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434af49
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He turned his back to the house to speak with the girl. "The attitude makes you memorable. Lose it. You want to be invisible."
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Robert Crais |
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fb334d9
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He said, "Say location." No hello. No howzitgoin. All Pike all the time."
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Robert Crais |
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ef122cc
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I said, "Think they were cops?" "They match the descriptions you had. Both big, one bigger. Everything else is optics." Pike."
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Robert Crais |
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caca3ca
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We asked the people at the flower shop if they had seen anything, but they hadn't. We asked every shopkeeper in the strip mall and most of the employees, but they all said no. I hoped they had seen something to indicate that Karen was safe, but deep down, where your blood runs cold, I knew they hadn't.
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Robert Crais |
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a827f60
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Cole was still working on the car when a dark green Lexus stopped across his drive. Cole straightened, and was surprised to see Pike and a young woman with ragged hair and big sunglasses get out. The girl looked wary, and Pike was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves down. Pike never wore long-sleeved shirts. Cole limped out to meet them. "Joseph. You should have told me we had guests. I would have cleaned up." Cole smiled at the g..
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Robert Crais |
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0bc9c76
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She said, "This isn't so bad." "Thanks. I think." The money vibe came off her like heat--the Rock & Republic jeans, the Kitson top, the Oliver Peoples shades. Cole was good at reading people, and had learned--over time--that he was almost always right. The trouble vibe came off her, too. She looked familiar, but Cole couldn't place her."
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Robert Crais |
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a7d8eb7
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Harvey didn't set his phone to beep or buzz or vibrate like a normal person. Harvey's phone screeched with a string piece from the Hitchcock movie Psycho, the scene with Janet Leigh in the shower, the knife rising and falling, the string section shrieking with short, staccato stabs, the lone violin slashing through the fermata with discordant glissandos, more violins joining the first, violas adding their teeth, mad strings schooling like o..
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Robert Crais |
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75c3297
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Cole sensed Pike didn't want to talk in front of the girl, so he gave her the smile again. "Why don't you use the shower while I make something to eat?" Larkin glanced back at him, and Cole read a new vibe. She gave him the same crooked smile she had made in the drive, only now she was telling him he could say and do nothing that would surprise her, affect her, or impress her, here in his little house that wasn't so bad. Like a challenge, C..
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Robert Crais |
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2ad98ac
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Pike's mouth twitched, and Cole wondered if Larkin had noticed that Pike never laughed or smiled. As if the part of a man who could feel that free was dead in Pike, or buried so deep that only a twitch could escape.
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Robert Crais |
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3ecb4bf
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Nora wanted a house, so I bought a damn house, not her, me, and the next thing I know I'm in this toxic maelstrom, the three of them, every day, all the bullshit. I felt bad for those kids. Living with those three was hell, but I felt bad." He paused, and the scowl deepened. "I tried to fix it. That's a mistake we make, us guys, thinking we can fix this dysfunctional bullshit. Amber was a mess. Sad, but a mess. Jasmine, she was older. Maybe..
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Robert Crais |
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02a750a
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Jimmy smiled, wide and mindless, the way a pit bull smiles before he bites you. He said, "How about that, Terry. You think we got something as pussy as the mafia down here?"
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Robert Crais |
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0dc2e41
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It was quiet, this late, there in the peaceful neighborhood. The porches were empty. The old people and the families were sleeping. Cars were parked and streets were empty except for Pike and the five cousins, there in the cone of blue light.
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Robert Crais |
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f08200d
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When Pike turned back, Cole pointed at the corner of the roof. A pale blue alarm panel was mounted near the end of the building, but the cover was missing. Old wires had been cut, and new wires had been clipped to bypass the old. Whoever jumped the alarms hadn't bothered to replace the cover, as if they didn't care whether or not their work was discovered.
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Robert Crais |
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aa37df7
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Home is where your mistakes can be seen in context.
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Robert Crais |
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1edcf48
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Terry Ito had said Eddie Tang was on his way up. Maybe Eddie figured taking advantage of Mimi Warren and stealing the Hagakure were the keys to ascendancy.
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Robert Crais |
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9f9f379
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Nobu Ishida had lived in an older split-level house on a Leave-It-to-Beaver street in Cheviot Hills, a couple of miles south of the Twentieth Century-Fox lot. It was dark, just after nine when we rolled past his home, rounded the block, and parked at the curb fifty yards up the street. Somewhere nearby, a dog barked.
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Robert Crais |
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68b0e50
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I went back to the car. Pike said, "Just family, right?" "Or clever impersonators."
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Robert Crais |
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6886034
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Wozniak wet his lips. "You've got Paulette and Evelyn to think about." Wozniak's wife and daughter. The cloudy eyes flicked to Pike, as bottomless and as dangerous as a thunderhead. "I've been thinking about them, Pike. You bet your ass."
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Robert Crais |
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163f53f
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That Sunday, the sun floated bright and hot over the Los Angeles basin, pushing people to the beaches and the parks and into backyard pools to escape the heat. The air buzzed with the nervous palsy it gets when the wind freight-trains in from the deserts, dry as bone, and cooking the hillsides into tar-filled kindling that can snap into flames hot enough to melt an auto body.
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Robert Crais |
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d1455c7
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With her sunglasses off, her eyes were red, and Cole wondered if she had been crying. She caught him looking, and flashed the crooked smile. It was smart and inviting, and could never be made by someone who had just been crying, but there it was. Cole thought, This kid has had plenty of practice hiding herself.
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Robert Crais |
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e12b58e
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Jon sat in the Range Rover cocoon, listened to Amy sleep, and knew people were beyond the edge of the darkness. Talking and planning, positioning cars at egress points to cover the house, and setting up at the storage facility. No one knew how Amy would react, or which way this would go, so they had to be flexible. Jon resented their intrusion. The
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Robert Crais |
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2a7de9a
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Larkin lay in the darkness, waking, then awake as she realized she had to pee. The house was dark, so she figured he was sleeping or just standing somewhere in that creepy way, so she went directly into the bathroom. She closed the door before she turned on the light. His clothes were hanging from the shower rod, but she didn't think anything of it. She peed, then drank water from the tap, using her hand as a cup. When she finished, she tur..
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Robert Crais |
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e481946
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She stepped away and considered the couch. "First we have to get this house in order. Would you please move the couch again?" I stared at the couch. I had moved it maybe eight hundred times in the last two days. "Which wall?" She chewed at her thumb, thinking. "Over there." "That's where it was two moves ago." It was a big couch. It probably weighed three thousand pounds. "Yes, but that was when the entertainment center was by the fireplace..
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Robert Crais |
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ce5571f
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Pike put down the phone, pushed the magazine into the gun, then jacked the slide and set the safety. If Pike could ever know bliss, it filled him now, but he showed nothing. He had them. He had a line that might bring him to Meesh, and then he would clear the field. All these bastards trying to kill this girl, this one girl, all of them ganged against her, and he would clear the field, but not for justice. It would be punishment. Punishment..
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Robert Crais |
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74ff714
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She said, "What did Joe want?" "The daughter of a friend of his is missing. He wants me to help check it out." Lucy looked up at me, her face now serious. "A child?" "He didn't say. You mind if I go?" She glanced at the couch again. "You'll do anything to avoid this couch, won't you?" "Yeah. I hate that damned couch." Lucy laughed, then looked into my eyes again. "I'd mind if you didn't go. Take a shower and go save the world."
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Robert Crais |
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569dd8b
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Here's the scene: The three of us are by the Olympic-sized pool. The Latina with the thick waist is hovering in the shade of the veranda up by the house, her eyes on Frank in case he might want something, but so far he doesn't and he hasn't offered anything to me. If he did, I would ask for sunblock because standing here next to his pool is like standing on the sun side of Mercury. Gotta be ninety-six and climbing. Behind us is a pool house..
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Robert Crais |
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09960e9
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The woman with the thick waist showed us out through the cool of Frank Garcia's home. Joe's red Jeep Cherokee was parked beneath an elm tree at the curb. My car was parked behind it. Pike and I walked down the drive without speaking until we came to the street, and then Joe said, "Thanks for coming." "I guess there are worse ways to spend a Sunday. I could be wrestling that damned couch." Pike canted the glasses my way. "We finish this, I'l..
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Robert Crais |
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9c533fa
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Pike made the Corolla for an early '90s model. It was dark brown in color with mismatched wheels and rusty acne on the trunk. Pike copied the plate number. He stayed between three and four cars behind, only tightening up when the Corolla beat him through an intersection and traffic began to slow.
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Robert Crais |
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554ea18
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I said, "Pretty." "Yes. She is." "You had to be seeing her, when, before you knew me?" His eyes never left the picture. "I knew you, but I was still on the job." I remember Joe dating back then, but the relationships seemed as they were now, none more important than any other. "I guess you were tight with this girl." Joe nodded. "So what happened?" Pike handed back the picture. "I broke her heart." "Oh." Sometimes prying is a lousy idea."
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Robert Crais |
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993c2c3
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Pike approached the man from behind. He shifted left or right just enough to stay in the man's blind spot, moving so quickly that he was outside the office one moment and across the lot in the next, watching the key go in the lock, seeing the door open-- Pike hooked his left arm under the man's chin, and lifted. He closed his arm on the man's throat and squeezed as hard as he could, shoving the man into the room as he brought out the Kimber..
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Robert Crais |
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dee8944
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There is great audacity in the willingness to change, more than a little optimism, and a serious dose of courage. It
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Robert Crais |
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c3b5daf
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Pike held out Karen's photograph. "Have you seen this woman?" "No. I am sorry." Every word like that. Without contractions."
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Robert Crais |
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a7f934a
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Hess said, "What the fuck?" I said, "Temperamental." SACs aren't used to being cut off. I touched her arm. "We"
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Robert Crais |
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2ee2ebe
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The hunt was picking up speed, and now Pike wanted to push harder. The harder he pushed, the faster Meesh would have to react, and the more demands he would make on his men. His men would grow resentful and Meesh would get angry, and Pike would push faster and harder. This was called stressing the enemy, and when Meesh felt enough stress, he would realize he was no longer the hunter. He would accept that he was the prey. This was called bre..
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Robert Crais |
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4a34eb3
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Air dogs excelled at tracking scent in the air. Ground dogs like bloodhounds and beagles worked best tracking scent particles close to or on the ground. Scott
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Robert Crais |
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a45a725
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Long strokes. Start at her neck and run your hand back to her tail. They like the long strokes. That's the way her mama did it." James stroked her, long and slow, but he glared at Leland instead of relating to the dog. This set Leland off into one of his tirades. "Talk to her, goddamnit. She ain't a stick of furniture. She is one of God's creatures, and she will hear you. I see these goddamned people walkin' dogs, yakking on their phones, m..
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Robert Crais |
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926402c
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So ether or starter fluid wouldn't confuse her?" Budress smiled at Maggie, and offered his hand. She sniffed, then lay down at Scott's feet. "Not this nose. If I asked you to point out the orange tents, would the green hedges or blue sky or the tree bark confuse you?" "'Course not." "She smells like we see. Just laying here, she's picking up thousands of scents, just like we're seeing a thousand shades of green and blue and whatever. I say,..
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Robert Crais |
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c8070ac
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The man's breathing grew shallow and steady, his heartbeat slowed, and when the surge of his pulse grew no slower, Maggie knew he was sleeping. She lifted her head enough to see him, but seeing him was unnecessary. She could smell his sleep by the change in his scent as his body relaxed and cooled. She
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Robert Crais |
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4ca7775
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Maggie's long German shepherd nose had more than two hundred twenty-five million scent receptors. This was as many as a beagle, forty-five times more than the man, and was bettered only by a few of her hound cousins. A full eighth of her brain was devoted to her nose, giving her a sense of smell ten thousand times better than the sleeping man's, and more sensitive than any scientific device. If taught the smell of a particular man's urine, ..
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Robert Crais |
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57c2873
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She cleared her throat. "My ex-husband, Richard. Ben's father." She cleared her throat again. "He came to see you?" "Yesterday." "And you didn't call me." It wasn't a question. More a statement, more just wanting to make sure she had the facts of her life straight. "You didn't think that was worth calling me about." I sighed. "Mistake, huh?" Silence again. Pike and Teri were watching me until Pike shook his head and turned away. Sometimes y..
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Robert Crais |
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817f31b
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I asked people about you, and those people said if you were looking for a guy, then you probably found him. I just can't figure why you won't come clean." "Maybe they're wrong." He nodded. "Could be." "But maybe I just don't like being muscled, so I'm being petulant."
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Robert Crais |
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d80bb5a
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Though I did manage to gain a bit of intelligence when I was in Stu's office." "Ah." I knew that she had. You could see that in her eyes, too. A kind of ferocious twinkle."
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Robert Crais |
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1b3100f
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These dogs are not machines, goddamnit. They are alive! They are living, feeling, warm-blooded creatures of God, and they will love you with all their hearts! They will love you when your wives and husbands sneak behind your backs. They will love you when your ungrateful misbegotten children piss on your graves! They will see and witness your greatest shame, and will not judge you! These dogs will be the truest and best partners you can eve..
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Robert Crais |
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47de6bd
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In fact, it wasn't evidence at all, but I didn't want to be a defeatist.
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Robert Crais |