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He didn’t knoho had cried out

He looked over at his own boat

Brent, Nikki, Victor and Genevieve were also staring at the sad reically bad

"Take your crews in," Jay repeated curtly

"Right And you’ll letout?"

Jay stared at hiht I’m a cop, you’re not Count on it

Jay lowered his head Maybe he’d regretted his own thoughts, unspoken but clear

"Hell, yes, I’ll get back to you You’ll just pull soht?"

"I would appreciate it," Thor said si to his own boat He shouted out to Jack on the other vessel, "Bring her in"

There was silence as the boats raced across the water, returning to dock at the resort The police boats weren’t far behind

News traveled fast A crowd--being ed by uniforely, there was a sense of excite a part of history, rather than witnessing a tragedy News had traveled fast It seemed everyone already kneas another hooker who had been found, so as long as you weren’t a hooker, you were safe

Thor was still tying dohen the police cruiser ca One of the cops had been as sloppy as the killer

The bag wasn’t fully closed

As two officers ave way The wo

Thor heard a startled gasp fro at the corpse

She saw him, and instantly, a shield came up over her eyes

"You knew her?" he asked sharply

She shook her head vehemently "Knew her? No, I didn’t know her"

"But you’ve seen her before?" he asked

"Hell, yeah," Jack announced from behind them both "She’s Victor’s blonde"

16

I n his wildest dreaation room was like those he had seen on television--stark

And the way the detectives spoke to hi what the hell had happened to "innocent until proven guilty"

Jay wasn’t there He assumed the powers that be had decided Jay was too close to hi Because it was baiting, nothingMertz…well, even without the name, Victor would have been re and sixty-ish

But he wasn’t very funny

"How many hookers have you done in?" Mertz demanded

"Why did you kill her? And the one before?" Suarez asked

"Don’t be a jerk This is a death penalty state Death penalty We can keep you from the needle, Victor We’ll help you--if you help us"

"Where’s your friend Audrey? What happened? She isn’t the type you like to kill, so what happened? Did she suspect you were the , so you conned her into going with you so you could toss her overboard soested

"I didn’t kill anyone!" Victor exploded, thinking back to the way he’d ended up here

One of the officers had walked up to hi to everyone fro the finding of both bodies

Of course, he knew the dead woht she liked me I didn’t know she was a hooker at first," he’d told Jay

"They just want to talk to you at the station Don’t worry It’s routine Help us out," Jay had told him "Please"

So polite at first

And now…

"She’s dead, buddy," Suarez said "That h someone down and dump them in the water," Mertz added

"Talk to us We’ll help you," Suarez said

"Coers Whores You knohat I mean? But Audrey was your friend," Mertz pressed

"To the best of ," Mertz said

"I walked her to her door I watched her enter the house I heard her lock the door after I left," Victor said

"But then you went back," Suarez said