Everyone gathered in Stones study for drinks, except Dino, who phoned to say he would be late. They were on their second drinks when Dino arrived, looking tired and angry. Please. By going in after it. The voice was friendly enough. I didnt worry about one of the bar denizens wanting to fight me. I heard it when I was just a few feet from my car. This neighborhood had been deserted for some time. Dirty words on walls and windows were so obvious you couldnt even dignify them with the term graffiti. Graffiti could be clever, even artful, at times. Oh, come on. Its a job for homicide, all right, the first officer called from the interior of the house. Then, as we rushed along the side of the building, Ted said,Katherines back in the dressing room with Jess. I told her to give Jess two Xanax. I need to talk to the press. You say stuff like that all the time to me, Ted. No, the incident doesnt seem to have made the papers yet. I guess Lance is keeping it quiet, and Im grateful for that. Were on that, Dino said. You stay here, until I come back for you. Dont open the door for anybody but me. He left. How did you... What caliber are these people? That night, Devine went back to an empty town house. Speerss room held her unused law books, but not the Glock under the mattress. The woman had evidently left the hospital, come back here, and gotten her weapon. He wondered why. And he also wondered where she was now. Ill tell you anyhow, he said. In the big cities theyll vote us out and them in. I understand. But the more he thought about his conversation with Stamos, the more he homed in on her vague response and her reluctance to go into detail about what Ewes had told her about the play. Turn it off while I walk through, Dino said. Nestor maintained, based on anonymous sources, that Cowls elite academic status at college had been bought and paid for. That he was not nearly the amazing businessman he claimed to be. That he had, in fact, inherited large sums of money from both his grandfather and father but had squandered it on partying and lousy investment decisions. Nestor wenton to write that the entire foundation of Cowl and Comely could very well be rotten to the core. She had even called for an SEC investigation. Didnt you hear me say Baby on Board? Dino asked. What do you mean not quite? I said..