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“I don’t knohat all is involved The secretary didn’t give o I’ll ht if I don’t hustle”
“Just one ”
“What’s that?”
A fresh surge of jostling came across the line “Fischer”
“What about him?”
She threw the apple into the air and caught it “He doesn’t know Bennett isn’t Bennett”
“Your point?”
“I’d like to keep it that way”
“Why?”
“For the same reason Skinner requested it in the first place Safety The fewer people who know his real name, the better off he’ll be” And the better able she’d be to protect him
“Go ahead and go aroundout of line “Now that you know, I’m not sure that’s the best way to proceed”
He was already thinking about how it ht reflect on hi out for hi about how easily word of this could leak? If the Hells Fury figure out that so on, even if there’s no nao after, they’ll be defensive and more secretive than ever, which will only make his job harder”
“You’re saying we can’t trust Fischer?”
“I’ he’ll tell Frank and Joe, and who kno ht confide in Even if they share it with just their wives it could get around You knohat Crescent City is like Shop talk Everywhere At Little League At the hair salon At the grocery store I want to give Bennett—Skinner—what he was hoping to achieve by using a false identity to begin with, that’s all”
“But if Fischer finds out and starts to raise hell…”
“He won’t”
“Find out? Or raise hell?” he asked dryly
Two squirrels zipped along her deck “If he doesn’t find out, he won’t have any reason to raise hell”
Wallace told soo around him “Fine Keep it to yourself if that’s what you want,” he said “But if it coets mad because I didn’t tell him, I’ll explain that you were the one who decided not to pass on the information”
“Fine Save your own ass,” she said “I wouldn’t expect more from you” She’d never spoken to him like that before The words had tumbled out before she could stop them
He bristled just as she expected “Welcome to the real world You want to work in corrections you’ll have stand on the front lines like the rest of us” As if he’d ever been on the front lines The son of a congress up thanks to friends of Daddy’s; he’d never actually worked in a prison “I have no problee of this, anyway”
There was a slight pause as he digested what she’d told him, but he didn’t respond to it “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?” he said, and then he was gone
8
It was going to be a long night After spending a couple of hours at the water’s edge, where he’d eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandhile staring out to sea, Virgil returned to his motel room and settled in with the TV on and Peyton’s files at hand He figured he’d study until he was too tired to continue and, eventually, he ht He’d endured plenty of theed to establish hi order, he’d been so terrified he’d scarcely dared close his eyes Only by refusing to back down, even if he was getting his ass kicked, had he earned any respect