Mal stroked her hair. Michelle. The Reverend Al Green.

 "Mortie was saying
 "Mortie was saying. she froze. "For Caitlin. But who had it now?I put down my gun. There was a note at the bomb scene. The neigh-borhood just waking up. if the call was discovered. but I managed to budge it a little bit from the wall. Linds. coughing. "I did the right thing. not sure.The man with the claw lifted the backpack to transport it to the truck." I said.I grabbed Jacobi. I've got a multiple-murder investigation. voices. She played the first bars of the concerto. read the inscription. Or the girl I saw hurrying away from the bombing. the bodies of a woman and a man.I turned away and crouched down to shield Martha as the oven like shock waves from the explosion passed over us." There could've been a nursery down there.

 a run."The fire captain rushed up. No one understands. reinforced steel curtains were pulled out of the truck and set up in a protective barrier.. feeling my stomach turn.I couldn't believe my eyes. She played the first bars of the concerto. difficult passage that had always eluded her.. Jesus. What kind of force should we use to pick her up?I stared at the photo. maybe we could work something out. Do you have any idea who could've targeted your brother?""No accident. Cut out with like six hundred million while the company sank like a cement suit.The phone rang several times before someone picked up at the apartment. Martha wagged up to me. Morton Lightower. a fireman climbed out from the debris on the ground floor."Cappy Thomas stuck his head in." I said.I stumbled through the flames. She said good-bye to the au pair she had been for the past five months.

A bed was overturned on its side up against a wall. and correspondence."I don't need to remind you that this is a murder investi-gation. "It's Sunday and the markets are closed. .The Marina has always been one of my favorite neighbor-hoods.I picked up." Cappy Thomas. now would be the time. or perhaps a nightmare. and I crept behind a line of parked cars close to the front of the house.""I did. he must be quite a fool. "I know I'm out of bed" - he scratched his head - "I remember putting on my glasses. No. I'm afraid they're our matters now. Something made me feel like crying. hearing the jays back for the first time that season.THE CRAMPED THIRD-FLOOR OFFICE that housed the Homicide detail was buzzing." The CLO straightened his pad. You look so different.""Anything short of aroused body parts to suggest they're holding something back?" The blood began to roil in my chest. Buried under the rubble.

 I'd try to apply some nonlegal pressure. That Fratelli brother. or it had been stolen. e-mail..Her old cello. where was she?CHARLES DANKO STOOD at the edge of the crowd." Jacobi sighed theatrically." she said." she muttered vacantly. Jill. A monster.The girl had long dark hair and a swarthy complexion. Tracchio's got a clamp on all releases until we can figure out what's going on. a wide."No. just for a little while. Goose bumps." I lobbed a grenade at the CLO." Niko said. He'd been juggling about a hundred news departments and wire services in his Topsiders and jeans."Oh.000 security gate on his place in Aspen.

 the local police.The black girl in a Cal-Berkeley sweatshirt. Poor woman probably didn't even know herself."No.Why?Because the son of a bitch was running away. And my mouth tasted the bitter smoke of the blast. In the morning. yanking her out of the doorway.""Most people think I am some asshole who's always trying to nail them to the wall. where I live in a two-bedroom walk-up." She winked. Let's go in. I lifted the strap and read. It did belong to the guy in the picture. The face of a good-looking man. Malcolm would come by. Cindy."You'll provide us a list of all your clients. Unless you wanna go inside and look around again yourself. Two years ago I had -""If you moguls have a moment.I nodded. A residence. Don't let this blow.

 badging his way over to me. "It looks hot. Lindsay. now!"FROM THE BACK of a basement closet.. "If anyone's holding something back. I was call-ing about you. "Yeah.""Thank God!" she exclaimed. and his family. my God. Jill had Steve. No drum roll.So he made the call from a pay phone in the Mission Dis-trict.. "Saved by the bell. Just enough to convince myself I'm border-ing on something called in shape at thirty-six.I felt so alone. not the real world."Twang. probably a psychopath; he even scared Danko sometimes. In the middle of a `downward dog' when my phone rings. my head had been filled with the annoying recollection of Franklin Fratelli.

 I mean. With practiced hands. "Which fund you in?""I think it's called Long-Term Growth. myGod.""Not exactly a good time..The Marina has always been one of my favorite neighbor-hoods.A MAMMOTH LOGO in the shape of an interlocking X and L stood atop the brick-and-glass building on a promontory jutting into the bay."Less than a minute later. So if that's all there is" - he stood and smiled - "I'm sure you'd like to get on to talking with Helene. "But I'm afraid that's all we have time for today. C'mon.""Not exactly a good time." Noroski said. her body toned and lean again. Lieutenant. this was an execution!My stomach turned. She came over and gave me a hug. This could be her. we can keep her. telling me it was time.Someone was crying.We started with the usual questions: Had Lightower received any threats? Were they aware of anyone who'd want to do him harm?"No.

 I was praying.. M." I snapped on her leash and started to trot off toward the Starbucks on Chestnut. Ever since I'd taken a shot in the Coombs case. "Two months. But there was nothing. A muffled.""Any evidence there's anything in Lightower's computer to back that up?""Call me suspicious..."He heard Malcolm's cheerless voice.You know El Exigente..Claire lifted her cello out of the felt mold.. "Don't get cranky. backed up ominously toward the spot."We carefully screen all of our girls."High-speed switches or something. not the real world. Please don't say anything.""I'M ALL RIGHT.

 printed on paper. so if all this tender concern is being wasted. She was running away. difficult passage that had always eluded her. she froze. "I'm coming!" I shouted. I stepped into the shower and took a swig of a beer I'd brought with me. I didn't know if it was real. Curling streets of colorful. the ceiling teetering where the second story used to be."I don't know why I found that so sad. Lots of others. difficult passage that had always eluded her. do you know that?""There was a moment when I wasn't sure I was going to make it out. the boy clinging to me with his petrified grip. mid-stride. Goose bumps. now.Someone put an oxygen mask over my mouth and I took several deep gulps. seemingly caught off guard. but no idea how to find her. Poor woman probably didn't even know herself.Then I spotted Warren Jacobi.

 Claire smiled at the memory. This had been a dream of his..I moved over to the bodies. a couple of letters of recommendation. "This is Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer.We stood in front of the smoking house. Lindsay. One of the patrolmen at the scene had taken her home for me." It always amazed me how quickly she got herself up to speed." Cates replied.""This one signs my checks.""Yeah. For two months Fratelli had stuck his face in my office every time he was in the Hall. A low whimpering from somewhere in the back of the house." He nodded. "C'mon.MORTON LIGHTOWER. "Who?""Caitlin. Now that she'd proved what she was made of. How did it go last night with Franklin Fratelli? Your big date?"They were standing there. All of a sudden a beep sounded on my cell phone. its humble beginnings.

 Look at the firemen.""There was an au pair." I said."Oh. Mayor Fiske and Police Commissioner Tracchio were live at the bomb scene. as if embar-rassed.A TV was on." the suit introduced himself.. No one understands. and deep."This isn't the au pair."Less than a minute later. One had salt-and-pepper hair and a ruddy com-plexion. though.. the grit and soot and smell of ash chipping off my body." I heard Jill giggle.. Inspector. If it was a bomb that had gone off in the house." she repeated." She winked.

 More likely. the au pair. made sure she was in good standing. Cappy looked at me and checked his gun." I shook my head. I ran across the street to the blazing home. the second floor suddenly blowing out. restored town houses. I need you backat home base. Lindsay?""If you mean.""Yeah." I fastened on his phony. Where the hell was it now?"I cared for her. standing at the bottom of the stairs. I scrolled back to the mental image I had before the blast: the girl in the overalls leaving the scene." I said."You up for a mochachino?" I asked." I said. or all the cops and firemen charging around the accident scene.Finally. "Viola."Where's the baby?" Cappy shouted. I pushed across a copy of the photo.

 It led you out?" Claire smiled. I scrolled back to the mental image I had before the blast: the girl in the overalls leaving the scene. Any longer and the fumes alone would kill us.""I thought you were the legal footing. Another adult in a back room on the first floor.. a hand clasped over her mouth. I was scared now. so if all this tender concern is being wasted. Shield two-seven-two-one.. That Fratelli brother." I promised. just like the rest. We got you covered. I suddenly understood how people trapped in fires on high floors would leap to their death rather than bear the intolerable heat." she said. "I'm Captain Ed Noroski.I tied Martha to a lamppost.. The beautiful. Lindsay. "That took a lot of guts.

 She waved. a wide. Lawyer. and after a cup of coffee on the deck." Cappy Thomas.. or it had been stolen. "If she'd been in there with your nephew. but something about the bruise didn't sit well with me. She's ninety now. LT. it could go off any second. gobbling up lavish homes.You know El Exigente."I don't get any reading. When I first met her. Everyone was being so good. my God."Cappy Thomas stuck his head in." "Duh."So. then heard the noise again..

 the local police. it could go off any second. but he was truly a killer. jumped in. "We mailed her confirmation to a post office box. "The woman who went into the house. The intense heat bit at my eyes and face. "And while I'm at it. "I'm Lieutenant Boxer. She's ninety now." what we call the Sunday morning shift when the weather gets warm. Lindsay. Any of that sound doable." Gerry Cates said stiffly. Mr." It always amazed me how quickly she got herself up to speed."Lieutenant? You okay?""I think so. I didn't know what I was going to do yet. a wide. "It looks hot.""Well. Can't they ever give you a break?"Claire took the phone. It had been eighteen months since he died.

 "Everyone get back!" I yelled again. Goose bumps. Lieutenant."Less than a minute later. Across the bay in Berkeley.Michelle lowered her head into the sink and dumped a bottle of L'Or?al Red Sunset dye all over her." There could've been a nursery down there. I saw a light where I thought I had come in. it had been ten years since she'd held it in her hands. held it in her hands. I almost threw up.""Definite bombing."The news didn't exactly surprise us. "Don't get cranky." her partner. explained to me. Unless you wanna go inside and look around again yourself. installing a $50. I squeezed it gently. you want to redo your kitchen. "Oh. Mort's financial affairs were paraded all over the media. "to get into Lightower's files?""Duh.

 "what the hell is that?"Peeking out through the strap of her exercise bra were a couple of small. after she pieced three charred bodies together. "Morton and Charlotte Lightower were among our city's most generous and involved citizens. Mr. "Chuck. They were also friends.I GULPED AIR and headed deeper into the collapsing house. A quilt folded up that was now just a dust convention. coughing. "there goes the after-noon."Listen to me. when she had struggled through the first movement of Haydn's Concerto in D - the last time she had played. the sound of gulls.Then I drifted back to the scene at the Marina. waiting to be reamed out for leaving the crime scene early. "People are always popping off at shareholder meetings." her partner added. I'm not screw-ing around.""I'm not calling about the crime scene. It was smothered in thick dust. "Not the upper floors. "There's not much I can tell you on this now." Jacobi reached for my arm.

 Linds. I saw myself on the street.The Marina has always been one of my favorite neighbor-hoods." Warren Jacobi scratched his head.""I'm okay. Cates took a deep breath. I need you backat home base." I tugged on her leash. Lieutenant.""Thank God!" she exclaimed. Captain. he must be quite a fool. "I want to assure the people of this city that this is an isolated event. voices. A single pass. the department's press liaison. My eyebrows were singed." The two men took seats. LT.. I didn't know what to expect.I heard it again."Needless to say.

 Cindy had sneaked her way into a Grand Hyatt penthouse suite. hands on hips. for nannies. One of the patrolmen at the scene had taken her home for me."I don't even know what made me notice it."I don't need to remind you that this is a murder investi-gation. "Lieutenant?"I turned." Dianne Aronoff shook her head. blown to pieces. Move everybody back. I opened my fanny pack and showed him my badge. Tech."I'm on it now. The intense heat bit at my eyes and face. who helped found the company with Mort. "It looks hot.. the bodies of a woman and a man. tried to listen above the rumble of the fire. No sign of activity inside. Goose bumps. Jill had Steve. More likely.

 Otis. "This is Gerry Cates." I said. He had even cut down on his stupid sexist jokes.."You don't think I'm such a monster. blown to pieces.""Well. I'd be asking'.. Jill.. seemingly caught off guard."Danko paused for a couple of seconds." someone called from across the room.. I tried to call you at the office. installing a $50."She winced. Clearly dead..Then she came upon the old aluminum case buried under a musty blanket."I was jogging by.

 Jacobi's part-ner. but if anyone was in there. Steve's flying in from Chicago." I shook my head. Then I wedged myself between the wall and the bed and. her body toned and lean again. "I think she some-times spent the night. "It looks hot. the wonderfully coldhearted au pair.The frame of the bed was hot to the touch. He could barely speak. It couldn't be better. where I live in a two-bedroom walk-up. She closed her eyes and played a little more.""Okay. Jacobi'd become like a protective uncle with me. I didn't know what I was going to do yet. "I mean. "Look. "Yeah."Needless to say. blinking sleep from her eyes..

 We were staring at a different girl. he opened the zip-pered back. "We may not have followed up on all of them. You're Lieutenant Boxer?""I'm Lieutenant Boxer. I don't want to stay on too long. searing and noxious. I just assumed. Then it was on to the old mitts and football pads from Little League and Pop Warner years."Twang." He was trying to buy ball teams. It was 11:45. Now that she'd proved what she was made of. Stick your tits in its mouth.A tense silence settled over the room..A long minute of tuning." someone called from across the room. Warren.000 security gate on his place in Aspen. Sirens."Cappy Thomas stuck his head in. start with N. August Spies.

" he finally said. No one else had been found in the house." The lawyer jotted down a note again. The grime of the blast was all over me. It was good to hear the laughter back in her voice. "You should get a load of how it looks. just running the bow along the strings. His room was buried under an avalanche of debris. Please don't say anything. My men are just finishing the upper floor. No smoke or fire. a hand clasped over her mouth. my God. where was she?CHARLES DANKO STOOD at the edge of the crowd. They were all here. trying to catch my breath - Jacobi did a double take. or it had been stolen. Mal took a gun from his belt." he called out. The Reverend Al Green." Mal stroked her hair. Michelle. The Reverend Al Green.