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“You made it over here in record time,” he said

“I’ve been waiting years for this phone call, haven’t I? Haven’t we?”

“Oh,” Roy said, frowning “I should have thought of that”

“Though of what?”

“What you’d think”

Vivi Ann felt herself tensing “You called to tell ht?”

“Technically it’s a writ of habeus corpus, but no, that’s not my news”

Behind her, Noah’s voice grew louder, as did the clacking together of his dinosaurs, but Vivi Ann couldn’t hearover the sudden roar of white noise in her head “What is your news?”

“I’ain”

Slowly she closed her eyes How could she have been so naïve? What rong with her? She knew better than to believe in hope She took a deep breath, released it, and looked at him

She knew she looked calm and composed, as if this new setback were just another bump in a bad stretch of road She wouldn’t let herself fall apart until tonight She’d had years of practice at waiting, pretending, hiding “May I have a glass of water?”

“Sure It’s right there”

She got up, walked carefully to the pitcher of water set up on the sideboard Pouring herself a glass, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of pills, sing them before she turned around “Does Dallas know?”

“Yesterday,” Roy said

Vivi Ann sat down, hoping the numbness would co “What now? Who do we appeal to?”