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Olive reappeared, white fur coat across her shoulders, the green dress over her arm Terry and I abandoned the topic of Lyda Case He ave ave away her clothes The three of us left the house together, confining ourselves to sht was chilly I turned on the heater ina call in to Darcy at home I wanted to stop off and see her before I went back to my place But she told me Andy ’d worked late, so she hadn’t had a chance to search his office She was going in early the next

I hung up, realizing then how exhausted I felt In addition to the jet lag, I was operating on a bad night’s sleep, and the frag anything I headed home As I turned the corner ontoat the curb in front of ot out Even in the dark, I could see him slouched in the front seat, feet on the dash as they had been before I was just opening the gate when he rolled down his"Can I talk to you?"

I felt soain I don’t like being bitchy, and I hated ad to ht," I said I approached the car and halted about six feet away "What is it?"

He unfolded hi his elbows on the open car door The pale glow fro off strands of silver in the cloud of blond hair

"I’m in a bit of a bind," he said His face was dappled with shadows that ht years, it was aht the safest course was to repeat information back to him without comment "You’re in a bind," I said There was a brief silence wherein I assumed I was meant to quiz hiether, waiting patiently

He s to ask you for et in your pants" "This co relief, Daniel What do you want?" The bitchy tone was already back, but I swear I couldn’t helpthan a man who’s ain I could still ree that ran between us early in our relationship, sex-ual electricity infusing the very air we breathed It had taken years for enerated most of it myself out ofat myself for what a fool I’d been

"I need a place to stash ot a two-thousand-dollar acoustic guitar I can’t leave because the trunk lock is busted on the rental car I picked up It’ll get ripped off if it’s in the back seat"

"You brought a guitar like that all the way fro out here I could use the bucks"

"What happened to your friend? I thought you got a ride with souess I never asked you that"

"Well, no, it’s a guy," he said "The problem is, he doesn’t actually live here in town He was just passing through on his way to San Francisco and he won’t be back till late on Sunday That’s why I had to rent a car of ? Don’t you have a place?"

"I’ on that The town’s booked solid be-cause of the holidays Meantias station to take a leak without hauling everything in with me It’s just for a couple of days"

I stared at his like this, you know that? You’re always in a bind, shifting your weight fro someone’ll bail you out of the hole you’re in Try the Rescue Mission Pick up a wo Why is it up to me?"

"It’s not up to you," he saiddeal?"

I ran out of steae a hundred tiht as well save et it over with It was probably just an elabo-rate excuse to prolong our contact "Neverin a corner until Sunday and then I want it out of here"