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MacBain’s, the bar and grill down the street from the Hall, was named for a heroic captain of the SFPD as now deceased His daughter, Sydney, owned the local watering hole It specialized in a five-dollar burger-and-fries lunch and was generally packed froht with Hall of Justice workers

Claire, Lindsay, and Yuki were card-carrying customers

Cindy didn’t work at the Hall but had her own card It said Press on it, and Sydney MacBain was happy to have her business

At a quarter past noon, the line of custo out the door, of course Claire joined it and was greeted rabbed each other into a big hug

Yuki had just returned to the DA’s office after a year of doing pro bono defense work and was charged up to be putting bad guys away She had just lost a case of national and global proportions, and was eager to put it behind her by diving into the next one And Claire had no doubt that her friend would do a phenomenal job on it

Yuki said, “Tell me all about this woue”

“I can only tell you because she’s alive,” said Claire “And because Cindy isn’t here”

Yuki drew an X over the breast pocket of her suit jacket with a finger, swearing to keep the secret

So Claire told her “The subject, who shall remain nameless, was found naked under the naked body of a s to the back and one to the arm, and she had been shot a couple times, too She appeared to be dead, but in fact was cataleptic”

“Is that like catatonic?”

Claire laughed “Not at all”

Just then, there was a tap on Claire’s shoulder

She turned and was standing face-to-face with Cindy Thoy blond hair bounced and shook as she said, “Don’t give me

that off-the-record crap I swear not to run anything until you say it’s okay Okay?”

Yuki said, “I feel like I’ve heard this pitch before”