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I hedged around the question “When I first noticed her, I mean, when I first noticed another person in the rooed in combat with the…uhhhh…third hostile”

“And then?” Mrs Caot past this wo her the truth

“I went to help Brooke”

“And why did you need help?” Mrs Ca child who’s been quite naughty

“I didn’t disarh”

“Which,” Mrs Camden said, “wouldn’t have been a problem if you’d been properly armed”

Brooke looked away

“Tell uns, do you think you would have been able to disarun as well?”

I didn’t see where this line of questioning was going, but Brooke apparently did

“I’m not sure”

“Yes,” her oing to have to get over this thing you have with guns You’ll have to use one eventually, and you can’t freeze up every time you see one, not even for a second”

“It wasn’t like that,” Brooke said, her cal just a bit

“Don’t get worked up, dear,” her ht now, I don’t want you to even worry about the operations end of things I’ll ss over, and you’ll have a new case before you know it I’ll ”

I read the look in Mrs Camden’s eyes and the expression on Brooke’s face and translated theh neither Brooke nor her

Mrs Camden: Try not to screw that one up, too, Brooke

Brooke: I won’t I’m not a screwup Screw you Don’t be mad

And before I knew it, Brooke alking me to the door

“Do drop by again, Toby,” Mrs Cas from you”

Sure, I’d drop by again WHEN HELL FROZE OVER

On the way out, we passed a bookshelf full of pictures All of them were of Brooke, and in each and every one of the In the earliest picture, she was probably about five or six Trophies sat on the top shelf, and I squinted,competitions

1ST PLACE

1ST PLACE

1ST PLACE

Why did I get the feeling that first place was the only place that Brooke or her mother understood?

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Brooke said evenly “We should practice before school Big game on Friday”

Her voice sounded the sadead

“Okay,” I said, trying to keep my own voice sufficiently subdued

I didn’t realize until I stepped out of her house and onto the front porch that I didn’t have a way hoirls one by one

Tara didn’t answer