i leaned my bike on the kick stand and decided to rest for a minute or two . i had to think . i spent days avoiding reality , and now it was time to face the truths . dammon was gone . it took all i had to keep the image of his mangled body from rising to the surface of my mind . i could feel it constantly bobbing there , threatening to
emerge

plus a handful of foster fathers who had been decent men , like cat 's dad . that was it . i did n't know how to read mr. gold . and i could n't bring myself to think of him as devin . that name was too familiar , too romantic , too college student . it would be too easy to forget he was my employer if i was thinking of him as
devin

nick nodded and pulled a business card for inside his tuxedo . he handed it to the man . '' yeah , i 'm nick case with the evening times . he was supposed to come with me , but you know newspapers . '' nick made a contrite expression . the man looked down at the business card and handed it back to
nick