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"You’re right I’hteous Is she in private school?"

He shook his head "Not anyh School this year Anything to try to get her straightened out"

He stared at the door uneasily The house was so solidly constructed there was no way to tell if the paramedics had come upstairs yet

I crossed the roo out of Kitty’s roorocery cart’s as they angled her into the hall She was covered with a blanket, so frail that she scarcely formed a mound One thin arm was extended outside the covers They’d started an IV, a plastic bag of soen was being adh a nose cone Dr Kleinert ht up the rear, hands shoved aardly in his pockets, his face pale He seeht of h no one had asked "Tell Bobby we’ll be at St Terry’s"

I felt sorry for hi out of a TV series, the medical personnel very deadpan and businesslike This was his daughter being taken away and shethe possibility There was no sign of Bobby’s n of the people who’d co felt ill-planned so flat "You want us to come, too?" I asked

Derek shook his head "Let my wife knohere I a on"

"Good luck," I said, and he flashedhe’d had much experience with

I watched the procession disappear down the stairs I closed the door to Bobby’s roo, but Bobby cut me off

"I heard," he said

"Why isn’t your mother involved in this? Are she andr: Kitty on the outs or what?"

"Jesus, it’s all too complicated to explain Mom washed her hands of Kitty after the last incident, which isn’t as heartless as it sounds Early on, she did what she could, but I guess it was just one crisis after another That’s part of the reason she and Derek are having such a tough time"