Well, I guess I better go find a seat. It makes you look something like that old-time movie actor, Quane said. Hell, hes dead now and I cant even remember his name, but he used to be in a lot of pictures with... uh... Myrna Loy. Sometime just after dusk, Karens car had skidded off a narrow road up on top of one of those steep limestone cliffs in the eastern rural part of the town. A passerby had noticed a stray beam of light angling up from the creek far below the cliff. Hed gotten out of the car to see what had happened and inched his way down inthe stinging downpour. Hed related all this to the reporter in excited tones. The car had been crushed in on itself from rolling over two or three times. He said he’d seen a woman trapped inside. There was no way he could extract her. He’d brought a flashlight with him. From what he could see of her bloody face, he’d assumed she was dead. He’d called 911. They’d needed the jaws of life to extract her. He’d been surprised to hear the ambulance tech say she was still alive. Mason said,Very well, Your Honor. I have two or three additional questions to ask about the purse itself, As he neared the city he got a call from Campbell. Well, I said. How long was he there? He wanted this one. He said he always used it when he was a kid. The sky was clear, the heat already percolating over the fingertips of the skyscrapers. At lunchtime the funneled warmth between buildings, coupled with billions of tons and thousands of acres of reflective concrete and glass, respectively, would spike the temperature on the ground to near volcanic proportions, or so it would seem to the clothed inhabitants just trying to earn a buck or enjoy their holiday. I have computer stop count at one hundred forty-one thousand three hundred and twelve different properties, assets, and businesses. In fifty-seven countries, but most of it in America. That is tip of iceberg. It is serious shit. In all fifty states. And they are buried deep, so nobody will find out. I track Locust Group through shell companies, consortiums, SPACs, investment funds, tax shelters, CBOs, derivatives, debt funds. They own whole fuckin towns in Idaho and Wyoming and Montana and Alabama and Arkansas and other places. And they own whole blocks in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, and other big cities. Gold and silver mines, uranium, chemical, and manufacturing plants, oil refineries. They own sports teams and TV and radio stations and newspapers and streaming platforms, social media sites and a whole shitload of other stuff. Never seen anything like it, dude. I mean, not even Putin is this fuckin big, and never in my life did I think I would ever say that. I dont need bail, Im in a motorcycle shop on Third Avenue, almost at P.J.s. No. Chapter 75 Devine wasnt listening to any of this because it didnt matter. He was focused on the business of combat. In his mind the dimensions of the room shrank down into a close-quarters battle zone. All right, think about your circle of acquaintances: Do you know anyone who might want to kill you? And not just the women. It is if you remember to pack your passport. You know some people are going to think that Dorsey was behind this..