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“I get the point,” A
“Another mysterious bottle retailing for ten grand, another tasting, three more sessions on the couch. A
“I don’t know,” A
“If you do it, promise me it’ll be in a crowded cafeteria at noon,” Molly insisted. “No drama, no glamour. Egg salad sandwiches and bad coffee. Oops. Gotta go. David Letterman’s on.”
The click and the “goodbye” were almost simultaneous.
A
“Are you done on the phone?” Christina poked her head in the door to A
“I can do that,” A
Alison Walters went to bed each night with more animals than the keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Three of them were alive. Two sleek black cats curled up like bowling balls near the foot of the bed and Piedmont, A
A
By habit more than design the two women went into the kitchen. A
“Ally and I won’t ever leave you, you know,” she said without turning to look at her housemate.
A
Approached by air, the island took on the jewel-like quality of the islands of the South Seas: an emerald set in sapphire. When A
The seaplane landed in Tobin Harbor and A
She turned in at Mott Harbor, secured the boat, and walked the short gravel road to Ralph Pilcher’s quarters. It was one of Ralph’s lieu days but A
The permanent employees lived in apartments arranged in rows like the rooms of a cheap motel. In front of each was a small weedy patch that passed for a lawn.
Hawk Bradshaw sat cross-legged on Pilcher’s plot tossing a baby into the air and making those crooning noises understood by infants the world over.
A
Hawk caught the baby. Against its delicate skin, his hands looked to be made of mahogany. Laughingly he nuzzled the child’s cheek. Still A
Vasectomy: Hawk, thirty-two, had a vasectomy. Why would a young man who so clearly loved babies have ensured that he would never father one?
“A
“Morning, Hawk. Ralph around?” she asked casually.
Hawk looked hurt, then a
“The other night was the other night,” A
“I’m sorry, A
“Me too,” she said. “Is Ralph around?”
“He got called to Houghton, he and Lucas, I guess. It’s a shame. Mrs. Pilcher and Max”-he wiggled the baby between his hands like a bit of Play-Doh-“just got here yesterday. Max’s mom is over at Rock, visiting. I asked if I could baby-sit.”
Ralph and Lucas were off the island. They’d be gone at least a day and a night and part of the following day. A
Hawk kissed the baby’s ear.
“Are you free for lunch?” A
“Are you cooking?”
“Better. A crowded cafeteria at noon, egg salad, bad coffee.”
“Are you buying?”
“Dutch treat.”
Hawk laughed. “Never go into sales, A
“Twelve-thirty.”
At central dispatch A
Ninety minutes to kill. Since she was out of uniform, A
At five of eleven the group perked and stirred meaningfully. The ranger was coming. It was Tinker. She looked markedly older than when A
The nature walk seemed to pick up her spirits to some degree. Teaching distracted her perhaps from her private terrors. But Tinker’s usual joy, her religious reverence for the natural world, seemed blighted. Something was eating away at her.
After the walk, A