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She turned to hi up appearances

The previous , Hattie had sat on the other side of the s before that, Gob and Switch had been here, playing Frisbee with a stray dog they had befriended They'd fed it well before bringing it here, bought it a collar, brushed its matted fur, and made up a name that it seeet had even lobbed the Frisbee back at them when it sailed out of the park and across the residential street Harry had been concerned about that, but Gob had assured hi into thin air, he'd said Thing plugged in 'is ear Looked like someone out of Star Trek

"So what now?" Jazz said She'd been plucking up the courage to ask for several minutes, but Stevie shot her down

"He cooes to work the sahed "Don't mean here, this I mean" Us, she wanted to say But that sounded so intimate, and she was not sure there was any intimacy present in Stevie Sharpe There really was no reason for her to think of her and Stevie as an us But so that he wouldn't have ued her

Stevie shifted on the bench His hand dropped on her shoulder, light as a bird's touch, and she felt the warainst hers Was that an answer? she wondered She shook her head slightly and sa a few paces before squatting down and picking soh it was barely nine in the round, it felt truly good to be out again This was a wealthy street, the houses far apart and sep-arated by this small park, and the s she could see were too far away to bother her She did not feel spied upon, did not feel watched, and the sky above her was alh to lift her away

She picked another flower and remembered the daisy chains her ht they were ical, and when herdisappointed

Maybe she'd make one for Stevie

"Jazz," Stevie said

She glanced back at hi to affect a casualness that neither of them felt "Is he out?" Jazz asked

"Front door's open; he's gone back in to set the alaret had done the same yesterday and the same the day before Three days in a row meant routine And routine round before her, picked an-other daisy, and stood As she turned around, keeping her head down, she lifted her eyes to glance across the street The house's facade was tall and ih with four s on each floor, an atticin the steeply sloping roof, and plant pots on balconies outside the first- and second-floor s The pots held the dried re-ate in the cast-iron fence around the sarden and a set of steps up to the front door Beside these steps, in the shadows, hid a sht stoneas darkened fro, and Jazz wondered at so about its appearance

The front door stood open, and she saw the shadow of the owner approaching fro the delay lasted to close and lock the front door

Jazz heard Stevie counting very quietly beside her

Soht Jazz's attention She should be turning away froh to know he had his set routines--but as he eed backward from the house and slarabbed her

He had a ponytail

Plenty of people have ponytails, she thought Her heart stut-tered The first time she'd met the ponytailed Uncle, he'd said to her, Hello, little Jazz, you can call me Mort She never had When they visited herto them, if at all possible But over the past feeeks, when she thought back to that fateful day, she'd often won-dered whether he had been joking with her even then Playing with her Giving her a clue as to how their relation-ship would inevitably end

You can call me Mort

"What is it?" Stevie whispered

She'd dropped the daisies and grabbed Stevie's upper ar in She heard his sharp intake of breath, but she could not loosen her fists

Turn away, she thought If it's hie died because those people knew me I can't have Stevie on my conscience as well

"Jazz?" Stevie said "You're hurting, and you're going to draw attention"

Thehis car keys frolasses, like a reject fros, and it should look ridiculous, but it doesn't because I kno dan-gerous these people are

"Jazz, for fuck's sake"

The an to turn around, and when Jazz saw his profile she dipped her head, turned, and buried her face against Stevie's neck She gasped, breathed in his scent, and ed to ease her hold on his biceps

Uncle Mort, she thought, and any thoughts of revenge or retribution were sed by a ht terror

"Stevie," she whispered She put her arht, and Stevie lowered his own face against her neck and hugged her as well

"Hey," he said She felt his warave her so it for real, and she hoped that later he did not suspect she had put this on

She wasn't yet sure what she was going to tell hirabbed thisStevie Sharpe She felt his dark hairexhalation that shook her body

Jazz raised her head, careful not to turn around Stevie looked up as well They were so close that she could not focus on his eyes

"Has he gone?" she asked

"Just getting into his Porsche"

"Porsche," she said "Tacky Yeah, tacky suits hiuy?"

Jazz shook her head "Not yet Tell one And I mean away, completely out of the square"

She heard the motor start behind her A horn beeped and another beeped back, and she sensed Stevie's expressions change as he smiled

"He can't drive for shit," he said

Jazz giggled, and it felt good There was suddenly so here, thirty yards away fro for her and ould likely kill her if they ever crossed paths If she'd been on her own it would have been different, but al-though she knew Stevie would be in danger as well, they were accomplices in this deceit Tires screeched, and Mort drove away froirl the Uncles wanted most