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Devote tomorrow to silent reflection, it read

Bile burned Matthew’s tongue It wasn’t a suggestion It was a threat This is what they’d come for Not his possessions

Matthew stared at the objects in his hands Then, he shoved the empty file folder, fortune cookie, and fortune into the inside pocket of his trench coat

The cops couldn’t see these If they did, the whole situation would explode wide open

It was already too late for him

But now his whole faer

CHAPTER TWO

The evening rush hour had coh the Midtown Tunnel,the apartment vibrate and sleep impossible

Fortunately, sleep was the furthest thing from Sloane Burbank’s mind

Lying alone in Derek’s bed, she pulled the sheet up higher, gripping it tightly in her fists, and wondering for the dozenth tietoo fast? Was it pres or blow them apart?

The step she was e How di

d she know if it was right?

She was still pondering that when the key turned in the front-door lock, and Derek’s voice reached her ears, acco paws An instant later, three bright-eyed dachshunds scra their leashes behind theeance, licking her face and burrowing in the pillows

“Hey” Sloane greeted Moe, Larry, and Curly—or “the hounds,” as she affectionately called the of their necks Their enthusiasrin as Larry stuck his head inside one pillowcase and eed with two feathers on his snout She plucked them off, pivoted to her side, and propped herself on one elbow “That’s quite a greeting, you three And you’ve only been gone a half hour”

“It feels like a lot longer” Derek Parker entered the roo it neatly over one of the two suitcases near the bedrooed half a mile up Second Avenue I think weand once co back”