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“You’re a bastard, Jack Lockwood!”

“No, I’m not I’m also not a sex offender” I lift her purse off the back of her chair “If you want to save your neck froe, you’re coner and Bancroft and clear my name”

“B-but…” She only hesitates a moment

“Let’s go”

Twenty-Four

Ember

“Fear and loathing…” Pastor Green’s voice is not a shout It’s a thoughtful tone, an observation “We live in troubled times where the minds of men are unsettled and God’s ways seem far from our ways”

My eyes roam the small sanctuary Tabby is ts in front of me beside Chad Tucker His arm is around her shoulder, and she looks content

Coco sits beside raoldfish, and sea horses she added

“The story of the Good Sahbor as ourselves, even when that neighbor is froroup we abhor Who can follow this command? The disciples asked this question…”

/>First thing Wednesday e’s order had been rescinded The woman who’d accused Jackson of sexual assault withdrew her claim

Jackson had called to tell me from his condo When I saw his face on the screen, I actually hesitated before answering,

Looking back, I hate that I hesitated…

I hate that h to make me hesitate

“It was all a lie,” he’d said, his war tears to fill my eyes “The crazy part was I didn’t even know they were doing it I’d gone hoht, then I found you, and it wasn’t until I decided I had to set the record straight that I found out I’er”