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.""Yeah, look what it got me.A piece-of-shit office with a piece-of-shit license on the wall.I sit in a room where they used to cut babies out of women.It's not very noble.""Look, everybody on the force knew there was something noble about what you did, else you wouldn't be selling any insurance.You did what you did for your partner.You should follow through, now."Bledsoe turned his head and looked at one of the photos on the wall.It was him and another man, arms around each other's neck, smiling with abandon.It looked like it had been taken in a bar somewhere during the good days."'The fever called living is conquered at last,"' he said, without looking away from the photo.I slapped MY hand down on the book.The sound scared us both."Got it," I said and picked up the book.I had bent the pages of the poems where the killer's quotes had been taken.I found the page with the poem "For Annie" on it, scanned until I knew I was right, then put the book on the desk and turned it so he could read it."First stanza," I said.Bledsoe leaned over to read the poem.Thank Heavenly the cris The danger is past, And the lingering illness Is over at lastAnd the fever called "Living" Is conquered at last.As I hurried through the lobby of the Hilton at four, Greg Glenn slowly making his way behind his desk and heading toward the daily news meeting in the metro conference room.I needed to talk to him and I knew that if I didn't snag him first he'd be holed up in that meeting and the weekend meeting that followed for the next two hours.As I approached the elevators I saw a woman stepping through the open doors of the one available car and quickly followed her in.She had already pushed the 12 button.I moved to the rear of the car and checked my watch again.I thought I was going to make it.The editors' meetings never seemed to get off on time.The woman had moved to the right side of the car and we had settled into the slightly uncomfortable silence that always comes when strangers are enclosed in an elevator.In the polished-brass trim on the door I could see her face.Her eyes watched the lights over the doors that marked our ascent.She was very attractive and I found it hard to turn away from the reflection, even though I feared she would turn her eyes and catch me.I imagined that she knew I was watching her.I've always believed that beauffw women know and understand they are always being watched.When the elevator opened on twelve I waited for her to step out first.She turned to the left and headed down the hall.I turned right and headed to my room, stopping myself from taking a backward glance at her.As I approached my door, pulling the card key out of my shirt pocket, I heard light steps on the hallway carpet.I turned and it was her.She smiled."Wrong way.""Yeah," I said and smiled."After a while it's all a maze.Dumb thing to say, I thought as I opened the door and she passed behind me.As I entered the room, I felt a hand suddenly grip the back of my jacket collar and I was shoved into the room.As this happened another hand went up under my jacket and grabbed onto my belt.I was slammed facedown onto the bed.I managed to hold on to the computer bag, not wanting to drop a two-thousand-dollar piece of equipment, but then it was roughly yanked out of my grasp."FBI! You're under arrest.Don't move!"While one hand stayed on the back of my neck and held me facedown, the other hand patted my body in a search."What the fuck is this?" I managed to say in a voice muffled by the mattress.Just as suddenly as they had gripped me, the hands were gone."Okay, up.Let's go."I turned and raised myself until I was seated on the bed.I looked up.It was the woman from the elevator.My mouth dropped open a little.Something about being handled so easily by her, and her alone, burned me deeply and anger flushed my cheeks."Don't worry.I've done it to bigger and badder men than YOU.""You better have an ID or you're going to need a lawyer."She pulled a wallet out of her coat pocket and flipped it open in front of my face."You're the one who needs the lawyer
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