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Luca can’t help me with either

“I mean it You can callmy mind

“Yeah, I know I don’t think I’ll be needing a tattoo, though”

Especially considering the last tile on the tattoo table with his face between hs

“It doesn’t have to be for a tattoo,” he says so earnestly I feel bad aboutthat remark

“I know” I smile and deliberately let an aard silence descend upon us, knowing Luca’s running out of questions to stall me He was never very talkative

“Do you want me to sleep at the clinic?” Luca asks, all of a sudden

What? How a with his watchful eyes on me?

“Uh, no, that won’t be necessary”

“It’s not safe, Sarah” Luca’s voice loses its calm quality He seems deeply concerned

“What do you mean?”

“Things aren’t like they used to be five years ago You can’t be too careful”

“Have there been more crimes lately?” I ask

Luca averts his gaze for a split second “So like that”

Is that a lie he just came up with?

But ould he tell me a lie?

I can’t bring ht after the funeral of my brother, as also his best friend Luca’s not like that I get the feeling he’s worried about so

“Can you be more detailed than that?” I ask

Luca hesitates, his bulgingas he pauses Slowly, carefully, he says, “There’s been a proble abuse lately, and the clinic hassos those junkies want”

Great Just the cherry I need on top of my shit sundae

“Of course it does” I sigh “We had a si animal hospital I worked at in the city They had this security system thatAh, I’m actually not sure hoorked myself, but there’s this company that installs security systelance at my watch “It’s pretty late in the afternoon I’ll call them tomorrow”

This is exactly what I need A goal-oriented task with a measurable outcome