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Everything was neat, squared up, polished. The carpet had been vacuumed to the point that it looked as if it might have been new, if anyone was unwise enough to make carpet that color in this day and age.

No sign of the chaos of the night before.

Lucia came out of the kitchen, looking glossily perfect, as usual. Sleek and shining. Her hair was still back in the action ponytail, and she had on some tight spandex-type workout pants and a jogging bra.

“Morning,” she said, and looked Jazz comprehensively up and down. “You look like hell.”

“Thanks. Very comforting.” Jazz found the coffeemaker and a mug and poured. She tasted bitter oily heaven, swallowed, and kept going until the cup was empty. Then refilled. Lucia watched her, leaning against the door frame and frowning.

“Wow,” she finally said. “That’s … frightening. Do you always drink that much caffeine?”

“Any messages?” Jazz asked. Her brain fog was starting to clear, at least a little.

“Borden called. He wanted to check on you. I don’t think he was very happy to hear you weren’t in bed.”

“Iwasin bed.”

“I mean, were planning on staying there. As in, recovering.”

“Borden’s not the boss of me,” Jazz said, and then wondered. Maybe he was. Not a pretty thought. “Did you tell him about yesterday? The assignment?”

“Yes, I told him. I typed up reports and faxed them in. I included the plate number and description of the car, too. I’d have waited for you, but …”

“No, that’s okay.” Jazz sank down at the kitchen table. Her abdominal muscles gave a sob of relief. “What’d he say?”

“Good job?” Lucia lifted a shoulder in a fatalistic shrug. “I tried to get some kind of idea from him about what it was we were supposed to have accomplished, but he’s a brick wall. I think he responds better to you. Maybe you can give him a call.”

Jazz shot her a look. “I don’t think so. Last thing I need is a lawyer going all sweet on me. No sign of the files, I guess?”

“No, no sign. I did a little canvassing up and down the hall. Nobody saw anything, apparently.”

Jazz reflected that if her neighbors were going to talk to anyone, they’d talk to gorgeous Lucia; no leads, then. She felt unreasonably depressed.

“I swept the apartment for bugs, by the way. Nothing. It still looks clean.”

“Cleaner than it did when I went to bed,” Jazz observed. Lucia looked away and studied the polish on her finger-nail. “Never mind. Thanks.”

“I’m going out for a run,” Lucia said. “You going to be okay here?”

“Yep. Fine and dandy.” Jazz filled her coffee cup again and shuffled over to the gun safe. She dimly recalled having stowed her .38 in there, and sure enough, there it was, fully loaded and ready. She got it out and clipped the holster to her waistband. “You’re strapped, right?”

“In this outfit?” Lucia shook her head. “I’ll be all right.”

“No, you won’t.” Jazz limped to her bedroom, found a reasonably clean floppy sweatshirt and tossed it to Lucia, who pulled it on. It made her look adorably lumpy. Lucia added the pancake holster to the small of her back and nodded.

“Lock it behind me,” she said. “And if you have time and energy, you might want to read some things I found on the Internet.”

She indicated a small, neat pile of papers on the kitchen table and went out the front door. Jazz followed instructions with the dead bolts, then carried coffee and gun back to the table.

Max Simms had been arrested in the winter of 2000, claiming innocence. Nothing unusual in that, and of course he retained high-powered counsel. What was interesting was whom he’d retained.

Jazz cocked her head and studied the grainy black-and-white AP photo of white-haired, distinguished-looking Max Simms in handcuffs, with the lawyer striding next to him, head bent to confer.

James Borden. What had he said, in the office?I’ve never tried a criminal case in my life.Next to him was Milo Laskins, stone-faced, extending a hand to block photographers and reporters.

She stroked the printed side of Borden’s face with one blunt finger and whispered, “Liar.” It felt as if the whole world had shifted to the left, creating a slope, and she couldn’t get her balance. From the beginning, from the first time she’d seen him, she’d believed Borden. She’d felt that on some very deep level he was just plain honest.

And if she was wrong about that, what else was she wrong about? Lucia Garza? The partnership? Ben McCarthy’s innocence?