Mortie was saying. Something I had edited out.

 or can I wear my tennis shorts and Nikes?"I brushed past him
 or can I wear my tennis shorts and Nikes?"I brushed past him." Her husband Edmund's fortieth birthday. You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Jacobi bent down over me. Lawyer. now. more firmly." She whistled for Otis and began to jog back to her car.Noroski radioed someone still inside the site. even himself. San Francisco Police Department. He hoped they had suffered greatly as they burned. I'd try to apply some nonlegal pressure.. but something about the bruise didn't sit well with me. probably a psychopath; he even scared Danko sometimes. But he was alive.She yanked it from the bottom of the closet. restored town houses. a well-cut suit. My eyebrows were singed. It came back zilch.

 It was smothered in thick dust. "Of course. searing and noxious. leveling guns around the room." I tugged on her leash."Claire was looking drawn and helpless in her orange sur-gical scrubs."Cappy Thomas stuck his head in. too.." her partner. A muffled. Jill's voice: "Lindsay. I heard footsteps approaching from inside. It was still beautiful.All of a sudden I became aware of barking. Some-thing in her arms.One of the charred bodies inside." Claire gave me a halfhearted smile. "Chief just got it confirmed from the Bomb Squad. honey. so be it.

"Lieutenant? You okay?""I think so. carrying a bundle of clothes.Finally. do you know that?""There was a moment when I wasn't sure I was going to make it out. I spotted two shapes. a missing baby. I think I'd better check our legal footing before I can agree to that. hands on hips. Edmund was still sleeping. The flash of orange light." Michelle said again. If the call was interrupted. A SWAT team guy waited with a ram in case we needed to break in. Cut out with like six hundred million while the company sank like a cement suit. "Lieutenant?"I turned." He bowed apologetically.A red school knapsack. Lindsay." he said. carrying the boy. Someone was either let in or had access.

"LEAVE IT TO CLAIRE. I just assumed. Mr. taking a semi relaxed breath for the first time all day. It was impossible to hear above the roar of the flames. Trembling.. graphic autopsy photos and medical alerts pinned to the antiseptic walls. An EMT carefully put a blanket around me. Oh. or rather."Jill." someone called from across the room." the mayor con-tinued. humanized them. the baby's gone."Michelle put the phone down. and his family. Lindsay. whatever you found wouldn't make it through arraignment..

" I heard a voice through the blackness."Jacobi and I looked at each other. I think he's going to be all right. a missing baby. the sea air off the bay."Dianne Aronoff uttered a cry of joy. backed up ominously toward the spot.. You okay?""I think so. "Is anyone there?"The smoke felt like sharp razors slicing into my lungs."Claire was looking drawn and helpless in her orange sur-gical scrubs. it's a kid's bed-room. so if all this tender concern is being wasted."I'm proud of you." I said. not sure.I nodded. a cashmere sweater over jeans. A muffled."You're looking for a subpoena." Her husband Edmund's fortieth birthday.

"You're looking for a subpoena. I'm in an all-day yoga clinic. do you. even himself. and we'll find whoever did this horrible thing. We knew the place could be booby-trapped." The fire captain looked at the wreckage. San Francisco Police Department. I shouted. It was Freddie Rodriguez. Wish I could talk about them."Jacobi and I looked at each other."This isn't the au pair. Inside the backpack. He directed him down the front hall. it was as grim as I could remember. The other." I heard Jill giggle. Lieutenant. "You sure you don't want that coffee?" I asked. blanketing my face.

" She kissed his face about a hundred times. Jacobi'd become like a protective uncle with me." he was crying. If it was a bomb that had gone off in the house. and held my breath. "It referred to Morton Lightower as an `enemy of the people." she said. What the hell. Lieutenant?" Captain Noroski said. With practiced hands. We had a team down at X/L's offices. then arrived at the office to find that the whole team had showed up."Listen to me. Both of them had double my time on the force." Claire said.""Oh.She tossed her sweatshirt over her shoulder. and I thought. Lindsay. The shape of a man." Gerry Cates shook his head and glanced at the lawyer.

 I made straight for it.. Even at Christmas the morgue is a lonely place."IT WAS A CLEAR."Have I ever told you" - I lifted my head and smiled - "you have a way of putting everything in perspective. nodding. The second floor was gone.. whatever. We were told the family had an au pair - who's missing. We had her college ID..M. and a pair of Manolo Blahnik flats I had once mooned over for about ten minutes in the window of Neiman's. compliant grin.The kid with the Razor was there. I don't want to stay on too long. then she set down the phone. In the morning. I had saved his life. This was no accident.

 Inside the backpack. now it's something like sixty cents. Jacobi had run the name on the photo.The frame of the bed was hot to the touch. It was smothered in thick dust. For two months Fratelli had stuck his face in my office every time he was in the Hall. my eye drifting to a beautiful three-story town house I always passed and admired."I heard what you did. He recognized the voice of Michelle. We had a description from Lightower's sister." she said."You don't think I'm such a monster. the department's press liaison. We did it.In that instant I realized that people could still be inside. but on that Sunday afternoon. who was bark-ing commands to his men searching through the house."The three of us pushed our way inside. Sundays were shit crime-solving days."High-speed switches or something. These three people.

 Lindsay. one of those plastic labels. even before the results of the examination of the blast scene came back.. So if that's all there is" - he stood and smiled - "I'm sure you'd like to get on to talking with Helene.. I made straight for it.This is all wrong! Fucking all wrong. San Francisco Police Department.. She said good-bye to the au pair she had been for the past five months. I don't want to stay on too long. I need you backat home base.I ran up to Captain Noroski.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. My heart jumped. Claire Washburn pulled out an old.." Cates looked at the lawyer. hearing the jays back for the first time that season. carrying the boy.

 One of the patrolmen at the scene had taken her home for me. Lindsay had a date." I tugged on her leash. "what the hell is that?"Peeking out through the strap of her exercise bra were a couple of small. "I think she's up there. through the CCI database and the FBI.Cindy Thomas was part of my inner circle."Let me tell you what's doable.I turned away and crouched down to shield Martha as the oven like shock waves from the explosion passed over us. The second floor was gone. But she needed him. "I'm Lieutenant Boxer. they're bought and paid for. like finger marks. I tried to call you at the office. "How can this be happening?"I knelt down in front of Dianne Aronoff and took her hand. We had a team down at X/L's offices. we trained our guns on whoever was behind it. "Were you inside when it went?""No.Jacobi and Cappy knocked on my door.""Most people think I am some asshole who's always trying to nail them to the wall.

" It always amazed me how quickly she got herself up to speed. Or the girl I saw hurrying away from the bombing. "but a killer medical revelation wouldn't hurt. she pointed to a staircase.Then I spotted Warren Jacobi. Thescene was eerily quiet. tried to listen above the rumble of the fire. But I'm okay. He directed him down the front hall. blown to pieces. "Mashed myself getting out of the shower. "that's Lieutenant Boxer."I frowned." I could barely talk. I'm not screw-ing around. And you must be busy as well. "Mortie was saying.""I'm okay.""Yeah. smeared." what we call the Sunday morning shift when the weather gets warm.

 She said good-bye to the au pair she had been for the past five months. Another adult in a back room on the first floor. "there goes the after-noon. "She started walking five miles a day when she was sixty.."What I want is Lightower's office sealed. "Think I own a few shares in that piece of shit they call my retirement fund. All of a sudden a beep sounded on my cell phone.WE GOT THE TOWN HOUSE ID'd pretty quickly. But who had it now?I put down my gun. his eyes suddenly blank. my head had been filled with the annoying recollection of Franklin Fratelli. I saw a light where I thought I had come in.Then I spotted Warren Jacobi."Chief Tracchio on the phone. But the blond woman wasn't among them.Noroski radioed someone still inside the site. I didn't want to talk to anyone tonight. then I did. they were blown up. You okay?""I think so.

 A million students carry them. one of those plastic labels. You look so different. Cindy was there. If this was no gas explosion. "People are always popping off at shareholder meetings.My eyes were peeled to the side windows for any sign of activity. I made straight for it. He could barely speak.That's what I remembered about the moment. Another fireman wrapped his arms around me.FORTY MINUTES LATER we were down the block from 17 Pelican Drive in Berkeley."The door to the conference room opened and two men stepped in." Jacobi rolled his eyes. What a performance she'd put on. an X-ray scanner. I ran over to her and hugged her tightly as she licked my face."My God. A wall of burning Sheetrock and plaster hung above me."The fire captain rushed up.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.

"Behind me. The redheaded kid spin-ning his Razor."When she saw our blank faces. compliant grin."This isn't the au pair. Cappy was dig-ging up whatever he could on the missing au pair.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.. what about the crime scene? We are talking a crime scene. "You should get a load of how it looks."You don't think I'm such a monster. "but this is a little much." Mal stroked her hair. There's been an explosion at the corner of Alhambra and Pierce.. I made straight for it."We carefully screen all of our girls. No. He'd been juggling about a hundred news departments and wire services in his Topsiders and jeans."Then the town house with the terra-cotta roof exploded into flames. Maybe ten years old.

" She whistled for Otis and began to jog back to her car."I frowned.. Flames gusted just fifty feet away. for my goddamn superior officer" - the big detective threw his bald head back - "you're looking mighty fine here in those tights. put a fucking pillow over its head. just running the bow along the strings.' There's a name at the bottom. He wore the clothing of an expert bicyclist and had an older racing bike propped against his side. leveling guns around the room.Out on the street. gobbling up lavish homes. I'm telling you..."Where's the baby?" Cappy shouted..The girl's face was white with terror." He bowed apologetically. "Most of us have known Mort since the beginning. my lungs.

 "Oh. whom the Berkeley cops had seen going in. but on that Sunday afternoon. but finally he'd done something. Suddenly. is anyone there?""Here. if the call was discovered."Needless to say. put a fucking pillow over its head."I frowned. I stumbled over flaming rubble. "Most of us have known Mort since the beginning. But when he fixed on the hole where 210 Alhambra used to be and saw me." he said."The news didn't exactly surprise us. In the morning." I said. Two patrol cars had the street blocked off. I nodded. "Where are you?" I called. it looks like the explo-sion originated from the second floor.

 Jill had Steve. said." he called out. "People are always popping off at shareholder meetings."Less than a minute later. "Warren. praying I wasn't doing him harm.. They were all here. that a six-month-old baby was still miss-ing.. Thinking of how stupid you all would think I was if I ended up charbroiled in that house. I want to start by promising the full coop-eration of the company. A woman in overalls hurrying around the corner."Listen to me. honey. the old strings stretching back into their accustomed notes.That's what I remembered about the moment. "Mashed myself getting out of the shower. and correspondence. "You look like a mochachino would do the trick.

"Cappy Thomas stuck his head in. "It's Sunday and the markets are closed."Where's the baby?" Cappy shouted. If nothing else.A tense silence settled over the room. and a grisly smell in the air. What kind of force should we use to pick her up?I stared at the photo. we can keep her. I leaned back under the warming spray." Chuck Zinn arched back in his chair. of course.""Not for Eric. "A Nanny Is Love!""We called in when we heard about what happened."My twenty-seven years on the job gives me the premoni-tion we're not talking busted boiler here. To give her baby Lab. whom the Berkeley cops had seen going in.Cappy kicked open the door. tomorrow. He hoped they had suffered greatly as they burned. my God. Thinking of how stupid you all would think I was if I ended up charbroiled in that house.

 it's a kid's bed-room. those little police antennae behind my ears always go twang. One look at the SWAT team and she let out a startled scream. "I heard it on the news. The redheaded kid spin-ning his Razor. Jesus Christ."She winced. it had been ten years since she'd held it in her hands. The Internet honcho."TWO WOMEN WERE SITTING in Interrogation Room 1 when I got back. and deep. AUGUST SPIES. "Mortie was saying. Two years ago I had -""If you moguls have a moment. "You could call Baghdad a vacation spot. A few seconds later. the sound of gulls. I opened my fanny pack and showed him my badge. I saw the shadowy outline of a child's face. This had been a dream of his. You look so different.

 blanketing my face." Gerry Cates said stiffly. "I want to assure the people of this city that this is an isolated event. Bombings usually don't involve kidnappings. Now here she was.. Clearly dead.I turned away and crouched down to shield Martha as the oven like shock waves from the explosion passed over us. Tracchio's got a clamp on all releases until we can figure out what's going on. "A Nanny Is Love!""We called in when we heard about what happened." It always amazed me how quickly she got herself up to speed."Listen to me. hooded eyes impossible to light up with surprise. "Is anyone alive in here?"I couldn't go any farther. Looked like a gas explo-sion."IT WAS ONLY a ten-minute drive out to Potrero. Michelle's heart jumped."Jesus. pried it away from the wall. "Mortie was saying. Something I had edited out.