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Thanks for the concern,” Payton grumbled. He sat up in E VI L W IT H O U T A FA C E 49 bed and raked fingers through his hair. Every muscle and joint bellyached from old gridiron war wounds, a persistent pang made worse by his self-inflicted booze bullet to the brain. When Joe shoveled a fork full of eggs into his mouth—his eggs—Payton put two and two together. ” Joe shrugged without contrition. “And if you woke up dead, I wanted dibs on your stuff. ” Payton scrunched his face. ” Joe leaned back in his chair and looked around the room, as if seeing it for the first time.

Communicating with her these days is like talking to a stone. If I get any conversation at all, it comes in one-word mumbles with that annoying roll of her eyes. But you wanna know the worst thing? ” She gulped air, taking a breath hindered by a sob. ” The bitterness in her voice had melted away, transformed by a wave of prevailing doubt as he helped her to the couch and eased her down. “It’s been playing over and over in my head like some continuous loop that I can’t stop. Damn it, how did it come to this?

Baker had been taken into custody but was kicked loose. No arrest. So why were they still questioning Jess? Sam was digesting all the details of her friend’s encounter with Baker and the aftermath when she opened the door to the adjoining observation room. She found Chief Nathan Keller dressed in a pricy suit and standing in the darkened room with only the light from the adjacent interrogation room shining through the two-way mirror. He glanced at her with little acknowledgment and turned his attention back to the interrogation without saying a word.