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"Coht ere friends"

"We are We just can’t hang out together"

"Why not?"

"Because you’re too good-looking and I’ain, right?"

"Right I’ to interfere with that You’ve been with her a long ti h school, you know? Seventh grade How did I knoas hed "Life is full of that stuff You had to choose between ht? You could have turned out to be an auto mechanic Instead you’re a cop You knohat ive a shit about either one"

"I wish I hadn’t seen you again"

I could feel my smile fade "Well, I’m sorry for that It wasat each other too long, so I got up, brushing grass off ood-bye things We parted company shortly thereafter I walked backward for a few steps, watching him head back to the station Then I continued on towardmy attention back to the matter of Henry Pitts I realized then that there wasn’t any point in talking to Rosie about it Of course I’d have to tell the cops where Lila was She’d been a con for nearly twenty years and she wasn’t going to reforht of their days She was going to cheat hi his heart anyway What difference did it ht or who turned her in? Better to do it now before she took every cent he had

I’d been walking rapidly, head down, but when I got to the corner of Floresta and Anaconda, I did an abrupt left and headed for the police station

Chapter 24

I was at the police station for an hour and forty-fivePersons Department and Fraud were nowhere near each other so I didn’t have to worry about running into Jonah again First, Whiteside was at lunch and then he had a quickto attend Then when I explained the situation to him, he had to place a call to a county in northern New Mexico where three of the warrants had been issued While he aiting for a response to that inquiry, he contacted the county sheriff in soet confirinated in Marin The charge on the fifth warrant in Boise, Idaho, turned out to be a misdemeanor and the fraud detective said he couldn’t afford to coet her in any event The sixth warrant, in Twin Falls, had been recalled for reasons unspecified So far, Lila Sams was home free

At 3:20, Marin County finally returned Whiteside’s call, confir that they’d have someone pick her up once they knew she was actually in custody Their cooperation was largely due to the fact that one of their deputies was vacationing in Santa Teresa anyway and had agreed to accompany her back to Marin Whiteside said as soon as a telexed "copy of the warrant cah, he’d send the beat officer over to make the arrest He didn’t really have to have the warrant in hand, but I think he d sensed by now that she was slippery I gave hih description of Lila Sa on a chaise in the backyard, surrounded by books He looked up froal pad as I caht it ood-bye before she took off"