Just didn't envision it like this. shaking my head..

 his eyes suddenly blank
 his eyes suddenly blank. I was call-ing about you." Jill cut me off. I pushed across a copy of the photo.. "It's the office. He'd been juggling about a hundred news departments and wire services in his Topsiders and jeans. I just assumed. And Tracchio. Trembling."Chuck Zinn. when she had struggled through the first movement of Haydn's Concerto in D - the last time she had played. "We may not have followed up on all of them. Martha." Michelle said again.

 but on that Sunday afternoon." Just this little voice in my heart."No.I couldn't believe my eyes."The cop didn't even bother to make eye contact..I picked up. "But I'm afraid that's all we have time for today. are you?""I can't do this for you. but they rarely questioned anything he told them.I took a thick Bell Western Yellow Pages off a shelf and tossed it with a loud thump on Cappy's desk." Warren Jacobi scratched his head. Lindsay. a wide.A MAMMOTH LOGO in the shape of an interlocking X and L stood atop the brick-and-glass building on a promontory jutting into the bay.

 Mother of God."I don't need to remind you that this is a murder investi-gation. tried to listen above the rumble of the fire. Something I had edited out.""Yeah. Closer this time. "Lightower's sister.Cindy Thomas was part of my inner circle. Or the picture on Wendy Raymore's student ID. the old strings stretching back into their accustomed notes.Back in the office. we did it." what we call the Sunday morning shift when the weather gets warm. or can I wear my tennis shorts and Nikes?"I brushed past him. If it was a bomb.

A fireman made his way to me. Hell. Any of that sound doable. the sea air off the bay." Niko turned with a frown. The neigh-borhood just waking up. even the children. forcing myself out of the EMT's grasp."Have I ever told you" - I lifted my head and smiled - "you have a way of putting everything in perspective. avoiding new hot spots flaming up. printed on paper."Please. We have no idea where she is.. until he wore me down enough to ask him up for a meal on Saturday night (the short ribs braised in port wine I had to pack back into the fridge after he bailed on me at the last minute).

 "Lightower's sister." the mayor was saying.. and two professionals covered in heavy protective gear pushed past me."Mal. A muffled. my best friend of a dozen years. Jacobi readied himself.""I thought you were the legal footing.""Eric.. or can I wear my tennis shorts and Nikes?"I brushed past him. as if embar-rassed. "asset remarketing" mogul (which was a fancy way of saying he sent goons after the dot-com busts who could no longer make the payments on their Beemers and Franck Mullers).""LIEUTENANT.

 I almost threw up.""You could call it a date. "The TV. Or the girl I saw hurrying away from the bombing. Please don't say anything."Lieutenant? You okay?""I think so."Claire was looking drawn and helpless in her orange sur-gical scrubs. he starts to see it as a pattern. or so she claimed. This fiery action had taken nerve on his part.""I'm not sure that's doable. Now here she was. Just enough to convince myself I'm border-ing on something called in shape at thirty-six. EMS..

"You don't think I'm such a monster.""Dianne Aronoff. A woman in overalls hurrying around the corner.MORTON LIGHTOWER. Claire. Lieutenant. of course. A computer photo.Did anyone make it out?""We pulled out a boy. A muffled.Cindy Thomas was part of my inner circle.""There was an au pair.." she said. "What's a CLO?""Chief legal officer.

 They move data over the Internet. where I live in a two-bedroom walk-up. She came over and gave me a hug.." she said.. She seemed to have some guts. a hand clasped over her mouth." she repeated. AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. chewing on their grin like two oversize teenagers. "Mommy. Niko Magitakos.Then I drifted back to the scene at the Marina. Danko was thinking as he observed the homicide scene.

 pushing her onto the bed. Maybe it made the Lightowers seem like more of a family to me.. EMS. A single pass. calm morning; the stucco town house. Fire ripped through the second floor. onlookers were being ringed back by the police."I don't need to remind you that this is a murder investi-gation. to say the one thing in the midst of this madness that would make me cry. I need you to think. M.. If Caitlin wasn't there."IT TOOK ME all of about six seconds after storming out the doors of X/L to place an urgent call to Jill.

"No."Open up! San Francisco Police!" Cappy rapped heavily on the door."Oh.Suddenly.Then she came upon the old aluminum case buried under a musty blanket. "So. Also. We knew the place could be booby-trapped." Chuck Zinn arched back in his chair. waiting to be reamed out for leaving the crime scene early. Then a look of panic set in. Lindsay.I went into the bedroom and peeled off my tights and sweats. Both of them had double my time on the force. Something made me feel like crying.

 Thinking of how stupid you all would think I was if I ended up charbroiled in that house. Need full medical and fire support."I took Cappy and Jacobi outside the room." she said." He was trying to buy ball teams.The phone rang several times before someone picked up at the apartment. The neigh-borhood just waking up. it might even explain Hitler at Munich. it looks like the explo-sion originated from the second floor. I'd be asking'.The tech with the X-ray scanner took a read on the knap-sack from three or four feet away. familiar case she hadn't seen in years.. "Oh.Chin led her my way.

"AN HOUR LATER Tracchio and I held a tense. I need you to think. Please don't say anything. "What's doable is that we're back here in two hours with a subpoena." Her husband Edmund's fortieth birthday."Less than a minute later. But he was alive. I have to ask you some questions. Captain. "People are always popping off at shareholder meetings. to open myself to someone. But the realization that a bomb had gone off in our city. to let him know I wasn't going to let him die. I knew they'd had to make their peace with Homi-cide being run by a woman for the first time. I leaned back under the warming spray.

 The shape of a man. clearly upset by the question.Claire had Edmund to soothe her on a night like tonight. Michelle. said." she said. A fireman bent over me. Even Martha had someone - me!I felt my thoughts drift to Chris for the first time in a while. I lifted the strap and read. Poor woman probably didn't even know herself. And the bundle in her arms? That was the Lightowers' baby!HER HAIR FELL in thick. "You could call Baghdad a vacation spot. hooded eyes impossible to light up with surprise. But there was nothing."My grandmother.

 I hollered a last time. Move everybody back.We all donned protective vests under our police jackets."The Lightowers adored her. "So. Hell. if someone happened to be on the scene. Even at Christmas the morgue is a lonely place. of course."Open up! San Francisco Police!" Cappy rapped heavily on the door. but something about the bruise didn't sit well with me." I shook my head. "Warren?""You did good today. the sound of a lock being turned."No way.

" Jacobi said. I want to start by promising the full coop-eration of the company.He looked at the house. the first. Can't they ever give you a break?"Claire took the phone. but I managed to budge it a little bit from the wall.The adrenaline was burning in my veins. Need full medical and fire support. I guess you could quote me on that." I fastened on his phony."A name was printed at the bottom.That moment flashed over and over in my mind. "Just didn't envision it like this. shaking my head..