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"I guess I knew you could do that," Julia said, "but it never would have occurred to me And she’s happy with the price?"

"Very much so"

"And your other business?"

"All taken care of I’ll be home tomorrow"

She put Jenny on, and he listened happily as she babbled away about a puppy Was it too early to get her a dog? This was not the first time he’d asked himself this question, and the answer still seeh

He rang off, switched phones, called Dot "You won’t believe this," she said, "but the da happened on Arapahoe Street in don Denver An ex-con not too long out of Cañon City looked up his old girlfriend and slapped her around enough to leave un and put three rounds in his chest, and then I guess she felt reun on herself"

"These things happen"

"One in the heart I understand irl wants to look her best"

"So they say"

"And they found so at the dead guy for that house that burned down a few nights ago"

"Maybe there was so in his wallet with the address on it"

"Of the house that went up in sh for them to clear the case Time for Pablo to head for hoetting paid--"

"Won’t be a problem"

"When the husband recovers--"

"That won’t be a proble he--"

"Died, Pablo El esposo es muerto Or should it be está? I think es, because it’s a perht she hired security"

"She did, a’s horses can’t keep aon hiather the only surprise at the hospital was that he lasted as long as he did And this way she got to forgive hie on the people responsible for his death, and she doesn’t have to worry that he’ll find soain Which we both knoould have done sooner or later I have to say she coot her money’s worth"

Forty-Six

The boeuf bourguignon was tender and savory, the little potatoes crisp on the outside and soft in the center The as a Burgundy, appropriately enough, full-bodied and hearty, but neither of thelass of it

They talked through the meal, but mostly about the philatelic transaction Of the two bids they’d opened, E J Griffey’s was the higher by a substantial in, and that had surprised them both

Over coffee, she said she wanted to pay him a bonus The stamps he’d selected, he told her, were ample compensation for his tireat deal fro to what they said and fro attention to the way they operated

"You made me an offer," she said "A quarter of a million dollars And in the next breath you advised lad you didn’t?"

"I wound up with alht"

"You’re an honest man," she said, "and an ethical one, but I don’t see why that should stop you frohter You told me her name but I don’t remember it"

"Jenny"

"I bet she’s smart"

"Like her mother," he said

"Oh, I think you probably deserve soe material, wouldn’t you say?"

"Not for a few years now"

"That’s just as well," she said, "because what I’ to do is put a hundred thousand dollars into a trust fund to hteenth birthday It should appreciate considerably by then, and e education You really can’t object to this, Nicholas It doesn’t even concern you It’s between me and Jennifer"

"Jenny"

"Jenny, but isn’t it Jennifer on her birth certificate?"

"No, just Jenny"

"And iven name was Jeb, not short for Jebediah, as some people tended to assuh I’ve no idea why his father, a North Dakota Swede, would naeneral And Jeb was an acronyin with, you know"

"It was J E B Stuart, wasn’t it? I don’t remember what the initials stood for"

"Ja been married to his namesake Well, that’s a handful, isn’t it? You can see why they ith Jeb But won’t it be aard for your daughter? She’ll spend half her life correcting people who assume her full name is Jennifer"