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A little after one in the , we left the hotel and drove to a softly lit restaurant called Ahland Avenue in Hollywood

“I like the name,” I said to Parker as we sat at a booth “After what happened at the ball gaht buck and couple of boxes of fifty caliber to go”

Instead, we ordered soio for Emily I’d actually had a couple of rooa the now-national news coverage about the savagery coer home opener, I’d never felt more sober in my life

On the ride over, Emily had told me that a team from our Perrine task force had been sent to the stadium, but we hadn’t heard back from them yet

“It’s Perrine We both know it,” Parker said angrily as she placed her unringing phone down on the corner of the table “He’sour noses in it in the process”

ElassShe looked tired Pale and drained, as if she’d just given blood The hours she was putting in would have taxed anyone, not topressure from above And still we couldn’tI shared her frustration No doubt about it, ere getting our asses thoroughly kicked

“I saw this video on the Internet recently,” E suburban kids, fil a sixty-eight-year-old busherself And as she sits there, crying, these kids are laughing the these kids on It’s like debasing this poor old wo they’ve ever done in their life”

“I saw it, too,” I said “I wish I hadn’t It was like soe, only for real”

She lifted her wine and stared at it

“You ever wonder if s are … changing As if people are changing Their attitudes The e treat each other Look at all this bath-salt stuff People biting each other’s faces off The flashin some store

“See these days, Mike It’s like Perrine is picking up on that and just going to town, trying to egg on complete collapse Maybe it’s time to head for the hills Any room up in Northern Cali for one more in the Bennett militia?”

“Nah,” I said,circles on the napkin with the bottom of my drink “That’s not the move, Emily Trust me The hills are a nice place to visit, but you don’t want to live there I know things are looking pretty bleak, but right here, right now, is the place to be This latest crap fro to break our will, but he’s out of his league Bigger assholes than he have tried and failed I told him before, when he was in custody, he has no idea who the hell he’swith”

“How can you be so sure?”

I rattled the cubes in lass