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"Our Jenny was turned around in the birth canal, and they were going to do a caesarean because she was leading with her behind, and that ed to get her turned around soed feet first

"We’d already decided that we both liked the nah on our list And then, when she flew into our lives upside doell, that cinched it"

"She ht have liked it," Julia said "Don’t you think? Her husband was a collector, and she had a million new reasons to like the whole idea of sta ti she needed to know, and I didn’t feel like going through it"

"So you didn’t sleep with her, and you didn’t tell her how your daughter got her nauest Glad to be home?"

"Very"

"And you’re exhausted, aren’t you? You can tell ot staic beans," he said

"I won’t even ask what that ht,afternoon He’d caught up with the mail by then, and driven to Slidell to pick up the envelope that aiting for him at a Mail Boxes Etc office Cash, his share of the staff

Back home, he stashed the money, then went to work on his sta’s beautifully appointed stamp room, but it suited hiht size and height, and the light fell on his books and sta in his eyes

Jenny took her usual perch on the chair beside his, and he kept up a running commentary while she watched every move he made He was still hard at it when nap time came around, and Julia led Jenny away and came back to take her place at the stamp table

"Stamps are educational," she said, "even when it’s your father who collects them I’ll bet there’s not a kid in her whole day care center who knows a da about the Turco-Italian War and the Treaty of Roseanne"

"Lausanne"

"I was close Lausanne’s in Switzerland, isn’t it? Or a of Lucerne?"

"They’re both in Switzerland"

"Both of theic beans? You don’t have any idea what I’ about, do you? Well, that ht, right before you dropped off to sleep Orto tell ic beans?"

It took him a minute Then he remembered and recounted his dreaic beans," Julia said "Well, youryour coure they’re worth?"

"The Scott value’s a little over a hundred thousand On this sort of ure retail at so I couldn’t get that for them, but that’s what I’d have had to pay"

"But you didn’t have to pay anything That’s nice"

"Very You know, I don’t think it cost her anything, either I can’t believe anybody’s bid would have been higher if the stamps I took were still in their albums"

"So everybody wins?"

"Denia wins," he said, "and so do I Would Talleyrand Stamp and Coin net a few dollars ht? I suppose so, but they’ll make out fine as it is"

"And they’ll never etting paid in stamps, because you’d have spent the ic beans, and that was only part of your compensation The next time you talk with your mother you can let her know you picked up some cash while you were at it"

"That’ll be a load off her mind"

"Do you want to tell ood for another half hourabout what you did in Denver"

Forty-Eight

I got in a twist over the GPS," he told her "I’d progras happened"

"The house that burned and where else? Oh, of course The loft where you wrapped things up"

"And anything digital lasts forever"

"And of course you’d rented the car under your own na underthe car rental So I hatched one brilliant idea after another I could pull the GPS, se, and report it as stolen"

"That would work, wouldn’t it?"

"You’d think so," he said, "but suppose it’s got some kind of cyberconnection to a coht lead somebody to check with the ot lost So I thought of opening it up and ram it? You could do that?"

"Not in a million years But I could probably find so I wouldn’t mention it, and nobody would notice until the next person to rent it couldn’t get it to work If he even bothered to try"

"Is that what you did?"

He shook his head "I just left it alone and gave the car back to the to worry about If they have reason to suspect me, they won’t need GPS records If they don’t, they won’t check them And why should they? As far as they’re concerned, the case is closed Richard Hudepohl is dead as a result of a fire set by the forirlfriend"