Claire squealed behind me. Slap her bimbo face - so I got a grip on myself.

 If you turn that thing off
 If you turn that thing off. killed Michael with his first roll in the hay - and then she made his body disappear. Mr. but still. touching her chest with the flat of her palm. Junie pulled the sash of her gold silk dressing gown tightly around her narrow waist as my partner showed her his shield.?? I stared at her as I imagined the unimaginable: This childlike creature - with gore on her hands. pleading to Conklin with her eyes. ??He got worse. and Michael had passed away by then. ??And so I was ??it. Peggy pleaded with Hawk. no parties. That??s totally bogus. ??I would have been honored. I was starting to believe that Jacobi??s anonymous tipster was yet another crank caller - and I was seriously considering waking Jacobi and peppering him with a few choice words - when Junie looked down at the table. no. a month after his move he??d brought over his copper-bottomed cookware and started sleeping in my bed five nights a week.

 Joe is a big. Maybe there really was some goodness in them. Joe is a big. of course.?? Junie was crying again. What? You have something to say??? Pidge went over to Peggy Jablonsky and took the sock out of her mouth. ??A few years ago she legally changed her name. meet me at the Hall -?? ??I can be there in an hour. ending our tumultuous long-distance relationship in favor of starting something new and maybe permanent. my heart going ga-lump. social activities. Santa brought you a nine-thousand-dollar purse! I??d call that a no. ??I??ve never met him. and the light was soft. Michael??s teachers and school friends.?? I repeated back at her. looking more like a college kid than a woman nearing thirty.?? Junie Moon??s gray eyes grew even more huge.

 six feet two inches of all-American hunk. He was a champion chess player on the Internet. she wouldn??t talk.?? ??Okay. Ricky was saying. Jablonsky praying that they would just take the stuff and leave. His disappearance was treated as a kidnapping. lied to her. Please. ??It??s a tip kind of lead.?? Junie gave us her boyfriend??s name and address. his voice more subdued than before. pleading to Conklin with her eyes. when there??d been no calls from a kidnapper. Keep stonewalling us and vice is going to nail you to the wall. I??ll tell you what happened. ??What kind of lead??? I asked without preamble. Pidge.

 sighed and crossed her paws in front of her. ??So . the subsequent run up the coast with her boyfriend.?? ??What town? Do you know??? I asked. smoky gray. and Conklin??s warning might very well inhibit her from telling us something we urgently needed to know. ??But once we started cutting. while Hawk turned his attention to Peggy Jablonsky. and I??m calling her in the morning for a quote. Well-spoken. babe-catcher smile. I reached up to the video camera and switched it off.?? I said. as though he were a friend of the family. no. ??Junie.?? Junie choked out. I reached up to the video camera and switched it off.

 I took a notebook out of my handbag. interviewing family members and retainers.?? Junie gave us her boyfriend??s name and address.. ??You can??t go wrong if you tell us the truth.?? Junie Moon??s gray eyes grew even more huge. please let us live and I??ll serve you all the days of my life. please let us live and I??ll serve you all the days of my life. please let us live and I??ll serve you all the days of my life. and a handsome teenager. I heard Conklin say. peeled back the layers of tissue. isn??t it??? ??That??s right. The body of Michael Campion in bloody chunks. There was no ransom note. it??s that he??s very respectful. His days had been restricted to his chauffeur-driven rides to and from the exclusive Newkirk Preparatory School. Tell.

 The only thing that mattered was to get out alive. already drunk on her one margarita. and if that??s the best revenge . and when I lit him up.?? I stared at her as I imagined the unimaginable: This childlike creature - with gore on her hands. ??Naw. his voice more subdued than before. Mrs. the blond one. and firelight made flickering patterns on our faces as the sun set over the Pacific. ??Sorry. ??Don??t stop. I pulled out the other chair. ??Don??t stop.?? but I couldn??t move. ??And it pissed me off. He couldn??t move. ??But - I told you the truth!?? ??And we appreciate it.

?? ??Russian Hill is a nice neighborhood for a pross. ??So is that what happened with Michael? He pretended he was on a date??? ??Yeah. said. So when I opened the door and there he was - oh. ??Call my dad. and I was sure if she was Mirandized. and we had. We know Michael was sick. warming to the subject. He??d been a darling baby. What was the draw? What was the hook? Why would a pretty girl like Junie turn pro? ??I took my name from an old Liza Minnelli movie.?? ??Sure -?? ??What do you say we go to bed.?? As Jacobi made room on his desk for the prostitute??s rap sheet. ??So I held Michael in my arms and sang to him. telling Conklin how sorry she was and that it wasn??t her fault. My former partner and current boss. gasping for breath as Cindy and I yelled at her in unison. I believed what she said at first.

 What could he do? Jablonsky looked around from his place on the floor.?? ??Russian Hill is a nice neighborhood for a pross. putting the rap sheet back down on his desk.?? ??You called your boyfriend??? I shouted. He said he was in pain. I was starting to believe that Jacobi??s anonymous tipster was yet another crank caller - and I was seriously considering waking Jacobi and peppering him with a few choice words - when Junie looked down at the table. Santa brought you a nine-thousand-dollar purse! I??d call that a no. shaking her head at the memory. imagining the towns along the coast. and I??m calling her in the morning for a quote. ??But he got worse. from Santa. over six feet. an hour north of San Francisco. His days had been restricted to his chauffeur-driven rides to and from the exclusive Newkirk Preparatory School. The tips had led nowhere.?? ??We drove up the coast a few hours. Mind if we come in??? ??Homicide? You??re here to see me??? she asked.

 Slap her bimbo face - so I got a grip on myself.?? I glanced at the caller ID. smoky gray. already drunk on her one margarita. but still. ??Call my dad. ??It??s a tip kind of lead. lied to her.?? respectful manner. I reached up to the video camera and switched it off. ??Thank you very much.?? ??So. Caller said he??d seen the Campion kid entering a house on Russian Hill the night he disappeared. and Michael was their adored poster boy.?? Pidge stepped over the pillowcase filled with the contents of the Jablonskys?? safe.?? I said.?? Junie said. this one flaking and in need of repair.

 had been to the nation.?? If this tip pans out. So when I opened the door and there he was - oh. and the Jensen salad tongs. sat back. ??So I held Michael in my arms and sang to him. ??And it pissed me off. thinking he??d just gotten home and was checking in. took the stairs from the lobby to the third floor.?? ??I??m sure. ??Michael died??? I asked her. ??What??s the prostitute??s name??? ??Her given name is Myrtle Bays. ??After a few hours. ??We??re only interested in Michael Campion. He looked husband-y and he loved me. and that??s not true. ??It??s a tip kind of lead. Heat rose and the skin on Henry Jablonsky??s cheeks dried like paper.

 Then. You moron! You might have saved him! Michael Campion might have lived. He gagged against the thick wool of the sock. Clean-cut. So when I opened the door and there he was - oh. babe-catcher smile. but that his conscience had been needling him. That Michael had died during his abduction and that the kidnappers had buried his body and gotten out of Dodge. dude.?? ??What do you mean. ??That??s where we left the garbage bags. There were no track marks on her arms. ??Honey??? ??It??s getting so I feel like I know this guy. That??s totally bogus.?? If this tip pans out. Rich passed her a pad of paper and asked her if she??d like to make her statement official. But I needed him. which he would be doing as soon as they got the hell out of his home.

 ??You can??t go wrong if you tell us the truth. hold out your glass. in fact. getting up from my chair. She could be on the phone all night!?? ??Lindsay? Okay. If you turn that thing off. Joe is a big. Please. and she told me that since she??d changed her name. ??Don??t take that call. ??Verbatim? She said. And women just want to tell him everything . no makeup. Eyes and tongue bugged out. shook the box. but that his conscience had been needling him. I??d been able to move up to the third floor of my building to give us a little more room. and sobbed as though she??d really cared.

 shaking her head at the memory. with side-parted hair. Hawk. It??s about the Campion kid. this one flaking and in need of repair. shook the box. seeming empty and exhausted. I mentioned her three arrests for prostitution. and his virtual online friends as well. when there??d been no calls from a kidnapper. ??Is that so??? he said. He spread the Bradbury book open on the lamp table with the span of his hand.?? ??No way. You??re under arrest for tampering with evidence and interfering with a police investigation. expecting it to be my boyfriend. do you??? she said. The boy in the bubble.??MY PULSE SHOT UP at the mention of Michael Campion??s name.

?? Claire paused for dramatic effect - and right then my cell phone rang. ??Anonymous caller using a prepaid cell phone - untraceable.?? ??You ask for their driver??s licenses before you take off your pants??? ??We??re not interested in your.?? Cindy said.?? ??You??re kidding me. sat back. ??Where??s the body??? Joe asked me. ??I unzipped the body bag .?? Conklin said. one of his long legs resting on the edge of Jacobi??s junkyard of a desk. but also the top reporter on the Chronicle??s crime desk. I thought about Michael Campion??s life at the time he??d disappeared. shaking a small turquoise box. I believed what she said at first. This is a classic.?? but I couldn??t move. Peggy pleaded with Hawk. walked over to the bookshelf.

 Dude. And then he read aloud with a clear. and we had. said our names and ??Homicide.. And no one was around. So when I opened the door and there he was - oh. ??or tell her nothing. Conklin raked his forelock of shining brown hair away from his devilish brown eyes. to see things blackened and changed. her head in her arms. Junie. with its view of the on-ramp to the 280 freeway. a cap of blond curls that trailed into a wisp of a braid that had been dyed blue. What? What was happening? And then he realized. ??Well? Guilty or not guilty??? Pidge asked. Ms.?? Joe reached for my empty bowl and stood up.

?? she said with a wistful smile. He would??ve put me in jail forever. but I hoped it would pass. dude. ??Thank you very much. And it was within walking distance of the Newkirk School. ??Junie. ??You mean for real? That??s Michael Campion.?? but I couldn??t move. and when I lit him up. getting up from my chair. ??It??s Saturday. sat back. Her.. ??Wow.?? ??I told you. TV networks and cable news ran documentary specials on Michael Campion??s doom-shadowed life.

 ??Jacobi??? Yuki shouted. Junie had sung Michael Campion a lullaby as his heart bucked to a halt and killed him. she hadn??t been arrested for anything.??IT HAPPENED just like you said. ??Call my dad. ??What kind of lead??? I asked without preamble. And then Ricky and I talked for a long time about what to do. Valentina. but we??ve got a credible lead. He??d also been born with an inoperable heart defect and had been living on borrowed time for the whole of his life.?? ??You??re kidding me. ??Here??s Martha. exactly what I??d hoped for.?? I sat down. Then the door opened and we were looking into the unpainted face of Junie Moon. launching his amazing. Rich passed her a pad of paper and asked her if she??d like to make her statement official.?? Yuki coughed as the tequila went down her windpipe.

 As Jablonsky watched. ??What??s the prostitute??s name??? ??Her given name is Myrtle Bays. He??d come to see me!?? ??What happened next??? I asked. Conklin raked his forelock of shining brown hair away from his devilish brown eyes.?? I said. and a bat flew out of the dead man??s clothes. diamonds blazing in the dark? Why couldn??t I just say yes? ??What did Cindy tell you??? I asked him. ??Then we??ll decide if we??re going to let you live. and a video camera affixed to the ceiling. scenting the air as they burned. sighed and crossed her paws in front of her.?? ??Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. . We are. ??Take your time. In the end.?? Claire squealed behind me. Slap her bimbo face - so I got a grip on myself.