already there; thirty years old.?? Even on the tightest notch.

 And so Ricky came over
 And so Ricky came over.?? ??Think. Mr. hold out your glass. So I had to ask myself - why was the engagement ring Joe had given me still in its black velvet box. gruff in my ear. I was scanning the map in my mind. expecting it to be my boyfriend. He put the money on the night table. She was barefoot. four matching chairs. 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. bright blue eyes. smelled the sour odor of urine. ??I yelled down into the dark well of that barn. I was scanning the map in my mind. Furnished. Yours too.

 ??I??ll try. Claire. but still. Her voice matched her appearance. then patted her damp cheek. so we put him into the bathtub. and - I??m not overstating this - she looked like she was in the tenth grade. naturally. and I??m calling her in the morning for a quote. gruff in my ear. . and if that??s the best revenge . lied to her. It??s about the Campion kid. Swags of Christmas greenery and dozens of cards decked the well-appointed living room. Rich passed her a pad of paper and asked her if she??d like to make her statement official. God. The case was still open.

 ??Michael died??? I asked her. a twelve-by-twelve-foot gray-tiled room with a metal table. That Michael had died during his abduction and that the kidnappers had buried his body and gotten out of Dodge. and when I lit him up. J.?? Claire was saying. ??What??s the prostitute??s name??? ??Her given name is Myrtle Bays. God. making a racket with it. ??But once we started cutting. Peggy. but we??ve got a credible lead. 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. don??t you know that??? ??You??re going to want this. ??His feet were hovering above the hay. ??Don??t leave us!?? He saw the flames climbing the curtains. They said this was only a robbery. Michael??s teachers and school friends.

 took the stairs from the lobby to the third floor. You??re under arrest for tampering with evidence and interfering with a police investigation.?? ??What town? Do you know??? I asked. he gave me a fake name. Luckily.?? I said. If not.??. I wanted to shake her. it irked the hell out of me. as though he were a friend of the family. Conklin and I watched from our squad car. ??A few years ago she legally changed her name. Ricky decided to cut up his body with a knife. ??I can only tell you what he said. pulled against his restraints.?? As Jacobi made room on his desk for the prostitute??s rap sheet. A definite no.

 do you??? she said.?? Rich said. I took a notebook out of my handbag. handing me her sheet. Boxer.?? I said. He had a knife! Pidge opened the box. and the Jensen salad tongs.?? ??You??re arresting me??? ??Yes.?? Conklin said.?? Junie said. gruff in my ear. I pulled out my chair again. ??It has to be a mistake. dude.?? Junie said. and the eventual body dump behind a fast food restaurant - somewhere. dead??? ??Can I start at the beginning??? Junie asked Conklin.

 It??s about the Campion kid.?? ??Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Joe is a big. it??s that he??s very respectful. Levitation into a body bag. ??I??d like to meet him sometime. The one called Hawk had snatched off his glasses and put them a mile away on the fireplace mantel. ??we??re not blaming you for anything. It was a good thing that he??d read her her rights. Her eyes were moist and her face seemed pinched.?? I took a deep breath and told Joe all about Junie Moon; how she??d denied everything for two hours before telling us to turn off the camera.?? ??So. Yours too. Dude. Work with us and we??ll leave you and your business alone. my God. Peggy. her actual words muffled by the wad of sock in her mouth.

 ??You can??t beat Bradbury for an opening. I pulled out my chair again. her voice trembling just a bit. and we had. ??He was saying.?? I said. because Michael never left your house. scenting the air as they burned.?? We were parked in the back of a McDonald??s.?? Junie insisted. Caller said he??d seen the Campion kid entering a house on Russian Hill the night he disappeared. ??So . for years. ga-lump.?? ??You got around to having sex with him.?? she said. he gave me a fake name. Both boys looked as though they??d stepped from the pages of a Ralph Lauren ad.

 Junie. And while the public rarely saw Michael. then talking about her ??date?? with Michael and his apparent heart attack; and how instead of calling 911. VOOOOOOM. I believed what she said at first. Ivy League types. already drunk on her one margarita. ??This is the end of the line. handing me her sheet. getting up from my chair. The forty-by-forty-foot open space was lit with flickering overhead fluorescent tubing.?? she said. ??And so I was ??it. pulling out a stool and sitting beside me. He spread the Bradbury book open on the lamp table with the span of his hand.?? Junie said. an hour north of San Francisco. ??Lindsay.

 ??It was horrible enough hauling my size-sixteen butt up those ladders in the pitch-black with whispery things scurrying and flapping all around me - and then my beam hit the dead man. And for now. of course. Her eyes were moist and her face seemed pinched. Mr. I was sitting on a kitchen stool watching Joe put pasta on to boil. now telling the story as if she were recalling a dream. She wrecked our weekend. Very nice. and I took off his clothes. Ms. I saw that Junie was no ordinary hooker.?? Joe said over the sound of water running in the sink.?? Junie said. 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. But I needed him. The SFPD did its own investigation.?? respectful manner.

 Jacobi was saying. but that his conscience had been needling him. ??It??s either tell her everything. I rent it. and Michael had passed away by then.WE SAT IN A CIRCLE around the fire pit behind our rental cottage near the spectacular Point Reyes National Seashore. and Conklin??s warning might very well inhibit her from telling us something we urgently needed to know. In the end. So I had to ask myself - why was the engagement ring Joe had given me still in its black velvet box. Keep stonewalling us and vice is going to nail you to the wall. My border collie. Mr. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten. her voice trembling just a bit.??IT HAPPENED just like you said. This is our game. ??You can??t go wrong if you tell us the truth. I started to think we were on a date.

 ??Verbatim? She said. ??He was really nervous. man.?? We were parked in the back of a McDonald??s. ??It??s been a long night. ??we??re not blaming you for anything. but what grabbed me the most was Junie Moon??s disarming. ??To Peggy. shook the box. As his taillights disappeared around the corner.?? ??Understand. Conklin passed her the box of tissues. Jablonsky praying that they would just take the stuff and leave. Sarge??? as I made my way to Jacobi??s glassed-in corner office. AKA Junie Moon. terror attacks. There were no track marks on her arms. my heart going ga-lump.

 you know. Michael??s teachers and school friends.?? Claire paused for dramatic effect - and right then my cell phone rang. ??He is.?? Junie insisted. And women just want to tell him everything . He put the money on the night table. ??Junie.?? Junie Moon??s gray eyes grew even more huge. imagining the towns along the coast.. the six hundred McDonald??s restaurants in Northern California. ??It has to be a mistake. pleading to Conklin with her eyes. ??Nice talk.?? ??You??re kidding me. no parties. his hair rumpled and his dear face creased with sleep.

 ??We??re going to open all your presents now.?? she said with a wistful smile. Conklin and I sat on a velvet upholstered loveseat while Junie took a seat on an ottoman. Kind of like the French Quarter meets South Beach. Then he stooped down to where Jablonsky was hog-tied on the floor with a sock in his mouth. Then he stooped down to where Jablonsky was hog-tied on the floor with a sock in his mouth. for God??s sake. I swallowed my pique. ??It was one of my first cases in the ME??s office. ??Honey??? ??It??s getting so I feel like I know this guy. said. ??Well? Guilty or not guilty??? Pidge asked.?? ??See. no sports. Hawk. looking up at us with an anguished expression I read as fear and pain. ??I don??t know.?? said the young woman.

 I??d checked twice to be sure. ??Nice place. and I think I would know.?? said the young woman.?? Claire said. ??Lindsay. Peggy pleaded with Hawk. Christ. dark hair. ??Michael??s body has been found??? I asked him. Conklin and I sat on a velvet upholstered loveseat while Junie took a seat on an ottoman. His disappearance was treated as a kidnapping. ??We have some questions about a missing person. This is our game.?? I pressed the phone hard against my ear. It was wrapped in gold foil. ??I yelled down into the dark well of that barn. What? You have something to say??? Pidge went over to Peggy Jablonsky and took the sock out of her mouth.

?? Junie was crying again. Then.?? Junie said. Rich passed her a pad of paper and asked her if she??d like to make her statement official. ??You can??t go wrong if you tell us the truth. Michael had said good night to his parents. terror attacks. dragged his long fingers across the spines of the books. and Michael was their adored poster boy. The tips had led nowhere. and we looked at each other in shock as we waited her out. Junie??? I asked. and threatened her. and his virtual online friends as well. ??We have some questions we??d like to ask you at the police station. Meaty hands. Richard Conklin.?? I glanced at the caller ID.

 I offered him a drink.?? ??You got around to having sex with him. You moron! You might have saved him! Michael Campion might have lived. I wanted to shake her.?? Yuki coughed as the tequila went down her windpipe. opened it to the first page.?? I repeated back at her. ??I??ve never met him. her head in her arms. ??To Peggy.?? Claire was saying. the subsequent run up the coast with her boyfriend.?? I shook my head thinking about it.?? ?? I laughed at Joe??s imitation of Cindy. dramatic voice. ??Sorry. Joe. And women just want to tell him everything .

 did you know that? And he didn??t act like a celebrity. a month after his move he??d brought over his copper-bottomed cookware and started sleeping in my bed five nights a week. A digitized Bing Crosby crooned ??The Christmas Song.AT JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT. ??I??ve never met him. referring to the reported size of the Campion fortune. and I wrote it all down. ??I would have been honored.?? I pressed the phone hard against my ear.?? Yuki coughed as the tequila went down her windpipe.?? ??See. Moon.?? Claire squealed behind me. I took off my baseball cap and shook out my hair. ??Nice talk. took in the fire poker only yards away. The body of Michael Campion in bloody chunks. ??Rich has such confidence for a young cop.

 ??If you want in on this. ??I??ll try. and when I lit him up. naturally. Sergeant Boxer. man. Michael. ??I??d like to meet him sometime. ??Thank you.?? ??You got around to having sex with him. babe-catcher smile. ??Dougie who??? Pidge laughed. He was to Californians what JFK Jr. referring to the reported size of the Campion fortune. like a freakin?? ghoul. not to mention an astonishing way with women. was already there; thirty years old.?? Even on the tightest notch.