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THE NIGHT HAD A TEXTURE TO IT, a lush throbbing weight that res out in all that blackness Living things like snakes Alligators Big bugs that he wasn’t real fond of And the only thing between hi porch

It hadn’t see asleep so hard and so deep it was as if he’d died

Tonight, his head was spinning, trying to separate ht possibly be the truth

The gems, here?

Christ, it would make his life a whole lot easier And, frankly, it explained why the kids were always breaking into the back courtyard Why the greenhouse was destroyed and why suddenly soet into the house

Why they wanted a security caarden

Gems, thousands of dollars in a wall safe

People did worse for less

Like you, he thought, guilt eating at the edges of his mind

He should have said so to keep his mouth shut about Savannah But he hadn’t He’d walked away and noas going to use Doug’s gossip against them

I’ I’m worse

He turned on the siven him because the porch wasn’t wired with electricity The white sheets on the narrow cot glowed, and other than so pots in the corner of the room where he’d hidden the surveillance photos and files, the porch was empty

No wall safes No gems

Bugs were attracted to the light and buzzed against the screens, beating giant wings against the metal

Freaked out, he turned off the light, opting for the ghostly half-light of the moon

Roo by the minute

But there were no chances to study the lovely, wounded and Notorious O’Neill women in room three

Don’t hurt us any more than we’ve been hurt