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  "Am I interrupting?" Detective Bledsoe stood in the door, a white paper bag in his hand.

  "Not at all." Ellie gently pulled free. "I need to make some calls. I promised George." She kissed Asher then hurried out.

  Bledsoe unpacked his bag onto Asher's bedside tray. He had two cups of coffee and an apple strudel.

  "Are you going to arrest me?" Asher asked uneasily.

  Bledsoe smiled. "Just for old times' sake?"

  "How's Detective Smythe?"

  "Pissed."

  Asher laughed. "I guess that's a really good sign."

  Bledsoe cut the strudel and put a fat slice in front of Asher. "I've got some answers for you."

  Asher raised an eyebrow, then flinched.

  Bledsoe pointed to the cuts on his face. "You need to learn to duck better."

  "I hope never to be in that situation again, in real life."

  The detective uncovered his coffee and took a long sip. Asher loaded his with the cream and sugar Bledsoe had dropped on the tray.

  "It really was about your money." Bledsoe handed him a piece of paper. It was a copy of a codicil to Asher's will, signed by him and witnessed by Pam Mitchells and Don Tognarelli, leaving everything to Scott. The fact that it was written on Monopoly money taped together apparently didn't detract from the legality of the document. "Do you remember signing that?"

  Asher shook his head. "No."

  "Looks like Mrs. Mitchells and Mr. Tognarelli might have."

  "Is this legal?"

  "Signed and witnessed." Bledsoe shrugged. "At the very least a legal toe hold. But it's moot now."

  "I would have given it all to him to keep someone alive," Asher said. "Money. It was all just greed."

  "Oh, I think there was a lot more than greed in the mix. A little crazy and a whole lot of meth was driving it. I imagine it worked up from a scam to an obsession over the years as the drugs ate away his brain."

  Asher folded the paper. "But it's over now."

  "For him."

  A nervous shiver pricked up goose bumps on his arms. "What does that mean?"

  Bledsoe looked surprised. "It means you've got a life to live, a career to fix and a boy to raise." He drained his cup and tossed it into the trash. "And I've got a stack of paperwork to fill out." He gave Asher a salute and ambled out the door.

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49