

"So maybe we can turn up some proof if we look I’ll nose around at his place if you’ll try his office"

"He moved, you know He’s not at the house He and Janice are in the process of splitting up" "He’s getting divorced?"

"Oh, sure It’s been going on forhi Where’s he living?" "One of those condos out near Sand Castle" I’d seen the coolf course called Sand Castle, out beyond Colgate in the little community of Elton "What about his office? Is there any way you could check that out?"

Darcy smiled for the first tiot her home number and said I’d call later I paid both checks and took off, figuring it wouldn’t be a good idea to get caught in Darcy’s company While I was don, I hoofed it over to the credit bureau and had a discreet chat with a friend of mine orks as a key-punch operator I’d done soround of a certain seedy gent who had hoped to relieve her of a burdensos account She’d had the bucks in hand to pay me, but I sensed that both of us would benefit fro-"profes-sional courtesies," as they’re known Now I check out any new fellow in her life and, in return, she pirates occasional confirmation copies of computer runs One drawback is that I have to wait until a periodic updating of the master file is scheduled, which usually happens once a week I asked her to giveshe had on Lance Wood and she pro in a day On an impulse, I asked her to check out Andy Motycka while she was at it Financial inforet from the local equivalent of Dun a to be California Fidelity itself, for whom Lance Wood had no doubt filled out count-less for I could enlist Darcy’s aid again on that one It was a she seemed now that she was on my team I trotted back to pick uplot behind the building, Andy was just pulling in, pausing while the h the slot He pretended he didn’t see me

I drove back toimportance of the office in my life I conduct maybe 40 percent of all business in my swivel chair, telephone in the crook of my neck, files close at hand Sixty percent of the ti cut off froe

It was only 10:05 and the day loomed ahead Out of habit, I hauled outup , prepared so accounts, and then tidied uparound Especially when I could be out getting into trou-ble I gave Darcy a call at CF and got Andy ’s new address and telephone nu in his office even as we spoke

I dialed his apart ray slacks with a pale stripe along the sea pale-blue shirt with Southern California Services stitched around a patch on the sleeve I added hard black shoes left over from my days on traffic detail with the Santa Teresa Police Depart chain, and grabbed up a clipboard, my key picks, and a set of master keys I checked myself out in the mirror I looked like a uniformed public servant just about to make a routine service check-of what, I wasn’t sure I looked like I could read meters and make important notes I looked like I could verify downed lines and order up repair crews on the mobile phone in my county-owned maintenance vehicle I hopped in my car and headed out to Andy ’s condominium for a little B amp; E