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The boy yanked back away from his hand “Don’t touch for free, man”
“No troubles I’ you? He around?”
“Don’t knohat youaround for an escape route
“Yeah, okay Get lost” A at his stomach like the onset of a cramp He couldn’t help out every street kid he came across There were too , that Maybe the kid would find his pirabbed his face Then the pi for hi with the merchandise
The thought put a so away
Lydia’s house was thirty-seven blocks frohborhood, but not in a govern actualAh to qualify for job training Maybe the husband was a citizen with the skills and clean background to get a straight job That was interesting too What kind of guy living an honest citizen’s life ster like Lydia?
A the pimp would track him down and make an appearance An hour and a half later his hand terminal told him he’d reached his destination The house didn’t look like much Just a small one-level that from the street was an alle-story house in the neighborhood A tiny garden filled the narrow space between the house and the sidewalk It looked lovingly tended, though A a plant
He walked up the narrow path through the garden to the front door and rang the bell A se of white hair opened a moment later “Can I help you, son?”
A in his expression made the man take a nervous half step back “Hi, I’m an old friend of Lydia Maalouf I just found out she’d passed, and I was hoping to payto find a version of his smile that didn’t scare little old men
The old ed after a estured for Anizably Lydia’s space The plush furnishings and brightly colored wall hangings and curtains reminded Amos of the apartment she’d had back in Baltimore Pictures lined the shelves and tabletops Snapshots of the life she’d had after A their tongues at the camera Charles,in the garden Lydia and Charles together in a restaurant, candles on the table, slasses
It looked like a good life, and A in his belly relax when he saw theood thing
“You got a na so”
“Sure, I’d take so the first question He stayed in the cozy living rooed around in the kitchen
“It’s been a couple months since the funeral,” Charles said “Were you up the well?”
“Yeah, working in the Belt most recently Sorry it took a while to make it back down”