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tomekkorbak

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[ "A nonvolatile semiconductor memory, such as an erasable programmable read-only memory of the UV-erasable or electrically erasable type, is a device that can retain data when power is removed from the memory. ", "This function is performed with a group of memory-cell structures that store electronic charge. ", "An example of the charge-storage structure is a stacked floating-gate FET in which a regular control gate is situated over an insulation-surrounded floating gate. ", "When a voltage is applied to the control gate, charge is typically injected from the channel region of the FET onto the floating gate where the charge can be stored for a long time after the applied voltage is removed.", "\nThe floating gate must be surrounded by a dielectric film with good isolation properties to insure that the charge is retained. ", "One type of dielectric film consists of (a) a thin oxide-nitride-oxide (\"ONO\") composite layer situated between the floating and control gates and (b) a thermally grown oxide on the sidewalls of the floating gate. ", "The thin ONO layer is used not only to isolate the floating gate but also to couple high voltage from the control gate to the floating gate. ", "The thermal oxide on the sidewalls of the floating gate is used mainly as the isolation dielectric between the two gates.", "\nTo provide good electric isolation, the sidewall oxide generally has to be grown at a fairly high temperature, usually in excess of 1050.degree. ", "C. Also, the corners formed between the ONO and the sidewall oxide are likely to be potential weak points for charge leakage in the standard stacked-gate cell design. ", "These concerns impose severe restrictions in scaling down memory device size. ", "As devices are scaled down, the temperature to which they are exposed during formation must be minimized in order to insure the integrity of the thin gate oxide used in the memory cells. ", "The high oxidation temperature required to form the sidewall oxide becomes a major concern. ", "Furthermore, the ONO layer has to be thinned down to maintain the coupling efficiency between the control and floating gates as the gate oxide thickness is reduced. ", "This increases the likelihood of corner leakage between the ONO layer and sidewall oxide.", "\nPrior techniques for insulating a floating gate from a control gate in a semiconductor memory are illustrated in Sato U.S. Pat. ", "4,720,323. ", "Sato discloses a first technique in which an ONO composite layer is formed along the top of the floating gate and along the sidewalls of the floating gate extending in channel-length direction. ", "In a second technique disclosed in Sato, an ONO layer is formed along the top of the floating gate. ", "Oxide is subsequently provided along the floating-gate sidewalls extending in the channel-length direction. ", "In both techniques, oxide is provided along the floating-gate sidewalls extending in the channel-width direction.", "\nBoth of these techniques suffer from the previously discussed drawbacks. ", "In the first technique, the only oxide lying on the sides of the floating gate extending in the channel-length direction is the small thickness of the lower layer of the ONO layer. ", "This increases the likelihood of corner leakage between the floating and control gates. ", "In the second technique, a fairly thick layer of oxide must be formed along the exposed gate sidewalls extending in the channel-length direction. ", "Doing so normally requires that the gate oxide be exposed to high temperatures for an extended period of time which, in the case of scaled-down devices, could damage the integrity of the thin gate oxide.", "\nWhat is needed in view of these drawbacks is a process by which scaled-down nonvolatile semiconductor memories can be formed without directly exposing the gates of the memory cells to excessive temperatures for extended periods of time while still enabling the floating gate in each cell to be properly isolated from the control gate." ]

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[ "difference between malloc and new\n\nsimplest difference is malloc allocates memory but does not call the constructor.", "\nnew does call constructor\n\nsame way free deallocates memory does not call destructor delete does.", "\n\nmalloc/free are from C and C does not have classes and constructors for structs.", "\nC++ does and hence in C++ should always use new/delete.", "\n(I would say use shared_ptr, unique_ptr but C++11 capable compilers are not commonplace yet)\n\nMalloc purely allocates memory for you to use. ", "You tell it how many bytes you need and it returns a void*, which you have to cast.", "\nNew instantiates an object by allocating enough memory for it and then calling its constructor. ", "It's much higher level than malloc.", "\n\nDelete is the opposite of new, and calls the objects' destructors before deallocating the memory.", "\nFree just takes a void* and deallocates the block of memory the pointer points to." ]

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[ "Q:\n\nRedis publish encoded data\n\nI have data encoded as: \n\"{\\\"brand\\\":\\\"newBrand\\\",\\\"Id\\\":\\\"1\\\",\\\"field\\\":\\\"1\\\",\\\"date\\\":1437487498449,\\\"period\\\":2,\\\"newUser\\\":0}\"\n\nCan I publish these data as is with PUBLISH command or I have to parse into some other format and then PUBLISH new formatted data? ", "\nI want to publish these data and show them on the frontend (table).", "\n\nA:\n\nYes you can. ", "PUBLISH sends data as is and then the rest depends on how you use it.", "\n\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "StackExchange" }

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[ "Share Article\n\nHow would you like to be 32% stronger in just 4 weeks? ", "If that seems like a daunting goal, then you might be interested in a noteworthy study recently conducted by medical and physiology researchers in Miami, Florida and presented at a high-profile conference of the prestigious American College of Sports Medicine. ", "Athletes participating in the 4-week, open-label study combined consumption of MyoZene™, a breakthrough specialized protein hydrolysate formula, with a 6-day split-body weight training program. ", "The results, as documented in the study presentation, included increases in strength of 24% mid-study and 32% at study's end. ", "This MyoZene™ study is the first study ever to show such profound increases.", "\n\nThese results are truly impressive in a short period of time. ", "It is clear BioQuest has done their homework. ", "MyoZene™ represents a unique formula based on cutting edge science.", "\n\nManasquan, NJ (PRWEB)May 31, 2008\n\nScientific advancements tend to come in very small increments. ", "If a new compound or technology or product can register even a tiny improvement over the status quo, scientists will be very happy. ", "That's why, when a peer-reviewed clinical study presented at a major sports medicine conference links a specific breakthrough protein-and-creatine supplement to muscular endurance and strength increases as high as 32% over a mere four weeks, experts in the sports nutrition field stop everything and take notice.", "\n\nIn this widely celebrated case, the product is a highly advanced whey protein hydrolysate formula from BioQuest called MyoZene™. ", "MyoZene's extraordinary muscle-building power appears to be driven by a unique specialized protein source hydrolyzed to such a high degree that it is absorbed directly into the bloodstream within minutes of consumption, igniting muscle synthesis and accelerating lean mass growth. ", "The study's results--26% to 32% strength increases recorded via measurement of physical output in a series of upper-body and lower-body exercises over 4 weeks--were documented in a landmark study conducted by Dr. Douglas Kalman and associates and presented at a high-profile annual conference of the prestigious American College of Sports Medicine.", "\n\nNeedless to say, the presentation, held in an afternoon session on Friday, May 30th at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, drew widespread attention from doctors, researchers, and supplement manufacturers. ", "Many in attendance, even those who were already familiar with MyoZene™ and its remarkable anabolic efficacy, were openly astonished at the results derived from the study. ", "In the past, measured strength increases of 5% to 15% have been championed as considerable achievements. ", "Increases of 26% to 32% are entirely without precedent.", "\n\nThe report (1), derived from a study conducted by a well-known pharmaceutical research firm and entitled \"An Open Label Clinical Trial Evaluating the Effects of MyoZene™ with Resistance Training on Changes in Body Composition and Muscle Strength,\" utilized normal well-experienced weight lifters who were recruited to train using a program advocated by the American College of Sports Medicine for muscle gain (a hypertrophy program organized by the prominent researcher Dr. William Kraemer).", "\n\nEach study participant underwent upper- and lower-body strength testing and body composition analysis, followed by a six-day-per-week split-body-part exercise routine. ", "Test measurements included muscular strength/endurance and key markers of special interest to athletics coaches. ", "Within the test's time frame (one month), the MyoZene™-receiving subject group gained 26% to 32% strength/muscular endurance. ", "The MyoZene™-drinking subjects (ingesting one serving within 45 minutes of finishing the exercise session) also gained approximately 2.2 pounds of lean muscle within the month, while reducing some fat too. ", "The increases in strength from baseline were 24% mid-study and 32% at study end. ", "No safety concerns were noted in the study.", "\n\nThis electrifying study result represents a clear validation of recent research that suggests that ultra-rapid-action protein hydrolysates are necessary in shutting down catabolism and bolstering muscle anabolism in the extremely short muscle-building time-window after intense workouts. ", "BioQuest's MyoZene™ has emerged as the gold standard among these rapid-action protein hydrolysates, based on the quality of its source, a hydrolyzed protein so highly processed it actually bypasses the normal digestion process and is absorbed directly into the bloodstream within minutes of consumption. ", "Researchers theorize that this lightning-swift process allows critical amino acids to be transported to muscle tissue swiftly enough to impact muscle gene expression and ignite muscle synthesis. ", "One such researcher, Jeff S. Volek PhD, RD, a widely respected Nutrition and Exercise Researcher at UConn, when asked for his comments on the groundbreaking MyoZene™ study, said \"These results are truly impressive in a short period of time. ", "It is clear BioQuest has done their homework. ", "MyoZene™ represents a unique formula based on cutting edge science.\"", "\n\nEven as this MyoZene™ study has become the talk of the American College of Sports Medicine's Indiana conference, top athletes are already making their preferences known with their purchasing decisions. ", "Since its introduction in 2007, MyoZene™ has rapidly emerged as one of the most sought-after products in the quest for extreme muscle growth. ", "Meanwhile, new clinical tests on MyoZene™ and its anabolic effects are planned for the immediate future." ]

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[ "Chiroptical nature of two-exciton states of light-harvesting complex: Doubly resonant three-wave-mixing spectroscopy.", "\nPhotosynthetic light-harvesting complex is a coupled multichromophore system. ", "Due to electronic couplings between neighboring chlorophylls in the complex, the one- and two-exciton states are delocalized and they can be written as linear combinations of singly and doubly excited configurations, respectively. ", "Despite that the chiroptical properties of one-exciton states in such a multichromophore system have been investigated by using linear optical activity measurement techniques; those of two-exciton states have not been studied before due to a lack of appropriate measurement methods. ", "Here, we present a theoretical description on chiroptical chi((2)) spectroscopy and show that it can be used to investigate such properties of a photosynthetic light-harvesting system, which is the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex, consisting of seven bacteriochlorophylls in its protein subunit. ", "To simulate the doubly resonant sum- and difference-frequency-generation spectra of the complex, one- and two-exciton transition dipoles were calculated. ", "Carrying out quantum chemistry calculations of electronically excited states of a model bacteriochlorophyll system and taking into account the dipole-induced dipole electronic transition processes between the ground state and two-exciton states, we could calculate the two-dimensional sum-frequency-generation spectra revealing dominant second-order chiroptical transition pathways and involved one- and two-exciton states. ", "It is believed that the present computational scheme and the theoretically proposed doubly resonant two-dimensional three-wave-mixing spectroscopy would be of use to shed light on the chiroptical natures of two-exciton states of arbitrary coupled multichromophore systems." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts" }

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[ "What do Cher, Willow Smith, Susan Sarandon and Frances Bean Cobain have in common? ", "Why, they’re all Marc Jacobs muses, of course.", "\n\nCobain is starring in Jacobs’ spring/summer 2017 campaign. ", "In an interview with Vogue, the 24-year-old rock offspring called Jacobs an “underdog for the masses,” for whom she made an exception when she agreed to model.", "\n\n“I wouldn’t have done it with anyone other than Marc,” she said.", "\n\nIn the debut image, Cobain wears an embellished long-sleeve dress with minimal hair and makeup. ", "Her own personal style ― vintage T-shirts and black jeans ― sounds decidedly grunge. ", "But her feelings about ‘90s fashion, which her parents Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain helped inspire, might surprise you.", "\n\n“I don’t fucking care what they did in the ’90s,” she told Vogue. “", "I wasn’t around and it’s not relevant to me. ", "Yes, the ’90s were influential, for sure, but it’s just not my cup of tea. ", "When it’s shoved down your throat every day for 24 years, you just stop caring.”", "\n\n“I find it interesting where grunge originated from, and then where it was taken, which was high fashion,” she added. “", "My dad was so poor that they kept going to Goodwill to get donated ripped jeans. ", "It wasn’t a fashion decision; it was an ‘I don’t have any money, I have no other choice’ type of decision.”" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2" }

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[ "Bcl-2/caspase 3 mucosal imbalance favors T cell resistance to apoptosis in dogs with inflammatory bowel disease.", "\nCanine idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is believed to result from complex interplay between genetic, microbial, and immunologic factors. ", "Abnormal cell death by apoptosis may result in the persistence of activated intestinal T cells that contribute to mucosal inflammation and clinical severity. ", "To test this hypothesis, we investigated the mucosal expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins in different intestinal compartments and their association with inflammatory indices in dogs with IBD. ", "Apoptosis of lamina propria (LP) T cells in duodenal, ileal, and colonic tissues in control and IBD dogs was analyzed by caspase 3/Bcl-2 immunohistochemistry and TUNEL assays. ", "Densities and distributions of LP caspase 3 and Bcl-2 cells were correlated to histopathologic lesions and the clinical activity index (CIBDAI). ", "Compared to control tissues, IBD dogs had significantly (P<0.01) fewer caspase 3 cells in colonic mucosa. ", "Double immunostaining identified the majority of apoptotic cells as TUNEL(+)/caspase 3(+). ", "Within intestinal mucosa of IBD dogs, there were significantly greater numbers of Bcl-2 cells at the apical and basilar villus in the duodenum as compared to the colon and to the apical and basilar villus in the ileum (P<0.001 for all comparisons). ", "There were significantly greater numbers of Bcl-2 cells at the apical and basilar villus of the duodenum but significantly fewer numbers of Bcl-2 cells at the apical villus of the ileum in IBD dogs compared with controls (P<0.001, P<0.001, and P<0.02, respectively). ", "There was a significant association between the number of Bcl-2 cells in the duodenum of IBD dogs and the CIBDAI (P<0.001 each for mild, moderate and severe clinical IBD). ", "In conclusion, apoptosis of T lymphocytes varies within intestinal compartments of dogs with IBD. ", "Mucosal imbalance of Bcl-2/caspase 3 expression favors T cell resistance to apoptosis which may contribute to T cell accumulation and chronic intestinal inflammation, similar to human IBD." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts" }

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[ "Steward Creek\n\nSteward Creek is a stream in Freeborn County, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. ", "It was named for Hiram J. Steward, an early settler.", "\n\nSee also\nList of rivers of Minnesota\n\nReferences\n\nCategory:Rivers of Freeborn County, Minnesota\nCategory:Rivers of Minnesota" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)" }

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[ "---\nauthor:\n- |\n Guy Flint\\\n \\\nbibliography:\n- 'hoff\\_library.bib'\n- 'coupling\\_library.bib'\n- 'homemade\\_library.bib'\ntitle: Wasserstein approximations of the Lévy area random walk via polynomial perturbations of Gaussian distributions\n---\n\n[0.3cm]{}[0.3cm]{}\n\n**Keywords.** [", "Wasserstein couplings, Lévy area, polynomial perturbations of Gaussian distributions.]{}", "\n\n`Guy.Flint@maths.ox.ac.uk`\n\nIntroduction\n============\n\nLet $W : t \\in[0,1]\\mapsto (W_1(t), \\ldots, W_d(t)) \\in \\RR^d$ be a standard Brownian motion and introduce notation for the Brownian and Lévy area increments as follows: given $N\\in\\NN$ (and $h=N^{-1}$), we set $$\\begin{aligned}\nW^{(j)}_k :&= W_k(jh,(j+1)h) := W_k((j+1)h)-W_k(jh);\\notag\\\\\nA^{(j)}_{kl} :&= \\frac{1}{2}\\int^{(j+1)h}_{jh} \\seq{W_k(jh,t)\\, dW_l(t) - W_l(jh,t)\\, dW_k(t)} = A_{kl}(jh,(j+1)h)\\label{e-original-increment}\\end{aligned}$$ and write $A^{(j)} = \\{A^{(j)}_{kl}\\}_{1\\leq k < l \\leq d} \\in \\RR^{\\frac{d}{2}(d-1)}$. Simulation of Lévy area increments is important for the numerical approximation of stochastic differential equations (for example, the $N$-step Milstein scheme [@mil1974approximate] requires $N$ Lévy area increments in order to achieve a strong approximation error of order $O(N^{-1})$). ", "In the case of $d=1$ it is a trivial exercise to generate iterated Brownian integrals but for $d\\geq 2$, this task becomes a hard problem. ", "In the case of $d=2$ efficient algorithms based on Fourier expansions are available for generating double integrals (that is, Lévy area increments $A^{(j)}$) but they involve a significant computational cost [@gaines1994random; @ryden2001simulation; @wiktorsson2001joint]. ", "The general case of $d>2$ is still out of reach. ", "The different coordinates of Lévy area are uncorrelated but not independent (as we will show in Lemma \\[l-area-decomposition\\] below), which makes joint simulation extremely difficult.", "\n\nAs an approximation of Lévy area, in the recent preprint [@davie2014kmt] Davie substitutes each $A^{(j)}$ with a suitable quadratic polynomial of Gaussian random variables denoted by $B^{(j)}$. The construction is such that $A^{(j)}$ and $B^{(j)}$ share the same mean and covariance structure along with the same underlying Brownian increment $W^{(j)}$. To introduce $B^{(j)}$ we must first closely examine the original Brownian Lévy area increments. ", "The following lemma gives a simple decomposition of $A^{(j)}$ into parts dependent and independent of the corresponding Brownian increment $W^{(j)}$.\n\n\\[l-area-decomposition\\] For all $1\\leq k < l \\leq d$: $$\\label{e-area-decomposition}\nA^{(j)}_{kl} = \\zeta^{(j)}_k W^{(j)}_l - \\zeta^{(j)}_l W^{(j)}_k + K^{(j)}_{kl},$$ where the $\\zeta^{(j)}_k$: $k=1,\\ldots,d$, $K^{(j)}_{kl}$: $1\\leq k < l \\leq d$, are mutually uncorrelated (but not independent), independent of $W^{(j)}$ and have mean zero. ", "Moreover, $$\\Var{\\zeta^{(j)}_k} = \\frac{1}{12N} \\gap\\text{ and }\\gap \\Var{K^{(j)}_{kl}}=\\frac{1}{12N^2}.$$\n\nWe suppose $j=0$ for simplicity and begin by decomposing the $A^{(0)}$ increment into parts dependent and independent of the Brownian increment $W(h)$. To this end, following [@davie2014pathwise §7] we can write $$W_k(t)=h^{1/2}B_k(t/h)+th^{-1/2}Z_k \\gap t\\in [0,h],$$ where $B_1,\\ldots,B_d$ are independent standard Brownian bridges on $[0,1]$ and $Z_k=h^{-1/2}W_k(h)$ are independent $N(0,1)$ random variables (which are independent of the $B_j$). ", "Also write $B_0(t)=t$ and set $$K_\\alpha := \\int^1_0 \\int^{t_l}_0 \\ldots \\int^{t_2}_0 dB_{j_1}(t_1)\\ldots dB_{j_l}(t_l)$$ for an index $\\alpha=(j_1,\\ldots,j_l) \\in \\{0,1\\ldots,d\\}^l$. For such an index it can be shown that (see [@davie2014pathwise §7]) $$I_\\alpha := \\int^h_0 \\int^{t_l}_0 \\ldots \\int^{t_2}_0 dW_{j_1}(t_1)\\ldots dW_{j_l}(t_l) = h^{(l(\\alpha)+n(\\alpha))/2}\\sum_{\\beta=(i_1,\\ldots,i_l)} K_\\beta \\prod_{k:i_k<j_k} Z_{j_k},$$ where the sum is over all $\\beta=(i_1,\\ldots,i_l)$ such that for each $k\\in\\seq{1,\\ldots,l}$ we have either $i_k=j_k$ or $i_k=0<j_k$. Here we have used $l(\\alpha)$ and $n(\\alpha)$ to denote the length and number of zero entries of $\\alpha$ respectively. ", "Noting the antisymmetry $K_{kl}=-K_{lk}$ for $0\\leq k < l$, it follows that $$\\begin{aligned}\nA^{(0)}_{12} \n&= \\frac{1}{2}\\bra{I_{12}-I_{21}} = h\\bra{K_{10}Z_2 - K_{20}Z_1+K_{12}},\\end{aligned}$$ where $$K_{12} = \\int^1_0 B_1(t)\\, dB_2(t) \\textup{ and } K_{j0} = \\int^1_0 B_j(t)\\, dt \\textup{ for } j\\in\\seq{1,2}.$$ Thus $\\zeta^{(0)}_j := h^{1/2}K^{(0)}_{j0}$ for $j=1,2$, and $K^{(0)}_{12} := hK_{12}$ gives the claimed decomposition. ", "The variances follow from Itô’s isometry. ", "For the calculations we refer to Lemma 7 of [@davie2014pathwise].", "\n\nThe fact that for fixed $j$, the increments $\\zeta^{(j)}$ and $K^{(j)}$ are not independent makes them (and consequently $A^{(j)}$) very difficult to simulate numerically. ", "A natural solution would be to approximate these two variables with normal random variables $z^{(j)}$, $\\lambda^{(j)}$ with the correct mean and moments, to produce a Gaussian approximation $B^{(j)}$ for $A^{(j)}$. Since uncorrelated Gaussian random variables are necessarily independent, simulation is much easier. ", "This is precisely what Davie proposes in [@davie2014kmt]; define the following independent normal random variables $$\\begin{aligned}\nW^{(j)} \\sim N\\bra{0,\\frac{1}{N}I_d}, \\,\\,\\,\\, z^{(j)} &\\sim N\\bra{0,\\frac{1}{12N}I_d},\\notag\\\\ \n\\lambda^{(j)} = (\\lambda^{(j)}_{kl})_{1\\leq k < l \\leq d} &\\sim N\\Big(0,\\frac{1}{12N^2}I_{\\frac{d(d-1)}{2}}\\Big),\\label{e-normal}\\end{aligned}$$ for each $j \\in \\{0,1,\\ldots,N-1\\}$. Then set $\\{B^{(j)}\\}_{1\\leq k < l \\leq d}$ to be quadratic polynomial $$\\label{e-b-def}\nB^{(j)}_{kl} := z^{(j)}_k W_l^{(j)} - z_l^{(j)}W_k^{(j)} + \\lambda_{kl}^{(j)}.$$\n\nThe main theorem of this paper constructs a coupling of the two random walks with respective increments $A^{(j)}$ and $B^{(j)}$ conditional on sharing the same underlying Brownian increments $W^{(j)}$.\n\n\\[t-coupling\\] For every $p\\in [1,\\infty)$, there exists a constant $C_p>0$ such that the following holds: given $N\\in\\NN$, we can construct a coupling between the i.i.d.", " sequence $\\{A^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$ and i.i.d.", " $\\{B^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$ random variables, with each pair $(A^{(j)}, B^{(j)})$ defined by (\\[l-area-decomposition\\]) and (\\[e-b-def\\]) using a common Brownian increment $W^{(j)} \\sim N(0,N^{-1}I_d)$, such that $$\\max_{r=1,\\ldots,N} \\abs{\\norm{ \\sum^{r-1}_{j=0} \\bra{A^{(j)}-B^{(j)}}}_{\\RR^{\\frac{d}{2}(d-1)}}}_{L^p} \\leq C_p \\frac{\\log N}{N}.$$\n\nThe fact that the random walks share the same Brownian increments is exploited in the paper [@flintCoupling] in order to reduce the complexity of the computations involved with the iterated Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula.", "\n\nOutline of the paper {#outline-of-the-paper .unnumbered}\n--------------------\n\nWe begin in the next section by presenting the Wasserstein metric from optimal transport theory. ", "We then give a short overview of polynomial perturbations of Gaussian measures. ", "Utilising the main results of the recent preprint [@davie2015poly], we then prove an extension of [@davie2014kmt Corollary 3] from quartics to higher order polynomial perturbations. ", "The final section of the paper then uses this extension together with a central limit theorem to generalise the original coupling proof of [@davie2014kmt Theorem 1] from a bound in the $2$nd Wasserstein metric $\\Ww_2$ to $\\Ww_p$ for general $p\\in [1,\\infty)$, thereby establishing Theorem \\[t-coupling\\].", "\n\nCoupling and Wasserstein metrics\n================================\n\nWe present a brief primer on the Wasserstein metric and couplings. ", "For more details we refer to Villani’s surveys in [@cedric2003topics; @villani2008optimal]. ", "Since we only work with probability measures on Euclidean space throughout the paper, we restrict our study of the Wasserstein metric to the space of probability measures on $\\RR^d$, denoted by $\\mathcal{P}(\\RR^d)$. The theory can be extended to general Polish spaces.", "\n\nGiven $p\\in [1,\\infty)$ let $\\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d) \\subset \\mathcal{P}(\\RR^d)$ denote the subspace of measures with finite $p$th moment: $$\\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d) := \\seq{\\mu\\in \\mathcal{P}(\\RR^d) : \\int_{\\RR^d} \\abs{x}^p \\, \\mu(dx) < \\infty}.$$\n\nFix $p\\in [1,\\infty)$. Given $\\mu,\\nu \\in \\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d)$, define the set of transport plans of $\\mu$ to $\\nu$ by $$\\Mm(\\mu,\\nu) := \\seq{ \\Phi : \\RR^d \\to \\RR^d \\mid \\Phi \\textup{ measurable and } \\Phi_*(\\mu) = \\nu}.$$ Here, $\\Phi_*(\\mu)$ denotes the pushforward measure of $\\mu$ under $\\Phi$: $$\\Phi_*(\\mu)(A) = \\mu\\bra{\\Phi^{-1}\\bra{A}} \\textup{ for all Borel sets }A\\subset \\RR^d.$$ The $p$th Wasserstein distance on $\\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d)$ (using $\\rho$) is defined as $$\\label{e-def-was}\n\\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu,\\nu} := \\bra{ \\inf_{\\Phi \\in \\Mm(\\mu,\\nu)} \\int_{\\RR^d} \\abs{x-\\Phi(x)}_\\infty^p\\, \\mu(dx)}^{1/p}.$$\n\nNote the Wasserstein metric can be defined using any metric on $\\RR^d$. We have chosen the uniform metric $\\abs{x-y}_\\infty := \\max_{i=1,\\ldots,d} \\abs{x_i-y_i}$ because it possesses the nice property that the size of the vector $z=(1,\\ldots,1) \\in \\RR^{d}$ does not grow as $d\\to\\infty$.\n\nCertainly we have $\\Ww_q(\\mu,\\nu) \\leq \\Ww_p(\\mu,\\nu)$ for all $1\\leq q \\leq p <\\infty$. This is analogous to the relation $L^q \\subseteq L^p$ for Lebesgue $L^p$-spaces.", "\n\nIt can be shown that $\\Ww_p$ is a genuine metric on $\\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d)$ ([@cedric2003topics Theorem 7.3]). ", "Moreover, the infimum (\\[e-def-was\\]) is actually a minimum under mild regularity conditions on the measures $\\mu,\\nu$ (for instance, a sufficient condition is that one of the measures is absolutely continuous with respect to Lebesgue measure). ", "The minimizing transport plan $\\hat{\\Phi}$ is unique but it is difficult to explicitly find $\\hat{\\Phi}$ because $\\Mm (\\mu,\\nu)$ possesses no convexity or linear structure in general. ", "However, in the case of $d=1$ classical optimal transport theory reduces the Wasserstein distance to an elegant formulation. ", "While we will not use this result in this paper, its inclusion may be useful for general orientation.", "\n\n[@rachev1998mass Theorem 3.1.2] Let $F$ and $G$ be distribution functions on $\\RR$ corresponding to probability measures $\\mu$ and $\\nu$ respectively. ", "Suppose that $F$ is continuous with density $f$ and use $G^{-1}$ to denote the generalised inverse of $G$. Then for all $p\\in [1,\\infty)$, $$\\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu,\\nu} = \\bra{ \\int_{\\RR} \\abs{G^{-1} \\circ {F(x)} - x}_\\infty^p f(x)\\, dx}^{1/p}.$$ In particular, for each $p$ the minimizing transport plan $\\hat{\\Phi}\\in\\Mm(\\mu,\\nu)$ is given by $\\hat{\\Phi}:=G^{-1}\\circ F$.\n\nAn equivalent definition of $\\Ww_p$ is as follows.", "\n\n[@villani2008optimal Theorem 9.4]\\[p-was-eq\\] Fix $p\\in [1,\\infty)$ and let $\\mu,\\nu \\in \\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d)$ with one of the measures being absolutely continuous with respect to Lebesgue measure. ", "Then $$\\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu,\\nu} = \\inf \\seq { \\abs{X-Y}_{L^p} : \\Ll(X) = \\mu, \\Ll(Y) = \\nu}.$$ Specifically, the infimum is taken over all distributions of the $\\RR^d$-valued random variables $X$ and $Y$ with marginal distributions $\\mu$ and $\\nu$ respectively.", "\n\nThis proposition inspires the following definition.", "\n\nA pair of random variables $(X,Y)$ with the correct marginals $\\mu$, $\\nu$ is known as a coupling of the two probability measures.", "\n\nThus the Wasserstein distance is given by the $L^p$-distance between the optimal coupling. ", "That is, if $\\Ll(X)=\\mu$, $\\Ll(Y)=\\nu$ then certainly $\\Ww_p(\\mu,\\nu) \\leq \\abs{X-Y}_{L^p}$.\n\nThe topology induced by $\\Ww_p$ on $\\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d)$ is slightly stronger than the weak topology; namely, convergence of a sequence $\\{\\mu_n\\}_{n=1}^\\infty \\subset \\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d)$ to a measure $\\mu \\in \\mathcal{P}_p(\\RR^d)$ in $\\Ww_p$ is equivalent to weak convergence plus a uniform bound on the $p$th moments of the measures $\\{\\mu_n\\}_{n=1}^\\infty$ ([@villani2008optimal Theorem 6.9]). ", "In symbols, $$\\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu_n,\\mu} \\to 0 \\iff \\mu_n \\to \\mu \\textup{ weakly and } \\sup_n \\int_{\\RR^d} \\abs{x}^p\\, \\mu_n(dx) < \\infty.$$\n\nThe metric $\\Ww_p$ originates from the [Monge-Kantorovich mass transportation problem]{}, first introduced by Monge in 1781 [@monge1781memoire], then rediscovered many times in various forms since by Kantorovich [@kantorovich_russian], Lévy among others. ", "The first modern definition was given by the algebraic $K$-theorist Vaserstein in his sole paper in probability theory [@vaserstein]. ", "Vaserstein, (anglicized as *Wasserstein* from the Cyrillic alphabet), used the letter $\\mathcal{K}$ for the Wasserstein metric in honour of Kantorovich’s original contribution of [@kantorovich_russian]. (", "Amusingly, by total coincidence Kantorovich’s work conversely used the letter $\\mathcal{W}$). ", "Throughout this paper we have used $\\mathcal{W}$ and *Wasserstein*, in agreement with the modern literature. ", "For more historical details we refer to [@malrieu2003convergence; @villani2008optimal] and [@davie2014pathwise §12].", "\n\nWe conclude the section with a useful lemma [@cedric2003topics Proposition 7.10]. ", "Given two measures $\\mu,\\nu$ on $\\RR^d$ with respective densities $f,g$ with respect to Lebesgue measure, we use the notation: $\\abs{\\mu-\\nu}(x) := \\abs{f(x)-g(x)}$.\n\n\\[l-useless-lemma\\] Let $\\mu$ and $\\nu$ be two probability measures on $\\RR^d$. For $p\\in [1,\\infty)$, $$\\Ww_p(\\mu,\\nu) \\leq 2^{1- 1/p}\\seq{\\int_{\\RR^d} \\abs{x}^p\\, d\\abs{\\mu-\\nu}(dx)}^{1/p}.$$\n\nAs mentioned in [@davie2014pathwise], this is quite a good bound for $p=1$ but less good for larger $p$. We will use this lemma in the subsequent sections in order to establish $\\Ww_p$-estimates.", "\n\nNotation {#notation .unnumbered}\n--------\n\nBefore proceeding further we establish some notation.", " \n\n**Constants.** ", "Throughout the paper, $C,c,\\ldots$ denote various deterministic constants (that may vary from line to line). ", "Constants which are dependent upon a variable will have the dependency explicitly stated; for example, $C_p$ denotes a constant dependent on $p$. If a constant $C$ has many dependencies $\\alpha,\\beta,\\gamma, \\ldots,p,q$, we will simply write $C=C(\\alpha,\\beta,\\gamma,\\ldots,p,q)$. If we are working in the Euclidean space $\\RR^d$ we will always ignore dependencies on the dimension $d$ (except for Section \\[s-poly-perturb\\], where we repeat results in [@davie2015poly]). **", "Gaussian measure.** ", "Given a covariance matrix $\\Sigma \\in \\RR^{d\\times d}$, let $\\phi_\\Sigma$ denote the density function of $N(0,\\Sigma)$: $$\\phi_\\Sigma(x) = \\frac{1}{\\bra{2\\pi}^{d/2} \\bra{\\textup{det}\\,{\\Sigma}}^{1/2}} \\exp\\bra{-\\frac{1}{2}x^t \\Sigma^{-1} x}.$$ In the case of $\\Sigma=I_d$ (the identity matrix) we simply write $\\phi(x)=\\phi_{I_d}(x)$. Given an arbitrary probability measure $\\mu$ on $\\RR^d$, we will commit a slight abuse of notation by using $\\Ww_p(\\mu,\\phi_\\Sigma)$ to denote the Wasserstein distance $\\Ww_p(\\mu, \\Ll\\bra{Z})$ where $Z\\sim N(0,\\Sigma)$. \n\n**Polynomial spaces.** ", "Let $P$ denote the space of all real-valued polynomials on $\\RR^d$ (which we will write as $P(\\RR^d)$ when we want to specify the dimension $d$) and define the subspace $$P_\\Sigma := \\seq{p\\in P : \\int_{\\RR^d} p(x)\\phi_\\Sigma(x)\\, dx = 0}.$$ Let $P^d$ denote the space of $\\RR^d$-valued polynomial functions on $\\RR^d$. To be precise, $p\\in P^d$ means $p(x)=(p^1(x), \\ldots,p^d(x))$ for some $p^j \\in P$. Given a polynomial $p^j$, let $\\textup{deg}(p^j)$ denote the highest degree of its terms. ", "Similarly, for a polynomial function $p=(p^1,\\ldots,p^d) \\in P^d$, set $\\textup{deg}(p):= \\max_{j=1,\\ldots,d} \\textup{deg}(p^j)$. Lastly, given the dimension $d$, we set $d_1:=\\frac{d}{2}(d+1)$ and $d_2:= \\frac{d}{2}(d-1)$ to avoid cumbersome sub/superscript notation.", "\n\nPolynomial perturbations of Gaussian distributions {#s-poly-perturb}\n==================================================\n\nIn this section we consider signed measures on $\\RR^d$ with a density given by a polynomial perturbation of the standard Gaussian distribution $\\phi(x) = (2\\pi)^{-d/2}e^{-\\abs{x}^2 / 2}$. Our main aim is to prove that if such a signed measure is close to a probability measure $\\mu$ (in the form of an estimate similar to that of Lemma \\[l-useless-lemma\\]), then we can expect the distance $\\Ww_p(\\mu,\\phi)$ to be bounded by the magnitude of the perturbation. ", "This is the content of the following proposition.", "\n\n\\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\] Fix $n\\in\\NN$ and $\\varepsilon \\in (0,1)$. Suppose $\\{S_j\\}_{j=1}^n \\subset P$ is a sequence of polynomials with the absolute values of its coefficients bounded by a universal constant $M>0$ and set $s:= \\max_{j=1,\\ldots,n} \\textup{deg}(S_j)$. Fix some integer $1\\leq n_0\\leq n$ and let $\\nu_{\\varepsilon,n}$ denote the signed measure on $\\RR^d$ with density $$\\phi(y)\\bra{1+\\sum_{j=n_0}^n \\varepsilon^j S_j(y)}.$$ If $\\mu$ is a probability measure on $\\RR^d$ such that $$\\label{e-hyp-estimate}\n\\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p d\\abs{\\mu - \\nu_{\\varepsilon,n}}(y)\\, \\leq \\delta,$$ then for all $p\\in [1,\\infty)$ we have $$\\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu, \\phi} \\leq C_{d,M,n,p,s}\\bra{\\varepsilon^{n_0} + {\\delta}^{1/p} + \\varepsilon^{\\frac{n+1}{p}}}.$$\n\nThe proposition is a strengthened version of [@davie2014kmt Corollary 3]. ", "Instead of dealing with only quartic perturbations, Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\] can handle polynomials of arbitrarily high order. ", "The proof was suggested to the author by Professor Davie in private communications and the argument relies upon the results in his preprint [@davie2015poly]. ", "Thus before presenting its proof we summarise the work of the latter paper.", "\n\nTo be precise, the original polynomial perturbation result of Davie actually considered quartic perturbations of $\\phi_\\Sigma$ for some arbitrary covariance matrix $\\Sigma \\in \\RR^{d\\times d}$. One may ask whether Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\] can also be generalised to the case of arbitrary $\\phi_\\Sigma$ rather than just $\\Sigma=I_d$. The author conjectures that this is possible since the technical tools from [@davie2015poly] remain valid. ", "However, the precise dependencies of the norms $\\norm{\\Sigma}$ and $\\norm{\\Sigma}^{-1}$ in the bound of $\\Ww_p(\\mu,\\phi_\\Sigma)$ are complicated and it is a non-trivial task to keep track of these quantities throughout the proof. ", "Fortunately we only need the case of $\\Sigma=I_d$ for the coupling arguments of this paper.", "\n\nWe now summarise the main contributions of [@davie2015poly] and begin by characterising the subspace $P_\\Sigma \\subset P$ as follows.", "\n\nDefine the linear mapping $\\Ll_\\Sigma : P^d \\to P$ by $\\Ll_\\Sigma p(x) = \\nabla \\cdot p(x) - x^t\\Sigma^{-1} p(x)$. The space $P_\\Sigma$ is precisely the range of $\\Ll_\\Sigma$. Moreover, any element $p\\in P_\\Sigma$ can be expressed as $\\Ll_\\Sigma \\nabla u$ for some $u\\in P$ (and the $u$ is unique up to an additive constant).", "\n\nThe proof is by induction and the divergence theorem (see [@davie2014pathwise Lemma 1]). ", "One consequence of the lemma is that if we define $P^d_G$ to be the set of $p\\in P^d$ of the form $p=\\nabla u$ with $u\\in P$, we have that $\\Ll_\\Sigma$ is bijective from $P^d_G\\to P_\\Sigma$ and we can define the inverse linear mapping $\\Ll_\\Sigma^{-1} : P_\\Sigma \\to P^d_G$.\n\nNext, suppose we have a sequence of polynomial functions $\\{p_j\\}_{j=1}^n \\subset P^d_G$. For each $\\varepsilon>0$, we define the polynomial perturbation mapping $\\rho_{\\varepsilon} :\\RR^d\\to\\RR^d$ by $$\\label{e-pp3}\n\\rho_{\\varepsilon}(x)= x+\\sum^n_{j=1} \\varepsilon^j p_j(x).$$ We are interested in the distribution of $\\rho_{\\varepsilon}(Z)$ for small $\\varepsilon$, where $Z\\sim N(0,\\Sigma)$. If we assume that $\\rho_{\\varepsilon}$ is bijective then this distribution has a density given by $$\\label{e-pp1}\nf_{\\varepsilon}(y) = \\textup{det}\\bra{D \\rho^{-1}_{\\varepsilon}(y)}\\phi_\\Sigma\\bra{\\rho_{\\varepsilon}^{-1}(y)}.$$ As Davie notes in the introduction of [@davie2015poly], in general bijectivity will only hold on some bounded region of $\\RR^d$ (which will be large if $\\varepsilon$ is small). ", "It actually turns out that bijectivity is a sufficient condition for (\\[e-pp3\\]) to imply the following asymptotic expansion of the density: $$\\label{e-pp2}\nf_{\\varepsilon}(y) = \\phi_\\Sigma(y)\\bra{1+\\sum^\\infty_{j=1} \\varepsilon^j S_j(y)},$$ for some sequence of polynomials $\\{S_j\\}_{j=1}^\\infty \\subset P_\\Sigma$.\n\nIn fact, we can explicitly construct the sequence $\\{S_j\\}_{j=1}^\\infty$ from the polynomial functions $\\{p_j\\}_{j=1}^n$ via a bijection. ", "We introduce the notation $\\mathcal{P}$ for the set of all sequences $(u_1,u_2,\\ldots,)$ with $u_j \\in \\mathcal{P}$ with similar definitions for $\\mathcal{P}^d, \\mathcal{P}_\\Sigma, \\mathcal{P}_G^d$. By using the inverse linear mapping $\\Ll_\\Sigma^{-1} : P_\\Sigma \\to P^d_G$, Davie inductively constructs a bijection $\\mathcal{S}_\\Sigma : \\mathcal{P}^d _G\\to \\mathcal{P}_\\Sigma$ such that $$\\mathcal{S}_\\Sigma(p_1,\\ldots,p_n, 0, 0,\\ldots) = (S_1,S_2,\\ldots).$$ Since each $S_k$ is dependent only on $p_1,\\ldots,p_k$, this can be rewritten in the more succinct form of the truncated mapping: $\\mathcal{S}^{(n)}_\\Sigma(p_1,\\ldots,p_n) = (S_1,\\ldots,S_n)$. For the explicit definition of $\\mathcal{S}_\\Sigma$ we refer to [@davie2015poly Lemma 2]. ", "We are now in a position to state the main result of [@davie2015poly] in a simplified form for the special case of $\\Sigma=I_d$.\n\n[@davie2015poly Proposition 1]\\[p-davie-poly-1\\] Let $\\{S_j\\}_{j=1}^n \\subset P_I$ and define the corresponding sequence $\\{p_j\\}_{j=1}^n \\subset P^d_G$ via the truncated bijection $$\\mathcal{S}^{(n)}_I(p_1,\\ldots,p_n)=(S_1,\\ldots, S_n).$$ Set $R$ to be an upper bound on the absolute values of the coefficients of $p_1,\\ldots,p_n$. Using these sequences, define the mapping $\\rho_{\\varepsilon}$ as in (\\[e-pp3\\]) and let $\\nu_{\\varepsilon,n}$ be the signed measure on $\\RR^d$ with density (\\[e-pp2\\]). ", "Finally, let $\\mu_\\varepsilon$ be the law of $\\rho_\\varepsilon(Z)$ where $Z\\sim N(0,I)$. Then for all $p\\in [1,\\infty)$ we have $$\\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p d\\abs{\\mu_{\\varepsilon}-\\nu_{\\varepsilon,n}}(y) \\leq C_p \\varepsilon^{n+1},$$ for some constant $C_p>0$ depending only on $d,n,R$ and the maximum degree of $p_1,\\ldots,p_n$.\n\nArmed with the latter result, we are now able to present the proof of Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\].", "\n\nFollowing the same technique in [@davie2014kmt Corollary 2], we first show that we may assume that $S_j \\in P_\\Sigma$ for all $j\\in\\{n_0,\\ldots,n\\}$. Indeed, let $$\\beta_j:= \\varepsilon^j\\int_{\\RR^d} S_j(y) \\phi(y)\\, dy \\textup{ and } \\beta:=\\sum_{j=n_0}^n \\beta_j.$$ Then we have $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\abs{\\beta} \n= \\abs{\\sum_{j=n_0}^n \\varepsilon^j \\int_{\\RR^d} S_j(y) \\phi(y)\\, dy}\n&= \\abs{ \\int_{\\RR^d} \\phi(y)\\bra{1+\\sum_{j=n_0}^n \\varepsilon^j S_j(y)}\\, dy - \\int_{\\RR^d} \\mu_\\varepsilon(y)\\, dy}\\\\\n&= \\abs{ \\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{\\nu_{\\varepsilon,n}-\\mu_\\varepsilon}(y)\\, dy}\\\\\n&\\leq \\int_{\\RR^d} d\\abs{\\nu_{\\varepsilon,n}-\\mu_\\varepsilon}(y)\n\\leq \\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p d\\abs{\\nu_{\\varepsilon,n}-\\mu_\\varepsilon}(y) \n\\leq \\delta.\\end{aligned}$$ Next, define a new signed measure $\\tilde{\\nu}_{\\varepsilon,n}$ on $\\RR^d$ with density $$\\phi(y)\\bra{1+\\sum_{j=n_0}^n \\bra{\\varepsilon^j S_j(y)-\\beta_j}} = \\phi(y)\\bra{1+\\sum_{j=n_0}^n \\varepsilon^j S_j(y)} - \\beta\\phi(y).$$ Consequently, $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p d\\abs{\\tilde{\\nu}_{\\varepsilon,n}-\\mu_\\varepsilon}(y)\n&\\leq \\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p \\seq{d\\abs{\\nu_{\\varepsilon,n} - \\mu_\\varepsilon}(y) + \\abs{\\beta} \\phi(y)\\, dy}\\\\\n& \\leq \\delta + \\abs{\\beta} \\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p \\phi(y)\\, dy\n\\leq C_p\\delta.\\end{aligned}$$ Therefore, by replacing each $S_j$ by $S_j-\\beta_j$ we may assume that $S_j \\in P_\\Sigma$.\n\nSince we can assume each $S_{j} \\in P_I$, we can apply the bijection $\\mathcal{S}_I$ of [@davie2015poly Lemma 2] to find a corresponding sequence $\\{p_j\\}_{j=1}^n \\subset P^d_G$ such that $$\\mathcal{S}_I^{(n)}(p_1,\\ldots,p_n) = (S_1,\\ldots,S_n).$$ As stated in the proof of [@davie2014kmt Corollary 3], if $g_0=\\Ll_I p_0$ for $p_0 \\in P^d$, $g_0 \\in P$, then $\\textup{deg}(p_0) \\leq \\textup{deg}(g_0)$ and the absolute values of the coefficients of $p_0$ are bounded by those of $g_0$ up to a universal multiplicative constant. ", "Thus by the recursive construction of the map $\\mathcal{S}_I$ using $\\Ll_I^{-1}$ in [@davie2015poly], we can bound the absolute values of the coefficients of $p_1,\\ldots,p_n$ by some function of those of $S_1,\\ldots,S_n$. Similarly, the degree of each $p_j$ can be bounded by a function of $s=\\max_{j} \\textup{deg}(S_j)$. A simple consequence is the bound $\\abs{p_j(Z)}_{L^p} \\leq C_{d,M,p,s}$ for each $j$, where $Z\\sim N(0,I)$. Taking the trivial coupling of $\\Ll(Z)$ and $\\mu_\\varepsilon$, specifically $(Z,\\rho_\\varepsilon(Z))$, this leads to the estimate $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu_{\\varepsilon},\\phi} \n\\leq \\abs{Z-\\rho_{\\varepsilon}(Z)}_{L^p} \n\\leq \\sum_{j=n_0}^n \\varepsilon^j \\abs{p_j\\bra{Z}}_{L^p}\n&\\leq C_{d,M,p,s} \\sum_{j=n_0}^n \\varepsilon^{j}\\notag\\\\\n&= C_{d,M,n,p,s}\\varepsilon^{n_0}.\\label{e-triangle-2}\\end{aligned}$$\n\nAs before, define the polynomial perturbation $\\rho_{\\varepsilon}$ by (\\[e-pp3\\]) and let $\\mu_{\\varepsilon}$ be the law of $\\rho_{\\varepsilon}(Z)$ for $Z\\sim N(0,I)$. Then Proposition \\[p-davie-poly-1\\] guarantees that for all $p\\in [1,\\infty)$, $$\\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p d\\abs{\\mu_{\\varepsilon}-\\nu_{\\varepsilon,n}}(y) \\leq C_{d,M,n,p,s} \\varepsilon^{n+1}.$$ Combined with (\\[e-hyp-estimate\\]), this estimate gives $$\\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p d\\abs{\\mu-\\mu_{\\varepsilon}}(y) \\leq {\\delta}+ C_{d,M,n,p,s} \\varepsilon^{n+1},$$ and so Lemma \\[l-useless-lemma\\] yields the Wasserstein estimate $$\\label{e-triangle-1}\n\\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu,\\mu_{\\varepsilon}} \\leq C_{d,M,n,p,s}\\bra{{\\delta} + \\varepsilon^{n+1}}^{1/p} \n\\leq C_{d,M,n,p,s} \\bra{\\delta^{1/p} + \\varepsilon^{\\frac{n+1}{p}}}.$$ Finally, combining (\\[e-triangle-2\\]) and (\\[e-triangle-1\\]) via the triangle inequality, we conclude that $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu,\\phi}\n&\\leq \\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu,\\mu_{\\varepsilon}} + \\Ww_p\\bra{\\mu_{\\varepsilon},\\phi} \n\\leq C_{d,M,n,p,s}\\bra{ \\varepsilon^{n_0} + {\\delta}^{1/p} + \\varepsilon^{\\frac{n+1}{p}}}.\\end{aligned}$$ The proof is complete.", "\n\nThe proof of Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\] reveals the reason why we insist on bounding the quantity $\\int_{\\RR^d} \\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p d\\abs{\\mu-\\nu}(y)$ rather than the simpler integral $$\\int_{\\RR^d} \\abs{y}^p d\\abs{\\mu-\\nu}(y).$$ At first glance the latter quantity is all that is needed for Lemma \\[l-useless-lemma\\] to bound $\\Ww_p(\\mu,\\nu)$. However, in order to generalise the proof to polynomials not contained in $P_\\Sigma$ we use the simple inequality $$\\int_{\\RR^d} d\\abs{\\nu_{n,\\varepsilon}-\\mu}(y) \\leq \\int_{\\RR^d}\\bra{1+\\abs{y}}^p d\\abs{\\nu_{n,\\varepsilon}-\\mu}(y).$$ This bound does not remain true when we replace the right-hand side with $\\int_{\\RR^d} \\abs{y}^p d\\abs{\\nu_{n,\\varepsilon}-\\mu}(y)$. For instance, consider the case when the supports of $\\nu_{n,\\varepsilon}$ and $\\mu$ are contained within the open unit ball around the origin of $\\RR^d$.\n\nMain coupling theorem\n=====================\n\nWe restate the main coupling theorem of the paper. ", "Then, after establishing some notation and performing a linear transformation, we show that it suffices to prove the simpler statement of Proposition \\[p-coupling-y-z\\].", "\n\nFor every $p\\in [1,\\infty)$, there exists a constant $C_p>0$ such that the following holds: given $N\\in\\NN$, we can construct a coupling between the i.i.d.", " sequence $\\{A^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$ and i.i.d.", " $\\{B^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$ random variables, with each pair $(A^{(j)}, B^{(j)})$ defined by (\\[l-area-decomposition\\]) and (\\[e-b-def\\]) using a common Brownian increment $W^{(j)} \\sim N(0,N^{-1}I_d)$, such that $$\\max_{r=1,\\ldots,N} \\abs{\\norm{ \\sum^{r-1}_{j=0} \\bra{A^{(j)}-B^{(j)}}}_{\\RR^{\\frac{d}{2}(d-1)}}}_{L^p} \\leq C_p \\frac{\\log N}{N}.$$\n\nBefore presenting the proof in the Section \\[s-coupling-proof\\], we first set up some notation, then consider a version of the central limit theorem in the next section. ", "We fix a sequence of independent Brownian increments $\\{W^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$ with $W^{(j)} \\sim N(0,N^{-1}I_d)$, and let $\\Gg$ denote the $\\sigma$-algebra generated by these variables.", "\n\nFor each $r\\in \\{0,1,\\ldots,N-1\\}$ define the random vector $X^{(r)} \\in \\RR^{d_1}$ by $$\\begin{aligned}\nX^{(r)}_k &:= \\sqrt{12N}\\zeta^{(r)}_k \\textup{ for } 1\\leq k \\leq d;\\\\\n X^{(r)}_{\\frac{k}{2}(2d-k-1)+l} &:= \\sqrt{12N^2} K^{(r)}_{kl} \\textup{ for } 1\\leq k < l \\leq d. \\end{aligned}$$ Then, conditional on $\\Gg$, $X^{(r)}$ has mean zero and covariance matrix $I_{d_2}$. We can then write $A^{(r)} = N^{-1} G_r X^{(r)}$, where $G_r$ is a $d_2 \\times d_1$ matrix defined in terms of the $W^{(j)}$. Specifically, $$G_{r}=\\frac{1}{\\sqrt{12}}\\left(\\begin{array}{c|c}\nM_{r} & I_{d_2}\\end{array}\\right),$$ where $M_r$ is the $d_2 \\times d$ matrix defined by the rows $$\\bra{M_r}_{\\frac{k}{2}(2d-k-1)+(l-d)} = \\sqrt{N}\\bra{ W^{(r)}_l e_k - W^{(r)}_k e_l}.$$ This makes $M_r$ have the form: $$M_r = \\sqrt{N}\n\\left(\\begin{array}{cccccc}\nW_{2}^{(r)} & -W_{1}^{(r)} & 0 & \\cdots & 0 & 0\\\\\nW_{3}^{(r)} & 0 & -W_{1}^{(r)} & \\cdots & 0 & 0\\\\\n\\vdots & \\vdots & \\vdots & \\ddots & \\vdots & \\vdots\\\\\n0 & 0 & 0 & \\cdots & W_{d}^{(r)} & -W_{d-1}^{(r)}\n\\end{array}\\right).$$ In the same way we can write $B^{(r)} = N^{-1}G_r \\tilde{X}^{(r)}$, where $\\tilde{X}^{(r)}$ has the normal distribution $N(0,I_{d_1})$.\n\nBy scaling we can see that to complete the proof it is sufficient to construct a coupling of the random walks composed of the vectors $X^{(r)}$ and $\\tilde{X}^{(r)}$, conditional on $\\Gg$, such that $$\\label{e-g-x}\n\\max_{r=1,\\ldots,N} \\abs{ \\norm{ \\sum_{j=0}^{r-1} G_j\\bra{X^{(j)} - \\tilde{X}^{(j)} }}_{\\RR^{\\frac{d}{2}(d-1)}}}_{L^p} \\leq C_p\\log N$$ for some constant $C_p>0$. To this end, we first note that without loss of generality we may assume $N=h^{-1}=2^m$ for some $m\\in\\NN$. We define a dyadic set to be a subset $E\\subseteq \\{0,1,\\ldots,2^m-1\\}$ of the form $$E = \\{k2^n, k2^n+1, \\ldots, (k+1)2^n - 1\\},$$ for some integers $n\\in\\{0,1,\\ldots,m\\}$ and $k\\in \\{0,1,\\ldots,2^{m-n}-1\\}$. Since a consecutive set $F\\subset \\{0,1,\\ldots,2^m-1\\}$ can be expressed as the disjoint union of at most $\\log_2 N$ dyadic subsets $E_1,\\ldots,E_k$ of different sizes, we need only prove $$\\label{e-g-x-2}\n\\EE\\bra{ \\norm{\\sum_{r\\in E} G_r \\bra{X^{(r)} - \\tilde{X}^{(r)}}}_{\\RR^{\\frac{d}{2}(d-1)}}^p} \\leq C_p$$ for all dyadic sets $E$ in order to establish (\\[e-g-x\\]).", "\n\nNext, for each dyadic set $E$ of size $2^n$ let us define the matrix $$\\label{e-H-e-pos-def}\nH_E := 2^{-n} \\sum_{r\\in E} G_r G_r^t$$ along with the random variables $$Y_E:= 2^{-n/2} \\sum_{r\\in E} G_r X^{(r)} \\textup{ and } Z_E:= 2^{-n/2}\\sum_{r\\in E} G_r \\tilde{X}^{(r)}.$$ Since, conditional on $\\Gg$, the random variables $\\{A^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$ are independent, $H_E$ is the (conditional) covariance matrix of $Y_E$. Similarly, $H_E$ is also the (conditional) covariance matrix of $Z_E$. Note that $H_E^{-1}$ is well-defined since each product $G_rG_r^t$ is a positive-definite symmetric matrix. ", "Indeed, block matrix multiplication confirms that $$G_r G_r^t = \\frac{1}{12}\\bra{I_{d_2} + M_r M_r^t}.$$ It also follows that the eigenvalues of $G_rG_r^t$ are bounded below by $\\frac{1}{12}$ and so $\\norm{(G_rG_r^t)^{-1}} \\leq 12$. Similarly, $\\norm{H_E^{-1}} \\leq 12$ for all dyadic $E$. Moreover, since $\\sqrt{N}W^{(r)}_k \\sim N(0,1)$, certainly $\\EE\\bra{\\norm{G_r}^p} \\leq C_p$ for all $p\\geq 1$. In fact, $\\norm{G_r}^2$ possesses exponential tails (a property which we will exploit later in the coupling construction of Section \\[s-coupling-proof\\]).", "\n\n\\[l-h-exp-tails\\] For all $\\alpha \\in (0,\\frac{1}{48d})$ there exists a constant $C_{\\alpha} >0$ such that $$\\max_{r=0,1,\\ldots,N-1}\\EE\\bra{e^{\\alpha\\norm{G_r}^2}} \\leq C_{\\alpha}$$ Similarly, $\\EE\\bra{e^{\\alpha\\norm{H_E}}} \\leq C_{\\alpha}$ for all consecutive sets $E$.\n\nRecall that the matrix norm $\\norm{M_r}$ is bounded by the $l_2$-norm of its entries $\\{M_r(i,j)\\}_{i,j}$. Hence, $$\\norm{M_r}^2 \\leq \\sum_{i,j} \\abs{M_r(i,j)}^2 = 2h^{-1}\\sum^d_{k=1} \\abs{W^{(r)}_k}^2,$$ and so for all $\\alpha \\in (0,\\frac{1}{4d})$ we have $$\\EE\\bra{e^{\\alpha \\norm{M_r}^2}} \\leq \\prod_{k=1}^d \\EE\\bra{e^{2\\alpha h^{-1}\\abs{W_k^{(r)}}^2}} \n= \\EE\\bra{e^{2\\alpha dh^{-1} \\abs{W^{(r)}_k}^2}} = C_{\\alpha} < \\infty.$$ Thus for small enough $\\alpha \\in (0,\\frac{1}{48d})$, $$\\EE\\bra{e^{\\alpha \\norm{G_r}^2}} \n\\leq \\EE\\bra{e^{\\frac{\\alpha}{12}\\bra{\\norm{M_r}+1}^2}}\n\\leq e^{\\frac{\\alpha}{6}}\\EE\\bra{e^{\\frac{\\alpha}{6}\\norm{M_r}^2}} \\leq C_{\\alpha}.$$ The second statement then follows: $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\EE\\bra{e^{\\alpha \\norm{H_E}}} \n\\leq \n\\EE\\,{\\exp\\bra{\\alpha 2^{-n}\\sum_{r\\in E} \\norm{G_r}^2}}\n&=\\prod_{r\\in E} \\EE\\bra{e^{\\alpha 2^{-n} \\norm{G_r}^2}}\n= \\EE\\bra{e^{\\alpha \\norm{G_r}^2}} = C_{\\alpha}.\\label{e-h-exp-tails}\\end{aligned}$$ The proof is complete.", "\n\nThe aim is to prove the following proposition, from which (\\[e-g-x-2\\]) follows immediately, thereby establishing Theorem \\[t-coupling\\].", "\n\n\\[p-coupling-y-z\\] With the notation above, for every $p \\in [1,\\infty)$ there exists a constant $C_p>0$ and a coupling of $\\{Y_E\\}_{E \\subseteq E_0}$ and $\\{Z_E\\}_{E \\subseteq E_0}$, conditional on $\\Gg$, such that $$\\abs{ \\norm{Y_E - Z_E}_{\\RR^{\\frac{d}{2}(d-1)}}}_{L^p} \\leq C_p 2^{-n/2}$$ for every dyadic set $E$ of size $2^n$, where $n\\leq m = \\log_2N$.\n\nWe copy the coupling construction of [@davie2014kmt Theorem 1] except for modifications which are needed to establish general $L^p$-estimates. ", "This is because the original result only established the coupling for $p\\in [1,4)$. Thus we require the higher order polynomial perturbation result of Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\] along with Lemma \\[l-davie-lemma-4-new\\] of the next section. ", "Hence we postpone the proof of Proposition \\[p-coupling-y-z\\] to Section \\[s-coupling-proof\\].", "\n\nIt is a common practice in Gaussian rough path theory to use Wiener-Itô chaos to establish general $L^p$-bounds from the $p=2$ case ([@FV Theorem D.8]). ", "Certainly each $B^{(j)}$ increment lives in the second inhomogeneous Wiener chaos (being a quadratic polynomial of Gaussian random variables), and it is well-known that Lévy area also lives in a (possibly different) second Wiener chaos [@FV Proposition 15.19]. ", "One could ask whether we could use this theory to immediately get all $L^p$-estimates from the $p=2\\in [1,4)$ case. ", "Alas our coupling argument does not necessarily guarantee that the random variables $\\{A^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$ and $\\{B^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$ belong to the same Wiener chaos and so we cannot apply the theory to their difference.", "\n\nA central limit theorem\n=======================\n\nIn light of the previous polynomial perturbation extension of Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\], we need a modified version of [@davie2014kmt Lemma 4] for the proof of Proposition \\[p-coupling-y-z\\] in the next section. ", "This is contained in the following lemma. ", "It can be viewed as a version of the central limit theorem, stating that the density of $Y_E$ is close to the (Gaussian) density of $Z_E$ as the size of the dyadic set $E$ increases.", "\n\n\\[l-davie-lemma-4-new\\] Let $E$ be a dyadic set of size $2^n$ and let $f_E$ be the density function of $Y_E$, conditional on $\\Gg$. Fix $\\eta\\in (0,\\frac{1}{20})$ and an integer $\\kappa\\geq 2$. Then, provided that $\\norm{G_r} \\leq 2^{n\\eta}$ and $\\norm{(G_rG_r^t)^{-1}} \\leq 2^{2n\\eta}$, there exists a constant $C_\\kappa>0$ such that the following holds: for each $r\\in E$ we have $$\\abs{f_E - \\phi_{H_E} \\bra{1+ \\sum_{k=2}^\\kappa 2^{nk\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}} S_{E,2k}} }(v) \n\\leq C_\\kappa2^{n\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta -\\frac{1}{2}}} \\phi_{H_E}(v)$$ for all $\\abs{v}\\leq 2^{n\\eta}$. Here, each $S_{E,2k}\\in P(\\RR^{d_2})$ is respectively a polynomial of degree $2k$ with coefficients whose absolute values are bounded by some universal constant $C>0$ independent of $E$ and $k$.\n\nNote the original [@davie2014kmt Lemma 4] can be recovered by setting $\\kappa=2$.\n\nThe bounds on $G_r$ imply that $\\norm{H_E} \\leq 2^{2n\\eta}$ and $ \\norm{H_E^{-1}} \\leq 2^{2n\\eta}$. Let $\\psi$ be the characteristic function of $X^{(r)}$ (which is independent of $r$). ", "An explicit expression for $\\psi$ can be found in [@wiktorsson2001joint]. ", "Note that $\\psi$ is real-valued and even on $\\RR^{d_1}$ and extends to a complex-analytic function of a strip $\\{x+iy : x,y\\in \\RR^{d_1},\\, \\abs{y}< a\\}$ for some $a>0$. In a neighbourhood of $0$ in $\\mathbb{C}^{d_1}$, $\\log \\psi$ has a convergent expansion $$\\log \\psi(z) = -\\frac{1}{2}\\abs{z}^2 + c_4(z) + c_6(z) + \\ldots,$$ where $c_k(z)$ is a homogeneous polynomial of degree $k$ satisfying $\\abs{c_k(z)} \\leq (C\\abs{z})^k$ for even $k\\geq 4$. Thus, $$\\psi(z) = \\exp\\bra{-\\frac{1}{2}\\abs{z}^2 + \\chi(z)} \\textup{ where } \\chi(z):= \\sum_{k=2}^\\infty c_{2k}(z).$$ From this it follows that there exists some $\\delta>0$ such that $$\\label{e-davie-20}\n\\textup{if } \nx,y\\in \\RR \\textup{ with } 2\\abs{y} \\leq \\abs{x} < \\delta \\textup{ then } \\abs{\\psi(x+iy)} \\leq e^{-\\frac{1}{6}\\abs{x}^2}.$$ Using the decay of $\\psi(z)$ as $x=\\textup{Re}(z) \\to \\infty$ and the fact that $\\abs{\\psi(x)} < 1$ for $0\\neq x\\in \\RR^{d_1}$, we can find $\\gamma \\in (0,1)$ and $\\delta^\\prime >0$ so that $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\textup{if } x,y\\in\\RR^{d_1} \\textup{ with } \\abs{x}\\geq \\delta &\\textup{ and } \n\\abs{y} \\leq \\delta^\\prime\n\\textup{ then } \\abs{\\psi(x+iy)} \\leq \\textup{min}\\bra{\\gamma, C\\abs{x}^{-1}}.\\label{e-davie-21}\\end{aligned}$$ Now let $\\Psi$ be the characteristic function of $Y_E$; $\\Psi(u) = \\prod_{r\\in E} \\psi\\bra{2^{-n/2}G_r^t u}$. Recall that $\\Psi$ is the Fourier transform of the density $f_E$ of $Y_E$, and taking the inverse Fourier transform we obtain the expression $$f_E(v) = \\bra{2\\pi}^{-d_2/2} \\int_{\\RR^{d_2}} e^{-iu^tv}\\Psi(u)\\, du.$$ By translating the subspace of integration in $\\mathbb{C}^{d_2}$ by $-iH_E^{-1}v$ we can rewrite this as $$\\begin{aligned}\nf_E(v) &= \\bra{2\\pi}^{-d_2/2} e^{-v^t H_E^{-1}v} \\int_{\\RR^{d_2}} e^{-iu^tv} \\Psi\\bra{u-iH_E^{-1}v}\\, du\\\\\n&= \\bra{\\textup{det}\\, H_E}^{1/2} \\phi_{H_E}(v) \\int_{\\RR^{d_2}} e^{-iu^tv} \\Psi\\bra{u-iH_E^{-1}v}\\, du. ", "\\end{aligned}$$ Note that $$\\label{e-davie-prod}\n\\Psi\\bra{u-iH_E^{-1}v} = \\prod_{r\\in E} \\psi\\bra{2^{-n/2}G_r^t u - i 2^{-n/2}G_r^t H_E^{-1}v}.$$ If $\\abs{u} \\geq 2^{4n\\eta + 1}$ then using (\\[e-davie-20\\]) and (\\[e-davie-21\\]) we see that each term in the product is bounded by either $\\min\\bra{\\gamma, C2^{n(\\eta+1/2)}\\abs{u}^{-1}}$ or $\\exp\\bra{-\\frac{1}{6}2^{-n(1+2\\eta)}\\abs{u}^2}$. Consequently, the product (\\[e-davie-prod\\]) is bounded by $$\\abs{\\Psi\\bra{u-iH_E^{-1}v}} \\leq \\min\\bra{\\gamma, C2^{n(\\eta+1/2)}\\abs{u}^{-1}}^{2^n} + \\exp\\bra{-\\frac{1}{6}2^{-2n\\eta }\\abs{u}^2}$$ for all $\\abs{u} \\geq 2^{4n\\eta + 1}$. It then follows that $$\\int_{\\seq{\\abs{u}\\geq 2^{4 n\\eta + 1}}} \\abs{\\Psi\\bra{u-iH_E^{-1}v}}\\, du \n\\leq C\\seq{ 2^{nm}\\gamma^{2^n} + \\exp\\bra{-2^{6 n\\eta - 1} }}.$$\n\nTo consider the case of $\\abs{u}\\leq 2^{4 n\\eta + 1}$, we first set $w=u-iH_E^{-1}v$. We then have $$\\begin{aligned}\ne^{-iu^tv} \\Psi(w) \n&=\ne^{-iu^tv} \\prod_{r\\in E} \\psi\\bra{2^{-n/2} G_r^t w}\\\\\n&= \ne^{-iu^tv} \\exp\\bra{\\sum_{r\\in E} \\seq{-\\frac{1}{2} 2^{-n} \\abs{G_r^t w}^2 + \\chi\\bra{2^{-n/2}G_r^t w}}}\\\\\n&= e^{-iu^t v}\\exp\\bra{\\frac{1}{2}v^tH_E^{-1}v - \\frac{1}{2}u^tH_E u + iu^tv + \\Lambda(w)}\\\\\n&=\\exp\\bra{\\frac{1}{2}v^tH_E^{-1}v - \\frac{1}{2}u^tH_E u + \\Lambda(w)},\\end{aligned}$$ where $$\\Lambda(w)=\\sum_{r\\in E} \\chi\\bra{2^{-n/2}G_r^tw} = \\sum_{k=2}^\\infty T_{2k}(w) \\textup{ with } T_{2k}(w)=2^{-kn} \\sum_{r\\in E} c_{2k}\\bra{G_r^t w}.$$ We see that $T_{2k}$ is a homogeneous polynomial of degree $2k$ and satisfies $$\\abs{T_{2k}(w)} \\leq C2^{n(1 + k(2\\eta-1))}\\abs{w}^{2k}.$$\n\nNext, we approximate $e^{\\Lambda(w)}$ by an inhomogeneous polynomial of degree $2\\kappa$ composed of $\\{T_{2k}\\}_{k=2}^\\kappa$ and their powers (as mentioned previously, the original proof of [@davie2014kmt] set $\\kappa=2$). ", "First note that $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\abs{\\sum_{k=\\kappa+1}^\\infty T_{2k}(w)} \\leq \\sum^\\infty_{k=\\kappa+1} \\abs{T_{2k}(w)} \n&\\leq C \\sum^\\infty_{k=\\kappa+1} 2^{n(1 + k(2\\eta-1))}\\abs{w}^{2k}\\\\\n&= C2^n\\sum^\\infty_{k=\\kappa+1} \\bra{2^{(2\\eta-1)n}\\abs{w}^2}^k\\\\\n&\\leq C2^n \\bra{2^{(2\\eta-1)n}\\abs{w}^2}^{2(\\kappa+1)}\\\\\n&= C2^{n\\bra{1+2(\\kappa+1)(2\\eta-1)}}\\abs{w}^{4(\\kappa+1)}\\end{aligned}$$ and so the simple Taylor approximation $e^x = 1+ O(x)$ for small $x\\geq 0$ gives $$\\begin{aligned}\ne^{\\Lambda(w)} \n= \\prod_{k=2}^\\infty e^{T_{2k}(w)} \n&= \\prod_{k=2}^\\kappa e^{T_{2k}(w)} \\cdot \\exp\\bra{\\sum^\\infty_{k=\\kappa+1} T_{2k}(w)}\\notag\\\\\n&= \\prod_{k=2}^\\kappa e^{T_{2k}(w)} \\seq{ 1 + O\\bra{2^{n\\bra{1+2(\\kappa+1)(2\\eta-1)}}\\abs{w}^{4(\\kappa+1)}}}.\\label{e-product-big}\\end{aligned}$$ We now consider each $e^{T_{2k}(w)}$ term in the product. ", "For each $k$ and integer $l\\geq 1$, $$\\begin{aligned}\ne^{T_{2k}(w)} -1 = \\sum^\\infty_{i=1} \\frac{1}{i!}T_{2k}(w)^i \n&= \\sum_{i=1}^{l} \n\\frac{1}{i!}T_{2k}(w)^i + O\\bra{\\abs{T_{2k}(w)}^{l+1}}\\\\\n&= \\sum_{i=1}^{l} \\frac{1}{i!}T_{2k}(w)^i + O\\bra{2^{n\\bra{1+k(2\\eta-1)}(l+1)} \\abs{w}^{2k(l+1)}}. ", "\\end{aligned}$$ Since $k\\geq 2$, $1-k\\leq -\\frac{k}{2}$ then $(1+k(2\\eta-1)) \\leq k\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}$. Hence, if for each $k$ we choose $l_k$ to be the smallest integer such that $k(l_k+1)\\geq \\kappa$, we have $$\\begin{aligned}\ne^{T_{2k}(w)} &= 1 + \\sum^{l_k}_{i=1} \\frac{1}{i!} ", "T_{2k}(w)^i \n+ O\\bra{2^{nk\\bra{2\\eta - \\frac{1}{2}}(l_k+1)}\\abs{w}^{2k(l_k+1)}}\\notag\\\\\n&= 1 + \\sum^{l_k}_{i=1} \\frac{1}{i!} ", "T_{2k}(w)^i \n+ O\\bra{2^{n\\kappa\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}\\abs{w}^{2\\kappa}}.\\label{e-little-exp}\\end{aligned}$$ Combining (\\[e-product-big\\]) and (\\[e-little-exp\\]), it follows that $$e^{\\Lambda(w)} = 1 + \\sum^{\\kappa}_{k=2} q_{2k}(w) + O\\bra{2^{n\\kappa \\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}\\abs{w}^{2\\kappa}}$$ for some homogeneous polynomials $\\{q_{2k}\\}_{k=2}^{\\kappa}$, where each $q_{2k}$ has degree $2k$ and coefficients bounded by $C2^{nk \\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}$. Consequently, setting $Q_{2\\kappa}(w):= \\sum^\\kappa_{k=2} q_{2k}(w)$, we have $$\\begin{aligned}\n&e^{-\\frac{1}{2}v^tH_E^{-1}v} \\int_{\\seq{\\abs{u}\\leq 2^{4 n\\eta +1}}} \n\\abs{ e^{-iu^tv}\\Psi\\bra{u-iH_E^{-1}v} - \\bra{1+Q_{2\\kappa}\\bra{u-iH_E^{-1}v}}e^{-\\frac{1}{2}u^t H_E u}}\\, du\\\\\n&\\gap\\gap\n= e^{-\\frac{1}{2}v^tH_E^{-1}v} \\int_{\\seq{\\abs{u}\\leq 2^{4 n\\eta +1}}} \n\\abs{e^{\\Lambda(u-iH_E^{-1}v)} - 1 - Q_{2\\kappa}(u-iH_E^{-1}v)}e^{-\\frac{1}{2}u^tH_E u}\\, du\\\\\n&\\gap\\gap\n\\leq C2^{n\\kappa\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}} e^{-\\frac{1}{2}v^tH_E^{-1}v}\n\\int_{\\seq{\\abs{u}\\leq 2^{4 n\\eta +1}}} \ne^{-\\frac{1}{2}u^tH_Eu} \\abs{u-iH_E^{-1}v}^{2\\kappa}\\, du\\\\\n&\\gap\\gap=\nC2^{n\\kappa\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}} + 8n\\kappa}\n= C2^{n\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}\\end{aligned}$$ where we have used the inequality $\\abs{iH_E^{-1}v} \\leq \\norm{H_E^{-1}}\\abs{v} \\leq 12\\abs{v}$. Moreover, $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\int_{\\seq{\\abs{u}\\geq 2^{4 n\\eta + 1}}} \\abs{1+Q_{2\\kappa}(u-iH_E^{-1}v)}\ne^{-\\frac{1}{2}u^tH_Eu}\\, du\n&\\leq Ce^{-2^{n\\eta}}.\\end{aligned}$$ Collecting these bounds, the lemma then follows by setting $$\\begin{aligned}\nS_{E,2k} := 2^{-nk\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}R_{E,2k}\n\\textup{ where } \nR_{E,2k}(v):= \\int_{\\RR^{d_2}} q_{2k}(u-iH_E^{-1}v)e^{-\\frac{1}{2}u^tH_E u}\\, du,\\end{aligned}$$ for each $k\\in\\{2,\\ldots,\\kappa\\}$. The polynomial $R_{E,2k}$ is of degree $2k$ with coefficients bounded by $C2^{nk\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}$. The proof is complete.", "\n\nProof of the coupling construction {#s-coupling-proof}\n==================================\n\nWe are now in a position to prove Proposition \\[p-coupling-y-z\\], which in turn establishes Theorem \\[t-coupling\\]. ", "Throughout the proof we replace the bulky notation of $\\abs{\\norm{Y_E-Z_E}}_{L^p}$ with $\\abs{Y_E-Z_E}_{L^p}$.\n\nThe idea of Davie’s original proof in [@davie2014kmt] is to construct a coupling of $Y_E$ and $Z_E$ recursively, starting with the base case $E_0 = \\{0,1,\\ldots,2^m-1\\}$ and proceeding by successive bisection to smaller dyadic sets.", "\n\nTo begin the construction, we fix a constant $\\eta\\in (0,\\frac{1}{44})$ and let $\\kappa$ be the smallest integer such that $\\kappa\\geq 2p$. It follows that any constant dependent upon both $\\kappa$ and $p$ can be made solely dependent on $p$. Intuitively, the inequality $\\kappa\\geq 2p\\geq 2$ makes sense. ", "If we desire a stronger $L^p$-bound, the degree ($2\\kappa$) of the polynomial approximation produced by Lemma \\[l-davie-lemma-4-new\\] will have to increase.", "\n\n**Initial step.** ", "We start the construction by finding a coupling between $Y_{E_0}$ and $Z_{E_0}$. To this end, let $\\Ee_0$ be the event $\\{ \\norm{G_r} \\leq 2^{m\\eta} : \\textup{ for all } r\\in E_0\\}$. Note that under $\\Ee_0$, $\\norm{H_{E_0}} \\leq 2^{2m\\eta}$ (and recall that $\\norm{H_{E_0}^{-1}} \\leq 12$ regardless). ", "Thus provided $\\Ee_0$ holds, we apply Lemma \\[l-davie-lemma-4-new\\] to find that for all $\\abs{y} \\leq 2^{m\\eta}$, $$\\label{e-davie-est}\n\\abs{\\frac{f_{E_0}(y)}{\\phi_{H_{E_0}}(y)} - \\seq{1+r_{E_0}}(y)} \\leq C_\\kappa2^{m\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}},$$ where $$r_{E_0}:=\\sum_{k=2}^\\kappa 2^{nk\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}S_{E_0,2k}.$$ Here, each $S_{E_0,2k} \\in P(\\RR^{d_2})$ is a polynomial of degree $2k$ for which the absolute values of its coefficients are bounded by some constant independent of $\\eta,H_{E_0},k$. We write $y=H_{E_0}^{1/2}u$ and define the probability density $h(u)=(\\textup{det} \\,H_{E_0})^{1/2} f_{E_0}(H^{1/2}_{E_0} u)$. To convince ourselves that $h$ is a probability density, we observe that the Jacobian matrix of the linear transformation $y\\mapsto H_{E_0}^{-1/2}y$ is the matrix $H_{E_0}^{-1/2}$ itself and so the chain rule gives $$f_{E_0}(y)= \\bra{\\textup{det}\\, H_{E_0}^{-1/2}} h\\bra{H^{-1/2}_{E_0}y} =\n(\\textup{det}\\, H_{E_0}^{1/2})^{-1} h(u) \n= \\bra{\\textup{det}\\, H_{E_0}}^{-1/2} h(u).$$ The matrix transformation also gives $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\phi_{H_{E_0}}\\bra{y}\n&= \\bra{\\textup{det} \\, H_{E_0}}^{-1/2} \\frac{1}{\\bra{2\\pi}^{d_2/2}}\\exp\\bra{-\\frac{1}{2}y^t H_{E_0}^{-1} y}\n= \\bra{\\textup{det} \\, H_{E_0}}^{-1/2} \\phi(u)\\end{aligned}$$ and this change of variables immediately implies the inequality $$\\label{e-great-bound}\n\\Ww_p\\bra{f_{E_0}, \\phi_{H_{E_0}}} \\leq \\norm{H_{E_0}^{1/2}}\\Ww_p\\bra{h, \\phi}.$$ Setting $\\mathcal{A}=\\{u\\in \\RR^{d_2} : \\abs{H^{1/2}_{E_0}u}\\leq 2^{m\\eta}\\}$, it follows from (\\[e-davie-est\\]) that $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\int_{\\mathcal{A}} \\abs{h(u)-\\seq{1+r_{E_0}\\bra{H^{1/2}_{E_0}u}}\\phi(u)}\\, du \n&\\leq C_\\kappa2^{m\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}} \\int_{\\Aa} \\bra{1+\\abs{u}^p} \\phi(u)\\, du\\notag\\\\\n&\\leq C_p 2^{m\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}.\\label{e-a-est} \\end{aligned}$$ The exponential tail property of the Gaussian distribution ensures $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\int_{\\Aa^c} \\bra{1+\\abs{u}}^p \\seq{1+r_{E_0}\\bra{H^{1/2}_{E_0}u}}\\phi(u)\\, du \n&\\leq C_p \\bra{1 + \\norm{H_{E_0}}^{\\kappa}} \\int_{\\Aa^c} \\abs{u}^{2\\kappa} \\phi(u)\\, du\\\\\n&\\leq C_p 2^{2m\\kappa\\eta} e^{-\\alpha 2^{m\\eta}}\n\\leq C_p 2^{-\\beta2^{m\\eta}}\\end{aligned}$$ for some constants $\\alpha>\\beta>0$. Similarly, the density $h$ conditional on $\\Gg$ possesses exponential tails and so $\\int_{\\Aa^c} \\bra{1+\\abs{u}}^p h(u)\\, du \\leq C_p2^{-\\beta 2^{m\\eta}}$. Thus the integral of (\\[e-a-est\\]) can be taken over all of $\\RR^{d_2}$ with the inequality remaining true.", "\n\nIn light of (\\[e-a-est\\]), (now taken over $\\RR^{d_2}$), we now apply Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\] with $\\Sigma=I_{d_2}$, $\\delta=C2^{m\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}$, $K\\leq C$, $n_0=2$, $n=\\kappa$ and $\\varepsilon=2^{m\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}$ to find that conditional of $\\Ee_0$, $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\Ww_p\\bra{h,\\phi} &\\leq C_{\\kappa,p} \\bra{ 2^{2m\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}} + 2^{m\\frac{\\kappa}{p}\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}} + 2^{m\\frac{\\kappa+1}{p}\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}}\n\\leq C_{\\kappa,p} 2^{m\\bra{21\\eta-1}}. ", "\\end{aligned}$$ Here, we have used the fact that $\\frac{\\kappa}{p}\\geq 2$. Recalling (\\[e-great-bound\\]), we deduce that $$\\label{e-new-was-bound-2}\n\\Ww_p\\bra{f_{E_0}, \\phi_{H_{E_0}}} \\leq \\norm{H_{E_0}^{1/2}} \\Ww_p\\bra{h,\\phi} \\leq C_{\\kappa,p} 2^{m\\bra{22\\eta-1}}$$ since under $\\Ee_0$ we have $\\norm{H_{E_0}} \\leq 2^{2m\\eta}$. To finish the initial step, we recall the exponential tail bounds of $\\norm{G_r}^2$ given by Lemma \\[l-h-exp-tails\\] to deduce that for all $\\alpha \\in (0,\\frac{1}{48d})$: $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\PP\\bra{\\Ee_0^c} \n\\leq \\sum_{r\\in E_0} \\PP\\bra{\\norm{G_r} \\geq 2^{ m\\eta}}\n&\\leq 2^m\\PP\\bra{e^{\\alpha\\norm{G_0}^2} \\geq e^{\\alpha 2^{2 m\\eta}}}\\\\\n&\\leq 2^m e^{-\\alpha 2^{2m\\eta}} \\EE\\bra{e^{\\alpha \\norm{G_0}^2}}\\\\\n&= C_{\\alpha}\\exp\\bra{-\\alpha 2^{2 m\\eta} + m\\log 2}.\\end{aligned}$$ If $\\Ee_0$ fails we simply construct independent copies of $Y_{E_0}$ and $Z_{E_0}$. Hence, from (\\[e-new-was-bound-2\\]) and Hölder’s inequality, we can find a coupling of $Y_{E_0}$ and $Z_{E_0}$ such that unconditionally $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\EE \\bra{\\abs{Y_{E_0}-Z_{E_0}}^p}\n&\\leq \\EE \\bra{\\abs{Y_{E_0}-Z_{E_0}}^p\\id_{\\Ee_0}} + \\EE\\bra{ {\\abs{Y_{E_0} + Z_{E_0}}^p}\\id_{\\Ee_0^c}}\n\\leq C_{\\kappa,p}2^{mp\\bra{22\\eta-1}}\\end{aligned}$$ for some constant $C_{\\kappa,p}>0$.\n\n**Recursive step.** ", "Let $E$ be a dyadic set of size $2^n$. Then we can write $E=F\\cup G$ where $F$ and $G$ are disjoint dyadic sets of size $2^{n-1}$. Note that $$Y_F + Y_G = 2^{1/2}Y_E \\textup{ and } Z_F+Z_G=2^{1/2}Z_E.$$ We suppose a coupling between $Y_E$ and $Z_E$ has been defined, conditional on $\\Gg$. In other words, for each choice of $\\{W^{(j)}\\}_{j=0}^{N-1}$, we have a joint distribution of $Y_E$ and $Z_E$ with the correct conditional marginal distributions. ", "We wish to extend this coupling to a coupling between $(Y_F,Y_G)$ and $(Z_F,Z_G)$.\n\nFor each $x\\in \\RR^{d_2}$, let $f_x$ denote the the density of $Y_E$ conditional on $Y_E=x$ and on $\\Gg$. Similarly, let $g_x$ be the corresponding density for $Z_E$. As noted in [@davie2014kmt], the conditional distribution of $Z_F$, given $Z_E=x$ and $\\Gg$, is $N(Jx,H)$ where $J=H_FH_E^{-1}$ and $H=\\frac{1}{2}H_FH_E^{-1}H_G$. Thus $g_x$ is the density of $N(Jx,H)$.\n\nWe need to find a coupling between $Y_F$ and $Z_F$ conditional on $Y_E=x$ and $Z_E=\\tilde{x}$. To do this we need a coupling between the distributions with densities $f_x$ and $g_{\\tilde{x}}$. However, we shall instead construct a coupling between $f_x$ and $g_x$, then use the fact that $g_{\\tilde{x}}$ is just $g_x$ translated by $J(x-\\tilde{x})$.\n\nWe begin by noting that $f_x(y)=\\frac{2^{1/2}f_F(y)f_G(2^{1/2}x-y)}{f_E(x)}$. Then provided the event $\\Ee = \\{\\norm{G_r} \\leq 2^{n\\frac{\\eta}{2p}} : \\textup{for all } r\\in E\\}$ holds, we apply Lemma \\[l-davie-lemma-4-new\\] to each of $E,F,G$ to find: $$\\label{e-davie-28}\n\\abs{\\frac{f_x(y)}{g_x(y)} - \\seq{1+r_x(y)}g_x(y)} \\leq C_\\kappa2^{n\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}} \\textup{ for all } \\abs{x},\\abs{y} \\leq 2^{n{\\eta}/{p}},$$ where $r_x(y)= r_F(y)+r_G(2^{1/2}x-y)-r_E(x)$. Note that $$r_E(y)=\\sum^\\kappa_{k=2} 2^{nk\\bra{2\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}} S_{E,2k},$$ where each $S_{E,2k}\\in P(\\RR^{d_2})$ is a polynomial of degree $2k$ with the absolute value of its coefficients bounded by some constant independent of $\\eta,H,k$. Corresponding decompositions and associated properties hold for $r_F$ and $r_G$.\n\nNext, we define the set $$\\Omega := \\seq{x\\in \\RR^{d_2} : \\EE\\bra{\\abs{Y_F}^p \\id_{\\seq{\\abs{Y_F}\\geq 2^{n\\eta/p }}} \\big| \\,Y_E=x \\textup{ and } \\Gg} > 2^{-n\\kappa/2 }}.$$ Utilising the inequalities of Markov and Hölder gives $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\PP\\bra{Y_E\\in\\Omega \\big| \\Gg}\n&\\leq 2^{n\\kappa/2}\\EE_\\Gg\\bra{\\abs{Y_F}^p \\id_{\\seq{\\abs{Y_F}\\geq 2^{n\\eta /p}}}}\\\\\n&\\leq2^{n\\kappa/2 } \\EE_\\Gg\\bra{\\abs{Y_F}^{pq}}^{1/q} \\PP\\bra{\\abs{Y_F}^{s} \\geq 2^{n\\eta \\frac{s}{p}} \\big| \\Gg}^{1/r}\\\\\n&\\leq2^{n\\kappa/2} \\EE_\\Gg\\bra{\\abs{Y_F}^{pq}}^{1/q} 2^{-n\\eta \\frac{s}{pr}}\\EE_\\Gg\\bra{\\abs{Y_F}^s}^{1/r}\n\\leq \nC2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{pr}}} \\norm{H_F}^{\\frac{1}{2}(p+\\frac{s}{r})}.", "\n%&= 2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{pr}}}\\EE_\\Gg\\bra{\\abs{Y_F}^{pq+s}}\n%\\leq C2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{pr}}}\\norm{H_F}^{(pq+s)/2}\\end{aligned}$$ where $s\\geq 1$ and $q,r> 1$ satisfy $q^{-1}+r^{-1}=1$. Under the assumption of $\\Ee$ we have $\\norm{H_F} \\leq 2^{\\frac{n}{2}\\cdot\\frac{\\eta}{p}}$ (recall $F$ is of size $2^{n/2}$), and so, $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\PP\\bra{Y_E \\in \\Omega \\big| \\Gg} \n%\\leq \n%C2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{pr}}} \\norm{H_F}^{\\frac{1}{2}\\bra{p+\\frac{s}{r}}}\n&\\leq C2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{pr}} +\\eta\\frac{n}{4}\\bra{1 + \\frac{s}{pr}}}\n= C2^{\\frac{n}{4}\\bra{2\\kappa+\\eta\\bra{1-\\frac{3s}{pr}}}}.", "\n%\\leq C2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{pr}}}\\norm{H_F}^{(pq+s)/2}\n%&\\leq C2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{pr} + \\eta\\frac{pq+s}{2p}}}\\\\\n%&= C2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{p}\\bra{1-\\frac{1}{q}}+\\eta\\frac{q}{2}+\\eta\\frac{s}{2p}}}\\\\\n%&= C2^{n\\bra{\\frac{\\kappa}{2}-\\eta\\frac{s}{p}\\bra{\\frac{1}{2}-\\frac{1}{q}} + \\eta\\frac{q}{2}}}.\\end{aligned}$$ Taking $s\\geq \\frac{pr}{3}(1+\\frac{2}{\\eta}(\\kappa+4p))$ ensures that $\\frac{n}{4}(2\\kappa+\\eta(1-\\frac{3s}{pr})) \\leq -2pn$ and we conclude that $$\\label{e-calculating-prob}\n\\PP\\bra{Y_E \\in \\Omega \\big| \\Gg} \\leq C2^{-2np}.$$ Define the event $\\hat{\\Ee}:=\\Ee \\cap \\{Y_E \\notin \\Omega\\}$. Note that under $\\hat{\\Ee}$, we have $$\\norm{H} \\leq \\frac{1}{2}\\norm{H_F}\\norm{H_E^{-1}}\\norm{H_G} \\leq \\frac{12}{6}\\bra{2^{\\frac{n}{2}\\cdot \\frac{\\eta}{p}}}^2 = C2^{n\\eta/p}.$$\n\nLet us write $x=Y_E$ for shorthand. ", "In contrast to the initial step, we cannot directly apply the polynomial perturbation result of Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\] to the conditional distribution of $Y_F$ because $g_x \\sim N(Jx,H)$ is not centred. ", "Instead, we need need to make the change of variable $y:=Jx+H^{1/2}u$, so that now we have $g_x(y)=(\\textup{det}\\, H)^{-1/2} \\phi(u)$. Similarly, we define $h_x(u):= (\\textup{det}\\, H)^{1/2}f_x(Jx+H^{1/2}u)$.\n\nThen provided $\\hat{\\Ee}$ holds, (\\[e-davie-28\\]) implies the estimate $$\\int_{\\Aa} \\bra{1+\\abs{u}}^p \\abs{h_x(u) - \\seq{1+r_x\\bra{Jx+H^{1/2}u}}\\phi(u)}\\, du \\leq C_{\\kappa,p}2^{n\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}},$$ where $\\Aa=\\{u\\in \\RR^{d_2} : \\abs{Jx+H^{1/2}u} \\leq 2^{n{\\eta}/{p}}\\}$. If $u\\notin \\Aa$, that is $\\abs{y} \\geq 2^{n{\\eta}/{p}}$, then $\\abs{H^{1/2}u} \\leq 2\\abs{y}$ and so $\\abs{u}\\leq C2^{n\\frac{\\eta}{2p}}\\abs{y}$. As previously argued in [@davie2014kmt], using the fact that $x\\notin \\Omega$ under $\\hat{\\Ee}$ it follows that $$\\int_{\\Aa^c} \\bra{1+\\abs{u}}^p h_x(u)\\, du \\leq C_{\\kappa,p}2^{n\\bra{\\eta-\\frac{\\kappa}{2}}}.$$ Moreover, the exponential tail property of the Gaussian distribution ensures that $$\\int_{\\Aa^c} \\bra{1+\\abs{u}}^p \\abs{1 + r_x\\bra{Jx+H^{1/2}u}}\\phi(u)\\, du \\leq C_{\\kappa,p}2^{-n\\kappa/2}.$$ Combining the last three estimates yields $$\\label{e-davie-31}\n\\int_{\\RR^{d_2}} \\bra{1+\\abs{u}}^p \\abs{h_x(u) - \\seq{1+r_x\\bra{Jx+H^{1/2}u}}\\phi(u)}\\, du \\leq C_{\\kappa,p}2^{n\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}.$$ As in the initial case, in light of the previous estimate we apply Proposition \\[p-poly-perturb-bound\\] with $\\Sigma=I_{d_2}$, $\\delta=C2^{n\\kappa\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}$, $K\\leq C$, $n_0 = 2$, $n=\\kappa$ and $\\varepsilon=2^{n\\bra{10\\eta-\\frac{1}{2}}}$ to find that, conditional on $\\hat{\\Ee}$, $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\Ww_p\\bra{h_x, \\phi}\n&\\leq C_{\\kappa,p} 2^{n\\bra{21\\eta-1}}.\\end{aligned}$$ Again we have used the fact $\\kappa\\geq 2p$. Assuming $\\hat{\\Ee}$, $\\norm{H^{1/2}} \\leq C2^{n\\frac{\\eta}{2p}}$ and so $$\\Ww_p\\bra{f_x,g_x} \\leq \\norm{H^{1/2}}\\Ww_p\\bra{h_x,\\phi} \\leq C_{\\kappa,p}2^{n\\bra{22\\eta-1}}.$$\n\nAs Davie writes in [@davie2014kmt], the situation can be summarised as follows: conditional on $Y_E=x$ and assuming $\\hat{\\Ee}$, we can find a random variable $Z_F^*$ with density $g_x$ such that $\\abs{Z_F^* - Y_F}_{L^p} \\leq C_{\\kappa,p}2^{n\\bra{22\\eta-1}} $. ", "If $\\hat{\\Ee}$ fails then we generate an independent random variable $Z^*$ with density $g_x$ and set $Z_F^*:=Z^*$. As in the initial case, the exponential tail bounds of Lemma \\[l-h-exp-tails\\] imply that $\\PP\\bra{\\Ee^c} \\leq C2^{-2np}$ and so together with (\\[e-calculating-prob\\]) we certainly have $\\PP\\bra{\\hat{\\Ee}^c} \\leq C2^{-2np}$. Thus taking expectations over $\\Gg$ and $Y_E$ and applying the tower property, we find that unconditionally, $$\\label{e-d1}\n\\EE\\bra{\\abs{Z_F^*-Y_F}^p} \\leq C_{\\kappa,p}2^{np\\bra{22\\eta-1}} .$$ We can now complete the recursive step by defining $$\\label{e-d2}\nZ_F:= Z_F^* + H_F H_E^{-1} (Z_E - Y_E),$$ which has the correct conditional density $g_{\\tilde{x}}$ with $\\tilde{x}=Z_E$. Then we must have $Z_G= 2^{1/2}Z_E - Z_F$. Moreover, setting $Z_F^* := 2^{1/2}Y_E - Z_F^*$, (\\[e-d1\\]) and (\\[e-d2\\]) hold with $F$ replaced with $G$.\n\n**Conclusion of the proof.** ", "Consider a given dyadic set $E$ of size $2^n$. We can uniquely write the expansion $E=E_k \\subseteq E_{k-1} \\subseteq \\ldots \\subseteq E_0$ where $k=m-n$ and, for each $j$, $E_j$ is a dyadic set of size $2^{m-j}$. From (\\[e-d2\\]) we obtain $$Z_E - Y_E = \\sum_{j=1}^k H_{E_k}H^{-1}_{E_j} (Z^*_{E_j} - Y_{E_j}) + H_{E_k}H_{E_0}^{-1}(Z_{E_0}-Y_{E_0}).$$ By the Hölder inequality, the exponential tail estimates of $\\norm{H_E}$ and the fact that $\\norm{H_E^{-1}}\\leq 12$, for all $r \\in [1,p)$ we have $$\\begin{aligned}\n\\abs{{Z_E - Y_E}}_{L^r}\n&\\leq 12\\sum^k_{j=1} \\abs{\\norm{H_{E_k}}}_{L^{q}} \\abs{{Z^*_{E_j}-Y_{E_j}}}_{L^{p}} + 12\\abs{\\norm{H_{E_k}}}_{L^{q}}\\abs{{Z_{E_0}-Y_{E_0}}}_{L^{p}}\\\\\n&\\leq C_{\\kappa,p}\\sum_{j=0}^k 2^{(m-j)\\bra{22\\eta-1}}\n\\leq C_{\\kappa,p} 2^{(m-k)\\bra{22\\eta-1}} = C_{\\kappa,p} 2^{n\\bra{22\\eta-1}}.\\end{aligned}$$ Here, $q=\\frac{pr}{p-r}$ (so that $q^{-1}+r^{-1}=1$). ", "Taking suitably small $\\eta\\in (0,\\frac{1}{44})$ ensures that $22\\eta-1<-\\frac{1}{2}$ and the proof is complete.", "\n\nAcknowledgements {#acknowledgements .unnumbered}\n================\n\nThe author would like to thank Prof. Sandy Davie of Edinburgh for answering many questions about his original proofs in [@davie2014kmt; @davie2014pathwise; @davie2015poly]. ", "The research is supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-IDEAS-ERC, ERC grant agreement nr. ", "291244).", "\n" ]

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[ "Sep 4 Dîner en Blanc: An Exquisite Affair\n\n... are the three words that I would use to describe this international culinary and cultural phenomenon.", "\n\nHow It StartedIn June of 1988, François Pasquier organized a picnic with his friends in Bois de Boulogne, a gorgeous public park in the 16ème arrondissement of Paris, and to find each other, he asked all of his friends to wear white.", "\n\nTwenty-five years later, this refined pique-nique has become so popular that it continues to grow worldwide and in numbers. ", "This year 13,000 attended in Paris, 5,000 in New York City, 5,500 in Montreal and 4,500 in Philadelphia.", "\n\nPresent Day PrimerToday, it is typically in the summer and after a three-phase registration process, thousands of individuals congregate at a secret location (normally a central place within the city) on a specific day (depends on the city), which is literally discovered as you metro or walk to the designated lieu. ", "Invitees are dressed in white from head-to-toe, carry their tables, chairs, centerpieces, and a picnic basket filled with a gourmet meal to be shared à deux or with the entire table (some bring sweet and savory bites to share, which is a kind and smart way to say hi to old friends and meet new acquaintances.) ", "And throughout the evening, there are traditional elements that kick off certain activities such as dinner. ", "At the end of the day, this experience is supposed to be about human collaboration and connection.", "\n\nOrchestral music filled the air as group and table leaders helped direct people to their spots. ", "Scrambling to set up, attendees rapidly decorated their tables and area (which ranged from simple elegant bouquets and candelabras to contraptions that allowed lights to hang), picked up their pre-ordered wine or champagne (sponsors this year were Reims, France-based Lanson and Modesto, California-based Apothic) and laid out their respective menu du jour.", "\n\nAfter everyone was settled in, the mood lightened and attendees partook in the napkin twirl, which officially kicked off le dîner. ", "The three-course dinners that night varied from antipasto skewers and cheese and charcuterie platters as appetizers, colorful sushi to quiches to grilled meats as entrées and macarons, canelés and chocolate sweets as desserts. ", "As cameras were flashing and conversations amongst new and old friends occurred, night fell which meant one thing - sparklers. ", "Everyone lit their own creating a gorgeous and ethereal scene. ", "Dance beats by the skilled DJ Sabeel Chohan took over the earlier soft symphonic tunes and got everyone dancing and posing for more pictures until the end of the night on the steps of the over 200-year-old historic library.", "\n\nWords can only say so much, so here are some photos (all were taken by me unless otherwise credited) from this unforgettable French-inspired evening.", "\n\nThe wait is finally over. ", "On October 13, Michelin released its first ever Washington, D.C. guide. ", "And what better way to fête this momentous occasion than at a truly elegant party at the gorgeous French Ambassador's residence hosted by the Ambassador of France to the United States, Gérard Araud.", "\n\nA modern Indian restaurant nestled in Cleveland Park, opened its doors in 2002, and helped redefine Indian cuisine in this city. ", "This two-level eatery, whose name is a melange of India and unique, overhauled its menu, decor and beverage program this year and very much succeeded, thanks to Indique's co-partners Surfy Rahman and Executive Chef K.N. Vinod and Stir Bartending Co.'s beverage consultant, Carlie Steiner.", "\n\nIf there is one meal that I always look forward to every weekend, it's BRUNCH. ", "Why? ", "Because this elaborate dining affair is so much more than just runny eggs (although that is a huge perk ;-)) ... it's about the experience.", "\n\nChristmas, one of the most celebrated holidays around the world, comes with a rich history of traditions, such as gingerbread houses, nativity scenes, wreaths, caroling, and advent calendars. ", "Having grown up in an Franco-American household, I was fortunate to experience a variety of these, but one of my favorites, and still to this day, is la Bûche de Noël .", "\n\nLa ville lumière. ", "Many years ago, I had the great fortune to discover you, my mother's hometown, and it was an immediate coup de foudre. ", "The smell of warm fresh bread wafting in the air, the narrow and sometimes cobble stone streets filled with people of all cultures joyously walking from one arrondissement to another in search of nooks and crannies that could be claimed as their own." ]

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[ "What you wear to class has a lot of impact not only to you but also to your fellow students as well as to your professor/teacher. ", "It will dictate whether you will concentrate in class or not and just at the same intensity speak out whether you have respect for your instructor or not which goes a long way to ensuring a successful end.", "\n\nIt does not have to be stressed further how crucial it is to wear not only decently but also comfortably. ", "That said, what clothes should you wear to go to class? ", "Outlined here are a few favorable options.", "\n\nFor chicks, you can opt for a pair of skinny jeans, a long tank top and covering it all up, a cardigan. ", "This is a simple way to go which speaks you are going to class. ", "For the shoes, go for equally simple ballet flats or the slightly bright-colored ones. ", "To finish it off you can apply a long necklace and an adorable tote bag. ", "There exist quite a number of variations of this kind of outfit and it is properly great for a class session.", "\n\nIf skinny jeans do not tickle your fancy, there is always the option of a simple dress in place. ", "A pretty, decent dress is easy to throw on when you are in a hurry to class and if it is warm and sunny outside. ", "You can integrate this look with a few additional accessories to it for example a pair of bangles, some sunglasses and yet a pair of gladiator sandals. ", "However, minus the bangles and the sunglasses, the dress and the flip-flops alone serve their purpose well enough.", "\n\nWhen it comes to guys the process is much simpler than that of girl students. ", "Most male college students go for the casual look, which fits in the class environment quite perfectly. ", "You can throw on a pair of jeans be it black or blue and a simple t-shirt on top. ", "You can couple the look with a pair of sneakers or sport shoes. ", "You can interchange your t-shirts with other shirts, which also complete the outlook quite nicely and yet give that school or class look.", "\n\nT-shirts are unisex so both male and female students can wear them as they attend a class session. ", "These few attires are good school clothes and should help you answer the question “what clothes should I wear to go to class?”" ]

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[ "Nazi Boni\n\nNazi Boni (December 31, 1909, in Bwan, Upper Senegal and Niger – May 16, 1969, in Kokologho, Upper Volta) was a politician from Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). ", "In 1948 Boni was elected to the French National Assembly on behalf of the Voltaic Union (UV), and was re-elected in 1951 running on the Economic and Social Action in the Interests of Upper Volta list, although he remained a UV member. ", "In 1955 Boni founded the African Popular Movement (MPA) after a split from the UV. ", "In January 1957, Boni's MPA took part in the founding of the African Convention, a pan-African party that later merged into the African Regroupment Party.", "\n\nFrom December 1957 to February 1958 Boni served as President of the Territorial Assembly. ", "In 1959 he founded a new party, the Republican Party for Liberty, in opposition to the attempts to make Upper Volta a one-party state under the Voltaic Democratic Union. ", "Boni was forced into exile in Dakar, Senegal.", "\n\nIn 1962, Boni wrote a novel, Le Crépuscule des temps anciens (The Twilight of the Bygone Days), which explored the precolonial existence of the Bwa people and the Volta-Bani War.", "\n\nReferences\n \n page on the French National Assembly website\n\nCategory:1909 births\nCategory:1969 deaths\nCategory:People from Boucle du Mouhoun Region\nCategory:People of French West Africa\nCategory:Burkinabé politicians\nCategory:Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic\nCategory:Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic\nCategory:Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic\nCategory:Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic\nCategory:Burkinabé novelists\nCategory:Burkinabé expatriates in Senegal\nCategory:20th-century novelists" ]

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[ "TransferWise Has Granted Access to BoE RTGS Payment System\n\nBoE (The Bank of England) is very strict in its regulations of allowing the only UK licensed banking institutions for real-time payment systems. ", "But recently, it has changed its stance by granting access to TransferWise where a non-banking institution was given access to UK payment systems.", "\n\nThe company does not believe in charging “hidden fees” from its customers and clients and is highly motivated in bringing a new set of financial transactions for its people.", "\n\nTransferWise is backed and supported by strong names like PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and UK’s Billionaire Sir Richard Branson. ", "So, all UK based banks would be facing stiff competition because now customers would have the option to process their transactions through TransferWise and do not depend upon banks for their payments.", "\n\nTransferWise\n\nTransferWise would now have full access to RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) system and will work on getting rid of loopholes from the current banking system. ", "It is likely that the company would be processing overseas transactions to the tune of 1.5 billion Pounds on a monthly basis.", "\n\nBut last week, Carney had a visional change and said that access to real-time payment would increase competition and help in reinforcing the financial stability of UK market. ", "Founders of TransferWise Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann are elated as the company has been given access to RTGS and they think it would be a game changer for them.", "\n\nKristo Käärmann made the following statement:\n\nThe Bank of England is giving tech companies the same rights to process payments as the retail banks – enabling us to cut out the middlemen and offer people a faster, cheaper service. ", "Other central banks should be looking to follow the UK’s example.", "\n\nCraig Tillotson who is in-charge of the Faster Payment Systems in the United Kingdom said that now TransferWise can access real-time payments and it would pose a huge challenge to the top-rated banking institutions in the country.", "\n\nSteven Rudford\n\nHello, my name is Steven Rudford. ", "Welcome to Top10FX.net. ", "Follow my website for the most trustworthy Forex broker reviews and last minute financial trading news.", "\n\nHIGH-RISK INVESTMENT WARNING: Trading Foreign Exchange (Forex) and Contracts for Differences (CFDs) is highly speculative, carries a high level of risk and is not suitable for every investor. ", "You may incur a loss of some or all of your invested capital. ", "Therefore, you should not trade with capital that you cannot afford to lose. ", "You should be aware of all the risks involved in trading on margin." ]

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[ "Designed for kids with a sense of adventure and a sense of style, new brand Little Kids Big City is pretty special. ", "Hand printed in New Zealand, this quality crew is deliciously cosy and can be layered over a tee, tied around the waist and worn through the seasons! ", "A soft fleece inside, the crew is finished with a custom LA print, and signature LKBC gold pip label at the hem." ]

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[ "Everything about Tree Removal Phoenix\n\nMetro Forest Council Phoenix3104 E Camelback Rd. ", "Ste. ", "2004Phoenix, AZ 85016(480) 462-5212As pointed out previously mentioned, the peak from the tree can have an impact on the expense of tree removal. ", "Other components that may affect the price include specific species and whether or not the tree has fallen.", "No matter whether to boost appearances or r… Read More\n\nMetro Forest Council Phoenix3104 E Camelback Rd. ", "Ste. ", "2004Phoenix, AZ 85016(480) 462-5212Cavities/Decay -- These seriously compromise the structural integrity of the tree, producing for weak spots that would influence the tree removal process.", "A tree that appears to be leaning dangerously need to be inspected before removal to determine how it ought… Read More\n\nMetro Forest Council Phoenix3104 E Camelback Rd. ", "Ste. ", "2004Phoenix, AZ 85016(480) 462-5212Good service from an expert company. ", "They did tree trimming and removal at my dwelling, the staff have been incredibly pleasant and KNEW what they have been executing. ", "The cost was great and I will definitely seek the services of Seminole Tree Service once agai… Read More\n\nMetro Forest Tree Removal Phoenix3104 E Camelback Rd. ", "Ste. ", "2004Phoenix, AZ 85016(480) 462-5212Leaves are structures specialised for photosynthesis and therefore are arranged about the tree in such a way as to maximise their publicity to gentle devoid of shading one another. ", "They are an essential investment decision by the tree and should be thorny … Read More" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }

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[ "Finland is the heavy metal country, with more than 50 metal bands for every 100,000 people. ", "That’s more metal bands per capita than anywhere else in the known universe. ", "But which Finnish city has the most metal bands?", "\n\nWhich city is the Capital of Metal? ", "Here are the top 10 metal hot spots. ", "Click here to see all cities >\n\nIt's not only the fact that we've got the most metal bands per capita. ", "It's so much more. ", "But don't believe us, why don't you see what Barack Obama and Megadeth have to say. ", "View the evidence >\n\nAntti \"Hyrde\" Hyyrynen from Stam1na travels around Finland to see how metal Finnish cities really are. ", "Our Japanese correspondent Masami \"Mr. Perkele\" Tsubaki gives points. ", "Watch all videos >\n\nThe small town of Lemi is the Capital of Metal Lemi, in rural Southeast Finland, has come out as the winner of Capital of Metal! ", "The official award ceremony will be held at Tuska Festival. ", "More about Lemi >\n\nWEAR YOUR METAL HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE Get a Capital of Metal T-shirt and show your hometown colours with these limited edition styles. ", "This may be the only T-shirt you'll need. ", "Get the gear >\n\nSupport the bands on the site and win prizes Which Finnish metal bands do you like? ", "Hit \"like\" in support of your favourites for a chance to win gift cards to Recordshop X. Browse the bands >\n\nYou like it? ", "You buy it Sometimes you just need that physical connection to a recording. ", "It's an all-you-can-buy buffet of Finnish metal at Record Shop X. And supporting your favourites on the site may get you a gift card. ", "Let's shop >\n\nWorld metal density Finland is the most metal infested country in the world. ", "A true metal nation. ", "There's more than 50 bands for every 100,000 inhabitants. ", "But what does that look like and how does your country rank? ", "Examine the map >\n\nSo, what's the latest on the Finnish metal front? ", "For headbanging out to the hits and checking out the latest additions to the Finnish metal supply, here's a playlist for your enjoyment. ", "To the playlist >\n\nExpressing our love of metal How about doing it with the Finland emojis! ", "It was the Finns who invented text messages and consumer text messaging, so you better be sure Finns also introduced heavy metal emojis into the mix. ", "To the emojis >" ]

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[ " -211. ", "What is the tens digit of x?", "\n1\nWhat is the tens digit of 406/21*(11 + -2)?", "\n7\nWhat is the tens digit of 3*93/9 + 4?", "\n3\nLet t(q) = -q**3 - 6*q**2 + 8*q + 8. ", "Let s be t(-7). ", "Let i = s + 5. ", "What is the units digit of i?", "\n6\nSuppose -2*s - 5*w + 33 = 0, -21 = -s - w + 3. ", "What is the units digit of s?", "\n9\nLet y = -15 + 12. ", "Let r(i) = -i**2 - 3*i + 4. ", "Let g be r(-5). ", "Let p = y - g. What is the units digit of p?", "\n3\nLet o = 264 - 115. ", "What is the units digit of o?", "\n9\nSuppose -2 - 3 = -5*o. ", "Let l be o*0/(2 - 1). ", "Let s = 6 + l. What is the units digit of s?", "\n6\nSuppose -1124 - 528 = -14*g. ", "What is the tens digit of g?", "\n1\nWhat is the hundreds digit of (2 - (-5 + 4))*49?", "\n1\nLet r(d) = 11*d**3 + 5*d**2 - 12*d + 3. ", "What is the tens digit of r(3)?", "\n0\nSuppose 2*l - p = -5*p - 12, p = -4. ", "Suppose -l*x = x - 12. ", "Suppose x*s - 3*s = 8. ", "What is the units digit of s?", "\n8\nLet o(c) = -9*c. ", "What is the units digit of o(-3)?", "\n7\nLet u(x) = -x**3 + 8*x**2 + 5*x - 10. ", "Let s(h) = h. Let j(y) = 4*s(y) - u(y). ", "What is the units digit of j(8)?", "\n2\nSuppose 11 = 5*c + n, -3*c - 2*c - 4*n + 14 = 0. ", "Suppose 0 = -4*f - q + 85, c*q + 94 = -0*f + 4*f. ", "What is the tens digit of f?", "\n2\nLet m = 1 + -1. ", "Suppose -4*n + 3*l + 33 = 0, -2*n - 6 = l - 25. ", "Suppose 0 = 5*v - 2*d - 19 - 10, 3*d - n = m. What is the units digit of v?", "\n7\nLet x be (12/(-3) - -2) + -2. ", "Let n = -8 - x. Let c = 6 + n. What is the units digit of c?", "\n2\nLet x(b) = -5*b**3 + 6*b**2 - b + 7. ", "Let c(m) = -4*m**3 + 6*m**2 + 6. ", "Let s(a) = -6*c(a) + 5*x(a). ", "Let z be s(-5). ", "What is the units digit of 5 + 0/z + -2?", "\n3\nLet j be 3/(-4) - (-18)/(-8). ", "Let u = -5 - j. What is the units digit of (-336)/(-40) + u/5?", "\n8\nSuppose 0 = 4*o - g - 107, 3*o - 4*g + 36 = 100. ", "Suppose 0*v = -5*v - 85. ", "Let r = o + v. What is the units digit of r?", "\n1\nSuppose -4*m + 54 = -l - 205, 0 = -4*m + 2*l + 258. ", "What is the units digit of m?", "\n5\nLet f be 2*(2 + -3) + 11. ", "Let t = 14 - f. What is the units digit of t?", "\n5\nLet k be 2/6 - 148/(-6). ", "Let v = -16 + k. What is the units digit of v?", "\n9\nLet l(w) = 3*w**3 - 3*w**2 - w + 2. ", "Let h be l(2). ", "Suppose 10 = -3*i + a, i + 2*i + 4*a = -35. ", "Let x = i + h. What is the units digit of x?", "\n7\nLet s be 8 - (-2 - (0 - 2)). ", "Let x be s/(-12) + 2/(-6). ", "Let n = x + 8. ", "What is the units digit of n?", "\n7\nSuppose 36 = 5*u + 281. ", "Let v = -29 - u. What is the units digit of v?", "\n0\nSuppose -668 = q - 3*q. ", "What is the hundreds digit of q?", "\n3\nLet f = -5 - -7. ", "Suppose f*s - s - 4 = 0. ", "Suppose 3*i = 2*t - 6, -3*i = -s*t + i + 20. ", "What is the units digit of t?", "\n9\nWhat is the hundreds digit of (6 - 7) + (2 - -1)*42?", "\n1\nSuppose -3*m = -4*m - 10. ", "Let p = m + 17. ", "What is the units digit of p?", "\n7\nWhat is the tens digit of (-318)/(-8) - 11/(-44)?", "\n4\nLet s be (-2)/(2/(-5))*-1. ", "Let q(n) = n**3 + 6*n**2 + 5*n + 2. ", "Let a be q(s). ", "What is the units digit of ((-2)/a)/(4/(-48))?", "\n2\nSuppose -4*z + 271 = 5*m + 42, -3*z + 172 = 4*m. ", "What is the units digit of z?", "\n6\nLet y(n) = 12*n + 1. ", "Let s be y(4). ", "What is the units digit of 5/10 + s/2?", "\n5\nSuppose -3 = f + 3. ", "What is the units digit of 9/(-27) - 290/f?", "\n8\nSuppose 2*r + 2*w + 9 = 57, -2*w = -5*r + 134. ", "What is the tens digit of r?", "\n2\nLet t = -4 + -5. ", "Let b = -6 - t. Suppose 2*m = 0, -x + 7 = -b*m - 7. ", "What is the units digit of x?", "\n4\nSuppose -4*a - 123 = -7*a. ", "What is the tens digit of a?", "\n4\nLet r be -3*(-44)/(-12)*-4. ", "Let b = 75 - r. What is the tens digit of b?", "\n3\nLet o be (6/(-7))/((-2)/(-14)). ", "Let i be (-9)/o*(5 + 1). ", "Suppose -4*m + 92 = -r, -5*m - 4*r - i = -124. ", "What is the tens digit of m?", "\n2\nLet g = -8 + 13. ", "Suppose k = 5*z - 168, 2*z - g*k - 48 = 10. ", "Suppose 5*l + 2*j - 71 = 0, -2*l - j + z = -3*j. ", "What is the units digit of l?", "\n5\nSuppose 4*f + 11 = -5. ", "What is the units digit of (-390)/(-18) + f/6?", "\n1\nLet x be 7 + -6 - (-100 + 1). ", "Suppose -13*f = -9*f - x. What is the units digit of f?", "\n5\nLet u(s) = -24*s + 27. ", "What is the units digit of u(-6)?", "\n1\nWhat is the tens digit of (32 - 2) + (0 - 2)?", "\n2\nLet h = 11 - 17. ", "What is the tens digit of 2*7 + h + 4?", "\n1\nLet p(b) = -b**3 + 18*b**2 - b + 19. ", "What is the hundreds digit of p(17)?", "\n2\nSuppose 3*h + 6 = 3*z, 9 = 2*z - 3*h + 6*h. ", "Suppose -2 = -2*p, -p - 4*p + z = -2*q. ", "Let c = 0 + q. What is the units digit of c?", "\n1\nLet m(h) = -h - 2. ", "Let v be m(-4). ", "Suppose 0 = z + v*z - 120. ", "Suppose 8 = 4*i - z. What is the units digit of i?", "\n2\nLet v be ((-2)/(-3))/((-2)/(-24)). ", "Let s = v - 7. ", "What is the units digit of (8/(-12))/(s/(-18))?", "\n2\nLet l be 1 - (1 + 0 + -5). ", "What is the units digit of (-2)/l - (-312)/30?", "\n0\nSuppose 5*j + 0*j + 16 = 2*z, -j = -4*z + 14. ", "What is the tens digit of (-17 - j)*(-24)/20?", "\n1\nLet b be ((-2)/(-6) - -1)*-6. ", "Let a = -19 + 6. ", "Let w = b - a. What is the units digit of w?", "\n5\nLet q = -14 - -16. ", "Suppose d - 9 = 2*t, q*d - 3*t + 47 = 6*d. ", "What is the units digit of d?", "\n1\nSuppose -2*w + 1 = -3. ", "Suppose -w = -l + 2. ", "What is the units digit of l*3*(-2)/(-6)?", "\n4\nLet g(i) = i + 5. ", "Let z be g(-5). ", "Suppose 0*q = 3*q - 5*l - 31, -2*q - 3*l - 11 = z. What is the units digit of q?", "\n2\nLet h be (-1)/(-4 + 1 - -2). ", "Let p(v) = 7*v - v**2 + 2 + 2 + h. What is the units digit of p(7)?", "\n5\nSuppose l - 1 = 1. ", "Suppose -24 = -l*d + 14. ", "What is the tens digit of d?", "\n1\nSuppose -4*z = z + 120. ", "What is the tens digit of 6/z + 77/4?", "\n1\nSuppose -n - 2*z - 11 = -2*n, 3*n = -5*z + 33. ", "What is the units digit of n?", "\n1\nLet b = 65 - 29. ", "Let v = -20 + b. What is the units digit of v?", "\n6\nSuppose 3*a + 16 + 11 = 0. ", "Let c be a/(-6) - (-7)/2. ", "Suppose 0*q = q - 2, 0 = -3*m + 4*q - c. What is the units digit of m?", "\n1\nLet z = 27 - -1. ", "What is the units digit of z?", "\n8\nSuppose -2*a + 366 = t, 3*a - 561 = -3*t - 9. ", "What is the hundreds digit of a?", "\n1\nLet y(v) = -5*v - 1. ", "Let r(g) = -3*g - 1. ", "Let w(h) = 7*r(h) - 4*y(h). ", "Let u be w(0). ", "Let d = 8 + u. What is the units digit of d?", "\n5\nLet t(r) = r - 2. ", "Let p be t(0). ", "Let y = 12 + p. What is the tens digit of 2*y*(-4)/(-8)?", "\n1\nSuppose 3*p - 2*j - 4 = 2*j, 4*j = -4. ", "Suppose 3*d - 5*d - 2*l = -6, p = -d + 2*l. ", "Suppose 0 = -z + 2*n - d, -3*z + 2*n = -2*n. ", "What is the units digit of z?", "\n4\nLet l(d) = 2*d**2 - 11*d + 3. ", "Let b be l(8). ", "Let f = -4 + b. What is the units digit of f?", "\n9\nSuppose 0*s + 25 = -4*q + 3*s, -q = -4*s + 3. ", "Let t(p) = -3*p + 1. ", "What is the tens digit of t(q)?", "\n2\nLet r(w) = -2 - 10 + 3*w + 14. ", "What is the tens digit of r(8)?", "\n2\nLet i = 1 + 3. ", "Let m be 12/i*(1 - 0). ", "Suppose -m*s - s + 16 = 0. ", "What is the units digit of s?", "\n4\nSuppose 5*k + 25 = 5*b, 6*b - 23 = b + 3*k. ", "Suppose b*z + 42 = 2. ", "Let g = -9 - z. What is the units digit of g?", "\n1\nSuppose -30 = -2*z - 3*z. ", "Let t(a) = a**3 - 5*a**2 - 2*a - 8. ", "Let p be t(z). ", "Suppose -w - w = -p. ", "What is the units digit of w?", "\n8\nSuppose -3*f = -4*f + 7. ", "Suppose m - 13 - f = 0. ", "Let o = -5 + m. What is the tens digit of o?", "\n1\nSuppose 0 = x + 3*x - 5*t - 110, 3*t = 6. ", "Suppose -3*f = -6*f + x. What is the units digit of f?", "\n0\nWhat is the tens digit of ((-4)/(-1) - 3)/((-2)/(-94))?", "\n4\nLet n = 29 + 7. ", "What is the tens digit of n?", "\n3\nLet f(m) = m**2 - 8*m - 6. ", "Let z be f(8). ", "Let q = -1 - z. Suppose -q*r = 4*j + j - 85, -4 = 2*j. ", "What is the units digit of r?", "\n9\nLet j(p) = -7*p**3 + p**2 + 6*p + 3. ", "Let x(d) = 10*d**3 - d**2 - 9*d - 4. ", "Let c(t) = 7*j(t) + 5*x(t). ", "What is the tens digit of c(2)?", "\n1\nLet o = 5 + -3. ", "Suppose 3*x = 2*x + 33. ", "Suppose o*c + c = x. What is the units digit of c?", "\n1\nLet h(c) = 5*c**3 - 7*c**2 + 3*c. ", "What is the tens digit of h(3)?", "\n8\nSuppose -4*q - 83 = -3*k, 5*k - 7*q = -2*q + 135. ", "Let x = k - 18. ", "What is the units digit of x?", "\n7\nSuppose -5*p - 2*k + 8 = 0, -4*k = -2*k + 2. ", "What is the units digit of p?", "\n2\nLet p(k) = -k**3 - 8*k**2 + 7*k + 4. ", "Let m be (-357)/39 + 2/13. ", "Let v be p(m). ", "Let g = v + -10. ", "What is the tens digit of g?", "\n1\nSuppose 0 = -5*z + 2*c + 35, -6*c - 50 = -5*z - c. Let h be 2*-14*1/(-4). ", "Let w = h - z. What is the units digit of w?", "\n2\nLet s = 154 - 75. ", "What is the tens digit of s?", "\n7\nLet p = -133 - -224. ", "Suppose 3*b = -34 + p. What is the tens digit of b?", "\n1\nLet m be 1*(-5 - -4) + -1. ", "Let u = m + 7. ", "What is the units digit of u?", "\n5\nSuppose 5*i - m = 225, -2*m + 19 = i + 3*m. ", "What is the units digit of i?", "\n4\nLet y = -16 - -27. ", "What is the tens digit of y?", "\n1\nLet z be (60/5)/(3/(-3)). ", "What is the units digit of (12/(-8) + 1)*z?", "\n6\nLet s(o) = -o**3 + 4*o**2 + 5*o + 4. ", "Let b be s(5). ", "Let k = b + -9. ", "Let m(v) = -v**2 - 7*v - 3. ", "What is the" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "DM Mathematics" }

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[ "Q:\n\nHow to get item from listView onItemClick in android?", "\n\nI'm working on an app and in that app I've created a custom listview. ", "I am populating the listView from an API call.", "Now on the click of a perticular list item i want to get the data which is shown on that index.", "\nWhat shall i change in the below code\n vehicle_select_listview.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.", "OnItemClickListener() {\n @Override\n public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?", "> parent, View view, int position, long id) {\n\n ImageView selectedImage = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.checkBox);\n\n selectedImage.setImageResource(R.drawable.simplecheck);\n String str = parent.getAdapter().getItem(position).toString();\n\n Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), \" \" + str , Toast.", "LENGTH_SHORT).show();\n }\n });\n}\n\nPlease help. ", "Thank you\n\nA:\n\nSimple as that. ", "parent.getItemAtPosition(position);\n\nA:\n\nparent.getAdapter().getItem(position)\n\nthis code give an object. ", "You must cast it to your object type. ", "If you use toString() method, it will give you it pointer address(if object dont have custom toString() method.) ", "So you can use that;\nCustomObject obj = (CustomObject)parent.getAdapter().getItem(position);\n\nNote : CustomObject is which you give your listview as adapter in list type.", "\n\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "StackExchange" }

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[ "// Package documentdb implements the Azure ARM Documentdb service API version .", "\n//\n// Azure Cosmos DB Database Service Resource Provider REST API\npackage documentdb\n\n// Copyright (c) Microsoft and contributors. ", " All rights reserved.", "\n//\n// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.", "\n// You may obtain a copy of the License at\n// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n//\n// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n// distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.", "\n//\n// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n// limitations under the License.", "\n//\n// Code generated by Microsoft (R) AutoRest Code Generator.", "\n// Changes may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if the code is regenerated.", "\n\nimport (\n\t\"github.com/Azure/go-autorest/autorest\"\n)\n\nconst (\n\t// DefaultBaseURI is the default URI used for the service Documentdb\n\tDefaultBaseURI = \"https://management.azure.com\"\n)\n\n// BaseClient is the base client for Documentdb.", "\ntype BaseClient struct {\n\tautorest.", "Client\n\tBaseURI string\n\tSubscriptionID string\n}\n\n// New creates an instance of the BaseClient client.", "\nfunc New(subscriptionID string) BaseClient {\n\treturn NewWithBaseURI(DefaultBaseURI, subscriptionID)\n}\n\n// NewWithBaseURI creates an instance of the BaseClient client using a custom endpoint. ", " Use this when interacting with\n// an Azure cloud that uses a non-standard base URI (sovereign clouds, Azure stack).", "\nfunc NewWithBaseURI(baseURI string, subscriptionID string) BaseClient {\n\treturn BaseClient{\n\t\tClient: autorest.", "NewClientWithUserAgent(UserAgent()),\n\t\tBaseURI: baseURI,\n\t\tSubscriptionID: subscriptionID,\n\t}\n}\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Github" }

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[ "Intel 8088\n\nThe Intel 8088 (\"eighty-eighty-eight\", also called iAPX 88) microprocessor is a variant of the Intel 8086. ", "Introduced on June 1, 1979, the 8088 had an eight-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. ", "The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however. ", "In fact, according to the Intel documentation, the 8086 and 8088 have the same execution unit (EU)—only the bus interface unit (BIU) is different. ", "The original IBM PC was based on the 8088, as were its clones.", "\n\nHistory and description\n\nThe 8088 was designed at Intel's laboratory in Haifa, Israel, as were a large number of Intel's processors. ", " The 8088 was targeted at economical systems by allowing the use of an eight-bit data path and eight-bit support and peripheral chips; complex circuit boards were still fairly cumbersome and expensive when it was released. ", "The prefetch queue of the 8088 was shortened to four bytes, from the 8086's six bytes, and the prefetch algorithm was slightly modified to adapt to the narrower bus. ", "These modifications of the basic 8086 design were one of the first jobs assigned to Intel's then-new design office and laboratory in Haifa.", "\n\nVariants of the 8088 with more than 5 MHz maximal clock frequency include the 8088-2, which was fabricated using Intel's new enhanced nMOS process called HMOS and specified for a maximal frequency of 8 MHz. ", "Later followed the 80C88, a fully static CHMOS design, which could operate with clock speeds from 0 to 8 MHz. ", "There were also several other, more or less similar, variants from other manufacturers. ", "For instance, the NEC V20 was a pin-compatible and slightly faster (at the same clock frequency) variant of the 8088, designed and manufactured by NEC. ", "Successive NEC 8088 compatible processors would run at up to 16 MHz. ", "In 1984, Commodore International signed a deal to manufacture the 8088 for use in a licensed Dynalogic Hyperion clone, in a move that was regarded as signaling a major new direction for the company.", "\n\nWhen announced, the list price of the 8088 was US$124.80.", "\n\nDifferences from the 8086\nThe 8088 is architecturally very similar to the 8086. ", " The main difference is that there are only eight data lines instead of the 8086's 16 lines. ", " All of the other pins of the device perform the same function as they do with the 8086 with two exceptions. ", " First, pin 34 is no longer (this is the high-order byte select on the 8086—the 8088 does not have a high-order byte on its eight-bit data bus). ", " Instead it outputs a maximum mode status, . ", " Combined with the IO/ and DT/ signals, the bus cycles can be decoded (it generally indicates when a write operation or an interrupt is in progress). ", " The second change is the pin that signals whether a memory access or input/output access is being made has had it sense reversed. ", " The pin on the 8088 is IO/. On the 8086 part it is /M. The reason for the reversal is that it makes the 8088 compatible with the 8085.", "\n\nPerformance\nDepending on the clock frequency, the number of memory wait states, as well as on the characteristics of the particular application program, the average performance for the Intel 8088 ranged approximately from 0.33 to 1 million instructions per second. ", "Meanwhile, the mov reg,reg and ALU reg,reg instructions, taking two and three cycles respectively, yielded an absolute peak performance of between and  MIPS per MHz, that is, somewhere in the range 3–5 MIPS at 10 MHz.", "\n\nThe speed of the execution unit (EU) and the bus of the 8086 CPU was well balanced; with a typical instruction mix, an 8086 could execute instructions out of the prefetch queue a good bit of the time. ", " Cutting down the bus to eight bits made it a serious bottleneck in the 8088. ", " With the speed of instruction fetch reduced by 50% in the 8088 as compared to the 8086, a sequence of fast instructions can quickly drain the four-byte prefetch queue. ", " When the queue is empty, instructions take as long to complete as they take to fetch. ", " Both the 8086 and 8088 take four clock cycles to complete a bus cycle; whereas for the 8086 this means four clocks to transfer two bytes, on the 8088 it is four clocks per byte. ", " Therefore, for example, a two-byte shift or rotate instruction, which takes the EU only two clock cycles to execute, actually takes eight clock cycles to complete if it is not in the prefetch queue. ", " A sequence of such fast instructions prevents the queue from being filled as fast as it is drained, and \nin general, because so many basic instructions execute in fewer than four clocks per instruction byte—including almost all the ALU and data-movement instructions on register operands and some of these on memory operands—it is practically impossible to avoid idling the EU in the 8088 at least ¼ of the time while executing useful real-world programs, and it is not hard to idle it half the time. ", " In short, an 8088 typically runs about half as fast as 8086 clocked at the same rate, because of the bus bottleneck (the only major difference).", "\n\nA side effect of the 8088 design, with the slow bus and the small prefetch queue, is that the speed of code execution can be very dependent on instruction order. ", " When programming the 8088, for CPU efficiency, it is vital to interleave long-running instructions with short ones whenever possible. ", " For example, a repeated string operation or a shift by three or more will take long enough to allow time for the 4-byte prefetch queue to completely fill. ", " If short instructions (i.e. ones totaling few bytes) are placed between slower instructions like these, the short ones can execute at full speed out of the queue. ", " If, on the other hand, the slow instructions are executed sequentially, back to back, then after the first of them the bus unit will be forced to idle because the queue will already be full, with the consequence that later more of the faster instructions will suffer fetch delays that might have been avoidable. ", " As some instructions, such as single-bit-position shifts and rotates, take literally 4 times as long to fetch as to execute, the overall effect can be a slowdown by a factor of two or more. ", " If those code segments are the bodies of loops, the difference in execution time may be very noticeable on the human timescale.", "\n\nThe 8088 is also (like the 8086) slow at accessing memory. ", " The same ALU that is used to execute arithmetic and logic instructions is also used to calculate effective addresses. ", " There is a separate adder for adding a shifted segment register to the offset address, but the offset EA itself is always calculated entirely in the main ALU. ", " Furthermore, the loose coupling of the EU and BIU (bus unit) inserts communication overhead between the units, and the four-clock period bus transfer cycle is not particularly streamlined. ", " Contrast this with the two-clock period bus cycle of the 6502 CPU and the 80286's three-clock period bus cycle with pipelining down to two cycles for most transfers. ", " Most 8088 instructions that can operate on either registers or memory, including common ALU and data-movement operations, are at least four times slower for memory operands than for only register operands. ", " Therefore, efficient 8088 (and 8086) programs avoid repeated access of memory operands when possible, loading operands from memory into registers to work with them there and storing back only the finished results. ", " The relatively large general register set of the 8088 compared to its contemporaries assists this strategy. ", " When there are not enough registers for all variables that are needed at once, saving registers by pushing them onto the stack and popping them back to restore them is the fastest way to use memory to augment the registers, as the stack PUSH and POP instructions are the fastest memory operations. ", " The same is probably not true on the 80286 and later; they have dedicated address ALUs and perform memory accesses much faster than the 8088 and 8086.", "\n\nFinally, because calls, jumps, and interrupts reset the prefetch queue, and because loading the IP register requires communication between the EU and the BIU (since the IP register is in the BIU, not in the EU, where the general registers are), these operations are costly. ", " All jumps and calls take at least 15 clock cycles. ", " Any conditional jump requires four clock cycles if not taken, but if taken, it requires 16 cycles in addition to resetting the prefetch queue; therefore, conditional jumps should be arranged to be not taken most of the time, especially inside loops. ", " In some cases, a sequence of logic and movement operations is faster than a conditional jump that skips over one or two instructions to achieve the same result.", "\n\nIntel datasheets for the 8086 and 8088 advertised the dedicated multiply and divide instructions (MUL, IMUL, DIV, and IDIV), but they are very slow, on the order of 100–200 clock cycles each. ", " Many simple multiplications by small constants (besides powers of 2, for which shifts can be used) can be done much faster using dedicated short subroutines. ", " The 80286 and 80386 each greatly increased the execution speed of these multiply and divide instructions.", "\n\nSelection for use in the IBM PC\n\nThe original IBM PC was the most influential microcomputer to use the 8088. ", "It used a clock frequency of 4.77 MHz (4/3 the NTSC colorburst frequency). ", "Some of IBM's engineers and other employees wanted to use the IBM 801 processor, some would have preferred the new Motorola 68000, while others argued for a small and simple microprocessor, such as the MOS Technology 6502 or Zilog Z80, which had been used in earlier personal computers. ", "However, IBM already had a history of using Intel chips in its products and had also acquired the rights to manufacture the 8086 family.", "\n\nIBM chose the 8088 over the 8086 because Intel offered a better price for the former and could supply more units. ", "Another factor was that the 8088 allowed the computer to be based on a modified 8085 design, as it could easily interface with most nMOS chips with 8-bit databuses, i.e. existing and mature, and therefore economical, components. ", "This included ICs originally intended for support and peripheral functions around the 8085 and similar processors (not exclusively Intel's), which were already well known by many engineers, further reducing cost.", "\n\nThe descendants of the 8088 include the 80188, 80186, 80286, 80386, 80486, and later software-compatible processors, which are in use today.", "\n\nGallery\n\nPeripherals\n Intel 8282/8283: 8-bit latch\n Intel 8284: clock generator\n Intel 8286/8287: bidirectional 8-bit driver. ", " Both Intel I8286/I8287 (industrial grade) version were available for US$16.25 in quantities of 100.", "\n Intel 8288: bus controller\n Intel 8289: bus arbiter\n Intel 8087: Math Co-Processor\n\nSee also\nx86 architecture\nIBM Personal Computer\nMotorola 68008\nMaximum mode\nMinimum mode\niAPX for the iAPX designation\nProfessional Graphics Controller\nTransistor count\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nchipdb.org - Intel datasheet for 8088\nPCJS: Original IBM PC simulation that runs in your web browser\n\nCategory:Computer-related introductions in 1979\n80088\nCategory:Israeli inventions\n\nes:Intel 8086 y 8088#Pines del 8088\nCategory:16-bit microprocessors" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)" }

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[ "In this CentOS 5.5 tutorial we will be installing Foreman on a CentOS 5.5 i386 server including Puppet Master and Puppet client. ", "The assumption is that you have a basic to medium understanding of the software required but if you follow this tutorial you should be able to complete the task successfully.", "\n\nA bit on the software that we’ll be using:\n\nForeman\n\nForeman is aimed to be a Single Address For All Machines Life Cycle Management.", "\n\nForeman integrates with Puppet (and acts as web front end to it).", "\n\nForeman takes care of bare bone provisioning until the point puppet is running, allowing Puppet to do what it does best.", "\n\nForeman shows you Systems Inventory (based on Facter) and provides real time information about hosts status based on Puppet reports.", "\n\nForeman creates everything you need when adding a new machine to your network. ", "It’s goal being automatically managing everything you would normally manage manually – that would eventually include DNS, DHCP, TFTP, PuppetCA, CMDB and everything else you might consider useful.", "\n\nWith Foreman You Can Always Rebuild Your Machines From Scratch!", "\n\nForeman is designed to work in a large enterprise, where multiple domains, subnets and puppetmasters are required.", "\n\nhttp://theforeman.org/\n\n\n\nPreliminary Note:\n\nI am using a CentOS 5.5 i386 base installation in this tutorial with root access.", "\n\n* foreman.how2centos.com (IP 10.0.0.100): CentOS 5.5 i386 base installation\n\nLets begin by adding additional CentOS 5.5. ", "repositories and installing the framework required by Foreman.", "\n\n# yum install yum-priorities # rpm -Uhv http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/i386/rpmforge/RPMS/rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm # rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm\n\ncat > /etc/yum.repos.d/foreman.repo << EOF [foreman] name=Foreman Repo baseurl=http://yum.theforeman.org/stable gpgcheck=0 enabled=1 EOF\n\nLets begin installing the framework starting with Puppet Master, client and MySQL\n\n# yum install puppet-server puppet # yum install mysql mysql-server mysql-devel ruby-mysql rubygem-activerecord\n\nLet do a basic Puppet Master and client configuration.", "\n\n# vi /etc/puppet/puppet.conf\n\n[main] # The Puppet log directory. # ", "The default value is '$vardir/log'. ", "logdir = /var/log/puppet # Where Puppet PID files are kept. # ", "The default value is '$vardir/run'. ", "rundir = /var/run/puppet # Where SSL certificates are kept. # ", "The default value is '$confdir/ssl'. ", "ssldir = $vardir/ssl [puppetd] # The file in which puppetd stores a list of the classes # associated with the retrieved configuratiion. ", "Can be loaded in # the separate ``puppet`` executable using the ``--loadclasses`` # option. # ", "The default value is '$confdir/classes.txt'. ", "classfile = $vardir/classes.txt # Where puppetd caches the local configuration. ", "An # extension indicating the cache format is added automatically. # ", "The default value is '$confdir/localconfig'. ", "localconfig = $vardir/localconfig # Enable reporting for Foreman report = true [puppetmasterd] storeconfigs = true dbadapter = mysql dbuser = puppet dbpassword = puppet dbserver = localhost dbsocket = /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock rrddir=/var/lib/puppet/rrd rrdinterval=$runinterval rrdgraph=true reports=log, foreman\n\n# vi /etc/sysconfig/puppet\n\n# The puppetmaster server PUPPET_SERVER=foreman.how2centos.com # If you wish to specify the port to connect to do so here #PUPPET_PORT=8140 # Where to log to. ", "Specify syslog to send log messages to the system log. ", "PUPPET_LOG=/var/log/puppet/puppet.log # You may specify other parameters to the puppet client here #PUPPET_EXTRA_OPTS=--waitforcert=500\n\n# mkdir /etc/puppet/manifests/classes/ # vi /etc/puppet/manifests/site.pp\n\nimport \"classes/*\" node default { include sudo }\n\n# vi /etc/puppet/manifests/classes/sudo.pp\n\nclass sudo { file { \"/etc/sudoers\": owner => \"root\", group => \"root\", mode => 440, } }\n\nStart MySQL and add it to startup\n\n# service mysqld start # chkconfig mysqld on\n\nAdd the Puppet Database\n\n# mysql mysql> create database puppet; mysql> grant all privileges on puppet.* ", "to puppet@localhost identified by 'puppet'; mysql> exit Bye\n\nInstall Foreman and configure the Database and enable reporting.", "\n\n# yum install foreman\n\nForeman uses a database, by default, SQLite is used, if you want to use other database (e.g. MySQL) please modify the configuration file under config/database.yml.", "\n\n# mv /etc/foreman/database.yml /etc/foreman/database.yml.old # vi /etc/foreman/database.yml\n\nproduction: adapter: mysql database: puppet username: puppet password: puppet host: localhost socket: \"/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock\"\n\nTo enable reporting in Foreman you'll be required to copy foreman-report.rb to your report directory, edit the $foreman_url=, and then add it to your master puppet.conf under the main section add:\n\n# cp /usr/share/foreman/extras/puppet/foreman/files/foreman-report.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/puppet/reports/foreman.rb # vi /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/puppet/reports/foreman.rb\n\n# copy this file to your report dir - e.g. /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/puppet/reports/ # add this report in your puppetmaster reports - e.g, in your puppet.conf add: # reports=log, foreman # (or any other reports you want) # URL of your Foreman installation $foreman_url=\"http://foreman.how2centos.com:3000\" require 'puppet' require 'net/http' require 'uri' Puppet::Reports.register_report(:foreman) do Puppet.settings.use(:reporting) desc \"Sends reports directly to Foreman\" def process begin uri = URI.parse($foreman_url) http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port) if uri.scheme == 'https' then http.use_ssl = true http.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE end req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(\"/reports/create?format=yml\") req.set_form_data({'report' => to_yaml}) response = http.request(req) rescue Exception => e raise Puppet::Error, \"Could not send report to Foreman at #{$foreman_url}/reports/create?format=yml: #{e}\" end end end\n\nFinally to initialize the database schema type:\n\n# cd /usr/share/foreman/ # RAILS_ENV=production rake db:migrate\n\nLet start, and add to startup, the various componants and browse to your newly installed Puppet Master and client with Foreman frontend.", "\n\n# service puppetmaster start # service puppet start # service foreman start # chkconfig puppetmaster on # chkconfig puppet on # chkconfig foreman on\n\nPoint your bowser to http://foreman.how2centos.com:3000" ]

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[ "Collaboration CYBR x AOKU magazine sleeve. ", "Made from Tafetta Nylon fabric and featured with Molle webbing, and patch system.", "\n\nComes with CYBR magazine issue_03 and exclusive AOKU x CYBR collaboration sticker sheet.", "\n\nVX21 X–PAC FABRIC LINED WITH TAFETTA NYLON\n\nCANDY POCKET\n\n30.5x23CM OUTSIDE = COMFORTABLY FITS 26x22CM OBJECTS\n\n2x8 TEC-SYS SLOTS FOR EXPANSION/USING ATTACHED TO P.A.L.S.\n\nPlease Note: magazine fits within the sleeve, but due to zip is a little difficult to get into the sleeve - please be careful on putting magazine into and out of sleeve." ]

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[ "/**@constructor*/\nfunction Foo() {\n\t/**\n\t\t@public\n\t\t@static\n\t\t@field\n\t*/\n\tvar bar = function(x) {\n\t}\n}" ]

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[ "Elevated cardiac troponin levels do not predict adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients without clinical manifestations of acute coronary syndromes.", "\nThe prognostic significance of elevated cardiac troponin levels (CTL) in hospitalized patients with no other evidence of myocardial ischemia or injury is largely unknown. ", "Fifty patients (mean age 61 +/- 15 years, 15 women) out of 580 consecutive hospitalized patients were selected based on normal CK-MB and at least 3-fold increase of CTL. ", "The medical charts of these patients were reviewed and a 1-year follow-up was performed. ", "The most frequent admission diagnoses were exacerbation of congestive heart failure (22%), stroke (20%) followed by respiratory failure (6%), cirrhosis (6%), gastrointestinal bleeding (6%), end-stage renal disease (4%), atrial fibrillation (4%) and metastatic malignancies (4%). ", "Abnormal CTL prompted a cardiology consult in 48% of patients, an echocardiogram in 44%, myocardial perfusion study in 10% and coronary angiography in 1 patient. ", "Of 21 deaths, only 1 was related to an acute coronary event. ", "The measurement of CTL in patients without definite clinical or electrocardiographic evidence of myocardial ischemia and with a wide spectrum of clinical diagnoses does not predict in-hospital and at 1 year cardiovascular complications and/or cardiac death." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts" }

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[ "The discovery of mirror neurons (MNs) in the monkey has been one of the most important advances of our knowledge about the role of the motor system in action perception. ", "More impor-tantly, this discovery has attracted the attention of scientists from many disciplines because of its possible implications in explaining important aspects of primate social cognition such as the under-standing of others' goals and acfions (Jeannerod 1994; Rizzolatti et al. ", "2001). ", "More recent neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies are giving significant impulse to our understanding of the mirror neuron system (MNS) and are raising questions concerning their specific functions. ", "Some researchers have argued that this system is precociously funcfioning since infancy in both humans and monkeys (Lepage & Theoret 2006; Ferrari et al. ", "2006) and prob-ably serving very basic functions in early social interactions. ", "These functions might constitute im-portant precursors of higher order socio-cognitive skills fully expressed in adulthood. ", "Among them, particularly relevant is the capacity to understand others' intentions since it can impact individual's decisions in determining the course of social interactions. ", "A lack of such social comprehension might compromise basic social faculties necessary for everyday life. ", "The primary objective of the project is to understand the developmental trajectory characte-rizing the early functioning of the MNs in monkeys with respect to later development of high order socio-cognitive skills and, secondly, to elucidate the involvement of MNs in such skills. ", "The project consists of two interrelated parts. ", "The specific aim of the first part is to track longitudinally the relation between early behavioral markers of MN and the development of sociocognitive skills. ", "The specific aim of the second part is to investigate how MN integrate information about the social con-text with that of the observed agent's action. ", "This neural mechanism enables the monkey to under-stand the intention of the observed agent which is crucial to make appropriate decisions and to determine future social interactions." ]

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[ "#!", "/usr/bin/env python\n\n#####################################################################\n# Software License Agreement (BSD License)\n#\n# Copyright (c) 2013, Willow Garage\n# Copyright (c) 2014, Mike Purvis\n# Copyright (c) 2015, Vitor Matos\n# All rights reserved.", "\n#\n# Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without\n# modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions\n# are met:\n#\n# * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright\n# notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.", "\n# * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above\n# copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following\n# disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided\n# with the distribution.", "\n# * Neither the name of Willow Garage, Inc. nor the names of its\n# contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived\n# from this software without specific prior written permission.", "\n#\n# THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS\n# \"AS IS\" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT\n# LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS\n# FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. ", "IN NO EVENT SHALL THE\n# COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,\n# INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,\n# BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;\n# LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER\n# CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT\n# LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN\n# ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE\n# POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.", "\n\nTHIS_PACKAGE = \"rosserial_tivac\"\n\n__usage__ = \"\"\"\nThis script generates the message library for TivaC projects.", "\nIt also copies the rosserial client for make/cmake projects using GNU arm-none-eabi toolchain.", "\n\nUsage:\nrosrun rosserial_tivac make_libraries_tiva <output_path>\n\"\"\"\n\nimport rospkg\n\nimport rosserial_client\nfrom rosserial_client.make_library import *\n\n# for copying files\nimport shutil\nimport os.path\n\nROS_TO_EMBEDDED_TYPES = {\n 'bool' : ('bool', 1, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'byte' : ('int8_t', 1, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'int8' : ('int8_t', 1, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'char' : ('uint8_t', 1, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'uint8' : ('uint8_t', 1, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'int16' : ('int16_t', 2, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'uint16' : ('uint16_t', 2, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'int32' : ('int32_t', 4, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'uint32' : ('uint32_t', 4, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'int64' : ('int64_t', 8, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'uint64' : ('uint64_t', 8, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'float32' : ('float', 4, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'float64' : ('double', 8, PrimitiveDataType, []),\n 'time' : ('ros::Time', 8, TimeDataType, ['ros/time']),\n 'duration': ('ros::Duration', 8, TimeDataType, ['ros/duration']),\n 'string' : ('char*', 0, StringDataType, []),\n 'Header' : ('std_msgs::Header', 0, MessageDataType, ['std_msgs/Header'])\n}\n\n# Enforce correct inputs\nif (len(sys.argv) < 2):\n print(__usage__)\n exit(1)\n\n# Sanitize output path\npath = sys.argv[1]\noutput_path = os.path.join(sys.argv[1], \"ros_lib\")\nprint(\"\\nExporting to %s\" % output_path)\n\nrospack = rospkg.", "RosPack()\n\n# Copy hardware specific ros_lib\nshutil.rmtree(output_path, ignore_errors=True)\nshutil.copytree(os.path.join(rospack.get_path(THIS_PACKAGE), \"src\", \"ros_lib\"), output_path)\n\n# Generate and copy remaining ros_lib files\nrosserial_client_copy_files(rospack, output_path)\nrosserial_generate(rospack, output_path, ROS_TO_EMBEDDED_TYPES)\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Github" }

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[ "French destroyer Maillé-Brézé (D627)\n\nMaillé-Brézé is a (escorteur d'escadre) of the French Navy. ", "She was built by Arsenal de Lorient in Lorient, commissioned on 4 May 1957 and named after the French admiral Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé (1619–1646).", "\n\nHistory \nOn 2 March 1962, Maillé-Brézé, along with another four destroyers, landed fresh troops at Algiers to fight the OAS upsurge. ", "Assisted by her sister ship , she was about to shell the OAS-held quarter of Bab-el-Oued when a counter-order called the operation off. ", "The destroyers instead took battle stations close to the shore as a deterrent.", "\n\nIn 1988 she was decommissioned and became a museum ship in Nantes. ", "She has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since October 1991.", "\n\nOn 21 February 2016, director Christopher Nolan announced plans to feature the ship in his upcoming World War II film Dunkirk. ", "In the film, she portrayed two British destroyers – sister ships and – by simultaneously carrying the D36 pennant number of Vivacious on her port side and Vanquishers pennant D54 on her starboard side.", "\n\nReferences\n Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995\n\nExternal links\n\n Maillé-Brézé naval museum, Nantes\n Roll of Honour\n\nCategory:Cold War naval ships of France\nCategory:T 47-class destroyers\nCategory:Ships built in France\nCategory:Museum ships in France" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)" }

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[ "Chevron Approves New Tech in North Sea\n\nPosted by Joseph KeefeOctober 20, 2017\n\nFile Image: A typical North Sea installation (CREDIT: Craig Int'l)\n\nU.S. oil major Chevron(CVX) has approved an investment to increase output from its Captain oilfield by using a new water-injection technology for the first time in the North Sea, the company said on Friday.", "\n\nSix long-reach horizontal wells will be drilled in the 20-year-old field, around 90 miles northeast of Aberdeen. ", "They are expected to raise the recovery rate 5 to 7 percent.", "\n\nPolymerised water will be injected into the field's oil reservoir, a new technique to tap oil reserves that are hard to reach with conventional drilling methods. ", "It will be the first time the technology has been applied on this scale in the North Sea.", "\n\nThe polymer injection wells will come on stream from 2018 to 2021, a spokeswoman said. ", "She declined to disclose how much they would cost.", "\n\nApproving the investment for the first phase of project \"is an important milestone in the development of the technology, which we believe will improve the recovery rate from older fields and help extend the life of assets,\" said Greta Lydecker, managing director of Chevron's European upstream division.", "\n\nChevron is the operator of the field and owns 85 percent of it. ", "Dana Petroleum holds a 15 percent stake.", "\n\nOil and gas output from Britain's part of the North Sea has dropped since the turn of the century as old fields are depleted and investment in new projects dwindles.", "\n\nHowever, some oil companies, like Chevron, are investing in new technologies to reach resources that were previously unavailable, helping British oil and gas production to rise slightly over the past two years." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }

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[ "I’ve stopped scribbling on post-it notes and sticking them all over the apartment. ", "Rejoice.", "\n\nWednesday, May 12, 2010\n\nThe Fifth Stage\n\nFucking hell.", "\n\nAre you kidding me, LeBron? ", "Are you flippin’ kidding me? ", "With your piss-poor performance, your lackadaisical lumbering up and down the court, your ineffectual bullshit in and outside the paint? ", "Are you fucking kidding me?!", "\n\nAnd you, Mo, what the fuck?! ", "What are you even doing out there? ", "Shaq scores more points than you! ", "Christ, my three-and-a-half year old niece could score more! ", "My dog could! ", "You bring the ball down the court just fine, but then you get close to the basket and come down with a case of “Oh-my-flippin’-lord-what-the-fuck-do-I-do-now?-Just-get-rid-of-it!-Just-get-rid-of-it!” ", "and throw the ball away like it’s diseased. ", "You’re not playing a game of hot potato, Mo. Set up a play. ", "At the very least, pass the ball to someone else who can make the shot.", "\n\nOh wait, there’s no one to pass to! ", "That’s right, because no one can make the shots!", "\n\nAs for you, Coach Brown, you have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! ", "What did you say to the team at half time? ", "Did you read nursery rhymes? ", "Make everyone some warm milk to drink? ", "Because you inspired a bunch of alleged professional basketball players to head out to the court and sleepwalk their way through the second half. ", "Bang up job, Mike.", "\n\nYou know what, LeBron? ", "Just leave. ", "Don’t even show up in Boston. ", "We all know you’re outta here—that’s exactly how you play. ", "You want to come to New York, you traitorous ego-saurus? ", "Fine. ", "Leave all the comforts of home. ", "Leave your hometown. ", "Leave a city who loves you. ", "But remember, the Knicks suck and they will still suck when you come. ", "At some point, the big city lights will stop dazzling you and you’ll be saddled with the albatross that is the Knicks. ", "Still sucking." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }

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[ "Children with tympanostomy tubes have traditionally been advised to protect their ears when swimming and bathing. ", "Although acute otorrhea through a patent tube is a common occurrence, there is no published evidence that water exposure is causative. ", "We will prospectively randomize 200 children, ages 6 months to 6 years, who have had bilateral tympanostomy tubes placed within one month of entry to one of 2 groups: 1) swimming and bathing without earplugs or 2) swimming and bathing with earplugs. ", "We will stratify the groups by age (<4 years, > 4 years) and by diagnosis (recurrent acute otitis media, otitis media with effusion). ", "Parents will be given a calendar to record all swimming and bathing activity. ", "The children will be seen monthly for one year, and whenever there is an intercurrent ear, nose, or throat problem. ", "If otorrhea develops, a culture will be performed and the child will be treated with an oral antibiotic and ototopical drops. ", "The primary comparison will be the incidence of otorrhea in each experimental group and the second comparison will be the average number of episodes per child in the two groups. ", "Examination of the culture results will help determine the pathogenic mechanisms responsible for the otorrhea." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "NIH ExPorter" }

[ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ]

[ "Rockshox Reba SL forks, air 120mm and 20mm axel . ", "straight 1 1/8 steerer just over 19cm long. ", "tiny scratch on the stantion shown in the photo but doesnt cause leakage. ", "again, marks on the lowers are just to the copter tape - £110" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }

[ 0.02, 0, 0, 0 ]

[ "@model PasswordResetContainer\n@{\n ViewBag.", "Title = PopForums.", "Resources.", "PasswordReset;\n Layout = \"~/Areas/Forums/Views/Shared/PopForumsMaster.cshtml\";\n}\n\n<div>\n\t<h1>@PopForums.", "Resources.", "PasswordReset</h1>\n\t<ul id=\"TopBreadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumb\">\n\t\t<li class=\"breadcrumb-item\"><a asp-controller=\"@HomeController.", "Name\" asp-action=\"Index\">@PopForums.", "Resources.", "Forums</a></li>\n\t</ul>\n</div>\n\n@if (Model.", "IsValidUser)\n{\n\tusing(Html.", "BeginForm()){\n\t\t<div role=\"form\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"form-group\" pf-validationerror-class=\"has-error\" pf-validation-for=\"Password\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"Password\" class=\"control-label\">@PopForums.", "Resources.", "PasswordNew</label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"password\" asp-for=\"Password\" class=\"form-control\"/>\n\t\t\t\t<span asp-validation-for=\"Password\"></span>\n\t\t\t</div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"form-group\" pf-validationerror-class=\"has-error\" pf-validation-for=\"PasswordRetype\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"PasswordRetype\" class=\"control-label\">@PopForums.", "Resources.", "PasswordNewRetype</label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"password\" asp-for=\"PasswordRetype\" class=\"form-control\"/>\n\t\t\t\t<span asp-validation-for=\"PasswordRetype\"></span>\n\t\t\t</div>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"@PopForums.", "Resources.", "ChangePassword\" class=\"btn btn-primary\" />\n\t\t</div>\n\t}\n}\nelse\n{\n\t<p>@PopForums.", "Resources.", "PasswordResetLinkInvalid <a asp-action=\"Forgot\">@PopForums.", "Resources.", "ForgotPasswordQuestion</a></p>\n}" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Github" }

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[ "package integration\n\nimport (\n\t\"bytes\"\n\t\"crypto/md5\"\n\t\"encoding/hex\"\n\t\"fmt\"\n\t\"io/ioutil\"\n\t\"os\"\n\t\"os/exec\"\n\t\"path/filepath\"\n\t\"runtime\"\n\t\"strings\"\n\t\"syscall\"\n\t\"testing\"\n\t\"time\"\n\n\t\"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer\"\n\t\"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs\"\n)\n\nfunc ptrInt(v int) *int {\n\treturn &v\n}\n\nfunc newStdBuffers() *stdBuffers {\n\treturn &stdBuffers{\n\t\tStdin: bytes.", "NewBuffer(nil),\n\t\tStdout: bytes.", "NewBuffer(nil),\n\t\tStderr: bytes.", "NewBuffer(nil),\n\t}\n}\n\ntype stdBuffers struct {\n\tStdin *bytes.", "Buffer\n\tStdout *bytes.", "Buffer\n\tStderr *bytes.", "Buffer\n}\n\nfunc (b *stdBuffers) String() string {\n\ts := []string{}\n\tif b.Stderr !", "= nil {\n\t\ts = append(s, b.Stderr.", "String())\n\t}\n\tif b.Stdout !", "= nil {\n\t\ts = append(s, b.Stdout.", "String())\n\t}\n\treturn strings.", "Join(s, \"|\")\n}\n\n// ok fails the test if an err is not nil.", "\nfunc ok(t testing.", "TB, err error) {\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\t_, file, line, _ := runtime.", "Caller(1)\n\t\tt.Fatalf(\"%s:%d: unexpected error: %s\\n\\n\", filepath.", "Base(file), line, err.", "Error())\n\t}\n}\n\nfunc waitProcess(p *libcontainer.", "Process, t *testing.", "T) {\n\t_, file, line, _ := runtime.", "Caller(1)\n\tstatus, err := p.Wait()\n\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\tt.Fatalf(\"%s:%d: unexpected error: %s\\n\\n\", filepath.", "Base(file), line, err.", "Error())\n\t}\n\n\tif !", "status.", "Success() {\n\t\tt.Fatalf(\"%s:%d: unexpected status: %s\\n\\n\", filepath.", "Base(file), line, status.", "String())\n\t}\n}\n\nfunc newTestRoot() (string, error) {\n\tdir, err := ioutil.", "TempDir(\"\", \"libcontainer\")\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn \"\", err\n\t}\n\tif err := os.", "MkdirAll(dir, 0700); err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn \"\", err\n\t}\n\treturn dir, nil\n}\n\nfunc newTestBundle() (string, error) {\n\tdir, err := ioutil.", "TempDir(\"\", \"bundle\")\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn \"\", err\n\t}\n\tif err := os.", "MkdirAll(dir, 0700); err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn \"\", err\n\t}\n\treturn dir, nil\n}\n\n// newRootfs creates a new tmp directory and copies the busybox root filesystem\nfunc newRootfs() (string, error) {\n\tdir, err := ioutil.", "TempDir(\"\", \"\")\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn \"\", err\n\t}\n\tif err := os.", "MkdirAll(dir, 0700); err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn \"\", err\n\t}\n\tif err := copyBusybox(dir); err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn \"\", err\n\t}\n\treturn dir, nil\n}\n\nfunc remove(dir string) {\n\tos.", "RemoveAll(dir)\n}\n\n// copyBusybox copies the rootfs for a busybox container created for the test image\n// into the new directory for the specific test\nfunc copyBusybox(dest string) error {\n\tout, err := exec.", "Command(\"sh\", \"-c\", fmt.", "Sprintf(\"cp -a /busybox/* %s/\", dest)).CombinedOutput()\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn fmt.", "Errorf(\"copy error %q: %q\", err, out)\n\t}\n\treturn nil\n}\n\nfunc newContainer(config *configs.", "Config) (libcontainer.", "Container, error) {\n\th := md5.New()\n\th.Write([]byte(time.", "Now().String()))\n\treturn newContainerWithName(hex.", "EncodeToString(h.", "Sum(nil)), config)\n}\n\nfunc newContainerWithName(name string, config *configs.", "Config) (libcontainer.", "Container, error) {\n\tf := factory\n\tif config.", "Cgroups !", "= nil && config.", "Cgroups.", "Parent == \"system.slice\" {\n\t\tf = systemdFactory\n\t}\n\treturn f.Create(name, config)\n}\n\n// runContainer runs the container with the specific config and arguments\n//\n// buffers are returned containing the STDOUT and STDERR output for the run\n// along with the exit code and any go error\nfunc runContainer(config *configs.", "Config, console string, args ...string) (buffers *stdBuffers, exitCode int, err error) {\n\tcontainer, err := newContainer(config)\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn nil, -1, err\n\t}\n\tdefer container.", "Destroy()\n\tbuffers = newStdBuffers()\n\tprocess := &libcontainer.", "Process{\n\t\tCwd: \"/\",\n\t\tArgs: args,\n\t\tEnv: standardEnvironment,\n\t\tStdin: buffers.", "Stdin,\n\t\tStdout: buffers.", "Stdout,\n\t\tStderr: buffers.", "Stderr,\n\t\tInit: true,\n\t}\n\n\terr = container.", "Run(process)\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn buffers, -1, err\n\t}\n\tps, err := process.", "Wait()\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn buffers, -1, err\n\t}\n\tstatus := ps.", "Sys().(syscall.", "WaitStatus)\n\tif status.", "Exited() {\n\t\texitCode = status.", "ExitStatus()\n\t} else if status.", "Signaled() {\n\t\texitCode = -int(status.", "Signal())\n\t} else {\n\t\treturn buffers, -1, err\n\t}\n\treturn\n}\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Github" }

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[ "The huge world of Red Dead Redemption 2 is filled with all sorts of easter eggs.", "\n\nSome are nods to the previous game, some involve UFOs and some are a bit creepier.", "\n\nRDR2 definitely seems to be taking a few pointers from Rockstar's other major success, Grand Theft Auto 5, in terms of easter eggs, as both the UFO easter egg and this one seem to be lifted from that title. ", "Here is how you can find a ghost in Red Dead Redemption 2.", "\n\nLATEST RDR2 NEWS CLIPS\n\nAt some point in the game, Reverend Swanson will warn you about a ghost haunting Bluewater Marsh in Lemoyne.", "\n\nAfter the poor Reverend is dismissed for what the others think is nonsensical superstition, it's possible to prove him right. ", "The swamps can be frightening to navigate at night on their own even without any supernatural events, but if you go after this easter egg expect the game to take on a bit of a horror vibe.", "\n\nIf you traipse around the western half of the Marsh at times between 9 PM and 3 AM in-game time, you may hear strange, hysterical noises that resemble a woman's voice.", "\n\nIf you follow these sounds, you'll eventually see the dimly glowing ghost - the ghost of Agnes Dowd.", "\n\nArthur will make a sketch of the ghost in his diary for later reference. ", "The key is to stay at a distance from the ghost, as going too close will cause it to disappear. ", "If you stay for a while, a snippet from the last moments of Agnes' life will play out, and the ghost will then fade.", "\n\nOnly this isn't where the story ends. ", "In total, there are 16 unique encounters with the ghost, each with their own animations that tell a different aspect of her death, and those moments leading up to it. ", "You'll put together the whole picture of what happened by seeing all 16 chilling snippets of this tragedy.", "\n\nAfter all 16 animations played out the ghost will disappear forever and you won't be able to encounter it again." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2" }

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[ "module Fog\n module AWS\n class AutoScaling\n class Real\n require 'fog/aws/parsers/auto_scaling/describe_scaling_activities'\n\n # Returns the scaling activities for the specified Auto Scaling group.", "\n #\n # If the specified activity_ids list is empty, all the activities from\n # the past six weeks are returned. ", "Activities are sorted by completion\n # time. ", "Activities still in progress appear first on the list.", "\n #\n # This action supports pagination. ", "If the response includes a token,\n # there are more records available. ", "To get the additional records,\n # repeat the request with the response token as the NextToken\n # parameter.", "\n #\n # ==== Parameters\n # * options<~Hash>:\n # * 'ActivityIds'<~Array> - A list containing the activity IDs of the\n # desired scaling activities. ", "If this list is omitted, all\n # activities are described. ", "If an AutoScalingGroupName is provided,\n # the results are limited to that group. ", "The list of requested\n # activities cannot contain more than 50 items. ", "If unknown\n # activities are requested, they are ignored with no error.", "\n # * 'AutoScalingGroupName'<~String> - The name of the Auto Scaling\n # group.", "\n # * 'MaxRecords'<~Integer> - The maximum number of scaling activities\n # to return.", "\n # * 'NextToken'<~String> - The token returned by a previous call to\n # indicate that there is more data available.", "\n #\n # ==== Returns\n # * response<~Excon::Response>:\n # * body<~Hash>:\n # * 'ResponseMetadata'<~Hash>:\n # * 'RequestId'<~String> - Id of request\n # * 'DescribeScalingActivitiesResponse'<~Hash>:\n # * 'Activities'<~Array>:\n # * 'ActivityId'<~String> - Specifies the ID of the activity.", "\n # * 'AutoScalingGroupName'<~String> - The name of the Auto\n # Scaling group.", "\n # * 'Cause'<~String> - Contins the reason the activity was\n # begun.", "\n # * 'Description'<~String> - Contains a friendly, more verbose\n # description of the scaling activity.", "\n # * 'EndTime'<~Time> - Provides the end time of this activity.", "\n # * 'Progress'<~Integer> - Specifies a value between 0 and 100\n # that indicates the progress of the activity.", "\n # * 'StartTime'<~Time> - Provides the start time of this\n # activity.", "\n # * 'StatusCode'<~String> - Contains the current status of the\n # activity.", "\n # * 'StatusMessage'<~String> - Contains a friendly, more\n # verbose description of the activity status.", "\n # * 'NextToken'<~String> - Acts as a paging mechanism for large\n # result sets. ", "Set to a non-empty string if there are\n # additional results waiting to be returned. ", "Pass this in to\n # subsequent calls to return additional results.", "\n #\n # ==== See Also\n # http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AutoScaling/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeScalingActivities.html\n #\n def describe_scaling_activities(options = {})\n if activity_ids = options.delete('ActivityIds')\n options.merge!(AWS.indexed_param('ActivityIds.member.%d', [*activity_ids]))\n end\n request({\n 'Action' => 'DescribeScalingActivities',\n :parser => Fog::Parsers::AWS::AutoScaling::DescribeScalingActivities.new\n }.merge!(options))\n end\n end\n\n class Mock\n def describe_scaling_activities(options = {})\n Fog::Mock.not_implemented\n end\n end\n end\n end\nend\n" ]

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[ "Right-of-ways along Dundas Street in Mississauga are set to be widened, by up to seven metres, as the city looks to accommodate rapid bus lanes along the street.", "\n\nThe move -- which was approved at a Jan. 13, 2020, council session -- would generally widen Dundas’s existing right of way from 35 metres to either 40 or 42 metres. ", "It would apply to the street across most of the city and create space for Mississauga’s plans for bike lanes, rapid bus transit and four regular vehicular lanes.", "\n\nAt the meeting, Mississauga planner Christian Binette told council that without the widening approval, the city can’t prevent new developments from coming in the planned Dundas corridor.", "\n\n“Approval of the wider right-of-way will protect the necessary space to accommodate planned transportation improvements, reducing the need for the displacement of future buildings and structures and minimizing cost to the taxpayer,” he said." ]

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[ "// Code generated by protoc-gen-grpc-mock. ", "DO NOT EDIT.", "\n// source: automate-gateway/api/deployment/deployment.proto\n\npackage deployment\n\nimport (\n\t\"context\"\n\n\tempty \"github.com/golang/protobuf/ptypes/empty\"\n\t\"google.golang.org/grpc/codes\"\n\t\"google.golang.org/grpc/status\"\n)\n\n// verify that the mock satisfies the DeploymentServer interface (at compile time)\nvar _ DeploymentServer = &DeploymentServerMock{}\n\n// NewDeploymentServerMock gives you a fresh instance of DeploymentServerMock.", "\nfunc NewDeploymentServerMock() *DeploymentServerMock {\n\treturn &DeploymentServerMock{validateRequests: true}\n}\n\n// NewDeploymentServerMockWithoutValidation gives you a fresh instance of\n// DeploymentServerMock which does not attempt to validate requests before passing\n// them to their respective '*Func'.", "\nfunc NewDeploymentServerMockWithoutValidation() *DeploymentServerMock {\n\treturn &DeploymentServerMock{}\n}\n\n// DeploymentServerMock is the mock-what-you-want struct that stubs all not-overridden\n// methods with \"not implemented\" returns\ntype DeploymentServerMock struct {\n\tvalidateRequests bool\n\tGetVersionFunc func(context.", "Context, *empty.", "Empty) (*Version, error)\n\tServiceVersionsFunc func(context.", "Context, *ServiceVersionsRequest) (*ServiceVersionsResponse, error)\n}\n\nfunc (m *DeploymentServerMock) GetVersion(ctx context.", "Context, req *empty.", "Empty) (*Version, error) {\n\tif msg, ok := interface{}(req).(interface{ Validate() error }); m.validateRequests && ok {\n\t\tif err := msg.", "Validate(); err !", "= nil {\n\t\t\treturn nil, status.", "Error(codes.", "InvalidArgument, err.", "Error())\n\t\t}\n\t}\n\tif f := m.GetVersionFunc; f !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn f(ctx, req)\n\t}\n\treturn nil, status.", "Error(codes.", "Internal, \"mock: 'GetVersion' not implemented\")\n}\n\nfunc (m *DeploymentServerMock) ServiceVersions(ctx context.", "Context, req *ServiceVersionsRequest) (*ServiceVersionsResponse, error) {\n\tif msg, ok := interface{}(req).(interface{ Validate() error }); m.validateRequests && ok {\n\t\tif err := msg.", "Validate(); err !", "= nil {\n\t\t\treturn nil, status.", "Error(codes.", "InvalidArgument, err.", "Error())\n\t\t}\n\t}\n\tif f := m.ServiceVersionsFunc; f !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn f(ctx, req)\n\t}\n\treturn nil, status.", "Error(codes.", "Internal, \"mock: 'ServiceVersions' not implemented\")\n}\n\n// Reset resets all overridden functions\nfunc (m *DeploymentServerMock) Reset() {\n\tm.GetVersionFunc = nil\n\tm.ServiceVersionsFunc = nil\n}\n" ]

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[ "Satisfaction Guaranteed!", "\n\nMoto G Skins @ Printvenue.com – Customize Now!", "\n\nExplore a customized collection of Moto G mobile skins at Printvenue. ", "Put photos, text or designs of your choice on your handset and give it a refreshed look. ", "Order Moto G skins anywhere from India online and feel amazing with the customized look of your cell.", "\n\nBuy Latest & Trendy Mobile Skins for Moto G Online!", "\n\nBuy latest & trendy mobile skins for Moto G online at Printvenue.com. ", "Customize the Moto G mobile skins with photos, text or images of your choices. ", "Explore the customized mobile skins for other skins as well and order online from any part of India." ]

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[ "Autophagy in intracellular bacterial infection.", "\nAutophagy is a conserved intracellular degradation process enclosing the bulk of cytosolic components for lysosomal degradation to maintain cellular homeostasis. ", "Accumulating evidences showed that a specialized form of autophagy, known as xenophagy, could serve as an innate immune response to defend against pathogens invading inside the host cells. ", "Correspondingly, infectious pathogens have developed a variety of strategies to disarm xenophagy, leading to a prolonged and persistent intracellular colonization. ", "In this review, we first summarize the current knowledge about the general mechanisms of intracellular bacterial infections and xenophagy. ", "We then focus on the ongoing battle between these two processes." ]

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[ "The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. ", "Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.", "\n\nLaw Offices of Terence D. Broughton provide criminal defense representation for individuals located in Dublin, California and Nevada City, California, as well as throughout Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Nevada County, Placer County, Sierra County and Plumas County. ", "The firm also represents individuals throughout Pleasanton, Livermore, San Ramon, Danville, Walnut Creek, Tracy, Manteca, Grass Valley, Auburn, Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Pittsburg, Brentwood, Martinez, Truckee, Downieville, Roseville, Quincy and Graeagle, as well as the Tri Valley, East Bay and Sierra Foothills." ]

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[ "The menstrual cycle is a rare phenomenon in nature. ", "In fact, it turns out that human beings are just one of a handful of species on Earth in which females experience it. ", "So why is that? ", "Why did the menstrual cycle evolve in the first place?", "\n\nThe TED-Ed video below explores what we know about the origins of the menstrual cycle—and why human females experience menstruation (i.e., have periods) more often than any other species. ", "The short version is that it’s thought to be evolutionarily adaptive—it’s a protective process designed to clear the body of unfertilized eggs and unhealthy embryos. ", "These would pose a serious risk to women if the uterine lining did not shed on a regular basis because, if they could continue to develop unabated, they would draw resources from her body at the expense of her health. ", "In other words, you can think of menstruation as a “screening process” for embryos that is ultimately to the benefit of women’s health.", "\n\nTo learn more check out the full video below." ]

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[ "Background {#Sec1}\n==========\n\nBurn injury is an emergency medical condition that rapidly develops as a result of tissue exposure to electrical, chemical or thermal energy. ", "Therefore, its treatment usually begins at the emergency department. ", "Since a significant proportion of patients affected by burn injury are admitted to the emergency department immediately after the incident, healthcare staff working in the emergency department should have a good command of these cases (Alharbi et al. [", "@CR3]). ", "After providing first medical aid at the emergency department, it is imperative that multiple departments, particularly general surgery and plastic surgery, cooperate for the management of burn injuries (Ilhan et al. [", "@CR8]).", "\n\nA major proportion of patients with burn injuries are discharged from the emergency department once outpatient treatment and follow-up is scheduled (Yolcu et al. [", "@CR15]). ", "When hospital admissions are taken into account, however, burn injuries are a significant source of mortality and morbidity (Sever et al. [", "@CR14]). ", "Furthermore, demanding medical care of these patients gives rise to the high cost of care depending on burn percentage, degree, as well as the duration of hospital stay (Hazar et al. [", "@CR7]). ", "Hence, taking preventive measures to avoid these injuries is the key to success for their management. ", "Emergency physicians who assume a critical role in the management of burn injuries should necessarily have knowledge of the most common types of burn injuries and their cost of care in the emergency department.", "\n\nIn this study we aimed to perform an epidemiological analysis of burn injuries presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary burn center, and factors affecting the cost of their medical care.", "\n\nMethods {#Sec2}\n=======\n\nThis retrospective descriptive study was conducted after being approved by Baskent University Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee (Project No: KA14/282 Date of Approval: 15.10.2014). ", "Patients who presented to Baskent University Ankara Hospital Adult Emergency Department with burn injuries between January 2012 and December 2014 were studied for age, sex, time of admission, type of burn injury, clinical prognosis, mortality rate, percent burn area, and total cost of care. ", "A total of 264 patients were enrolled.", "\n\nHospital automation system was used to access patients' medical data including age; sex; hour, month, and year of admission; cause and type of burn injury; occupational and suicidal nature of burn injury; burn degree; percent burn area; surgical intervention if performed; indications for admission according to the rule of nines; post-treatment clinical status, regular attendance to follow-up visits; and cost of care denominated in Euro (€). ", "The sum for treatment cost has been obtained by adding up the invoice amounts of the inpatients and all the check-ins to the emergency department and burns outpatient department.", "\n\nInternational Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnostic codes T30, T31, and T32 were used to determine and record burn injuries. ", "Statistical analyses were done with \"SPSS 17.0 for Windows\" software package. ", "Chi-square test was used for the comparison of categorical variables. ", "The distribution of continuous variables was assessed with the Kolmogorov--Smirnov test. ", "Non-parametric tests were used for the comparison of continuous variables.", "\n\nThe correlation between various variables and cost of care was analyzed with the Spearman's correlation test. ", "A *p* value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.", "\n\nResults {#Sec3}\n=======\n\nThis study included 179 (67.8 %) women and 85 (32.2 %) men. ", "Thirty-four (12.9 %) patients were admitted to emergency department between 00:00 and 06:00; 15 (5.7 %) between 06:00 and 12:00; 74 (28 %) between 12:00 and 18:00; and 141 (53.4 %) between 18:00 and 24:00. ", "The monthly distribution of the emergency department admissions for burn injuries was shown in Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type=\"table\"}. ", "Accordingly, patients suffering from burns check into emergency department most frequently between 18:00 and 24:00 and in June.", "Table 1Monthly distribution of admissions for burn injuriesMonthNumber (*n*)Percentage (%)January249.1February259.5March238.7April197.2May2810.6June3814.4July3212.1August207.6September145.3October134.9November186.8December103.8Total264100.0\n\nSeventy-seven (29.2 %) patients were admitted in 2012; 126 (47.7 %) in 2013; and 61 (23.1 %) in 2014. ", "One hundred and ninety-five (73.9 %) patients were admitted for hot water burns-scalding; 25 (9.5 %) for flame burns; 24 (9.1 %) for hot contact burns; 18 (6.8 %) for chemical and 2 (0.8 %) for electric burns. ", "The most common types of burn injuries were hot water burns and scalding. ", "Thirty-one (11.7 %) patients sustained burn injuries in occupational accidents and 233 (88.3 %) in non-occupational accidents. ", "There was no suicidal burn injury in our study. ", "Two hundred and fifty-one (95.1 %) patients were discharged from the emergency department and 12 (4.5 %) were hospitalized. ", "Only 1 (0.4 %) patient died. ", "70.8 % of the patients involved (*n* = 187) are found to have attended to outpatient clinic controls, and 28.8 % have not.", "\n\nThere was no significant difference between patient outcomes (discharge vs. hospital admission) with respect to the cost of care (*p* = 0.846) (Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 2Comparison of cost of care by patient outcomeOutcomeNumber of patientsMedian (€)IQR*p* valueDischarge25125.1421.840.846\\*Hospital admission1226.1031.58*IQR* inter-quartile range\\* Mann**--**Whitney-*U* test\n\nIt was found that there was no statistically significant difference between the gender-based groups (*p* = 0.079) (Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 3Comparison of gender-based groups in terms of costsGenderNumber of patientsMedian (€)IQR*p* valueFemale17924.2219.260.079\\*Male8527.7728.96*IQR* inter-quartile range\\* Mann**--**Whitney-*U* test\n\nIt was found that there was no statistically significant difference between the patients who were older versus younger than 50 (*p* = 0.593) (Table [4](#Tab4){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 4Comparison of age-based groups in terms of costsAgeNumber of patientsMedian (€)IQR*p* value\\<5021425.2520.710.593≥505026.1626.99\n\nThere was a significant difference between the years of admission with respect to the cost of care (*p* \\< 0.001). ", "Based on the annual analysis, the highest cost of care was incurred in 2012 and the lowest in 2014 (Table [5](#Tab5){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 5Comparison of the cost of burn care in different years of admissionYear of admissionNumber of patientsMedian (€)IQR*p* value20127730.2927.50\\<0.001\\*201312626.2420.4420146117.5010.49*IQR* inter-quartile range\\* Kruskal--Wallis test\n\nNo significant difference was found between the cost of care of surgical and non-surgical management of burn injuries (*p* = 0.206) (Table [6](#Tab6){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 6Comparison of costs of care of surgical versus non-surgical management of burn injuriesSurgical interventionNumber of patientsMedian (€)IQRMinMax*p* valueNot performed25825.0921.615.96190.930.206\\*Performed648.29254.239.60475.52*IQR* inter-quartile range, *min* minimum, *max* maximum\\* Mann**--**Whitney-*U* test\n\nNo significant difference was found between the costs of care of different types of burn injuries (*p* = 0.053) (Table [7](#Tab7){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 7Comparison of the costs of care of different types of burn injuryCause of burn injuryNumber of patientsMedian (€)IQR*p* valueHot water-scalding19525.9621.270.053\\*Flame2529.0573.05Contact with hot2418.3713.43Chemical1818.6024.92Electric223.74--*IQR* inter-quartile range\\* Kruskal--Wallis test\n\nThere was a significant difference between burn degrees with respect to the cost of care (*p* = 0.038). ", "The second degree burns incurred the highest cost of care while the third degree burns led to the lowest cost of care (Table [8](#Tab8){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 8Comparison of treatment costs by burn degreeBurn degreeNumber of patientsMedian (€)IQR*p* value1. ", "Degree4923.2916.210.038\\*2. ", "Degree20826.2424.283. ", "Degree714.704.63\\* Kruskal--Wallis test*IQR* inter-quartile range\n\nA significant difference was found between the costs of care of patients with a percent burn area of less than 10 % and those with a percent burn area of more than 10 % (*p* = 0.001), indicating that as percent burn area increased, a proportional increase occurred in the cost of care (Table [9](#Tab9){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 9Comparison of cost of care by percent burn areaPercent burn areaNumber of patientsMedian (€)IQR*p* valuePercent burn area \\< %1025024.9320.17\\<0.001\\*Percent burn area ≥ %101475.0075.54*IQR* inter-quartile range\\* Mann**--**Whitney-*U* test\n\nThere was a significant positive correlation between age and treatment cost (*r* = 0.184, *p* = 0.003), and also between percent burn area and treatment cost (*r* = 0.804, *p* \\< 0.001).", "\n\nAccording to the descriptive statistics table, it was found that those who have 2.degree burns belong to the highest age group and those who have 3.degree burns belong to the lowest age group (Table [10](#Tab10){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 10Age of the patients versus burn degreeMedian (year)IQR1. ", "Degree29.0019.002. ", "Degree35.0023.003. ", "Degree30.0011.00\n\nAccording to the descriptive statistics table, the most frequent reason of burns for the older age group is flame burnt while the most frequent reason for young age groups is contacted with hot objects (Table [11](#Tab11){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 11Patient age versus reason of burnsCause of burn injuryMedian (year)IQRHot water-scalding32.0022.00Flame37.0021.00Contact with hot26.5025.00Chemical31.0013.00Electric31.50--\n\nOf the patients, those who were applied surgical intervention were older than those who were not applied surgical intervention (Table [12](#Tab12){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 12Patient age versus surgical interventionSurgical interventionMedian (year)IQRNot performed32.5021.00Performed38.0038.00\n\nHospitalized patients are of higher age group while those who were discharged from hospital were the lowest (Table [13](#Tab13){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 13Age of patient versus clinical outcomeMedian (year)IQRDischarge32.0021.00Hospital admission37.0028.00\n\nDiscussion {#Sec4}\n==========\n\nAccording to our study, there is no statistically significant difference between the patients' discharged from the hospital versus hospitalized statuses in terms of costs (*p* = 0.846). ", "We consider that the reason for above concern is that the cost analysis figures were including the costs arising from patients' subsequent applications to burns outpatient department. ", "Accordingly, we think that outpatient treatment versus inpatient treatment does not make a difference in terms of treatment costs. ", "And despite the apparently higher costs of the patients who were applied surgical intervention; our statistical analysis has shown that there was no significant difference between the two groups (*p* = 0.206). ", "Considering the variables such as the need for general anesthesia, the materials used, the necessity of multidisciplinary approach we expect the cost of the patients who are subject to surgical intervention, be higher. ", "As a result of our study, we observed no significant difference between the cost versus the reason of the burns (*p* = 0.053). ", "However, it is observed that the burns which occur due to flame exposure result in remarkably higher costs. ", "No statistically significant data has been observed between patient age versus cost (*p* = 0.593). ", "There is a statistically significant difference between the degree of the burn versus cost (respectively *p* \\< 0.001 and *p* = 0.038). ", "This means that the cost is determined by the burnt area and its degree rather than the patient's age.", "\n\nOur study revealed that, among burn survivors admitted to our emergency department, female burn survivors were 2.1 times more common than male burn survivors. ", "This was in contrast to a study by Saritas et al. ([", "@CR13]), which reported that 65 % of burn survivors who were admitted to the emergency department were male. ", "We believe that more female survivors were admitted in our series due to the proximity of our hospital to residential areas and small-sized workplaces and its remoteness to industrial areas.", "\n\nThe median age of our study population was 33 years. ", "Kowal-Vern et al. ([", "@CR11]) similarly reported a median age of 30 years for burn injury survivors. ", "We think that the reason for young adults suffering from burns is observed more frequently is because these individuals are more active at home and at work. ", "Young adults are more open to traumas and therefore the burns due to their motor-vehicle use, alcohol consumption and that they can work under heavy-duty labor requirements.", "\n\nThe most frequent time period for admissions was between 18:00 and 00:00 (54.4 %). ", "DeKoning et al. ([", "@CR6]) also reported that admissions for burn injuries most commonly took place between 18:00 and 19:00. ", "We considered that spending more time in low-safety, uncontrolled places and at kitchen during this period caused an increase in the burn injuries.", "\n\nIn our study, the most common types of burn injury were, in descending order of frequency, hot water burns-scalding, flame burns, and burns by contact with hot substances/surfaces. ", "This finding was in agreement with that reported by Kowal-Vern et al. ([", "@CR11]). ", "However, Avsarogullari et al. ([", "@CR4]) and Ahn and Maitz ([@CR1]) reported that flame burns were the most common types of burn injury followed by scalding. ", "The study of Avsarogullari et al. ([", "@CR4]), as it can be seen in our study, consists of burn patients who check into the emergency department. ", "As for Ahn and Maitz's ([@CR1]) study, it did not consist of emergency service patients but inpatients of the burns unit. ", "This can be one of the authentic properties of our study among other studies within the literature. ", "Our finding may be a reflection of our hospital's proximity to residential areas and small-sized workplaces.", "\n\nAs the majority of our cases were minor burn injuries, the median percent burn area was only 2 %. ", "In the literature, percent burn area has been variably reported (Kowal-Vern et al. [", "@CR11]; Avsarogullari et al. [", "@CR4]; Aksoy et al. [", "@CR2]; Sahin et al. [", "@CR12]). ", "This suggests that in our patients burn injuries may have occurred in different ways at home, workplace, or many other different settings, and thus the range of burn degrees may have been diverse.", "\n\nOur study demonstrated that second-degree burns were the most common burn degree (78.78 %), a finding that was similarly reported by many other studies (DeKoning et al. [", "@CR6]; Avsarogullari et al. [", "@CR4]; Burton et al. [", "@CR5]). ", "Although it may show variability by different causes of burn injury, it is possible that the second-degree burn injuries were more common in patients with flame or scalding burn injuries.", "\n\nAccording to our results, 11.7 % of burn injuries occurred in occupational accidents. ", "Karami Matin et al. ([", "@CR10]) reported that occupational burn injuries constituted 28.5 % of their cases. ", "This finding suggests that recent national measures taken for occupational health and safety have raised workers' awareness about burn injuries and transformed workplaces to safer environments.", "\n\nIn our study we found that surgical treatment was used in 2.3 % patients with burn injuries. ", "This low number possibly resulted from the mildness of burn injuries in our patients.", "\n\nSimilar to what Sahin et al. ([", "@CR12]) reported, we found that cost of care was not significantly different between various causes of burn injuries. ", "We determined that flame burns were associated with higher cost of care, as Karami Matin et al. ([", "@CR10]) reported.", "\n\nThe cost of care of burn injuries with a percent burn area of less than 10 % was lower than that of burn injuries occupying more than 10 % of body surface area. ", "This suggests that cost of care is affected by percent burn area. ", "Ahn and Maitz ([@CR1]) also demonstrated that an increase in percent burn area was the primary factor leading to a proportional increase in cost of care. ", "In patients with a greater percent burn area, hospitalization may be prolonged and complications may develop. ", "Furthermore, increased use of workforce and medical materials lead to increased cost of care (Ahn and Maitz [@CR1]).", "\n\nWe found a significant difference between burn degrees with regard to the cost of care. ", "Burn degree and depth are similarly known to affect patient prognosis. ", "In our study, the cost of care of second-degree burns was greater than third degree burns. ", "Follow-up appointments of second-degree burn injuries are recommended to be spaced more closely to avoid complications. ", "This probably led to a higher cost by increasing the number of procedures performed and medical equipment used at each visit, increasing overall cost in our study. ", "We failed to detect any significant difference between the cost of care of patients managed surgically versus non-surgically (*p* = 0.206). ", "Jansen et al. ([", "@CR9]), however, reported that early surgery allowed cost saving by decreasing the duration of hospital stay.", "\n\nConclusions {#Sec5}\n===========\n\nThe proximity to our hospital to residential areas and small-sized workplaces led to a greater percentage of hot water-scalding injuries that presented to our emergency department. ", "Burn degree and percent burn area were the main determinants of the cost of care of burn injuries. ", "In conclusion, burn injuries are preventable by taking occupational measures and raising public awareness about domestic accidents.", "\n\nTA, CK, and AEK conceived of the study, collected the data and participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript. ", "CA participated in the design of the study and helped to perform the statistical analysis. ", "All authors read and approved the final manuscript.", "\n\nCompeting interests {#FPar1}\n===================\n\nThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.", "\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "PubMed Central" }

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[ "Placenta percreta presenting in the first trimester: review of the literature.", "\nPlacenta percreta complicating pregnancy in the first trimester is extremely rare, and only a few cases have been reported in the literature. ", "We recently reported on a patient with risk factors for placenta percreta that presented as first trimester fetal demise, unresponsive to medical management with prostaglandin. ", "The patient required an emergency hysterectomy to control the bleeding after uterine curettage, and was complicated by severe consumption coagulopathy. ", "This rare entity can lead to significant mortality and morbidity, particularly in the background of increased prevalence of the disease and its associated risk factors, and the large number of spontaneous and induced abortions performed worldwide. ", "Therefore, we also reviewed all reported cases of first-trimester placenta percreta in the literature to increase the awareness of physicians and to highlight the clinical features and essentials of the management." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts" }

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[ "The invention relates to an apparatus for the storage and dispensing of sheet-like material, in particular bank notes, and to a guide device and a conveyor device for this apparatus.", "\nApparatuses for the storage and dispensing of bank notes are known, for example, in the form of the cash dispensers operated by banks which dispense requested monetary amounts within the existing credit limit after the insertion of credit or cheque cards and after entering a PIN number. ", "Such cash dispensers are, however, very complex with respect to their design.", "\nWith gambling machines, for example, there is a need to pay out monetary amounts of some 100 deutschmarks after winning as part of a special game series; this is currently generally done by paying out coins. ", "However, to avoid the pay-out of a large number of coins, there is a need to pay out large amounts using bank notes from gambling machines, too, particularly if the gambling machines are also designed to accept notes to deposit the game credit. ", "However, only those apparatuses for the dispensing of bank notes can be considered for gambling machines which can be manufactured at a favourable cost.", "\nIt is therefore the object of the invention to provide an apparatus of the type first given which is characterised by a simple and economically performable construction and which simultaneously ensures a reliable conveying of the bank notes, and to provide a guide device and a conveyor device for the apparatus.", "\nThe object is solved by the features of the invention. ", "Advantageous embodiments can be seen herein.", "\nThe apparatus in accordance with the invention for the storage and dispensing of sheet-like material, in particular bank notes, has a compartment module in which a plurality of individual compartments are arranged, with a slider being provided which can be moved into and out of a compartment. ", "Both a slider for the whole apparatus or a slider for every compartment can be provided. ", "A sheet-like material, which is positioned in front of an opening of a compartment, can be pushed into the compartment by the slider while being folded and pushed out of the compartment again. ", "Furthermore, a guide device is provided which can be displaced between two positions, with the guide device being designed so that in a first position, the sheet-like material can be introduced into the guide device and the opening of the compartment into which the sheet-like material is to be introduced is blocked by the guide device. ", "The guide device can be brought into a second position so that the opening of the compartment becomes free, whereupon the sheet-like material can be introduced with the slider. ", "A safe and reliable guiding of the sheet-like material or bank note can thus be ensured by the guide device, such as, for example, a guiding in the feed plane of the bank note in front of the opening of the compartment. ", "An erroneous escaping to the side of the bank note can be prevented by the guide device. ", "The bank note reaching the point of intersection between, for example, the horizontal direction of introduction of the bank note into the compartment and, for example, the perpendicular feed plane can no longer be erroneously guided into the now blocked opening of the compartment due to the guide device so that the bank note is reliably guided into the desired feed plane. ", "This point of intersection between the direction of introduction into the compartment and the feed direction of the bank note can reliably be crossed by the bank note with the guide device so that the bank note is reliably forwarded at this point of intersection. ", "After the bank note has ended its feed movement, the guide device is brought into the second position, in which the opening of the compartment is free, so that the bank note can be introduced into the compartment by the slider.", "\nAs already stated, it is possible to provide every single compartment with a slider so that advantageously the slider of the respective compartment is only moved when a bank note is to be inserted or taken out. ", "It is alternatively also feasible to provide a single slider in the apparatus with which bank notes can be introduced into or taken out of the individual compartments. ", "In this process, either the slider can be moved along the individual compartments of the compartment module or the compartment module can be moved past the slider.", "\nPreferably, a conveyor device is provided for the feeding of the sheet-like material at the apparatus for the storage and dispensing of sheet-like material with which the sheet-like material or a bank note is fed from an insertion opening of the guide device, with advantageously a test apparatus for the bank note being provided.", "\nA lever is advantageously provided which is coupled to the guide device and the slider so that the slider engages into the lever when moving out or in its position moved out of the compartment, whereby the lever is pivoted out of its rest position, with the guide device also being displaced via the coupling of the lever to the guide device so that the opening of the compartment is blocked by the guide device. ", "When the slider is moved in to introduce a bank note into the compartment, the lever is pivoted back into its rest position so that the guide device releases the opening of the compartment again.", "\nThe lever is advantageously biased in its rest position by a spring, with the opening of the compartment being released by the guide device.", "\nDrive elements can be provided for the slider, the guide device, the lever and the conveyor device or only for individual elements thereof, which ensure the desired procedure in the introduction of the sheet-like material into the compartment. ", "Suitable detectors can be provided here for the control of the respective drive which detect individual elements at certain positions, such as the slider in the waiting position or a conveyed bank note shortly before reaching the crossover point of feed plane and the direction of introduction into the compartment. ", "Suitable detectors can be, for example, light barriers or end switches, which emit desired signals on contact with a bank note, the slider or other moving parts of the apparatus.", "\nThe compartment module is advantageously designed to be displaceable, with a controlled drive being able to be provided to displace the compartment module.", "\nThe slider or the actuating apparatus for the slider is advantageously designed such that the slider is displaceable from the pushed in position in the compartment further into a dispensing position in order to dispense a bank note lying in the compartment.", "\nIn this process, a dispensing device can be provided at the dispensing side of the compartment, which is advantageously opposite the insertion side, which can take up the bank note and transport it onwards. ", "The dispensing device can advantageously be formed by a roll pair between which the bank note to be dispensed is transported. ", "Subsequent to the roll pair, the bank note can be transported onwards by, for example, a suitable belt conveyor apparatus.", "\nThe slider is advantageously formed as a planar plate which has one or more recesses in order to move past the dispensing device, in particular the roll pair. ", "In this way, a reliable guiding of the bank note to be dispensed into the dispensing device can be realised.", "\nThe guide device for sheet-like material, in particular bank notes, in accordance with the invention has a first guide plane and a second guide plane which are opposite one another so that a guide gap for the sheet-like material is formed therebetween. ", "A feed opening is formed at one side of the opposite guide planes into which the sheet-like material can be introduced. ", "An outlet opening can be provided opposite the feed opening at the other side of the opposite guide planes and the guided sheet-like material can exit from this. ", "It is, however, not absolutely necessary for the guided sheet-like material to exit at the outlet opening. ", "If the opposite guide planes are long enough in the feed direction, then the total introduced sheet-like material is guided in the guide gap. ", "At least one coupling element is provided at the guide device which is suitable for an engagement of a movement apparatus for the guide device. ", "The guide device can be moved between desired positions via this coupling element so that, for example, one of the guide planes of the guide device comes to rest in front of a crossover point at which the fed sheet-like material could easily escape from the desired path without a guide device.", "\nA feed apparatus is advantageously provided at the feed opening which can represent an opening tapering in the direction of the feed opening of the opposite guide planes. ", "This feed apparatus can, for example, take on the function of a funnel so that a sheet-like material to be introduced can be introduced reliably into the guide gap between the guide planes.", "\nThe feed apparatus is preferably formed by pair-wise opposite elements at the first or second guide plane which can be formed, for example, as fork-like tongues.", "\nThe at least one coupling element of the guide device is preferably formed by recesses which can be arranged at the sides of one or both guide planes. ", "A suitable movement device, such as a lever for example, can then engage into these recesses in order to move the guide device.", "\nIn accordance with the invention, the guide device for sheet-like material is used in an apparatus for the storage or dispensing of sheet-like material.", "\nThe conveyor device for sheet-like material, in particular bank notes, in accordance with the invention has a first guide metal sheet at which a sheet-like materialxe2x80x94termed a bank note by way of example in the followingxe2x80x94can be conveyed. ", "At least one moving belt extends along the first guide metal sheet and can be moved on an upper or lower side of the guide metal sheet along its surface so that the sheet-like material can be transported in the intermediate space between the guide metal sheet and the belt. ", "It is also possible to provide only two adjacent moving belts for the transport of the sheet-like material therebetween.", "\nA second guide metal sheet is advantageously provided opposite the first guide metal sheet so that the sheet-like material to be transported can be reliably transported by the moving belt between the first and second guide metal sheets.", "\nThe moving belt is preferably formed as an endless belt and guided via a pulley block, with this pulley block being able to be pivoted such that a pressure force can be generated between the belt and the first guide metal sheet for the sheet-like material to be transported, whereby this can be reliably transported." ]

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[ "Therese Malvar\n\nTherese Malvar (born November 3, 2000) is a Filipina actress.", "\n\nPersonal life and acting career\nMalvar is the third great-granddaughter of two Philippine heroes, General Miguel Malvar and Dr. José Rizal. ", "She is the daughter of stage and independent film actress Cherry Malvar. ", "\n\nShe won awards for her performances in the films Ang Huling Cha-cha ni Anita and Hamog.", "\n\nFilmography\n\nTelevision\n\nFilms\n\nAwards\nBest Actress at the 1st CineFilipino Film Festival 2013 for Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita\nBest Actress at Cinema One Originals 2015 for Hamog\nScreen International Rising Star Asia Award at the 15th New York Asian Film Festival for Hamog\nOutstanding Artistic Achievement Golden Goblet Award at the 2016 Shanghai International Festival for Hamog\nSilver St. George Best Actress at the 38th Moscow International Film Festival for Hamog\n9th Ani ng Dangal Awardee for Hamog\nBest Supporting Actress (triple tie) at the Eddys 2018 (Entertainment Editors' Choice Awards) for Ilawod\nBest Supporting Actress (double tie with hersel) at the 14th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival 2018 for the movies Distance and School Service.", "\n\nReferences\n\nCategory:2000 births\nCategory:Actresses from Batangas\nCategory:Actresses from Laguna (province)\nCategory:Filipino actresses\nCategory:GMA Artist Center\nCategory:GMA Network personalities\nCategory:Living people\nCategory:People from Calamba, Laguna\nCategory:Tagalog people" ]

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[ "Q:\n\nSe puede modificar un elemento de Boton a Input Text con jQuery\n\nSe puede modificar el elemento, del DOM con jQuery.", "\nEs decir declararlo como Boton y luego con jQuery convertirlo en text.", "\no cuando tengo una tabla con registros nose darle doble click a un td se convierta en un input text donde yo pueda modificar?", "\nEstuve provando con attr o prop, nose si yo estoy mal o esque no se puede\n\n$('button').dblclick(function() {\r\n editar();\r\n});\r\n\r\nfunction editar(){\r\n $('button').attr(\"type\", 'input');\r\n console.log('Estas adentro');\r\n}\r\n\r\n $('#tabla tbody tr > td').dblclick(function() {\r\n $(this).css('color', 'red');\r\n //$(elemento).prop(\"button\");\r\n //$(this).html(\"Hola\");\r\n console.log($(this).html());\r\n editar();\r\n //alert();\r\n });\n<script src=\"https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js\"></script>\r\n<button>Toca me dos veces seguido</button><br>\r\n<table id=\"tabla\" border=1>\r\n<tr>MI NOMBRE COMPLETO</tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n<tr></tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n<tr></tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n<tr></tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n<tr></tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n</table>\n\nA:\n\nLo que quieres hacer solo se puede cuando el botón es un elemento input, de lo contrario seguirá siendo botón, otra posible solución es eliminar el botón y agregar un input con las características que tenia el botón eliminado\nTu código modificado, el botón es un input y no un button\nahora para las tablas solo hay que agregar el atributo contentEditable y ya no seria necesario llamar al método editar()\n\n$('input[type=\"button\"]').dblclick(function() {\r\n editar();\r\n});\r\n\r\nfunction editar(){\r\n $('input[type=\"button\"]').attr(\"type\", 'text');\r\n console.log('Estas adentro');\r\n}\r\n\r\n $('#tabla tbody tr > td').dblclick(function() {\r\n $(this).css('color', 'red').attr('contentEditable',true);\r\n //$(elemento).prop(\"button\");\r\n //$(this).html(\"Hola\");\r\n console.log($(this).html());\r\n //editar();\r\n //alert();\r\n });\n<script src=\"https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js\"></script>\r\n<input type=\"button\" value=\"Toca me dos veces seguido\"><br>\r\n<table id=\"tabla\" border=1>\r\n<tr>MI NOMBRE COMPLETO</tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n<tr></tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n<tr></tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n<tr></tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n<tr></tr>\r\n<td>Ivan</td>\r\n<td>Joel</td>\r\n<td>More</td>\r\n<td>Flores</td>\r\n</table>\n\n" ]

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[ "\n279 B.R. 328 (2002)\nIn re Thomas W. LEFFINGWELL et ux., ", "Debtors.", "\nThe Cadle Company, Plaintiff,\nv.\nThomas W. Leffingwell et ux., ", "Defendants.", "\nBankruptcy No. ", "00-3299-8C7. ", "Adversary No. ", "00-00467.", "\nUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division.", "\nMay 14, 2002.", "\n*329 *330 *331 *332 *333 *334 *335 Jeffrey W. Leasure, Ft. ", "Myers, FL, for debtors.", "\nKathleen W. Adams, Estero, FL, for plaintiff.", "\nTraci K. Strickland, St. Petersburg, FL, trustee.", "\nAngela Stathopoulos, Tampa, FL, for trustee.", "\n\nMEMORANDUM OF DECISION\nC. TIMOTHY CORCORAN, III, Bankruptcy Judge.", "\nThis adversary proceeding came on for a two-day trial beginning on October 29, 2001, of the plaintiff's complaint to deny the debtors' discharge pursuant to Section 727(a)(3), (a)(4)(A) and (a)(5) of the Bankruptcy Code. ", "At the conclusion of the trial, the court requested that the parties file post-trial submissions. ", "On December 17, 2001, the defendants filed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law (Document No. ", "55). ", "On December 19, 2001, the plaintiff filed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law (Document No. ", "56). ", "On December 31, 2001, each party filed its reply to the opposing party's proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law (Document Nos. ", "57 and 58).", "\nAfter considering all of the testimony, particularly the demeanor and credibility of the witnesses, the exhibits admitted at trial, the pleadings and written arguments of the parties, including the authorities cited by the parties, the court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.", "\n\nI.\nThe court has jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334 and 157(a) and the standing order of reference entered by the district court. ", "This proceeding is a core proceeding within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 157(b), and the parties have consented to the entry of final orders and judgment by this court subject, of course, to appellate review under 28 U.S.C. § 158.", "\n\nII.", "\nThis case concerns two financially sophisticated debtors who sought to preserve their luxurious lifestyle and avoid a substantial judgment debt by filing bankruptcy. ", "To effectuate this plan, they consulted a bankruptcy attorney soon after the entry of judgment and thereafter engaged in pre-bankruptcy planning. ", "It is the debtor/defendants' actions taken in connection with the bankruptcy filing itself, however, that are at issue in this proceeding.", "\nIn their petition, schedules, and statement of financial affairs, the defendants made countless false statements about where they live, their financial condition, and their property that distorted and obscured the truth about their personal and financial circumstances. ", "The defendant/husband also failed to preserve the defendants' credit card records. ", "On this record, the court is compelled to deny the defendants' discharge.", "\n\nIII.", "\nA. Background.", "\nThe defendants are highly educated. ", "The defendant/husband holds a master's *336 degree in business administration and is a certified public accountant (\"CPA\") (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 221, lines 5-20). ", "In addition to his involvement with various business endeavors, for 32 years he was employed as a commercial airline pilot for TWA (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 220, lines 18-21). ", "In the course of his employment with TWA, the defendant/husband spent between 15-20 days each month away from home (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 34, lines 10-20) The defendant/husband retired from TWA in October 2000 (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 28, lines 9-23).", "\nThe defendant/husband also holds a real estate salesman's license (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 174, lines 17-18) and has been involved in the sale of at least one property in the past several years (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 98, lines 16-24).", "\nThe defendant/husband is presently employed at Laurel Center Management (\"Laurel Center\") as its comptroller and sole employee (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 27, lines 9-14). ", "Laurel Center's business is the management of real estate (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "52). ", "The defendant/husband reports to Dr. Harry Lowell, the sole shareholder of Laurel Center (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 55, lines 9-19).", "\nDr. Lowell is also a beneficiary of two trusts whose assets are comprised of real property holdings, referred to as the \"Gladstyx Trust\" and the \"Six Acre Cape Coral Trust\" (\"trusts\" or \"trust properties\") (Document No. ", "53, at 174, lines 4-7). ", "At the time of filing, the combined assets of both trusts had an approximate value of $3 million (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "8, Document No. ", "52, at 45, lines 8-11, and at 51, lines 9-18).", "\nThe defendant/husband has been the sole trustee of these trusts since 1987 and holds bare legal title to the real property that comprises the assets of the trusts (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "6 and 7, Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 175-76). ", "The defendant/husband's compensation from Laurel Center includes compensation for his duties as trustee (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 48, lines 12-25, and at 49).[1]\nThe defendant/wife holds a bachelor of science degree and has done some graduate work (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 262, lines 6-13). ", "She is now retired but worked for many years teaching English in secondary schools (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 262, lines 5-10). ", "The defendants have one son, aged 24 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 222, lines 7-8).", "\nDuring the mid-80's, the defendants were involved in a real estate partnership in St. Louis, Missouri (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 222, lines 19-22). ", "The defendant/husband was the general partner, and the defendant/wife was a limited partner of the partnership (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "15). ", "On August 30, 1996, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation obtained a judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $3,442,621.23, plus post-judgment interest, as a consequence of the real estate partnership's default on a financial obligation (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "15).", "\nAfter the entry of judgment, the defendants consulted a bankruptcy attorney. ", "They paid $975 in fees in October of 1997 and October of 1998 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Statement of Financial Affairs, Item No. ", "9).", "\nThe Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation assigned the judgment against the defendants to JDC Finance Company which in turn assigned it to The Cadle Company, the plaintiff in this proceeding, *337 in the spring of 1999 (Claim No. ", "1 and Defendant's Exhibit No. ", "2). ", "The plaintiff domesticated the judgment in Florida and served a writ of execution on both defendants in November 1999 (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 68, lines 16-18, and Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 214, lines 21-24).", "\nAround this time, the defendants began a series of actions designed to position themselves to advantage in a bankruptcy case. ", "For example, they closed a brokerage account and liquidated TWA stock (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Statement of Financial Affairs, Item Nos. ", "10 and 11).", "\nIn January 2000, the plaintiff garnished the defendants' principal checking account located at SouthTrust Bank (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 223, lines 1-8). ", "The plaintiff subsequently released its garnishment because the account was a wage account (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Statement of Financial Affairs, Item No. ", "4b). ", "To avoid further garnishment, the defendants closed their SouthTrust account and opened a joint checking account at Fifth Third Bank (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "30, Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at page 91, lines 9-20).", "\nThe defendant/husband also exhausted the monies remaining in a checking account at First Union National Bank, in the amount of $13,500, in an attempt to avoid garnishment of those monies (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 224, lines 5-15). ", "Some of that money went to pay down credit card debt and for home remodeling projects (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "5). ", "The wife was aware of these payments (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at page 202, lines 16-25, at 203, lines 1-22, and at 204, lines 6-24).", "\nIn February 2000, the defendants again consulted a bankruptcy attorney, making an additional payment of $600 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Statement of Financial Affairs, Item No. ", "9). ", "In that same month, the defendant/husband traded in his unencumbered 1986 Mercedes on a leased 2000 Mercedes Benz SL 420 with monthly payments in the amount of $695 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "2, Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at page 90, lines 9-12).", "\nB. The Bankruptcy Filing.", "\nOn March 6, 2000, the defendants filed a joint bankruptcy petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1). ", "They filed the case in the Tampa Division of this court. ", "In their petition, the defendants listed the defendant/husband's address as 4400 West Cypress, Tampa, Florida, in Hillsborough County, and the defendant/wife's address as 15930 St. Charles Harbor, Fort Myers, Florida, in Lee County. ", "The defendants listed their marital status as \"married/separated\" (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Schedule I).", "\nOn the face of the petition and schedules, the defendants appear to be insolvent and without assets to satisfy the claims of their creditors (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1). ", "According to the defendants' schedules, their combined monthly net income of $6,997 is inadequate to pay their combined monthly expenses of $7,914, leaving a monthly shortfall in the amount of $917 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Schedules I and J).", "\nThe defendants scheduled only two debts, the unsecured debt owed to the plaintiff and one other unsecured debt to Wells Fargo arising from a judgment in the amount of $399,013.12 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Schedule F). ", "The defendants did not schedule any secured or priority debts (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Schedules D and E).", "\nBoth defendants signed a declaration under penalty of perjury as to the truth and correctness of the petition and schedules (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Declaration Concerning Debtor's Schedules). ", "Before signing the declaration, each defendant reviewed *338 the petition and schedules (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 29, lines 6-15 and Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 189, lines 9-22).", "\nOn April 5, 2000, the Chapter 7 trustee conducted a meeting of creditors as required by Section 341 of the Bankruptcy Code. ", "On the same date, she filed a report of no distribution (Main Case Document No. ", "5). ", "The trustee subsequently filed a notice of withdrawal of the report of no distribution (Main Case Document No. ", "21) and a report of assets (Main Case Document No. ", "22). ", "In her most recent interim report, the trustee lists potential assets in the amount of $31,000 arising out of an income tax refund and potential preferential or fraudulent transfers (Main Case Document No. ", "41).", "\nOn July 31, 2000, the plaintiff filed this adversary proceeding pursuant to Section 727 of the Bankruptcy Code seeking to deny the defendants a discharge.", "\n\nIV.", "\nSection 727 of the Bankruptcy Code provides that the court shall grant a discharge unless the debtor has engaged in specifically enumerated actions that warrant the denial of the discharge. \"", "The statute is to be construed liberally in favor of the debtor and strictly against the objector.\" ", "Second National Bank v. Parker (In re Parker), 85 B.R. 384, 387 (Bankr.", "E.D.Va.1988).", "\nIn Hatton v. Spencer (In re Hatton), 204 B.R. 477, 482 (E.D.Va.1997), the court described the tension that exists in Section 727 as follows:\nThe discharge statute, by its very nature, invokes competing considerations. ", "One of the foremost purposes of the bankruptcy act is to \"relieve the honest debtor from the weight of oppressive indebtedness, and permit him to start afresh free from\" his former obligations. ", "On the other hand, the \"solicitude of Congress . . . ", "stops at the debtor who does not measure up to that appealing image\" of the \"honest but unfortunate debtor.\" ", "The purpose of a Section 727 . . . ", "inquiry is to prohibit a discharge \"for those who play fast and loose with their assets or with the reality of their affairs.\" ", "The statute maintains the integrity of the bankruptcy process by insuring that neither the trustee nor the creditors needs \"to engage in a laborious tug-of-war to drag the simple truth into the glare of daylight.\"", "\nId.\nThe plaintiff asserts that both defendants should be denied a discharge on the basis of Section 727(a)(4)(A), (a)(3), and (a)(5). ", "The plaintiff is a creditor of the defendants and thus has standing to seek a denial of their discharge. ", "In re Vahlsing, 829 F.2d 565, 567 (5th Cir.1987).", "\nA. Section 727(a)(4)(A).", "\n\"This section is intended to ensure `that adequate information is available to those interested in the administration of the bankruptcy estate without the need of examinations or investigations to determine whether the information is true.'\" ", "Painewebber Inc. v. Gollomp (In re Gollomp), 198 B.R. 433, 437 (S.D.N.Y.1996). \"", "Bankruptcy [t]rustees lack the time and resources to play detective and uncover all the assets and transactions of their debtors.\" ", "Carlucci & Legum v. Murray (In re Murray), 249 B.R. 223, 231 (E.D.N.Y.2000).", "\nThe bankruptcy trustee, therefore, must have \"ready access to information regarding a debtor's financial situation in order to determine how best to proceed with the administration of the case.\" ", "Henkel v. Green (In re Green), 268 B.R. 628, 646 (Bankr.", "M.D.Fla.2001). ", "The trustee needs *339 this information at the beginning of the case. ", "Id.\n\"A debtor is entitled to discharge so long as the debtor has not engaged in fraudulent activity in disclosing his or her financial condition to the Court.\" ", "Williamson Construction, Inc. v. Ross (In re Ross), 217 B.R. 319, 323 (Bankr.", "M.D.Fla.1998). ", "Thus, the \"most important issue in determining the denial of a discharge is `whether or not the debtor has accurately and truthfully presented himself before the Court.'\" ", "Youngblood v. Hembree (In re Hembree), 186 B.R. 530, 533 (Bankr.", "M.D.Fla.1995), quoting In re Collins, 19 B.R. 874, 878 (Bankr.", "M.D.Fla.1982).", "\nSection 727(a)(4)(A) provides that the discharge shall be denied where the debtor: 1) knowingly and fraudulently; 2) makes a false oath or account in connection with the bankruptcy proceeding. ", "Chalik v. Moorefield (In re Chalik), 748 F.2d 616, 618 (11th Cir.1984). \"", "Deliberate omissions by the debtor may also result in the denial of the discharge.\" ", "Id.; Green, 268 B.R. at 647; Hembree, 186 B.R. at 532. ", "A false oath may involve a false statement or omission in the debtor's petition or bankruptcy schedules. ", "Fogal Legware of Switzerland, Inc. v. Wills (In re Wills), 243 B.R. 58, 62 (9th Cir. ", "BAP 1999).", "\nIn addition, the plaintiff must establish that the false oaths or omissions are material in nature. ", "Chalik, 748 F.2d at 618.", "\nThe plaintiff need not establish the debtor's motive. ", "Id. \"It makes no difference that [the debtor] does not intend to injure his creditors when he makes a false statement. ", "Creditors are entitled to judge for themselves what will benefit, and what will prejudice, them.\" ", "Id. The relevant inquiry is therefore whether and in what circumstances the debtors made false oaths or omissions rather than the debtors' motivation in making the false oaths or omissions.", "\nThe plaintiff must establish each of the necessary elements by a preponderance of the evidence. ", "Grogan v. Garner 498 U.S. 279, 291, 111 S.Ct. ", "654, 112 L.Ed.2d 755 (1991); Haught v. United States, 242 B.R. 522, 524 (M.D.Fla.1999); Hembree, 186 B.R. at 532. \"", "If the plaintiff successfully establishes the basis for the objection, the burden of proof shifts to the debtor.\" ", "Hembree, 186 B.R. at 532-33.", "\nThe plaintiff contends that the defendants have made false oaths or omissions that support the denial of their discharge under Section 727(a)(4)(A). ", "Specifically, the plaintiff asserts that the defendants:\n1. ", "Made a false oath with respect to the address at which the defendant/husband resided during the 180 days preceding the filing of the bankruptcy petition;\n2. ", "Misrepresented their income and expenses by\na. understating the defendant/husband's income in 1999 in their statement of financial affairs;\nb. understating the defendant/husband's income from TWA in Schedule I;\nc. omitting the defendant/husband's earned income from Laurel Center in Schedules B and I;\nd. overstating the defendant/husband's rent expense in Schedule J; and\ne. overstating the defendant/husband's support obligation in Schedule J (or conversely omitting the defendant/wife's income attributable to support in Schedule I);\n3. ", "Failed to list or undervalued property of the estate by\na. omitting trust properties owned by the defendant/husband in Schedule A *340 (or failing to disclose property held for the benefit of others in the statement of financial affairs);\nb. omitting TWA stock owned by the defendant/husband from Schedule B;\nc. omitting ownership of a yacht club membership from Schedule B;\nd. understating the value of real property in Schedule A; and\ne. understating the value of personal property in Schedules B and C;\n4. ", "Failed to disclose a gift to their son in their statement of financial affairs; and\n5. ", "Failed to disclose payments to creditors made within 90 days preceding the bankruptcy filing in their statement of financial affairs.", "\nThe plaintiff alleges that the defendants made these false oaths or omissions to obscure their true financial status and to create the impression of insolvency.", "\n1. ", "Have the defendants made false oaths or omissions?", "\n\"Whether a debtor has made a false oath within the meaning of § 727(a)(4)(A) is a question of fact.\" ", "Williamson v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., 828 F.2d 249, 251 (4th Cir.1987). ", "The defendants concede that they made false oaths or omissions with respect to the defendant/husband's rent expense and the defendant/husband's legal interest in the trust properties. ", "The plaintiff has accordingly established that the defendants made these false oaths or omissions. ", "The defendants dispute the plaintiff's remaining allegations. ", "The plaintiff is therefore required to establish these false oaths or omissions.", "\na. Defendant/Husband's Residence.", "\nThe defendant/husband listed \"4400 West Cypress, Tampa, Florida,\" in Hillsborough County as the place in which he had resided for the majority of the 180 days preceding the bankruptcy filing — an address that is located within the Tampa division of the Middle District of Florida.[2] The defendant/wife listed her address as \"15930 St. Charles Harbor, Ft. ", "Myers, Florida,\" in Lee County — an address that is located within the Ft. ", "Myers division of the Middle District of Florida.[3] Neither defendant listed a prior address within the two years preceding the bankruptcy filing (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Statement of Financial Affairs, Item No. ", "15).", "\nThe plaintiff contends that the defendants falsely represented the defendant/husband's domicile to be the Sheraton Suites Hotel, 4400 West Cypress, Tampa (the \"Sheraton Suites\"), at the time of filing and for the six months preceding. ", "The plaintiff asserts that, during this time period, the defendant/husband in fact resided with his wife at 15930 St. Charles Harbor, Ft. ", "Myers. ", "The plaintiff further contends that the appropriate venue of this case is the Ft. ", "Myers Division of the Middle District of Florida.", "\nThe defendants allege that they separated in November 1999, four months preceding the bankruptcy filing, and that, as a consequence of that separation, the defendant/husband relocated his residence to the Sheraton Suites (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 34, lines 6-9, and Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 217, lines 24-25, and at 218, lines 1-2). ", "The defendants assert that the defendant/husband stayed at the Sheraton Suites for the majority of the time that he was not flying for TWA (Document No. ", "52, *341 Tr. ", "at 31, lines 13-24, and Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 190, lines 10-17). ", "The defendants further allege that they reconciled shortly after the filing of their bankruptcy petition and the defendant/husband thereafter resided with the defendant/wife in Ft. ", "Myers.", "\n\"A person has only one domicile at a particular time even though he or she may have several residences.\" ", "Furr v. Lordy (In re Lordy), 214 B.R. 650, 662 (Bankr.", "S.D.Fla.1997). \"", "A person's domicile is established `by physical presence in a place in connection with a certain state of mind concerning one's intent to remain there.'\" ", "Id., quoting In re Ring, 144 B.R. 446, 449 (Bankr.", "E.D.Mo.1992). \"", "A change in domicile requires physical presence at the new location along with an intention to remain there indefinitely or the absence of any intention to go elsewhere.\" ", "Id. at 662.", "\n\"When determining whether a person has established a new domicile, a court must evaluate all relevant facts and circumstances because no single factor can conclusively establish domicile.\" ", "Id. at 662. ", "In determining domicile the court can consider the following factors: \"current residence; voting registration and practices; location of spouse and family; location of brokerage and bank accounts; memberships in churches, clubs, and other organizations; location of the person's doctors, dentist, accountant and lawyers; place of employment or business; driver's license and automobile registration; and payment of taxes.\" ", "Id. [finding debtor's perfunctory and ministerial steps taken to establish Florida residence insufficient].", "\nIn support of its contention that the defendants made a false oath with respect to the defendant/husband's residence, the plaintiff called as a witness Thomas R. Shanahan, general manager of the Sheraton Suites. ", "He testified that TWA regularly reserves and pays for rooms at the Sheraton Suites on behalf of its layover crews (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 239, lines 14-20). ", "Each crewmember is required to identify him or herself prior to receiving a room key, although sometimes the captain signs in the entire crew (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 241, lines 11-25). ", "In all cases, the hotel keeps a record of the individual TWA crewmembers that stay in the hotel, identifying each crewmember with a specific room (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 238, lines 16-24).", "\nMr. Shanahan testified that the defendant/husband did not register as a guest at the hotel during the six months preceding the defendants' bankruptcy filing, either as a paying guest or as a TWA crewmember (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 236, lines 11-24). ", "The court credits this testimony.", "\nMoreover, substantially all of the evidence in the record that relates to this issue is consistent with this testimony and supports the plaintiff's theory that the defendants were not separated but in fact resided together at 15930 St. Charles Harbour, Ft. ", "Myers, during the six months preceding their bankruptcy filing.", "\nFor example, neither defendant consulted or retained an attorney in connection with the separation (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 212, lines 17-22). ", "Nor did they take any action to sever their financial relationship (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 10-13, and Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 212, lines 23-25). ", "Indeed, they opened a new joint checking account at Fifth Third Bank during this period (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "29, Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 91, lines 9-20). ", "In addition, during the period in which they were purportedly separated, the defendants went on a \"family\" vacation to Barcelona, Spain, with their son (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 213, lines 1-3).", "\nThe defendant/husband made no attempt to forward mail to the Sheraton *342 Suites but instead maintained his Ft. ", "Myers' address as his \"billing address\" (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 32, lines 17-25). ", "He regularly returned to Ft. ", "Myers to review financial information, including bank statements, paychecks, credit card and other bills, and to transact financial business (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, and Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 72-110). ", "The defendant/wife made no attempt to contact her husband at the Sheraton Suites or to forward messages to him there with respect to his business dealings or their shared financial dealings (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 191, lines 24-25, and at 192, lines 1-6).", "\nIn addition, the defendant/husband did not take any of the actions set forth in Lordy that would indicate an intention to effectuate a legal change of residence. ", "He did not change the address on his driver's license (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "4, Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 32, lines 8-16, and at 41, lines 7-14). ", "He did not change the address on his voter's registration (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 33, lines 14-23). ", "He claimed a homestead exemption for the Ft. ", "Myers' residence in both 1999 and 2000 (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 33, lines 3-9). ", "Finally, he signed a lease agreement with Mercedes Benz, listing the Ft. ", "Myers' address as his residence, shortly before the filing of the bankruptcy petition (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "3, and Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 40, lines 1-21).", "\nBased upon this testimony and evidence, all of which the court credits, it is clear that the plaintiff has satisfied its burden of persuasion in establishing that the defendants made a false oath with respect to the defendant/husband's residence.", "\nb. Income and expenses.", "\nThe plaintiff argues that the defendants made false oaths or omissions with respect to their income and expenses. ", "Specifically, the plaintiff asserts the defendants made four false oaths or omissions concerning their income and expenses: 1) understating their 1999 income in the statement of financial affairs; 2) understating the defendant/husband's monthly income attributed to TWA in Schedule I; 3) omitting the defendant/husband's right to receive income from his employment at Laurel Center from Schedules B and I; and 4) making a false oath concerning the defendant/husband's support expense in Schedule J.[4]\ni. 1999 Income.", "\nIn response to Item No. ", "1 of the statement of financial affairs, the defendants listed income in the amount of $170,680 deriving from the husband/defendant's employment in 1999 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1). ", "The plaintiff contends that the defendants' tax return for that year establishes that the defendant/husband's gross income was actually $180,332 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "35). ", "The court credits this evidence and concludes that the plaintiff has established that the defendants made a false oath with respect to the defendant/husband's 1999 income.", "\nii. ", "TWA Monthly Income.", "\nSchedule I requires that the debtor provide an \"estimate of average monthly income.\" ", "The defendant/husband's monthly income from TWA fluctuated from month to month, depending on his flying schedule (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 108, lines 2-21) (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 100, lines 15-25, and at 101, lines 1-10). ", "In his Schedule I, the defendant/husband listed his average monthly gross income as *343 $9,812, and his net income as $5,678 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1).", "\nThe plaintiff contends that the defendant/husband's TWA pay stubs show that his average monthly salary in the six months preceding the bankruptcy filing was $10,254.20 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "35) The defendant/husband's testimony corroborates this contention (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 100-103). ", "The court credits this evidence and testimony and determines that the plaintiff has established that the defendants understated the defendant/husband's average monthly income from his employment with TWA.", "\niii. ", "Monthly income from Laurel Center.", "\nThe plaintiff contends that the defendants omitted from their schedules the defendant/husband's entitlement to receive wages from his employment with Laurel Center and thus understated their personal property in Schedule B in the amount of $27,500 and the defendant/husband's monthly gross income in Schedule I by an additional $5,500.", "\nThe defendants assert that the defendant/husband terminated his employment with Laurel Center in November 1999 (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 177, lines 11-19, and at 217, lines 1-10).[5] The defendant/husband testified that he terminated his employment because he \"didn't have time to handle two jobs\" and because he was having \"marital problems\" (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 177, lines 11-19). ", "The defendants further assert that the defendant/husband resumed employment with Laurel Center in April 2000, following their bankruptcy filing and supposed reconciliation (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 177, lines 11-19, and at 217, lines 1-10). ", "The defendants concede that they failed to amend their schedules to reflect the change in income upon the defendant/husband's resumption of employment with Laurel Center (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 127, lines 22-24).", "\nIn support of its contention that the defendants omitted the defendant/husband's right to receive salary from Laurel Center for services performed between November 1999 and March 2000, the plaintiff put into the record a plethora of evidence. ", "The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the defendant/husband continued to be employed and to provide services to Laurel Center during the entirety of the period in which his employment had supposedly been terminated.", "\nFor example, the defendant/husband was the sole employee of Laurel Center (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "36, Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 111, lines 21-24). ", "Dr. Lowell did not hire a replacement upon the termination of the defendant/husband's employment (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 129, lines 2-8). ", "Dr. Lowell took no steps to change the designation of the defendant/husband as Laurel Centers' registered agent with the State of Florida (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 128, lines 9-14). ", "Dr. Lowell took no action to remove the defendant/husband as a signatory on its business bank account (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 128, lines 15-25, and at 129, line 1).", "\nThe defendant/husband continued to write checks on behalf of Laurel Center from that account during the time he was supposedly no longer its employee (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "58, Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 156-158). ", "The defendant/husband also signed and filed with the State of Florida, in his capacity as comptroller of Laurel *344 Center, tax and employment reports (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "52, 61, 63, 64, and 65, Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 145, and at 161-163). ", "The defendant/husband performed numerous other functions during this time period, including making financial transactions, preparing and reconciling financial reports, dealing with correspondence, and coordinating and supervising work performed by outside professionals — all on behalf of Laurel Center (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "37, 47, 53, 54, and 58, Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 130-158).", "\nThe defendant/husband also continued to provide services on behalf of the trusts (Document No. ", "52, at 50-53, and Document No. ", "53, at 130-156). ", "In addition to maintaining and reconciling bank accounts for the trust properties, the defendant/husband corresponded with professionals and beneficiaries regarding management and financial issues (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55, 556, 57, and 59).", "\nThe defendant/husband performed many of these services on behalf of Laurel Center and the trusts at the Laurel Center business premises (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 130-158).", "\nThe defendant/wife knew that the defendant/husband received a salary from Laurel Center (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 11-22). ", "During the period of time in which the defendant/husband was supposedly no longer working for Laurel Center, the defendant/wife was aware that the defendant/husband and Dr. Lowell continued to have business dealings and in some instances she relayed messages between the two (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 199, lines 1-13).", "\nUpon his purported resumption of employment with Laurel Center after the bankruptcy filing, the defendant/husband received a lump sum payment of $27,500, or the equivalent of 5 months salary (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "37). ", "The notation on the check register for that check reads \"November — March Payroll\" (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "37).", "\nThe totality of this evidence compels the court to conclude that the defendant/husband did not terminate his employment with Laurel Center in November 1999 but instead continued to perform all or substantially all of his regular duties. ", "Most telling is the fact that the defendant/husband was the only employee of Laurel Center and was not replaced upon his purported resignation but instead continued to hold himself out as an agent of the company. ", "Although the defendant/husband did not receive a salary during this time period, the defendant/husband was clearly entitled to — and ultimately received — compensation for the services he performed. ", "It is also important to note that the defendant/husband controlled the timing of the payment of his salary because he wrote the checks and maintained the financial and employment records for Laurel Center.[6]\nAccordingly, the court determines that the defendants omitted the defendant/husband's entitlement to wages from Laurel Center from their bankruptcy schedules and understated the defendant/husband's monthly income from Laurel Center in the amount of $5,500 from Schedule I. The plaintiff has therefore established this false omission.", "\niv. ", "Support expense.", "\nThe defendant/husband listed as an expense on his Schedule J support in *345 the amount of $1,258 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1). ", "The plaintiff contends this is a false oath.[7] In support of its contention, the plaintiff put into the record copies of all checks written by the defendant/husband in the six months preceding the bankruptcy filing (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31). ", "A review of these checks shows that the defendant did not write any checks to the defendant/wife during this time that aggregate $1,258 per month. ", "Indeed, the defendant/husband wrote no checks to the defendant/wife at all. ", "The court therefore determines that the plaintiff has established that the support listed on the defendant/husband's Schedule J is a false oath.", "\nAccordingly, the court determines that the plaintiff has established this false oath.", "\nc. Property of the Estate.", "\nThe plaintiff contends that the defendants have made false oaths with respect to the disclosure or valuation of property of the estate. ", "Specifically, the plaintiff asserts that the defendants: 1) failed to schedule TWA stock; 2) failed to schedule their equity ownership of a dock and yacht club membership; 3) misrepresented the value of their real property; and 4) misrepresented the value of their personal property.", "\ni. TWA Stock.", "\nIn Schedule B, Item No. ", "12, the defendants checked none in response to whether they owned any stock (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1). ", "The plaintiff contends that the defendant/husband owned TWA stock when the bankruptcy petition was filed. ", "In support of its contention, the plaintiff put into evidence two stock certificates totaling 535 shares that TWA issued to the debtor in early to mid February 2000 (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "13 and 14). ", "The plaintiff also put into evidence a TWA employee's receipt reflecting a $775.20 stock distribution in the pay period ending January 31, 2000 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "11. ", "The defendant/husband's testimony corroborated this evidence (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "13 and 14, Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 63, lines 1-19). ", "The court credits this evidence and testimony. ", "The court accordingly determines that the plaintiff has established this false oath.", "\nii. ", "Yacht Club Membership.", "\nThe plaintiff contends that the defendants made a false omission when they failed to include in Schedule B their equity ownership interest in the St. Charles Yacht Club. ", "At the time of filing, a dock and yacht club membership similar to the one allegedly owned by the defendants had an approximate value of $50,000 (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 246, lines 22-25, and at 247, lines 1-4). ", "In support of this claim, the plaintiff called as a witness Carl H. Winslow, the registered agent and attorney of the St. Charles Yacht Club.", "\nMr. Winslow testified that in 1993 the defendants legally transferred their interest in the St. Charles Yacht Club to their then minor son (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 244, lines 8-14). ", "The son attained his majority in 1995.", "\nMr. Winslow further testified that the son has been receiving revenues from the rental of the dock (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 247, lines 20-25, and at 248, lines 1-2). *", "346 Finally, Mr. Winslow testified that the son paid the 2001 dues on the St. Charles Yacht Club membership (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 246, lines 12-16, at 248, lines 14-25, and at 249, lines 1-7).", "\nThe court credits this testimony. ", "From this testimony, it is apparent that the defendants do not have a legal or beneficial interest in the dock and yacht club membership, notwithstanding their continued use of the facilities (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 267, lines 4-24). ", "The plaintiff has therefore failed to establish this false omission.", "\niii. ", "Homestead Real Property.", "\nIn Schedule A, the defendants listed joint ownership of real property located at 15930 St. Charles Boulevard, Ft. ", "Myers, Florida, with a value of $475,000. ", "The plaintiff asserts that this is a false oath.", "\nIn support of this assertion, the plaintiff called as witness, H. Neal Scott, a real and personal property appraiser. ", "Mr. Scott testified that the debtor's homestead is located in one of the few deep-water access neighborhoods off the Caloosahatchee River, an exclusive, affluent, gated community where homes range in value from $325,000 to $3 million (Document No. ", "53, at 252, lines 16-18). ", "Mr. Scott further testified that, in his opinion, the defendants' real property had a value of $770,000 at the time the defendants filed their bankruptcy petition (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "68, Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 254, lines 1-11). ", "The court credits this testimony. ", "Accordingly, the plaintiff has established that the defendants made this false oath.", "\niv. ", "Personal Property.", "\nIn Schedule B, the defendants listed personal property, including household goods and furnishings, books, clothing, costume jewelry, and outdoor equipment in the amount of $1,685.[8] The plaintiff contends that the defendants made a false oath with respect to the value of their personal property.", "\nIn support of its contention, the plaintiff put into evidence the defendants' homeowner's and flood insurance policies (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "9 and 10). ", "These policies show that the defendants carry replacement insurance in the amount of $293,240 and $100,000, respectively, on their personal property. ", "The court does not credit this evidence as to the value of the personal property because the personal property coverage contained in these policies is determined by the value of the real property insured rather than through an accounting and appraisal of the defendants' personal property (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 57, lines 1-13).", "\nMr. Scott also testified on behalf of the plaintiff as to the value of the defendants' personal property. ", "He testified that, in his opinion, the defendants' personal property had a value of $2,000 at the time the defendants filed their bankruptcy petition (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "67, Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 255, lines 13-25, and at 256, lines 1-6). ", "Upon cross-examination, Mr. Scott admitted that his appraisal (conducted well after the petition was filed) did not distinguish between items that had been purchased before and after the petition date (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 256, lines 22-25, and at 257, lines 1-12). ", "In addition, Mr. Scott's appraisal does not contain any specificity as to particular items and the value ascribed to them. ", "Accordingly, the court does not credit this testimony or evidence.", "\n*347 Although the evidence does not permit the court to determine the value of the defendants' personal property at the time of the petition, the totality of the evidence overwhelmingly establishes that the personal property and furnishings of the defendants were worth well in excess of the $1,685 that the defendants scheduled. ", "Such a low value is completely inconsistent with the value of the home, their luxury automobile, their income, and their lifestyle. ", "The court is firmly convinced, therefore, that the defendants made a false oath when they scheduled their personal property at such a ridiculously low value.", "\nThe court determines, therefore, that the plaintiff has established this false oath.", "\nd. Gift.", "\nIn their statement of financial affairs, the defendants indicated that they had made no gifts with an aggregate value of $200 or more within the year preceding their bankruptcy filing (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Statement of Financial Affairs, Item No. ", "7). ", "The plaintiff alleges that this statement is a false oath because the defendants failed to disclose the trip to Spain in 1999 for which they paid the costs on behalf of their son.[9]\nThe plaintiff made no evidentiary record in support of this claim other than through the testimony of the defendant/wife. ", "The defendant/wife testified that the trip to Spain \"probably\" cost more than $200 (for the family) but that she did not have personal knowledge of its cost because the defendant/husband paid it (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 214, lines 3-20).[10] The court credits this testimony. ", "The defendant/husband did not testify as to the cost of the trip or the portion attributable to his son. ", "The plaintiff has, therefore, not provided sufficient evidence or testimony to carry its burden of persuasion as to this false oath.", "\ne. Prepetition payments to creditors.", "\nIn their statement of financial affairs, the defendants indicated that they had made no payments to creditors on loans, installment purchases of goods or services, or other debts aggregating more than $600 within the 90 days preceding the filing of their bankruptcy petition (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Statement of Financial Affairs, Item No. ", "3). ", "The plaintiff asserts that this is a false oath because the defendants made a number of payments in the 90 days preceding the filing of the case.[11] Specifically, the plaintiff contends that the defendants failed to disclose payments in the aggregate amount of $17,151.75, representing three payments to Bank of America in the total amount of $3,154.75, two payments to Creative Custom Cabinets in the total amount of $8,687, and one payment to the St. Charles Harbour Homeowner's Association in the amount of $2,600.[12] The plaintiff produced evidence in support of its allegation (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "5, 22, 25, and 30). ", "The court credits this evidence. *", "348 The plaintiff has therefore established this false oath.", "\nf. Summary.", "\nThe plaintiff has established that the defendants made eleven false oaths or omissions with respect to: the defendant/husband's residence; the defendant/husband's 1999 income; the defendant/husband's monthly income from TWA; the defendant/husband's continuing employment with Laurel Center and his entitlement to wages; the defendant/husband's rent expense; the defendant/husband's support expense; the defendant/husband's legal ownership of trust properties; the defendant/husband's ownership of TWA stock; the value of the defendants' homestead real property; the value of the defendants' personal property; and the defendants' failure to disclose prepetition payments to creditors.", "\n2. ", "Were the defendants' false oaths or omissions material?", "\nAlthough not specifically contained in the statute, courts have also imposed a test of materiality to \"ensure that debtors are not denied discharge for inconsequential or technical omissions.\" ", "Murray, 249 B.R. at 228. \"", "Materiality is broadly defined.\" ", "Wills, 243 B.R. at 62. ", "A false oath or claim is material if it \"bears a relationship to the bankrupt's business transactions or estate, or concerns the discovery of assets, business dealings, or the existence of disposition of his property.\" ", "Chalik, 748 F.2d at 618. ", "In other words, a \"material fact is one that affects the substance of the case, rather than merely going to the form of the case.\" ", "Hunter v. Sowers (In re Sowers), 229 B.R. 151, 158 (Bankr.", "N.D.Ohio 1998).", "\nThe plaintiff contends that all of the false oaths or omissions that it has established are material because they relate to either the venue of the case, the financial condition of the defendants, or the property of the estate. ", "On the other hand, the defendants argue that the false oaths or omissions are not material, especially those relating to the value of property that is claimed as exempt.", "\na. Venue.", "\nThe defendants argue that the falsification of the defendant/husband's address is not material in that it \"does not bear any relationship to business transactions, estate, discovery of assets, business dealings or the existence or disposition of property. . . .\" (", "Document No. ", "55).", "\nThe defendants' use of a false address allowed them to file their bankruptcy case in the Tampa division of the Middle District of Florida, rather than in the Ft. ", "Myers division that would have otherwise been required.[13] Thus, the defendants' false oath directly affected the venue within the district of the case.", "\nIssues of venue are core matters under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A) that concern the administration of the estate. ", "In re Waits, 70 B.R. 591, 594 (Bankr.", "S.D.N.Y.1987). ", "In determining issues of venue, the court considers various factors:\n\n*349 (1) The proximity of creditors of every kind to the Court;\n(2) The proximity of the debtors to the Court;\n(3) The proximity of witnesses necessary to the administration of the estate;\n(4) The location of the assets;\n(5) The economic administration of the estate;\n(6) The necessity for ancillary administration if bankruptcy should result.", "\nIn re Townsend, 84 B.R. 764, 767 (Bankr.", "N.D.Fla.1988).", "\nClearly, administering a bankruptcy estate approximately 135 miles away from the situs of the case presents logistical and economic disadvantages that implicate the factors cited in Townsend. ", "For example, the trustee is less likely to have personal knowledge of the local real estate market and economy. ", "Similarly, she is less likely to have established relationships with bankruptcy professionals who regularly work in that locale. ", "Obtaining first-hand information about the estate's assets may be more difficult and less cost-efficient if the trustee is required to travel to the debtors' residence. ", "For these reasons, the trustee is more likely to accept without dispute the debtors' schedules and statement of financial affairs than she might otherwise be.[14] In addition, the trustee may be hindered in securing witnesses in the event that a contested matter arises.", "\nThe court determines, therefore, that a false oath that implicates venue issues affects the substantive administration of the bankruptcy case and is material.", "\nb. Financial condition.", "\nIt is well settled that a false oath or claim that causes the debtor's financial status to be misrepresented may be material. ", "Neugebauer v. Senese (In re Senese), 245 B.R. 565, 574 (Bankr.", "N.D.Ill.2000) [discharge denied because debtor provided false or misleading information about his financial affairs]; Haught, 242 B.R. at 526 [information needed to determine financial condition is material]; Wills, 243 B.R. at 63 [false statement or omission is material if it \"adversely affects the trustee's or creditors' ability to discover other assets or to fully investigate the debtor's pre-bankruptcy dealing or financial condition\"]; Hoblitzell, 223 B.R. at 215-16 [disclosure is material \"if it aids in understanding the debtor's financial affairs and transactions\"].", "\nThe defendants argue that the false oaths or omissions made with respect to their financial condition were errors arising out of a rushed bankruptcy filing and were inadvertent rather than material. ", "First, the court does not credit the \"rushed\" filing testimony. ", "The evidence was that the defendants had been in contact with bankruptcy counsel for some time. ", "They had ample opportunity to plan their bankruptcy filing and did so. ", "The defendant/husband is a CPA. ", "He does not rush into making \"mistakes\" like the ones here. ", "Instead, he intentionally gave the information contained in the schedules. ", "The defendant/wife is similarly precise. ", "These were not \"mistakes\" because of rushing.", "\nSecond, the defendants misconstrue the way in which materiality affects the court's determination under Section 727(a)(4)(A). ", "Materiality goes to the degree *350 and substance of the false oath or omission rather than the reason behind the making of the false oath or omission. ", "The defendants' false oaths and omissions are significant errors that directly related to their financial condition and the circumstances leading up to the bankruptcy filing. ", "Accordingly, the court determines that the defendants' false oaths or omissions relating to their financial condition are material.", "\nc. Property of the estate.", "\nThe defendants assert that false oaths or omissions that relate to property of the estate that is claimed and allowed as exempt cannot be material because the property is not administered for the benefit of creditors. ", "In making this argument, however, the defendants are \"putting the cart before the horse\". \"", "Property is not exempt by fiat of the debtor[s], but only through a process of compliance with statutory disclosures. . . .\" ", "Murray, 249 B.R. at 231. \"", "Debtors have an absolute duty to report whatever interests they hold in property, even if they believe their assets are worthless or unavailable to the bankruptcy estate.\" ", "Id., quoting In re Sapru, 127 B.R. 306, 313 (Bankr.", "E.D.N.Y.1991). \"", "It is therefore meaningless to say that [accurate] disclosure is not required because property is exempt. ", "Property can only become exempt through a legal process that includes disclosure.\" ", "Id.\nIndeed, a debtor is required to schedule all assets, whether claimed exempt or not, regardless of the debtor's perception of the asset's worth. ", "Hoblitzell, 223 B.R. at 215. \"", "A disclosure's materiality is not determined by whether it may financially prejudice the estate or creditors. ", "An omitted asset may ultimately be found to have no value, but its disclosure is necessary `if it aids in understanding the debtor's financial affairs and transactions.'\" ", "Id. at 215-216, quoting In re Coombs, 193 B.R. 557, 563 (Bankr.", "S.D.Cal.1996). ", "The false oaths and omissions that the plaintiff has established here affected the creditors' and trustee's ability to understand the defendants' financial affairs and transactions. ", "The court therefore determines that these false oaths and omissions are material.", "\n3. ", "Did the defendants make the false oaths and omissions with knowledge and fraudulent intent?", "\nThe plaintiff contends that the defendants made the false oaths and omissions established in Section IV.A.1. ", "above with knowledge of their falsity and with fraudulent intent. \"", "Fraudulent intent must be shown by actual, not constructive fraud.\" ", "Murray, 249 B.R. at 228. ", "Absent direct evidence of actual fraud, the plaintiff may establish actual fraud in one of two ways. ", "Hatton, 204 B.R. at 484.", "\nFirst, the plaintiff may show that the debtor has engaged in a pattern of concealment. ", "See, e.g., Haught, 242 B.R. at 525 [\"pattern of concealment and nondisclosure would permit an inference of the requisite intent\"]; Wills, 243 B.R. at 64 [debtor's fraudulent intent may be established by circumstantial evidence or by inferences drawn from a pattern of falsity].", "\nSecond, the plaintiff may show the debtors' reckless indifference to the truth. ", "Murray, 249 B.R. at 228.", "\na. Pattern of Concealment.", "\nIn Keeling v. Ozey (In re Ozey), 172 B.R. 83, 89 (Bankr.", "N.D.Okla.1994), the court found that the debtor had shown a pattern of self-interest that compelled the denial of his discharge. ", "The court concluded that this pattern had resulted in the *351 \"obstruction of the legitimate interests of creditors\" and the trustee. ", "Id. at 91.", "\nSimilarly, in Salfi v. Prevatt (In re Prevatt), 261 B.R. 54, 57 (Bankr.", "M.D.Fla.2000), the court found that the debtor made several false oaths or omissions that were designed to obscure his \"true financial condition.\" ", "For example, he failed to disclose over-time pay because it \"varied\" and did not disclose assets that he believed were exempt or of no value. ", "Id. On these facts, the court concluded that the \"sophisticated Defendant was trying to pull a fast one\" and denied his discharge. ", "Id.\nThe defendants in this case have demonstrated a pattern of self-interest at the expense of their creditors and the Chapter 7 trustee that is consistent with that described in Ozey and Prevatt. ", "The defendants took affirmative steps before filing bankruptcy to secure the maximum advantage in their prospective bankruptcy. ", "They closed a brokerage account. ", "They liquidated TWA stock. ", "They also made a series of large payments, in part for home remodeling projects, shortly before filing, using all of their available cash. ", "The defendants traded in an unencumbered vehicle for a luxury automobile with a hefty monthly lease payment. ", "Finally, the defendant/husband executed a sham termination of his employment with Laurel Center Management to reduce his apparent income. ", "Although the court makes no judgment here as to the propriety of these actions as prebankruptcy planning, they do provide a backdrop that illuminates the defendants' false oaths and omissions within the bankruptcy case itself.", "\nThe false oaths and omissions in this case establish a pattern of concealment and false disclosure. ", "The defendants continued to seek every advantage within the bankruptcy court as they had done before the filing of their petition. ", "The defendants made a false oath as to the defendant/husband's residence to establish a venue different than the one that was otherwise required. ", "The defendants made false oaths and omissions that served to understate their income and overstate their expenses resulting in the appearance of insolvency. ", "Finally, the defendants made false oaths and omissions with respect to property of the estate thereby creating an inference that the estate was without assets and obscuring financial transactions taken prior to the bankruptcy filing. ", "Accordingly, the plaintiff has established that the defendants' false oaths and omissions were made knowingly and fraudulently.", "\nb. Debtors' reckless indifference to the truth.", "\nIn Hatton, 204 B.R. at 484, the court noted that multiple inaccuracies in a debtor's petition and bankruptcy schedules taken cumulatively evidences a \"cavalier disregard for the truth serious enough to supply the necessary fraudulent intent required by § 727(a)(4)(A).\" ", "Similarly, the defendants here have displayed a cavalier and reckless attitude in making the disclosures required in their bankruptcy petition, schedules, and statement of financial affairs.", "\nThe defendants seek to excuse and explain their \"cavalier disregard for the truth\" with respect to the false oaths and omissions contained in their schedules and statement of financial affairs by claiming they were inadvertent errors resulting from their ignorance of bankruptcy and the hurried manner in which the papers were prepared. ", "The court does not credit this explanation. ", "The defendants are highly educated and used to dealing with sophisticated financial transactions. ", "The defendant/husband is punctilious in his personal record keeping. ", "The defendant/wife testified that as a former English teacher she \"usually got out [her] red pen\" *352 and corrected mistakes in the homeowner's association newsletter (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 264, lines 5-10). ", "Clearly both defendants understood the importance of a careful review of their bankruptcy papers. ", "More importantly, it was the defendants' obligation to ensure that the petition, schedules, and statement of financial affairs were accurate and truthful. ", "Hembree, 186 B.R. at 532 [debtor is ultimately responsible for the completeness and accuracy of his or her petition and schedules].", "\nNor is there any corroborative evidence in the record that suggests that the defendants made a rushed bankruptcy filing. ", "The defendants were aware of the possibility of collection activity against them years before they filed bankruptcy. ", "They had consulted bankruptcy counsel and had considerable time to understand the implications and consequences of filing bankruptcy. ", "Although the plaintiff garnished the defendants' bank account in January 2001, it thereafter took no further action against the defendants or their property.", "\nEven were the court to credit this explanation and find the defendants' false oaths and omissions to be innocent and inadvertent — which it does not — it is important to point out that the defendants have made absolutely no attempt to amend their petition and schedules to correct the false oaths and omissions. ", "In Green, 268 B.R. at 648, the court noted that a debtor's failure to promptly amend schedules \"can be considered reckless indifference to the truth and is tantamount to fraud.\"", "\nc. Summary.", "\nFor the reasons stated above, the court determines that the plaintiff has established that the defendants' made 11 false oaths and omissions knowingly and fraudulently.", "\n4. ", "Did the defendants carry their burden of persuasion to rebut the false oaths or omissions established by the plaintiff?", "\nThe plaintiff has established that the defendants knowingly and fraudulently made 11 false oaths or omissions in their petition, schedules, and statement of financial affairs that were material. ", "Accordingly, the burden shifts to the defendants to rebut those false oaths or omissions.", "\nThe defendants conceded their false oaths or omissions with respect to the defendant/husband's ownership of trust properties and the defendant/husband's rent expense. ", "The plaintiff has therefore established these false oaths and omissions.", "\nThe defendants offered rebuttal testimony as to the remaining false oaths or omissions.", "\na. Defendant/husband's residence.", "\nThe defendants continued throughout the trial to vigorously insist that the defendant/husband resided at the Sheraton Suites during the majority of the six month period preceding the defendants' bankruptcy filing. ", "Indeed, in a rather bizarre and unique twist, the defendant/husband sought to explain the apparent absence of any record of his stays at the Sheraton Suites during the relevant time period by admitting that he defrauded both the hotel and his then employer, TWA, by using rooms meant for and signed out to TWA crewmembers who, for whatever reason, were unable or unwilling to use the room themselves (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 170, lines 13-25, and at 171, lines 1-9).[15] The defendant/husband offered no *353 evidence or testimony, other than his own, to corroborate this explanation.", "\nThe defendant/husband's testimony with respect to his residence was inconsistent and ambiguous and thus not credible. ", "Even accepting the defendant/husband's testimony as true — which the court does not do — the record reflects that, at most, the defendant/husband spent only one or two days each month at the Sheraton Suites (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 169, lines 19-25, and at 183, lines 15-22). ", "The defendant/husband, by his own admission, spent the balance of the time that he was not flying for TWA at 15930 St. Charles Harbour (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 36, lines 17-25). ", "Indeed, the defendant/husband's own testimony is revealing. ", "When asked where he stayed when in Ft. ", "Myers, he responded \"At my residence — St. Charles Harbour\" (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 34, lines 10-20).", "\nAccordingly, the defendants have not rebutted this false oath.", "\nb. 1999 Income.", "\nThe defendants explain the discrepancy between Item No. ", "1 of the statement of financial affairs and the 1999 tax return by pointing to additional income of $16,883 listed in Item No. ", "2 of the statement of financial affairs deriving from the defendant/wife's income from workmen's compensation and retirement benefits. ", "The defendants argue that this additional income added to the defendant/husband's 1999 wages is approximately equal to the income reflected in their 1999 joint income tax return. ", "Income derived from the defendant/wife's workmen's compensation and retirement benefits, however, is not included in the gross income reflected in the defendants' 1999 income tax return (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "32).", "\nAccordingly, the defendants have not rebutted this false oath.", "\nc. 1999 TWA income.", "\nThe defendants did not offer any testimony, evidence, or argument in rebuttal of this false oath other than a general statement that the amount listed in Schedule I was an averaged amount (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 126, lines 6-18). ", "The court does not credit this testimony.", "\nAccordingly, the defendants have not rebutted this false oath.", "\nd. Laurel Center Income.", "\nIn rebuttal, the defendant/husband contended that he performed services for Laurel Center as a courtesy to Dr. Lowell and with no expectation of compensation (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 164, lines 15-25, and at 165, lines 1-7). ", "The defendants supported their contention solely with testimony of the defendant/husband. ", "The defendants did not provide any evidence or testimony that would otherwise support their contention.", "\nThe defendant/husband testified inconsistently with respect to the April lump sum payment. ", "At various times during the trial, the defendant/husband alternatively referred to that payment as an incentive to return to work, a bonus, and a pay raise (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 116, lines 8-10, and Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 125, lines 7-18). ", "When pressed by the *354 plaintiff, however, the defendant/husband acknowledged that he received the lump sum for services performed between November 1999 and March 2000 (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 125, lines 19-24). ", "The court credits only this latter testimony.", "\nFinally, the defendant/husband testified that he ceased using a company vehicle provided by Laurel Center in November 1999 (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 129, lines 14-25, and at 130, lines 1-2). ", "In the absence of any contrary evidence or testimony, the court credits this testimony. ", "This testimony alone, however, is insufficient to rebut the overwhelming weight of evidence that establishes that the defendant/husband was continuously employed by Laurel Center and was entitled to compensation for his services.", "\nAccordingly, the defendants have not rebutted this false omission.", "\ne. Support expense.", "\nThe defendants contend that the defendant/husband paid support to the defendant/wife during their supposed separation through indirect means. ", "The defendants supported this contention solely through their own testimony. ", "The defendant/husband testified that he paid support to the defendant/wife through payment of the wife's charges on a Bank of America Visa account (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 167, lines 20-25, and at 168, lines 1-4). ", "The defendants' explanation as to the support expense is unbelievable.", "\nThe court has determined in Section IV.A.1.a. ", "above that the defendants did not take any steps to establish individual living arrangements. ", "Had they done so, however, it is incredible that the defendant/husband would have provided support to the defendant/wife by paying a joint obligation that is not even reflected as an expense item in the schedules, and that is dischargeable in bankruptcy, when the defendant/wife's income of $1,319 was woefully inadequate to meet her monthly expenses of $3,618 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Schedules I and J).", "\nEven were the court to credit the defendant/husband's payment of support to the defendant/wife, it would still implicate a false oath because the defendants did not list in their Schedule I any income deriving from alimony, maintenance, or support attributable to the defendant/wife (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Schedule I).", "\nAccordingly, the defendants have not rebutted this false oath.", "\nf. TWA stock.", "\nThe defendants assert that the defendant/husband did not receive the TWA stock certificates until after the filing of the bankruptcy petition (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 65, lines 1-17, and at 66, lines 15-19). ", "The court does not credit this testimony. ", "In addition, the record reflects that both defendants were aware that the defendant/husband's compensation package from TWA included periodic distributions of TWA stock (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 179, lines 1-5, and at 197, lines 12-22).[16]\nAccordingly, the defendants have not rebutted this false omission.", "\ng. Valuation of homestead real property.", "\nThe defendants assert that they legitimately based their valuation of their homestead real property on the valuation *355 given by the Lee County Property Appraiser for that property for ad valorem tax purposes (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 173, lines 3-8). ", "In support of this assertion, the defendants offered only their own testimony. ", "The defendant/wife testified that the value the defendants ascribed to their homestead was consistent with real estate prices and values in the area (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 196, lines 3-7). ", "The court does not credit this testimony.", "\nMr. Scott, who serves as a special master for valuation objection cases in the area, testified that assessed value is generally lower than the market value of real property in Lee County (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 258, lines 3-7). ", "The court credits this testimony. ", "The court also notes that the defendant/husband is himself a real estate salesman who has sold at least one piece of residential real estate in the last eighteen months. ", "In these circumstances, one would expect that the defendant/husband would well understand the distinction between an assessed value for tax purposes and a market value.", "\nAccordingly, the defendants have not rebutted this false oath.", "\nh. Valuation of personal property.", "\nThe defendants assert that they obtained an appraisal of their personal property that supported the valuation used in their bankruptcy schedules ((Document No. ", "53), Tr. ", "at 173, lines 9-20). ", "The defendants were unable to locate the appraiser for trial and thus did not offer the appraisal or the appraiser's testimony into evidence. ", "The court does not credit the defendants' testimony as to the valuation of their personal property.", "\nAccordingly, the defendants have failed to rebut this false oath.", "\ni. Prepetition payments.", "\nThe defendants concede that they made prepetition payments but argue that the payments were not payments \"on loans, installment purchases of goods or services or other debts\" but rather were ordinary expenses or payments made contemporaneous to the date of service. ", "The defendants offered no evidence in support of their position other than their own general testimony that the court does not credit.", "\nAccordingly, the defendants have not rebutted this false omission.", "\n5. ", "Conclusion.", "\nThe plaintiff has established that the defendants knowingly and fraudulently made 11 material false oaths or omissions within the meaning of Section 727(a)(4)(A). ", "The defendants discharge must therefore be denied.", "\nB. Section 727(a)(3).", "\nThe plaintiff also seeks a denial of the defendants' discharge pursuant to Section 727(a)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code on the basis that they failed to preserve books, records, and other documents. ", "This section is \"designed to ensure that the bankruptcy trustee and other creditors will have sufficient information to permit an effective evaluation of the debtor's estate, and is a condition precedent to the granting of a discharge in bankruptcy.\" ", "Senese, 245 B.R. at 576. \"", "The court has wide discretion in determining the sufficiency of records.\" ", "Savel, 29 B.R. at 856.", "\nThe court is required to determine whether the books and records of the debtor \"are adequate to permit the court and creditors to trace the debtor's financial dealings.\" ", "Id.\"[P]erfection in record keeping is not required but creditors examining the records of the debtor must be reasonably able to follow the debtor's business transactions, make intelligent inquiry, *356 verify the oral statements and explanations of the bankrupt, and ascertain the present and past financial condition of the bankrupt [with] substantial completeness and accuracy.\" ", "County National Bank of South Florida v. Savel (In re Savel), 29 B.R. 854, 856 (Bankr.", "S.D.Fla.1983).", "\n\"Depending upon the sophistication of the debtor and the extent of his activities, different record keeping practices are necessary.\" ", "Meridian Bank v. Alten (In re Alten), 958 F.2d 1226, 1231 (3d Cir.1992) [\"Sophisticated business persons are generally held to a high level of accountability in record keeping.\"]. ", "For example, \"[a]ttorneys and other professionals may be held to the standard of care ordinarily exercised by members of their profession.\" ", "Id. at 1232.", "\nThe plaintiff carries the initial burden to show lack of records when making a challenge pursuant to Section 727(a)(3). ", "Id. Once the plaintiff has satisfied its burden, the burden shifts to the debtor to show that the absence of the records is justified under all relevant circumstances. ", "Id.\nThe plaintiff alleges that the defendants failed to preserve credit card statements. ", "The defendants acknowledge their failure to retain credit card statements but argue that the absence of these records is justified in light of the voluminous production of documents that they made to the trustee and creditors as to all other financial matters.", "\nThe record reflects that the defendants made four payments on credit card debt to Bank of America in the total amount of $8,138.95 in the months preceding the filing of the petition (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "24, 25, 26, and 30).[17] The defendants made these payments during a time in which they were clearly engaged in pre-bankruptcy planning. ", "In these circumstances, the defendants' credit card statements are necessary to determine with \"completeness and accuracy\" the defendants' financial transactions prior to bankruptcy. ", "A cancelled check reflecting payment on a credit card account is insufficient when it is apparent that large sums have been paid immediately prior to the bankruptcy filing. ", "The plaintiff has therefore carried its burden of persuasion and the burden shifts to the defendants to justify their failure to keep records in the circumstances.", "\nThe record reflects that it is the defendant/husband who maintains the family's financial records (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 72-97). ", "The defendant/husband is a CPA and accordingly must be held to the standard expected of accountants. ", "Alten, 958 F.2d at 1231. ", "The defendant/husband testified that it is his routine practice to discard credit card statements after verifying the accuracy of the charges and paying the outstanding balance (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 181, lines 24-25, at 182, lines 1-3).", "\nThe court does not credit this testimony. ", "The record reflects that the defendant/husband is meticulous in the manner in which he maintains and reconciles the family's financial records. ", "The defendant/husband's explanation for the destruction of his credit card statements, reflecting transactions in the thousands of dollars, is wholly inconsistent with the way in which the defendant/husband otherwise handles the family's financial records.", "\nFor these reasons, the court determines that the plaintiff has established that the defendant/husband failed to preserve books, records, or other documents within *357 the meaning of Section 727(a)(3). ", "The court will deny the discharge of the defendant/husband on this basis.", "\nC. Section 727(a)(5).", "\nThe plaintiff further seeks a denial of the defendants' discharge pursuant to Section 727(a)(5) of the Bankruptcy Code on the basis that they failed to explain satisfactorily a loss of assets or deficiency of assets to meet the defendants' liabilities. ", "Under this section, the creditor has the initial burden to show why, or how, the defendants have failed to explain a loss of assets. ", "Chalik, 748 F.2d at 619; Green, 268 B.R. at 649. ", "Once the creditor meets its burden of proof, the burden shifts to the debtor to provide a satisfactory explanation of the loss of assets. ", "Chalik, 748 F.2d at 619 [\"The creditor's burden of persuasion does not obviate the necessity that the debtor provide a satisfactory explanation of the loss of his assets.\"].", "\n\"The question of whether a debtor satisfactorily explains a loss of assets is a question of fact.\" ", "Id.\"To be satisfactory, `an explanation' must convince the judge.\" ", "Id., quoting In re Shapiro & Ornish, 37 F.2d 403, 406 (N.D.Tex.1929). ", "It is important to note, however, that the court is not concerned with \"whether the disposition of the assets was proper under the Bankruptcy Code, but rather only whether the explanation satisfactorily describes what happened to the assets.\" ", "Sonders v. Mezvinsky (In re Mezvinsky), 265 B.R. 681, 690 (Bankr.", "E.D.Pa.2001).", "\nIn this case, the plaintiff contends that the defendants have failed to explain satisfactorily the loss of assets from several bank accounts in December 1999 and January 2000 (Document No. ", "45, ¶ C.1).[18] In December 1999, the defendant/husband made several sizable cash withdrawals from the defendants' joint checking account in the total amount of $11,000 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "20). ", "Similarly, in January 2000, the defendant/husband made withdrawals from the defendants' joint checking account in the total amount of $13,000 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "21). ", "The plaintiff has therefore satisfied its burden of persuasion and the defendants must provide an explanation as to the disposition of this money.", "\nThe defendants have provided complete and comprehensive records to the plaintiff, including copies of canceled checks, that identifies with specificity how the defendants' used the $24,000 that was withdrawn in December 1999 and January 2000 (Plaintiff's Exhibit Nos. ", "25, 26, 29, and 30). ", "The court credits this evidence and determines that the defendants have satisfactorily explained the disposition of monies in December 1999 and January 2000. ", "Accordingly, the plaintiff's claim for the denial of the defendants' discharge pursuant to Section 727(a)(5) must fail.", "\n\nV.\nAlthough the cases cited above are clear that the plaintiff is not required to establish the debtor/defendants' motive in cases like this one, it is worthy of note that the record does not contain an explanation for why the defendants went to such lengths to place this case in the Tampa division, instead of the Ft. ", "Myers division where it should have been, and to obscure and distort their personal and financial condition. ", "The court can do nothing but speculate — *358 something that the court will not do. ", "What is clear, however, is that it was enormously important to the defendants to keep the case out of the Ft. ", "Myers division and to present themselves in a false light.", "\nThey concocted an elaborate and false story to do so. ", "When called to task, they continued to embellish their false story, making matters worse. ", "At trial, the defendant/husband gave the appearance of making up his story as he went along — all in a way that lacked any credible substance. ", "Although the court does not know the exact motivation as to why these false oaths and omissions were important to the defendants, it nevertheless is clear that they were.", "\nThe denial of the debtors' discharge is an extraordinary remedy that the court rarely invokes. ", "The facts in this case are egregious, however, and warrant the denial of the defendants' discharge.", "\nFor the reasons stated above, the court concludes that the plaintiff has established two of the three bases upon which it seeks to deny the discharge to the defendant/husband. ", "The plaintiff has also established one of the three bases upon which it seeks to deny the discharge to the defendant/wife.", "\nAccordingly, the court will deny the defendants' discharge. ", "Pursuant to the provisions of F.R.B.P. 7054(b), the plaintiff shall be entitled to taxable costs provided that the plaintiff files its detailed, itemized, supported, and sworn bill of costs within the time prescribed in L.B.R. 7054-1.", "\nThe court is contemporaneously entering judgment consistent with this memorandum of decision.", "\nNOTES\n[1] The court does not credit the defendant/husband's inconsistent testimony on this point (Document No. ", "52, Tr. ", "at 48, lines 6-11, and at Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 176, lines 6-8).", "\n[2] L.B.R. 1071-1(b)(3) provides that Hillsborough County falls within the Tampa Division of this court.", "\n[3] L.B.R. 1071-1(b)(4) provides that Lee County falls within the Ft. ", "Myers Division of this court.", "\n[4] Alternatively, the plaintiff asserts that the defendant/wife made a false oath in Schedule I by failing to include support paid by her husband.", "\n[5] The defendant/husband had held the job prior to his purported termination for several years and received a monthly salary during that entire period in the amount of $5,500 (Document No. ", "53, Tr. ", "at 165, lines 9-18).", "\n[6] Although the defendant/husband reported to Dr. Lowell, it is uncontroverted that he retained control over the financial accounts of Laurel Center during the entirety of the time he was purportedly not employed there.", "\n[7] Although the plaintiff did not include the defendants' food expenses in its claim of false oaths, the court notes that the defendants listed a monthly expense for that item in the total amount of $1,262 (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. ", "1, Schedules J). ", "See, e.g., In re Cox, 249 B.R. 29, 32 (Bankr.", "N.D.Fla.2000) [finding $350 was a reasonable monthly food expense for one person rather than the $710 listed by the debtor].", "\n[8] The court calculates this amount by adding $1,330 claimed for household goods, $50 claimed for books and pictures, $200 claimed for clothing and shoes, $45 claimed for costume jewelry, and $60 claimed for exterior equipment.", "\n[9] The parties did not include this claim of false oath or omission in their pretrial stipulation. ", "At trial, however, the parties put on evidence and made argument as to it. ", "The court will therefore determine the claim as tried.", "\n[10] As an employee of TWA, the defendant/husband was entitled to free or low cost airfare for himself and his dependents.", "\n[11] The parties did not include this claim of false oath or omission in their pretrial stipulation. ", "At trial, however, the parties put on evidence and made argument as to it. ", "The court will therefore determine the claim as tried.", "\n[12] The defendant/wife made one payment to Bank of America. ", "The defendant/husband made all of the other payments.", "\n[13] 28 U.S.C. § 1408(1) provides in pertinent part that a bankruptcy case must be commenced in the district \"in which the domicile, residence . . . ", "of the person or entity that is the subject of such case have been located for the 180 days preceding such commencement. . . .\" ", "L.B.R. 1071-1 further provides that \"[a]ll cases shall be commenced in that Division in which the domicile, residence . . . ", "of the person or entity that is the subject of such case [has] been located for the 180 days immediately preceding such commencement. . . .\" ", "Because the defendants' residence or domicile is located in Lee County, the proper venue for this case would have been the Ft. ", "Myers Division.", "\n[14] Indeed, in this case, the trustee initially did just that when she filed her report of no assets and no distribution.", "\n[15] In an apparent effort to excuse the defendant/husband's fraudulent conduct in using a room intended for another crewmember, the defendants assert in their post-trial memorandum (Document No. ", "55) that TWA was obligated to pay for these rooms regardless of whether they were used by anyone. ", "Mr. Shanahan testified, however, that the Sheraton Suites was required to maintain a list of TWA crewmembers who had registered with the hotel to obtain payment from TWA (Document No. ", "54, Tr. ", "at 241, lines 11-17). ", "This testimony, that the court credits, suggests that TWA paid only for those rooms that were actually used by its crewmembers.", "\n[16] Although it is uncontroverted that the stock is part of the defendant/husband's compensation from TWA, the defendants cannot claim the stock as exempt wages. ", "In re Lancaster, 161 B.R. 308, (Bankr.", "S.D.Fla.1993) [wage exemption applies only to bank accounts].", "\n[17] The defendant/husband made three of these payments and the defendant/wife made one. ", "There is no record as to payments made prior to October 1999.", "\n[18] In the pretrial stipulation (Document No. ", "45), the plaintiff described a claim for the failure to explain losses in December 1999 only. ", "At trial, however, the parties put on evidence and made argument as to the defendants' loss of assets from their bank accounts in December 1999 and January 2000. ", "The court will therefore determine the claim as tried.", "\n" ]

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[ "Huntsville Restaurant Week\n\nAugust 14-23, 2020\n\nRestaurant Week in 2020: socially distanced, still delicious. ", "Every August, eateries throughout Madison County participate in Huntsville Restaurant Week, a 10-day celebration of our diverse local cuisine. ", "During this event, participating restaurants offer unique items for lunch and/or dinner, takeout, or delivery, designed to showcase the best of their menus and encourage visitors and locals alike to explore the tastier side of the Rocket City. ", "Be sure to check in throughout the ten days to see what good eats our restaurants are offering up!" ]

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[ "Q:\n\nAsus UX303UA rebooting instead of resuming from suspend (ubuntu 15.10)\n\nI installed ubuntu 15.10 (kernel 4.2.0-22-generic) on a brand new Asus UX303UA laptop. ", "Almost everything works fine, but I have some trouble with suspending: When the laptop is plugged in (charging), suspend and resuming from suspend works just fine. ", "Strangely, when it runs on battery, it does not properly resume from suspend, instead it just reboots. ", "It does not make any difference whether I suspend from the menu, close the lid or run systemctl suspend from the command line.", "\nAny suggestions on how to tackle down the issue are welcome. ", "So far I could not find anything relevant in syslog etc. ", "\nEdit: Some answers to the comments:\n\nThe duration of the suspend state seems to make no difference, I tired between 20 seconds and several hours... always to same result.", "\nIf I suspend while to laptop is plugged-in, then unplug and then try resume, the problems is the same. ", "Similarily, if I unplug, then suspend, then plugin in and then try to resume, the laptop will reboot. ", "So it seems the the computer needs to be plugged-in during suspend AND resume.", "\n\nEDIT2: Some more infos to my installation:\n\nRunning ubuntu in EFI-mode\nno swap partition\nmain partition is encrypted\n\nA:\n\nHere is an exactly same open issue on the bugzilla.kernel.org site: Reboot upon wake from suspend - ASUS Zenbook UX305CA\n\nA:\n\nWith the latest update (from kernel 4.2.0-22 to 4.2.0-23) suspend now finally works!", "\nEDIT: With kernel 4.2.0-35, the problem appeared again\n\n" ]

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[ "A practical approach to evidence grading.", "\nThe Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) is a collaboration of 17 Minnesota medical groups. ", "Among other activities, ICSI develops health care guidelines and technology assessment reports. ", "To maintain focus on the underlying evidence, ICSI has developed an evidence and conclusion grading system for use by the practicing clinicians who write the documents and use them in making decisions about patient care. ", "THE EVIDENCE GRADING SYSTEM IN DETAIL: The centerpiece of the evidence grading system is the conclusion grading worksheet, which calls for statement of a conclusion, summarization of research reports that support or dispute the conclusion, assignment of classes and quality markers to the research reports, and assignment of a grade to the conclusion. ", "The system has been used in the writing of more than 40 guidelines and numerous technology assessment reports. ", "An example of a worksheet from the congestive heart failure guideline is presented. ", "The system has helped the drafting groups to attend to the evidence. ", "The methods have proven to be well accepted by practicing physicians and to be practical, although staff expertise in epidemiology is needed to support the system. ", "Grading of conclusions appears to be reliable, although this characteristic of the system has not been rigorously tested. ", "The outputs are valued by users of the documents. ", "Although some residual problems remain to be solved, the system appears to be successful in overcoming the complexity of some published systems for grading evidence while still yielding a defensible classification of conclusions based on the strength of the underlying evidence." ]

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[ "How loud should your monitor speakers be for music production? ", "by Florian Meindl\n\nHow loud should your monitor speakers be for music production?", "\n\nThere are decibel recommendations and also health risks for your hearing but this article is much more than that. ", "You will learn what YOUR best volume for YOUR genre is and why you shouldn't analytically measure it and stick to it forever. ", "We also have a trick for you how to outsmart problems of low volume mixing.", "\n\nIf you are on the search for the officially recommended decibel value, you will find recommendations between 75db and 85db, because according to the Equal Loudness-contour, the perceived loudness is very flat in this area. ", "This enables you to judge the balance between low, mid and high frequencies best.", "\n\nThe blue curve is experimentally evaluated data by the first researchers who treated this topic, namely Fletcher and Munson. ", "However the latest research resulted in the red curves, which is the current ISO standard.", "\n\n\"I recommend to approach this topic more subjective, because it depends on how good your hearing still is and also on the style of music\"\n\nIt is good to know at which position of the volume knob you get the advised 80 decibel, but I recommend to approach this topic more subjective, because it depends on how good your hearing still is and also on the style of music.", "\n\nSome genres require a higher volume—simply because the mid frequencies are, depending on the genre, on different volumes.", "\n\nYou will recognize this instantly if you go from a bass heavy Dub track to a Radio Pop song with upfront lead vocals or bright lead synths. ", "The Pop song will sound louder.", "\n\nFor your safety and health: Sound pressure levels over 85db can cause permanent hearing loss, if exposed for 8h or more. ", "Medium sized studio monitor speakers can def. ", "produce this kind of volume and midfield monitors even much more. ", "To make a quick check, simply download an SPL meter app for your mobile phone and measure around your ear position when producing music.", "\n\nThe perfect volume to mix music\n\nA rule of thumb is, to keep the volume on a level where you don't have to talk to somebody louder than you normally would.", "\n\nAn acoustically well treated room allows you to even turn down the volume to an average of 70db. ", "But it is also safe to say and scientifically evident, that volumes above 90db are too loud and risky for your hearing in longer music production sessions.", "\n\nIn my experience it is good to know exactly where the volume knob should be to get your personal \"music production volume\" and keep there for all sessions, because you can then judge the volumes of all frequencies much better over time!", "\n\nIn the future you might have to raise your mixing and production volume though, because there is a small amount of natural hearing loss when we get older and after loud concerts and club nights it get maybe worse too.", "\n\nPA speakers as studio monitors?", "\n\nEven though I have PA speakers in my studio—it is a bit of a luxury to be honest. ", "It is not essential, but if you want to get the best out of your mixing and mastering it can help. ", "It's obviously also fun to crank them up to high volumes to find out how your track sounds in the club. ", "The esthetic is different and cannot be achieved with studio monitors.", "\n\nI personally use the Martion Audio Bullfrog speakers, which are classified as \"high end\". ", "They contain a 15\" woofer with an integrated coaxial mid-hi horn and are incredibly precise. ", "They are not studio monitor speakers though and too dynamic for mixing. ", "When the dynamic range is reduced however, which is the case after mastering, they can give you the sound of a nightclub in the studio - and this is the purpose of my pair of PA speakers.", "\n\nIn a mastering session I always check the final result on the PA speakers on very high volumes for a few seconds or in parts of the tracks where I think there could be a problem. ", "This trick reveals nasty transients on a regular basis, especially in snare drums, claps or hihats.", "\n\nI never play them on full volume for more than half a minute though.", "\n\nWhat is listening fatigue?", "\n\nOur hearing system can handle quite high volumes, but only a very short period of time. ", "If we expose ourselves to extremely high sound pressure levels for more than a couple of seconds, we are experiencing hearing fatigue and our ears can shut down completely in the worst cases. ", "After a long and loud club night you will experience some ringing inside the ears and hearing loss. ", "Hopefully only temporarily, but maybe also permanently to a certain extent.", "\n\nWe humans are only able to create loud sounds since a blink of an eye compared to our history. ", "It really doesn't matter if its since a couple of hundred years or even thousand years - our ancestors' sense of hearing was capable of handling short loud sounds - like a thunder or shouting from animals and humans - as well as very quiet sounds in the range of the human voice.", "\n\nWhich made sense, because if you shouted out loud your thoughts about the saber-toothed tiger around the corner to your mate, it would probably have cost you your life and you would have been removed from the gene pool.", "\n\nYou can see the high sensitivity to the human voice in the \"Equal-Loudness contour\" above, where the hearing threshold level is extremely low around 3000hz. ", "Evolutionary it was the most important frequency range to hear somebody from far away or whispering a warning.", "\n\nThis listening fatigue starts to appear already on relatively low volumes - here is a guide how long you can work on music at these specific decibel amounts:\n\n80 db = 8 hours\n\n83 db = 4 hours\n\n86 db = 2 hours\n\n89 db = 1 hour\n\nSo if you are working on 86db, you should take a 30 minutes break after each 2 hours to reset your ears from fatigue!", "\n\nLow Volume Monitoring Tips & Tricks\n\nAs you can see in the diagram above, when the volume of your speakers gets lower, the mid frequencies appear louder to the human ear. ", "So if you decide to work on very low volume, you could compensate this effect by putting an Equalizer into your master channel and cut 3 to 6db around 2Khz with a broad bandwith (Small Q value). ", "But don't forget to remove this \"correction\" or \"loudness\" EQ before you export the song.", "\n\nAfter an hour of producing music you should make a small 5 minutes break, not only for your ears but also for you mind and body. ", "As stated above in the listening fatigue section, if you are producing at 83db you should take a 30min break after 4 hours to reset your ears.", "\n\nLower volumes have another advantage when you produce music—the louder the speakers play, the more the walls and objects in the room are getting excited and cause more problems in the form of louder standing waves, more reverb and maybe unwanted vibrations. ", "If this would be a linear process, then it would not be a problem, but sound pressure expands logarithmically.", "\n\nInstagram Follow us on\n\nIf you like this article, please share it in your favorite producer group on Facebook or any other social media, thanks!", "\n\nWritten by Florian Meindl, last update 12. ", "August 2019. ", "Version 1.3" ]

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[ "Iranian oil bourse\n\nThe Iranian Oil Bourse (), International Oil Bourse, Iran Petroleum Exchange Kish Exchange or Oil Bourse in Kish (IOB; the official English language name is unclear) also known as Iran Crude Oil Exchange, is a commodity exchange, which opened its first phase on 17 February 2008.", "\n\nIt was created by cooperation between Iranian ministries, the Iran Mercantile Exchange and other state and private institutions in 2005. ", "The history of Iran Mercantile Exchange and its links with the \"international trading floor of crude oil and petrochemical products in the Kish Island\" (IOB) have been published.", "\n\nThe IOB is intended as an oil bourse for petroleum, petrochemicals and gas in various currencies other than the United States dollar, primarily the euro and Iranian rial and a basket of other major (non-US) currencies. ", "The geographical location is at the Persian Gulf island of Kish which is designated by Iran as a free trade zone.", "\n\nDuring 2007, Iran asked its petroleum customers to pay in non US dollar currencies. ", "By December 8, 2007, Iran reported to have converted all of its oil export payments to non-dollar currencies.", "\nThe Kish Bourse was officially opened in a videoconference ceremony on 17 February 2008, despite last minute disruptions to the internet services to the Persian Gulf regions. ", "Currently the Kish Bourse is only trading in oil-derived products, generally those used as feedstock for the plastics and pharmaceutical industries. ", "However, officially published statements by Iranian oil minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari indicate that the second phase, to establish trading in crude oil directly, which has been suggested might one day perhaps create a \"Caspian Crude\" benchmark price analogous to Brent Crude or WTI will only be started after the Bourse has demonstrated a reasonable period of trouble-free running.", "\n\nDue to technical problems, the oil bourse never proceeded, and the plans were finally abandoned after a vote by the Iranian Parliament on 7 January 2020.", "\n\nBackground\n\nThe three current oil markers are all US dollar denominated: North America's West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI), North Sea Brent Crude, and the UAE Dubai Crude. ", "The two major oil bourses are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in New York City, and the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) in London and Atlanta. ", "As the Oil Bourse in Kish is developed through successive stages, the plan is to establish a Petrobourse as a fourth oil market, denominated by the Iranian rial, the euro and other major currencies.", "\n\nIran sits on some of the largest oil and gas reserves in the world. ", "The bourse will offer 40 kinds of oil products. ", "Iran produces over 25 percent of the total output of petrochemical products in the Middle East. ", "At least 30 domestic companies and 20 foreign firms are active in the oil and petrochemical industries on Kish Island.", "\n\nOperations\n\nAt the time of the Oil Bourse's opening on Kish, the Director of the Kish Stock Exchange, Hossein Allahdadi, said that there \"are no limitations imposed on transactions by foreign shareholders at the Oil Bourse in Kish\".", "\n\nAs of 2009, the Oil Bourse was a spot market for petrochemical products mainly, with plans to introduce sharia-compliant futures contracts for crude oil and petrochemicals in the future, during the second phase. ", "Trading takes place through licensed private brokers registered with the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran. ", "Any company, domestic or foreign, can list their products on the exchange for as long as they meet the listing criteria.", "\n\nGlobal standards for Islamic derivatives were set in 2010. ", "The “Hedging Master Agreement” provides a structure under which institutions can trade derivatives such as profit-rate and currency swaps.", "\n\nTimeline\n2000/2001 Chris Cook, the former Director of Compliance & Market Supervision at the International Petroleum Exchange became aware in the course of an IPE disciplinary case that IPE Brant Crude Oil contract market settlement prices were being routinely manipulated by major traders and investment banks. ", "While his complaint to UK regulators of settlement price manipulation was dismissed by the appointed Commissioner on a technicality the routine nature of settlement price manipulation subsequently became common knowledge.", "\n\nFebruary 2001 Chris Cook and an Iranian colleague Mehdi Moslehi - an exchange trading technology consultant – agreed that Iran was well placed to provide the necessary liquidity to create a Middle Eastern Benchmark contract.", "\n\nMay 2001 Mehdi Moslehi subsequently met the Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) – the late Mohsen Nurbakhsh - in London and suggested that Iran should initiate establishment of a new Middle Eastern Oil Benchmark price. ", "Governor Nurbakhsh requested a formal outline proposal in the form of a letter which he undertook to convey to Iran's petroleum ministry.", "\n\n25 June 2001 Mehdi Moslehi wrote to Dr Nurbakhsh above suggesting that Iran consider establishing a Middle East benchmark oil price.", "\n\n2003 Iran’s oil ministry decided to establish a domestic oil bourse and Minister Zanganeh appointed, Dr Mohammad Javad Asemipour as the Executive Director of Oil, Gas, Petrochemical Products Exchange Project.", "\n\nDr Asemipour established a tender to select a contractor to undertake the project and as a result Wimpole Limited (Mehdi Moslehi and Chris Cook as directors) entered into a joint venture with Tehran Stock Exchange Services Company to lead what became known as the “Wimpole Consortium” which included leading technology providers and exchange expertise.", "\n\nMay 17, 2004 Mehdi Moslehi and Chris Cook presented the Wimpole Consortium oil exchange proposal in Tehran at the Central Bank of Iran and in June 2014 Dr Mohammad Javad Asemipour appointed Wimpole Consortium as the contractor to implement the oil bourse of Iran.", "\n\nAugust 2004 Mehdi Moslehi presented the pre-feasibility study for development of Iran Oil Bourse to Wimpole's joint venture partner Tehran Stock Exchange Services Company and the pre-feasibility study report was passed to Dr Mohammad Javad Asemipour.", "\n\n2005 The newly appointed project management used the above report to request a licence for trading of bourse from Iran’s Exchange Board and the new Exchange received a licence to trade in the free zone of Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. ", "The building and trading platform were implemented in Kish Island of Iran.", "\n\nThe Iranian oil bourse, first reported in 2005, initially had a widely publicised opening date of March 20, 2006. ", "which is the Iranian New Year, Nauroz. ", "According to an April 2005 report, the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), the Wimpole Consortium and a private staff fund for retired petroleum workers were to form a consortium developing the exchange.", "\n\nJanuary 2006 Chris Cook of the Wimpole Consortium referred to delays in the process due to the election to the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and subsequent difficulty in appointing a new oil minister acceptable both to the president and parliament.", "\n\nFebruary 2006 Wimpole consortium complained that their invoices which used to receive the trading license has not paid.", "\n\nMarch 2006 the Petroleum Minister of Iran, Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, announced that due to \"technical glitches\", the Bourse launch was postponed, with no new date set. ", "However, as of April 26 Iran had restarted its move to open the oil market, and Kazem announced the bourse was set to open the first week of May.\n\nMay 2006 Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Davoud Danesh-Jafari said the Oil Ministry has a two-month deadline for presenting the Articles of Association of the Iranian Oil Bourse. ", "Danesh-Jafari said that the euro had not yet been finalized as the legal tender of transactions in the oil bourse, and the final decision about that depends upon the Oil Ministry’s proposed IOB Articles of Association.", "\n\nJuly 2006 a building has been purchased and the projected opening date was originally slated for September 2006. ", "On September 15, Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh stated that all preparatory requirements had been arranged for launching the oil stock market in the country. ", "However, the launch had still not occurred.", "\n\nDecember 2006 Bloomberg cited two Iranian newspapers reporting Iran's Minister of Economy Davoud Danesh-Ja'fari Iran as wanting to cut US dollar based transactions to a minimum.", "\n\nMarch 2007 The New York Times reported that China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Trading, the biggest buyer of Iranian crude worldwide, began paying for its oil in euros late last year. ", "Iranian officials have said for months that more than half the OPEC member's customers switched their payment currency away from the dollar as Tehran seeks to diversify its reserves, but news of the Zhenrong change is the first outside confirmation. ", " Japan has also announced that it would be willing to switch to Yen from US Dollars. ", "Iran's central banker announced in March 2007 that Iran had cut its holding of U.S.-dollar assets to around 20% of its foreign reserves in response to U.S. hostility.", "\n\nSeptember 2007 Japan's Nippon Oil has agreed to buy Iranian oil using yen.", "\n\nDecember 2007 Iran stops accepting U.S. dollars for oil.", "\n\nJanuary 2008 Iran's Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari told reporters that the bourse will be opened during the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution (February 1–11).", "\n\nFebruary 2008 On February 4, the Iranian Cabinet approved the creation of the oil bourse in two stages - first a raw oil exchange and secondly an oil byproducts exchange. ", "The Ministry of Finance and Economics, the Oil Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Central Bank of Iran are required to create a workgroup to coordinate the project, and the Iran Commodities Bourse Company is given the task of carrying out the project. ", "The communique from the Cabinet states that the \"Ministry of Finance and Economics Affairs is required to take measures in making the petrochemical byproducts bourse operational by the end of February 2008.\"", "\n\n31 December 2009 Orr Litchfield LLP the law firm who developed the contract agreement for the report sued two directors of Wimpole Ltd and recovered the unpaid their invoices from the directors of Wimpole Ltd personal assets.", "\n\nOpening\nFebruary 17, 2008: The Iranian Oil Bourse was inaugurated in a video conference ceremony from the capital Tehran attended by ministers of oil, finance and economic affairs as well as chairman of Iran's Stock Exchange and a number of other officials and financial experts.", "\nThe transactions will be made in Iranian rial, yen, euro and other major currencies. ", "The Iranian Oil Bourse will probably accept Russian ruble as well.", "\nThe first transaction of the IOB took place at 9:30 the following morning, when 2200 tonnes of low-density polyethylene (LD-PE), held in 100 tonne cases, were traded.", "\n\nNovember 2008: According to Chairman of Board of Directors for Iranian Oil Bourse Mehdi Karbasian ever since the launch of the first phase of the bourse, transactions worth over $1.5 billion have been made on different oil and petrochemical products.", "\n\nOctober 2009: IRNA reported that \"National Petrochemical Company's Managing Director Adel Nejad-Salim said in the opening ceremony that all petrochemical products will be gradually offered on the market.\" ", "In the first phase, only petrochemical products such as polyethylene and methanol were traded on a spot basasis and in Iranian Rial. ", "However, with the completion of the second phase, crude and by-products of oil can also be traded on the exchange in both Iranian Rial and Euro.", "\n\nNovember 2009: IME reported that \"the international trading floor of crude oil and petrochemical products in the Kish Island was put into operation.\"", "\n\nJune 2011: Iran summarized the 3 phases of Kish Stock Exchange's opening roadmap\n\nearly June 2011: Iran started fuel oil transaction in Kish Oil Bourse : 35,000 tons at 621.35 dollar per ton and payment was made through Euro or Dirham accounts overseas.", "\n\nJuly 2011: Third phase of Iran Crude Oil Exchange has been launched. ", "A shipment of 600,000 barrels of heavy crude oil were offered at the Kish International Trading Floor on July 23, 2011 and were traded at USD 112.65 per barrel.", "\n\nAugust 2011: A shipment of 500,000 barrels of heavy crude oil were offered at the Kish Commodity Exchange on 18 August 2011 and were traded at USD 105.49 per barrel and received payments in euro and dirham. ", "The crude consignment was traded without any discount or additional premium.", "\n\nMarch 20, 2012: The Iranian oil bourse will no longer trade oil in the US dollar but start trading oil in other currencies such as the euro, yen, yuan, rupee or a basket of currencies.", "\n\nJanuary 7, 2020 The planned Iranian oil bourse was cancelled.", "\n\nPetrochemical Exporting Countries Forum (PECF)\n\nIran has proposed the creation of a Petrochemical Exporting Countries Forum (PECF) which aims at financial and technological cooperation among members, as well as product pricing and policy making in production issues.", "\n\n2008 submarine cable disruption\n\nIt has been suggested that the 2008 submarine cable disruption was connected with the launch of Iranian oil bourse and that the internet connection of Iran was being targeted to stop the launch of Iranian oil bourse.", "\n\nSee also\n\n Iran Mercantile Exchange\n Petrodollar\n Petrodollar warfare\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n PetroTalk Portal for petro related Articles, Discussion, Links and more\n Iran oil bourse next week, Persian Journal, April 26, 2006\n Iran takes on west's control of oil trading, The Guardian\n The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Marker\n Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse\n The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse\n Trading oil in euros – does it matter?", "\n Will the Iranian Oil Bourse Threaten the Dollar?", "\n The Iranian line in the sand\n Petrodollar or Petroeuro? ", "A new source of global conflict\n Strange ideas about the Iranian oil bourse\n Iranian Oil Bourse opening IOB will open amid hurdles\nVideos\n Iranian Oil Bourse - Part I Part II Part III (PressTV video)\n\nCategory:Commodity exchanges in Iran\nCategory:Petroleum in Iran\nCategory:Monetary hegemony\nCategory:Financial services companies established in 2008\nCategory:Non-renewable resource companies established in 2008\nCategory:2008 establishments in Iran" ]

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[ "First in a series exposing NYT Magazine’s sloppy and/ or agenda-driven coverage\n\nAn article in the New York Times Magazine gave a view of the state of charter schools in Michigan that is contradicted by the official record. ", "The 7,000-plus word article on Sept. 5 was titled “Michigan Gambled on Charter Schools. ", "Its Children Lost.” ", "A key point in the story is that charter schools in Michigan are allowed to fail children year after year.", "\n\nIn seeking to portray charter schools as unregulated, the New York Times Magazine cited Gary Miron, a researcher at Western Michigan University. ", "Miron was quoted as saying charter schools are “rarely” closed. ", "The statewide news site MLive has called Miron “one of the nation’s foremost experts on the charter-school movement.”", "\n\nThe conclusion that charters are “rarely” closed is contradicted by information posted online by the state of Michigan. ", "It includes every Michigan charter school that has been closed through 2016.", "\n\nA page on the Michigan Department of Education website lists 122 public school academies that were closed from 1995 through 2016. ", "The list does not include 11 charters closed in 2017.", "\n\nPublic school academies, otherwise known as charter schools, are opened when they receive a “charter,” or contract, from one of several types of institutions authorized to grant one. ", "State universities are by far the most common authorizers in Michigan. ", "The universities that have authorized charters have the task of monitoring their performance and can withdraw a school’s charter if it fails to improve student outcomes or meet the standards of the contract.", "\n\nThe author of the New York Times Magazine article stated: “Keeping the schools open, even if they’re low-performing, can become a temptation, Miron told me. ", "He found authorizers rarely closed schools in Michigan — typically, only if the school had ‘been shamed by the media.’”", "\n\nStayEngaged\n\nReceive our weekly emails!", "\n\nemail address\n\nWhen the 11 charters closed in 2017 are added to 122 that were closed in prior years, the total number of charters that have been closed since 1995 comes to 133. ", "There are 294 charter schools currently operating in the state.", "\n\nThat record doesn’t support the claim by Miron that charter schools are “rarely” closed.", "\n\nMiron didn’t return an email seeking comment.", "\n\nFreelance writer Mark Binelli and New York Times Magazine editor Jake Silverstein did not return emails asking them to provide their basis for making claims that government databases reveal to be inaccurate.", "\n\nEditor’s note: This is the first in a Michigan Capitol Confidential series pointing out the inaccuracies and false claims in this deeply-flawed article.", "\n\nThe Michigan Association of Public School Academies said it reached out to the writer in a bid to add some balance, but was rejected. ", "The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which publishes Michigan Capitol Confidential, was mentioned in the article.", "\n\nObamacare repeal-and-replace is underway, and regardless of whether it passes or fails big, changes are coming for Michigan’s medical services and insurance industry, and the state’s social welfare system, especially Medicaid.", "\n\nRelatedSites\n\nWould you like to see more information like this? ", "Learn how you can help the Mackinac Center provide incisive, accurate and timely analysis of critical policy issues." ]

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[ "Background\n==========\n\nThe α-proteobacterium *Rhodobacter capsulatus* is one of several known species of prokaryotes that produces a gene transfer agent \\[[@B1]\\], or GTA. ", "GTAs are phage-like particles that contain small fragments of the producing cells' genomes \\[[@B2]\\] that can then be transferred to other cells in a process similar to generalized transduction. ", "Production of the *R. capsulatus* GTA, RcGTA, is regulated through multiple cellular signal transduction systems. ", "These include the GtaRI quorum sensing system \\[[@B3],[@B4]\\] and the phosphorelay proteins CtrA and CckA \\[[@B5],[@B6]\\] and ChpT \\[[@B6]\\]. ", "These phosphorelay proteins are also involved in controlling *R. capsulatus* flagellar motility \\[[@B6]-[@B8]\\], and this role is widely conserved in the class α-proteobacteria \\[[@B6],[@B9]-[@B13]\\]. ", "Of all RcGTA regulators identified to date, only loss of CtrA leads to a complete loss of the ability to make RcGTA particles, which is caused by the loss of transcription of most genes in the RcGTA gene cluster \\[[@B5],[@B8]\\]. ", "However, there is no evidence that CtrA acts via direct regulation at the RcGTA promoter to control transcription of these genes and the mechanistic link between CtrA and RcGTA gene expression remains unknown.", "\n\nTranscriptome analyses identified a number of predicted transcriptional regulator and signal transduction proteins whose genes had lower transcript levels in a *ctrA* mutant \\[[@B8]\\]. ", "These included two genes encoding putative anti-σ and anti-anti-σ proteins, annotated as *rsbW* and *rsbV*, respectively \\[[@B14]\\]. ", "These are homologues of the anti-σ and anti-anti-σ factors that control the activity of the general stress response factor, σ^B^, in the gram-positive bacterium *Bacillus subtilis*\\[[@B15]\\]. ", "In *B. subtilis*, the σ^B^-encoding *sigB* gene is located in an 8-gene operon (*rsbR*, *S*, *T*, *U*, *V*, *W*, *sigB* and *rsbX*; Figure [1](#F1){ref-type=\"fig\"}) and the Rsb (**r**egulators of **s**igma B) proteins encoded in this operon control the availability of σ^B^ to associate with RNAP core enzyme \\[[@B16],[@B17]\\]. ", "Under non-stressed conditions, the anti-σ factor RsbW binds and sequesters σ^B^\\[[@B18]\\]. ", "The anti-anti-σ factor, RsbV, is an interacting antagonist of RsbW \\[[@B19]\\]. ", "RsbW is a kinase of RsbV, where phosphorylation during exponential growth inactivates the RsbV antagonist and allows RsbW to bind σ^B^\\[[@B19]\\]. ", "In response to stress, such as a drop in cellular ATP levels, additional Rsb proteins can affect the phosphorylation state of RsbV \\[[@B20],[@B21]\\]. ", "The phosphatase RsbU stimulates the release of σ^B^ by dephosphorylating RsbV \\[[@B22]\\], which in turn inhibits RsbW from sequestering σ^B^. This \"partner-switching\" \\[[@B20]\\] regulatory mechanism has been found in diverse species, with numerous examples related to regulating σ factor activity \\[[@B23]\\]. ", "The activity of RsbU is itself controlled by RsbR, RsbS and RsbT, which form a supramolecular complex called the stressosome \\[[@B24]\\]. ", "The stressosome acts to integrate a diverse array of signals to activate the σ^B^ stress response \\[[@B24]\\] and control the activity of the downstream regulatory module involving RsbU-RsbV-RsbW \\[[@B15]\\]. ", "This Rsb-σ^B^ module is conserved in other *Bacillus* species, such as *B. licheniformis* and *B. halodurans*, whereas some other species, such as *B. cereus*, show variations in the regulatory components \\[[@B25]\\]. ", "In *B. cereus*, the RsbV-RsbW-σ^B^ module is conserved but the phosphatase of RsbV \\~ P is RsbY, which possesses a structurally different N-terminal sensing domain from RsbU, and there is a hybrid histidine kinase/response regulator protein, RsbK, which senses and integrates multiple signals \\[[@B25]\\] and that can activate RsbY \\[[@B26]\\].", "\n\n{#F1}\n\nRsb and σ^B^ homologues have also been identified in various other species and found to play regulatory roles in the stress response and other cellular processes \\[[@B15]\\]. ", "Similar to *B. cereus*, these other species (e.g. *Staphylococcus aureus* and *Mycobacterium tuberculosis*) lack *rsbRST* genes encoding the stressosome proteins but the *rsbV* and *rsbW* orthologues are usually found together, alongside a gene encoding the cognate σ factor \\[[@B16]\\]. ", "In some other species, such as *Streptomyces coelicolor*, *rsbV* and *rsbW* homologues can be found at loci separate from their cognate σ factor or have these two genes in separate locations \\[[@B16],[@B27]-[@B29]\\]. ", "Additionally, in both gram-positive and gram-negative species, *rsb* homologues have been identified with diverse functions and deviations from the *Bacillus* models. ", "These include the presence of additional effector domains in the partner-switching proteins \\[[@B30]-[@B32]\\] and, although regulation of a σ factor is common, these systems can also control other targets including enzymes \\[[@B22],[@B33]\\]. ", "The partner-switching regulatory systems can also be more complex, with multi-partner interactions involving multiple anti-anti-σ factor proteins that control one or more anti-σ factors \\[[@B27],[@B34]\\].", "\n\nIt is currently unknown which σ factor acts to recruit RNA polymerase to the promoter element of the RcGTA gene cluster, and what signal(s) might control this process. *", "R. capsulatus* encodes 7 identifiable putative σ factors in its genome: the major vegetative σ factor, RpoD; two σ^32^ family proteins, RpoHI and RpoHII; the nitrogen fixation σ^54^ factor, RpoN; two σ^24^ (RpoE-like) ECF σ factors; and a putative ECF-G σ factor \\[[@B8],[@B14]\\]. ", "While the RpoHI, RpoHII and RpoE σ factors have been studied in *Rhodobacter sphaeroides* for their role in response to photooxidative and heat stress \\[[@B35]-[@B40]\\], the only well-studied σ factor in *R. capsulatus* is RpoN \\[[@B41]-[@B43]\\]. ", "The finding that loss of CtrA affected expression of *R. capsulatus rsbVW* homologues, which we propose to rename as *rbaVW*, prompted us to investigate the role of the RbaV and RbaW proteins, along with another identified Rsb homologue, RbaY, in RcGTA production.", "\n\nMethods\n=======\n\nBacterial strains and culture conditions\n----------------------------------------\n\nThe experimental strains, plasmids, and PCR primers used for this study are listed in Additional file [1](#S1){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}, Additional file [2](#S2){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}, and Additional file [3](#S3){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}, respectively. *", "R. capsulatus* was grown at 35°C under anaerobic photoheterotrophic conditions with YPS medium \\[[@B44]\\] or aerobically with RCV medium \\[[@B45]\\] supplemented with appropriate antibiotics when necessary: kanamycin (10 μg ml^-1^), spectinomycin (20 μg ml^-1^), and tetracycline (0.5 μg ml^-1^). *", "Escherichia coli* was grown using LB medium at 37°C and supplemented with the appropriate antibiotics when necessary: ampicillin (100 μg ml^-1^), kanamycin (25 μg ml^-1^), spectinomycin (50 μg ml^-1^), and tetracycline (10 μg ml^-1^).", "\n\nOpen reading frames (ORFs) of the Rba proteins and σ factors were amplified by PCR from the genome of *R. capsulatus* strain SB1003 and cloned into pGEM-T-Easy (Promega, Madison, USA) according to the manufacturer's guidelines. ", "The genes were disrupted by insertion of a \\~1.4-kb *Sma*I fragment of the KIXX cartridge \\[[@B46]\\], which confers resistance to kanamycin and which has been found to rarely create polar mutations in *R. capsulatus*\\[[@B47]\\]. ", "The *rbaV* (*rcc03323*) and *rbaW* (*rcc03324*) ORFs were amplified using the primers VW-F and VW-R. The *rbaV* gene was disrupted by insertion at an *Nru*I site located 76 bp into the 348-bp ORF. ", "The *rbaW* gene was disrupted by insertion at a *Blp*I site blunted with T4 polymerase, located 274 bp into the 492-bp ORF. ", "A disruption of both genes was created by replacing a 535-bp *Nru*I/*Blp*I segment with the KIXX fragment. ", "The ORF predicted to encode the *rsbY* homologue (*rcc00181*) was amplified using the primers Y-F and Y-R. The 1230-bp *rbaY* ORF was disrupted at an *Msc*I site located 307 bp into the gene.", "\n\nAmplicons of the *R. capsulatus rpoHI* (*rcc02811*) and *rpoHII* (*rcc00458*) genes were amplified using primers rpoHI-F and rpoHI-R, and rpoHII-F and rpoHII-R, respectively. ", "The 900-bp *rpoHI* ORF was disrupted at a *Bam*HI site located 323 bp from the start of the gene. ", "A 507-bp *Stu*I fragment of the 833-bp *rpoHII* ORF was replaced by the KIXX cartridge. ", "The ORF encoding the putative ECF σ factor-encoding *rcc02291* (570 bp) was amplified using primers 2291-F and 2291-R and disrupted by insertion at a *Stu*I site located 133 bp into the gene. ", "Also, the putative *phyR* orthologue (*rcc02289*) and potential anti-σ factor to the protein encoded by *rcc02291*, was amplified using primers phyR-F and phyR-R and subsequently disrupted by a KIXX cartridge insertion at a *Sma*I site located 150 bp into the 810 bp ORF. ", "The 594-bp ORF *rcc02724* encoding another putative ECF σ factor was amplified using primers 2724-F and 2724-R and disrupted by inserting KIXX into a *Bsa*BI site located 221 bp from the start of the gene. ", "The ORFs *rcc00699* (545 bp) and *rcc02637* (585 bp) encoding putative σ^24^ ECF sigma factors were amplified using primers 699-F and 699-R, and 2637-F and 2637-R, respectively. ", "The KIXX cartridge was inserted into a *Stu*I site 376 bp into *rcc00699* and an *Afe*I site located 176 bp from the start of *rcc02637*. ", "Disruptions were not attempted for the major vegetative σ factor, *rpoD* (*rcc03054*), or the nitrogen fixation σ factor, *rpoN* (*rcc00568*), genes. ", "A separate *rpoHI* disruption using a 2-kb spectinomycin resistance-encoding omega cassette \\[[@B48]\\] was constructed to allow creation of an *rpoHI*-*rpoHII* double mutant strain.", "\n\nAll gene disruption constructs were sequenced and RcGTA-mediated transfer of disrupted versions of genes into *R. capsulatus* SB1003 were carried out as previously described \\[[@B6]\\]. ", "The resulting kanamycin and kanamycin/spectinomycin resistant strains (Additional file [1](#S1){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}) were confirmed to contain the gene disruptions by PCR using the original amplification primers (Additional file [3](#S3){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}) whereby replacement of the wild type gene by the disrupted version was indicated by amplification of a single product of the expected size.", "\n\n*In trans* complementation was performed using wild type genes with their native upstream sequences placed on the low copy, broad host range plasmid, pRK767 \\[[@B49]\\]. ", "A wild type fragment of *rbaV* and *rbaW* was amplified using primers VcF and VW-R. Primers VcF and Anti-anti-R were used to amplify the wild type *rbaV* fragment. ", "The *rbaW* complement sequence contained an in-frame deletion of the majority of *rbaV*, replacing bp 24 to bp 272 with a *Kpn*I site. ", "This was created by joining 2 fragments, amplified with VcF and VdR, and VdF and VW-R, via a primer-embedded *Kpn*I site. ", "The complementation vectors (Additional file [2](#S2){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}) were conjugated into *R. capsulatus* using *E. coli* S17-1 \\[[@B50]\\].", "\n\nGene transfer bioassays\n-----------------------\n\nGene transfer bioassays were used as previously described \\[[@B6]\\] to measure production and release of RcGTA particles. ", "Stationary phase cultures were filtered using 0.45-μm PVDF syringe filters and filtrates assayed for RcGTA activity using the *R. capsulatus puhA* strain, DW5 \\[[@B51]\\], as the recipient cells. ", "The samples were plated on YPS agar and incubated in anaerobic phototrophic conditions and colony numbers were counted after 48 hours. ", "RcGTA activities in mutant strains were determined as ratios relative to SB1003 in 3 replicate experiments. ", "Statistically significant differences in RcGTA activities were identified by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in R \\[[@B52]\\].", "\n\nWestern blotting\n----------------\n\nWestern blots targeting the \\~32 kDa RcGTA major capsid protein were performed on the same cultures used for RcGTA activity assays as described previously \\[[@B6]\\]. ", "Samples contained 5 μl of cells pelleted from cultures and re-suspended in an equal volume of TE buffer or 10 μl of the culture supernatants mixed with 3× SDS-PAGE sample buffer and heated for 5 minutes at 98°C. ", "The proteins were separated on a 10% SDS-PAGE gel and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane by electro-blotting in transfer buffer \\[48 mM Tris Base, 39 mM glycine, 20% methanol (v/v)\\]. ", "Total protein levels within supernatant and cell sample groups were verified to be approximately equivalent by staining the membranes with Ponceau-S. The membranes were rinsed and blocked with a 5% (w/v) skim milk solution in TBST \\[20 mM Tris, 137 mM NaCl, 0.1% Tween-20 (v/v); pH 7.5\\] and incubated overnight at 4°C with an anti-*Rhodobacterales* GTA major capsid protein primary antibody (Agrisera, Vännäs, Sweden) \\[[@B53]\\] as a 1:1000 dilution in TBST. ", "The membranes were then washed with TBST and incubated with peroxidase-conjugated anti-rabbit IgG (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, USA) as a 1:5000 dilution in TBST for 1 hour at room temperature. ", "The membranes were washed again in TBST and the bands were detected by chemiluminescence using the SuperSignal West Femto Reagent Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Ottawa, Canada). ", "Images were captured on an Alpha Innotech U400 camera, and then inverted and adjusted for brightness and contrast with image processing software.", "\n\nViable cell counts\n------------------\n\nEach culture used for gene transfer assays and western blotting was also assayed for viable cells as previously described \\[[@B6]\\]. ", "Serial dilutions were plated and colony-forming units (cfu) were calculated for the 3 biological replicates to determine the number of viable cells. ", "The data were converted to a ratio relative to the parental strain. ", "Statistically significant differences in viable cell numbers were identified by one-way ANOVA in R \\[[@B52]\\].", "\n\nβ-galactosidase reporter fusions\n--------------------------------\n\nIn-frame fusions of RcGTA *orfg2* to the *E. coli lacZ* gene were constructed using *Pst*I/*Bam*HI fragments cloned into the promoter probe vector pXCA601 vector \\[[@B54]\\]. ", "Fragments 2 (pX2) and 2NP (pX2NP) were amplified by PCR using primers GTA-F1 and GTA-R1, and GTA-F2 and GTA-R1, respectively. ", "Fragments 2.1 and 2.2 were amplified using primers GTA-F1 and GTA-DP-R, and GTA-DP-F and GTA-R1, respectively. ", "Fragment g2Δp (pX2Δp) was created by ligating 2.1 and 2.2 via a primer-embedded *Kpn*I restriction site, resulting in a deletion of the sequence from -129 to -100 5' of RcGTA *orfg1* (Additional file [2](#S2){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}). ", "Fragments 2.3 and 2.4 were amplified using GTA-F1 and GTA-DS-R, and GTA-DS-F and GTA-R1, respectively. ", "The fragment g2Δs was made by combining 2.3 and 2.4 via a primer-embedded *Kpn*I restriction site, resulting in a deletion of the sequence from -73 to -46 5' of *orfg1* (Additional file [2](#S2){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}). ", "All fusions were confirmed to be in-frame by sequencing, and the plasmids were transferred into *R. capsulatus* strains by conjugation using *E. coli* S17-1 \\[[@B50]\\].", "\n\nStrains of *R. capsulatus* containing the fusion constructs listed in Additional file [2](#S2){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"} were grown in conditions identical to those for RcGTA activity assays. ", "Cells were permeabilized for 15 minutes using 15% (v/v) isopropyl alcohol and washed using Z buffer (60 mM Na~2~HPO~4~, 40 mM NaH~2~PO~4~, 1 mM MgSO~4~, 10 mM KCl, 50 mM β-mercaptoethanol; pH 7) \\[[@B55]\\]. ", "The cells were resuspended in Z buffer and substrate, fluorescein di-β-D-galactopyranoside (FDG) (Sigma-Aldrich) dissolved in H~2~O:DMSO:ethanol (8:1:1), was added at a final concentration of 0.1 mg ml^-1^. The cells were then incubated for 1 hour at room temperature and diluted 1:200 in Z buffer before analysis by flow cytometry with recording of 10^5^ events. ", "The mean sample fluorescence was obtained from gated cells from two biological replicates.", "\n\nExpression and purification of recombinant proteins from *E. coli*\n------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nFor expression of recombinant N-terminal 6×-histidine tagged proteins, *rbaW* and *rbaV* were independently cloned as *Nde*I/*Bam*HI fragments into the pET15b vector (Novagen, Darmstadt, Germany), using primers Anti-S-F and Anti-S-R, and Anti-anti-F and Anti-anti-R, respectively. ", "This resulted in the *rbaW* and *rbaV* sequences in-frame with an N-terminal 6x-histidine tag. ", "A C-terminal 6×-histidine tagged sequence of RbaW was also created using the primers Anti-SC-F and Anti-SC-R, with the product cloned as an *Nco*I/*Xho*I fragment into the pET26b vector (Novagen). ", "The plasmids, pET15W, pET15V and pET26W (Additional file [2](#S2){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}), were sequenced to confirm the *R. capsulatus* sequences were in-frame with the histidine tags and then transformed into *E. coli* BL21(DE3) (New England Biolabs, Whitby, Canada).", "\n\nOvernight starter cultures were used to inoculate 200 ml of LB broth containing either ampicillin (pET15b derivatives) or kanamycin (pET26b derivative), followed by incubation for 1 hour at 37°C with shaking at 250 rpm. ", "Expression of the recombinant proteins was induced by addition of isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) to a final concentration of 1 mM followed by growth at 37°C for 4 hours with shaking at 250 rpm. ", "Cell pellets of these induced cultures were resuspended in lysis buffer \\[50 mM NaH~2~PO~4~, 300 mM NaCl, 10 mM imidazole, 0.1% (v/v), Benzonase® nuclease (Qiagen, Toronto, Canada), 1 mg ml^-1^ lysozyme (w/v); pH 8\\] and incubated on ice for 30 minutes. ", "The lysates were centrifuged at 14000 × *g* for 30 minutes at 4°C and supernatants were mixed 4:1 (v:v) with Ni-NTA agarose (Qiagen) and incubated at 4°C with shaking at 200 rpm for 1 hour. ", "The samples were loaded into polypropylene columns, washed twice with wash buffer (50 mM NaH~2~PO~4~, 300 mM NaCl, 20 mM imidazole; pH 8) and the fusion proteins eluted in 1 ml aliquots of elution buffer (50 mM NaH~2~PO~4~, 300 mM NaCl, 250 mM imidazole; pH 8). ", "The purified proteins were dialyzed into a coupling buffer (20 mM sodium phosphate buffer, 500 mM NaCl; pH 7.5) and quantified using a ND-1000 Nanodrop spectrophotometer.", "\n\nIn-gel digestion and peptide extraction for LC-MS/MS sequencing\n---------------------------------------------------------------\n\nPurified recombinant protein samples were mixed with 3× SDS-PAGE sample buffer, heated for 5 minutes at 98°C, and run on a 10% SDS-PAGE gel. ", "The gels were stained with Coomassie Blue \\[0.25% (w/v) Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 in methanol:H~2~O:acetic acid (5:4:1)\\] for 30 minutes, destained in methanol:H~2~O:acetic acid (5:4:1), and recombinant protein bands of predicted sizes were cut out using a clean scalpel. ", "The gel slices were washed first with water, followed by 100 mM NH~4~HCO~3~, and finally acetonitrile, with samples being vortexed for 10 minutes, centrifuged at 3000 × *g* and supernatants decanted after each wash step. ", "The samples were dried in a vacuum centrifuge for 5 minutes before adding a sufficient amount of 10 mM dithiothreitol (DTT) in 100 mM NH~4~HCO~3~ to cover the gel slices. ", "After incubation for 45 minutes at 56°C, the samples were centrifuged at 3000 × *g* and the supernatant decanted. ", "The solution was replaced by 55 mM iodoacetamide in 100 mM NH~4~HCO~3~ and the samples incubated in the dark at room temperature for 30 minutes with occasional vortexing. ", "The samples were centrifuged at 3000 × *g* and all liquid was removed by aspiration. ", "The samples were washed in 100 mM NH~4~HCO~3~ with vortexing for 10 minutes followed by centrifugation at 3000 × *g* and removal of the supernatant. ", "This wash procedure was repeated once with acetonitrile and twice with 50% (v/v) acetonitrile. ", "The samples were vacuum-centrifuged for 15 minutes before the addition of sequencing grade trypsin (12 ng μl^-1^) in trypsin digestion buffer (Promega). ", "The tubes were sealed and incubated overnight at 37°C. ", "After addition of formic acid (to 5% v/v) and vortexing, the samples were centrifuged at 3000 × *g* and supernatants collected in a separate tube. ", "This extraction process was repeated sequentially with 1% formic acid-5% acetonitrile (v/v), 1% formic acid-60% acetonitrile (v/v), and 1% formic acid-99% acetonitrile (v/v). ", "The supernatants from each of these extractions were collected together in one tube and vacuum centrifuged. ", "The dried extracts were sequenced by LC-MS/MS at the Genomic and Proteomic (GaP) facility at Memorial University.", "\n\n*In vitro* protein interaction assays\n-------------------------------------\n\n*In vitro* interaction assays were carried out by separately conjugating 50 μg of recombinant RbaW protein, carrying a 6x-histidine tag on either the N- or C-terminus, to NHS-activated beads (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Baie d'Urfe, Canada) according to the manufacturer's guidelines. ", "The conjugated beads were washed several times with 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0) then resuspended as a 50% (v/v) slurry in the same solution. ", "A sub-sample of conjugated bead slurry was resuspended in a binding buffer \\[10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0), 200 mM NaCl, 5% (v/v) glycerol, 0.5 mM DTT, and 0.5% (v/v) triton X-100\\] and either 6x-His-RbaV or chicken egg white lysozyme control protein (Sigma-Aldrich, Oakville, Canada) was added to a final concentration of \\~1 μM. The mixture was incubated on ice for 30 minutes with occasional agitation before adding 0.5 ml of binding buffer. ", "The beads were allowed to sediment by gravity and the supernatant was removed. ", "Washing with 0.5 ml of binding buffer was repeated 3 times to remove all non-bound protein. ", "The beads were resuspended in 30 μl of 3× SDS-PAGE buffer, heated for 5 minutes at 98°C, and 20 μl of the sample run on a 10% SDS-PAGE gel. ", "To confirm specific interaction between recombinant fusion proteins, additional control reactions were performed. ", "First, non-conjugated beads were treated with 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0) and then incubated with test proteins to ensure adequate blocking of bead active sites. ", "Second, conjugated 6x-His-RbaW and RbaW-6x-His were independently incubated with chicken egg white lysozyme to ensure specific interactions between the experimental test proteins.", "\n\nBacterial two-hybrid assays\n---------------------------\n\nBacterial two-hybrid analyses for determining protein interactions were carried out as described \\[[@B56]\\] using the bacterial adenylate cyclase-based two-hybrid, or BACTH, system (EUROMEDEX, Souffelweyersheim, France). ", "Primers AS-AF and AS-AR, and AAS-AF and AAS-AR, were used to amplify *rbaW* and *rbaV* by PCR, respectively. ", "The *rpoD* and *rpoHI* σ factor-encoding genes were amplified using rpoD-F/rpoD-R and rpoH-AF/rpoH-AR, respectively. ", "Putative ECF σ factor-encoding genes *rcc02637* and *rcc00699* were amplified using 2637-AF and 2637-AR, and 699-AF and 699-AR, respectively. ", "All amplicons were cloned as *Kpn*I fragments into all 4 BACTH vectors: pKNT25, pKT25, pUT18 and pUT18c (Additional file [2](#S2){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}). ", "All pair-wise combinations of bait (*rbaW*) and prey (*rbaV*, *rpoD*, *rpoHI*, *rcc02637* and *rcc00699*) recombinant vectors were co-transformed into *cya*^-^*E. coli* BTH101 and plated on LB agar supplemented with ampicillin, kanamycin, 40 μg ml^-1^ 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (X-Gal) and 0.5 mM IPTG. ", "Positive control plasmids encoding interacting fragments of a leucine zipper protein, pKT25-zip and pUT18C-zip (Additional file [2](#S2){ref-type=\"supplementary-material\"}), were also co-transformed. ", "Plates were incubated for 48 hours at 30°C.", "\n\nFor quantitative determination of β-galactosidase activity, 3 replicate co-transformants were picked for each interaction to inoculate fresh LB broth containing antibiotics and 0.5 mM IPTG. ", "Cultures were grown overnight at 37°C and then diluted 1:5 in LB broth and the OD600 was determined. ", "The cells were permeabilized with one drop of 0.1% SDS and 2 drops of chloroform and then mixed in a 1:1 ratio with PM2 buffer (70 mM Na~2~HPO~4~, 30 mM NaH~2~PO~4~, 1 mM MgSO~4~, 0.2 mM MnSO~4~; pH 7) containing 100 mM 2-mercaptoethanol. ", "The cells were incubated for 5 minutes at 28°C and one volume of 0.4% *ο*-nitrophenol-β-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG) substrate in PM2 buffer was added to 4 volumes of cell suspension. ", "After sufficient colour development, the reaction was stopped by addition of 2 volumes of 1 M NaHCO~3~. The OD420 and OD550 were obtained for each sample and β-galactosidase activity was calculated as units mg^-1^ dry weight bacteria \\[[@B55]\\].", "\n\nResults\n=======\n\nIdentification, sequence characteristics, and genomic contexts of *rsb* homologues in *R. capsulatus*\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nIn addition to genes *rcc03323* and *rcc03324* encoding putative RsbV and RsbW orthologues, respectively, previously identified as affected by loss of CtrA \\[[@B8]\\], searching the *R. capsulatus* genome sequence by BLAST \\[[@B57]\\] for other Rsb-related sequences identified a gene (*rcc00181*) encoding a putative orthologue of the *B. cereus* RsbY. This gene also had lower transcript levels in the *ctrA* mutant \\[[@B8]\\]. ", "We propose to rename these genes as *rbaV*, *rbaW* and *rbaY*, where *Rba* is the 3-letter abbreviation for *Rhodobacter*\\[[@B58]\\]. ", "The RbaV and RbaW protein sequences contain conserved STAS and HATPase domains, respectively, and the RbaY protein possesses an N-terminal phosphorelay REC domain and a C-terminal PP2C phosphatase domain. ", "The RbaV, RbaW and RbaY sequences were the reciprocal best BLAST matches with the respective *B. cereus* RsbV, RsbW and RsbY proteins*.* ", "A BLAST search of the NCBI GenBank database revealed that highly similar homologues of the *R. capsulatus rbaV*, *rbaW* and *rbaY* genes were present in other members of the *Rhodobacterales* order in the class α-proteobacteria.", "\n\nThe *R. capsulatus rbaV* and *rbaW* genes are in a predicted two-gene operon (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type=\"fig\"}) with the start of *rbaW* overlapping *rbaV*, suggesting possible translational coupling of the two genes. ", "No predicted σ factor-encoding gene could be found near these genes \\[[@B14]\\]. ", "An analysis of orthologous neighbourhood regions using the IMG database (<http://img.jgi.doe.gov/cgi-bin/w/main.cgi>; \\[[@B59]\\]) showed that this is different than what is found outside of the *Rhodobacterales* order (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Some species, such as *Rhodopseudomonas palustris*, also have an *rsbY* homologue in a predicted 3-gene operon with *rsbV* and *rsbW* homologues (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type=\"fig\"}), whereas gram-positive *Bacillus* (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type=\"fig\"}) and *Staphylococcus*\\[[@B15]\\] species have other genes associated with *rsbVW*, including *sigB* that encodes the cognate sigma factor.", "\n\n*rba* mutant phenotypes\n-----------------------\n\nInsertional disruptions of the *rba* genes in *R. capsulatus* demonstrated that loss of the proteins encoded by these genes affected RcGTA production. ", "The *rbaW* mutant showed an increase in RcGTA gene transfer activity of 2.85-fold relative to SB1003 (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}A), which agreed with an increase in RcGTA capsid protein levels inside and outside the cells (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}B). ", "This mutant had no observable differences in viable cell number or colony morphology relative to SB1003 (Figures [3](#F3){ref-type=\"fig\"} and [4](#F4){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Complementation with wild type *rbaW* alone did not restore RcGTA activity or capsid levels (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}), but complementation with the complete predicted transcriptional unit of *rbaV* and *rbaW* resulted in wild type RcGTA gene transfer activity (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}), possibly indicating translational coupling between *rbaV* and *rbaW* is important for normal expression of *rbaW*. ", "However, we do believe *rbaW* is expressed to some degree from p*W* because it restores flagellar motility to the *rbaW* mutant, which is non-motile (Mercer and Lang, unpublished).", "\n\n{#F2}\n\n{#F3}\n\n{#F4}\n\nThe *rbaV* and *rbaY* mutants had similar phenotypes, with both strains having lower RcGTA activity (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}A). ", "The decreases in gene transfer activity and extracellular capsid protein were less in the *rbaY* mutant than for *rbaV*. ", "Both strains showed a reproducible decrease in viable cells in the stationary phase cultures (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Complementation of *rbaY* restored gene transfer activity and the number of viable cells in stationary phase to wild type levels (Figures [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"} and [3](#F3){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Complementation of the *rbaV* mutant with *rbaV* resulted in overproduction of RcGTA, similar to the *rbaW* and *rbaW* (p*W*) strains (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}), while complementation with both the *rbaV* and *rbaW* genes restored the strain to wild type levels. ", "This could reflect polarity of the *rbaV* mutation on *rbaW* expression. ", "Increases in gene transfer activity and capsid levels were also observed in SB1003 carrying the *rbaV* gene on a plasmid (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Heterogeneous colony morphologies were noted when stationary phase cultures of the *rbaV* and *rbaY* mutants were spread on agar plates, with \\~25% of these colonies found to be undulate and flattened instead of the circular and slightly raised wild type phenotype (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "These unusual colonies could generate *de novo* photosynthetic cultures that gave rise to both normal and unusual colonies with approximately the same percentage. ", "The strains *rbaY* (p*Y*), *rbaV* (p*V*), and *rbaV* (p*VW*) also generated this sub-population of unusual colonies.", "\n\nThe *rbaVW* double mutant had a similar phenotype as found for the *rbaY* and *rbaV* mutants. ", "RcGTA activity resembled that of the individual *rbaV* and *rbaY* mutants and not the *rbaW* mutant (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}), and this strain showed a significant decrease in stationary phase viable cells (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "The strain also produced the unusual colony morphology phenotype (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type=\"fig\"}), which remained when complemented with both genes on a plasmid (p*VW*). ", "Introduction of p*VW* restored RcGTA activity and capsid levels to wild type, while complementation with only *rbaW* did not (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "The *rbaVW* (p*V*) strain had increased RcGTA activity and capsid protein levels, similar to the *rbaV* (p*V*) and SB1003 (p*V*) strains (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Stationary phase viable cell numbers of *rbaVW* (p*VW*) and *rbaVW* (p*V*) were not significantly different from wild type (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type=\"fig\"}).", "\n\nEvaluation of RcGTA gene expression in *rba* mutant cells\n---------------------------------------------------------\n\nThe DNA sequence upstream of *orfg1* of the RcGTA gene cluster was analyzed using BPROM (Softberry, Mount Kisco, USA), which is a promoter recognition program for bacteria. ", "This identified the -35 and -10 sequences of a putative rpoD17 site (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type=\"fig\"}A). ", "This is a class of σ^70^ promoters with a 17 nt spacer region \\[[@B60]\\]. ", "Plasmid-borne *lacZ* fusion constructs to RcGTA *orfg2* (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type=\"fig\"}B) were used to investigate whether this putative promoter sequence was required for RcGTA gene expression. ", "Flow cytometry was used to quantify fluorescence resulting from β-galactosidase cleavage of fluorescein di-β-D-galactopyranoside in stationary phase cultures carrying the fusion constructs. ", "Cultures of SB1003 separately carrying the plasmids pX2 (the native 5' region sequence of the RcGTA gene cluster) and pX2NP (containing no upstream regulatory sequence) were found to have mean fluorescence signals of 14.0 and 3.2, respectively (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type=\"fig\"}C, D). ", "The plasmid pX2Δp is the same as pX2 except the putative rpoD17 promoter sequence located at -129 to -100 relative to the predicted *orfg1* start codon has been deleted and replaced by a KpnI restriction site. ", "The mean fluorescence of SB1003 carrying pX2Δp was 2.8, approximately the same as SB1003 (pX2NP) (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type=\"fig\"}C, D). ", "To confirm that it was not simply disruption of any upstream sequence that was affecting expression, another plasmid, pX2Δs, which contained a deletion of a putative RNA stem-loop structure located -74 to -51 from the putative *orfg1* start codon was constructed (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type=\"fig\"}A, B). ", "This putative stem-loop sequence was also replaced by a *KpnI* site and the mean fluorescence of SB1003 (pX2Δs) was very similar to SB1003 (pX2) (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type=\"fig\"}C, D).", "\n\n{#F5}\n\nTo determine the effects of the *rba* mutations on RcGTA gene expression, the plasmid-borne *lacZ* fusion constructs pX2 and pX2Δp were introduced into the *rbaW*, *rbaV* and *rbaY* mutant strains. ", "The expression patterns relative to the same plasmids in SB1003 agreed with the results of the gene transfer activity assays and western blots (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "The *rbaW* mutant showed a 2 to 4-fold increase in fluorescence, corresponding to an increase in RcGTA *orfg2* expression (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type=\"fig\"}A and D). ", "The *rbaV* and *rbaY* mutants demonstrated a decrease in mean fluorescence, at 0.44 and 0.3-fold, respectively (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type=\"fig\"}B, C and D). ", "The mutant strains carrying pX2Δp had nearly identical mean fluorescence as SB1003 (pX2Δp) (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type=\"fig\"}A, B and C). ", "A previous study demonstrated that it is \\~3% of cells in a *R. capsulatus* population that are responsible for 95% of RcGTA production \\[[@B61]\\]. ", "Therefore, the actual effects of these proteins on RcGTA gene expression may be underrepresented in these population-wide assays, but there are clear population-level shifts in RcGTA gene expression in the mutants (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type=\"fig\"}).", "\n\n{#F6}\n\nSigma factor gene disruptions\n-----------------------------\n\nTo try to determine which σ factor was responsible for targeting RNAP to the promoter of the RcGTA gene cluster, we attempted to make genetic disruptions of all putative *R. capsulatus* σ factor-encoding genes \\[[@B8]\\]. ", "Two exceptions were *rpoN*, encoding the nitrogen fixation σ^54^\\[[@B42]\\], and *rpoD*, encoding the major housekeeping σ^70^\\[[@B62]\\]. ", "Confirmed disruptions of ORFs *rcc00458* (*rpoHII*), *rcc02291* and *rcc02724* produced viable strains that were not affected for RcGTA activity. ", "The same was found for disruption of the putative anti-anti-σ factor *phyR*\\[[@B63]\\] orthologue, *rcc02289*. ", "Attempts to create mutants of *rcc00699* and *rcc02637* resulted in putative mutants that were resistant to kanamycin, however replacement of the wild type genes by the insertional disruptions could not be confirmed. ", "A disruption of the ORF predicted to encode the RpoHI σ factor, *rcc02811*, was confirmed but this strain had properties that were indications of problems such as a prolonged lag phase before entering exponential growth in batch culture. ", "In the related species *R. sphaeroides*, RpoHI has an overlapping regulon with RpoHII in response to photooxidative and heat stress \\[[@B36],[@B39],[@B40]\\], which prompted us to create a new *rpoHI* mutant strain that was created and maintained completely under anaerobic phototrophic conditions. ", "The gene disruption was confirmed by PCR and this strain showed no differences in growth, RcGTA activity, or viable cell numbers in logarithmic or stationary phases. ", "When the *rbaV* and *rbaW* mutants were generated under these same anaerobic phototrophic conditions and treated in the same way, there were no differences in phenotypes from the original mutant strains exposed to aerobic conditions.", "\n\nTests for RbaW-σ interactions\n-----------------------------\n\nTo try and identify a possible σ factor interacting with the putative anti-σ factor RbaW, we used bacterial two-hybrid analysis with *rbaW* and σ factor genes of interest cloned into the two-hybrid vectors in all conformations. ", "Along with *rpoD* and *rpoHI*, the putative σ factor-encoding genes *rcc00699* and *rcc002637* were also tested because viable mutants containing disruptions of these genes were not obtained. ", "No positive interactions were observed in any transformants (Table [1](#T1){ref-type=\"table\"}).", "\n\n###### \n\n**β-galactosidase activities (units mg**^**-1**^**) for bacterial two-hybrid analysis of RbaW interactions with other proteins**\n\n **Prey** **Bait** \n ---------- -------------- ---------------- -------------- -----------------\n pKNT25 RbaV 1440.0 ± 299.0 101.4 ± 53.7 ND^b^\n RpoD 131.9 ± 18.6 165.0 ± 70.6 ND \n RpoHI 212.7 ± 58.5 139.9 ± 32.2 ND \n σ2637 310.7 ± 13.9 124.2 ± 22.9 ND \n σ699 181.7 ± 54.3 201.7 ± 72.2 ND \n Empty 147.0 ± 20.6 173.6 ± 23.7 ND \n pKT25 RbaV 129.4 ± 15.9 115.8 ± 32.2 ND\n RpoD 236.0 ± 60.8 132.4 ± 47.1 ND \n RpoHI 161.0 ± 43.4 161.0 ± 6.6 ND \n σ2637 220.5 ± 54.7 178.7 ± 28.3 ND \n σ699 182.3 ± 63.4 199.1 ± 80.0 ND \n Empty 130.4 ± 1.7 175.6 ± 9.1 ND \n   KT-Zip^a^ ND ND 7338.9 ± 1300.0\n\n^a^Control vector carrying fusions to leucine zipper peptide.", "\n\n^b^Not determined.", "\n\nRbaW-RbaV interactions\n----------------------\n\nRbaV is predicted to directly interact with RbaW based on the partner-switching systems of *Bacillus* and other species. ", "We used *in vitro* pull-downs to test for interactions between the two *R. capsulatus* proteins. ", "Recombinant RbaV and RbaW proteins were purified from *E. coli* by affinity chromatography. ", "The purified proteins were subjected to in-gel trypsin digestion followed by peptide extraction and LC-MS/MS to confirm their identities. ", "Recombinant RbaW proteins (\\~20 kDa) carrying a 6x-His tag on the N- or C-terminus were independently conjugated to NHS-activated sepharose beads and tested for interactions with recombinant 6x-His-RbaV (\\~15 kDa) and a control protein (lysozyme). ", "The N-terminal 6x-His-RbaW immobilized on the beads was able to bind 6x-His-RbaV but not the control protein (Figure [7](#F7){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "The 6x-His-RbaV protein did not bind to the blocked sepharose beads that were first treated with buffer (Figure [7](#F7){ref-type=\"fig\"}).", "\n\n{#F7}\n\nTo further confirm the specific interaction between RbaV and RbaW, a bacterial two-hybrid analysis was used. ", "The vectors pKNT-*rbaV* and pUT18c-*rbaW* were co-transformed into the *E. coli* reporter strain BTH101 and β-galactosidase activities were determined in triplicate transformants alongside controls (Table [1](#T1){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "The average β-galactosidase activity of the experimental pair was found to be 1440 units mg^-1^ while all negative controls had activities between 101 and 202 units mg^-1^ and the positive control with interacting leucine zipper fragments had an average activity of 7339 units mg^-1^ (Table [1](#T1){ref-type=\"table\"}).", "\n\nDiscussion\n==========\n\nA previous transcriptomic study of *R. capsulatus* identified a number of predicted regulatory protein-encoding genes that were affected by the loss of the response regulator protein CtrA \\[[@B8]\\]. ", "These included putative anti-σ and anti-anti-σ proteins with sequence homology to proteins in the Rsb system characterized in some species of Firmicutes as involved in response to both stress and entry into stationary phase via control of σ^B^\\[[@B15]\\]. ", "Outside of the Firmicutes, homologues of the Rsb proteins have also been implicated in regulating diverse physiological processes, including production of type III secretion systems \\[[@B64]\\], biofilm formation \\[[@B32]\\] and swarming motility \\[[@B30]\\]. ", "All of the *rsb* gene homologues we have identified in *R. capsulatus* (*rbaV, rbaW, and rbaY*) have lower transcript levels in the absence of CtrA \\[[@B8]\\], and we have now shown these affect expression of the RcGTA gene cluster and thereby production of RcGTA. ", "However, it remains to be determined if this regulation is direct or indirect. ", "This is the first investigation of Rsb homologues in the α-proteobacteria. ", "It has previously been hypothesized that *R. capsulatus* produces RcGTA in stationary phase as part of a stress response and we propose that one way in which RcGTA production is increased in stationary phase is through the actions of this Rba system.", "\n\nThe *rbaY*, *rbaV* and *rbaVW* mutants all had similar phenotypes, with effects on RcGTA gene expression, stationary phase cell viability, and colony morphology. ", "The similarities in the *rbaV* and *rbaY* mutant phenotypes support the notion that these proteins are working in a common pathway and the decrease in RcGTA gene expression in these mutants indicate they are positive regulators of RcGTA production. ", "Based on the *Bacillus* model, the predicted function of RbaY is to dephosphorylate RbaV-P, thereby allowing RbaV to interact with RbaW and promote target gene expression by the cognate σ factor \\[[@B22]\\]. ", "The *R. capsulatus* RbaV protein has two serine residues, S56 and S57, at approximately the same region as found in *Bacillus* RsbV where one of the two serves as the site of phosphorylation by RsbW \\[[@B19],[@B65]\\]. ", "Removal of RbaY should result in an increase in RbaV-P and therefore allow unregulated inhibition of the cognate σ factor activity by RbaW; our data support this prediction but also cannot distinguish this from the possibility that RbaV is the controller of output from the pathway, as discussed further below.", "\n\nThe absence of RbaW results in the opposite phenotype compared with loss of RbaV or RbaY, supporting the hypothesis that it might act as a negative regulator of a σ factor that initiates transcription of the RcGTA gene cluster. ", "The \\~3-fold increase in RcGTA production in the *rbaW* mutant did not cause a measurable decrease in the viable cell numbers, suggesting the increase is mostly coming from the \\~3% subset of the population normally activated for RcGTA production \\[[@B61]\\] even though this strain showed a population-wide increase in RcGTA gene expression (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type=\"fig\"}A). ", "The *rbaVW* and *rbaW* mutant phenotypes were not the same, suggesting a dominant effect of the *rbaV* mutation. ", "Removal of the predicted anti-σ factor, RbaW, led to increased RcGTA gene expression and production only in the presence of a wild type copy of *rbaV*. ", "The *rbaW* mutant had no observable differences in stationary phase cell viability or colony morphology, indicating these effects in the *rbaVW* strain were caused by loss of RbaV. It is not clear why *rbaW* (p*W*) maintained elevated RcGTA levels relative to SB1003, but the results with p*VW* demonstrate a requirement for upstream expression of *rbaV* for complementing the loss of *rbaW* for this phenotype. ", "These data suggest that RbaV is the determinant positive regulator of RcGTA in this pathway (Figure [8](#F8){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "The *in vitro* interaction and two-hybrid experiments showed that RbaV does indeed interact with RbaW.\n\n![**", "Possible models for Rba effects on RcGTA gene expression.** ", "Transcript levels of the genes encoding RbaY, RbaV and RbaW are \\>2-fold lower in the absence of the response regulator CtrA (grey arrow) \\[[@B8]\\]. ", "The predicted phosphatase RbaY is proposed to activate the STAS domain-containing RbaV (black arrow) by dephosphorylation in response to signal(s) from an unknown sensor kinase(s) (SKs) (grey arrow). ", "There are then two possible scenarios that result in increased RcGTA gene expression. ", "1. ", "Dephosphorylation of RbaV allows it to activate undetermined intermediaries (X; black arrow) to increase RcGTA gene expression (grey arrow). ", "In this scenario, the predicted kinase RbaW would serve as an inhibitor of RbaV. 2. ", "Dephosphorylation of RbaV allows it to interact with RbaW to relieve inhibition of an unidentified σ factor that promotes transcription of the RcGTA gene cluster (black arrow). ", "Our data support model 1.](1471-2180-14-71-8){#F8}\n\nStudies of RsbV orthologs in *Pseudomonas* and *Vibrio* species have demonstrated that the unphosphorylated version of the STAS domain-containing protein was the key regulator of output in those systems \\[[@B30],[@B32]\\]. ", "In *V. fischeri*, a multi-domain protein, SypE, containing both an RsbW-like kinase domain and a PP2C (RsbU/Y-like) phosphatase domain controlled the phosphorylation of an RsbV ortholog, SypA \\[[@B32]\\]. ", "The results suggested SypA interacted with an additional unknown target to control biofilm production and thereby host colonization. ", "Our data suggest that RbaV may similarly interact with other, as-of-yet unidentified, targets to affect RcGTA gene expression (Figure [8](#F8){ref-type=\"fig\"}).", "\n\nThe general stress response in studied α-proteobacterial species is under the control of the ECF σ^G^. This ECF is controlled by the anti-σ factor NepR, and the anti-anti-σ factor, PhyR \\[[@B63],[@B66]-[@B70]\\]. ", "We found no support for involvement of this system in RcGTA production as separate mutants carrying disruptions of a putative *phyR* orthologue (*rcc02289*) and predicted cognate EcfG-like σ factor (*rcc02291*) demonstrated wild type RcGTA activity. ", "Based on the phenotypes of strains with disruptions of the relevant genes, we have determined that individual knockouts of RpoHI (*rcc02811*), RpoHII (*rcc00458*), and putative ECF (*rcc02724*) σ factors have no effect on RcGTA production. ", "In *R. capsulatus*, RpoHI shares the highest sequence homology with σ^B^ and this protein has been studied in the related species *R. sphaeroides* where it is involved in responding to heat and photooxidative stress \\[[@B39],[@B40]\\]. ", "It was previously suggested that RpoHI is essential for growth at 32°C in *R. capsulatus*\\[[@B71]\\]. ", "There is no indication from the *R. sphaeroides* studies that its RsbV, W or Y homologues have any role related to RpoHI and RpoHII function.", "\n\nThe two-hybrid experiments did not provide any evidence of interactions between RbaW and the σ factor proteins tested. ", "This could be due to experimental conditions as expression of *R. capsulatus* σ factors in *E. coli* may yield insoluble proteins as found with *R. sphaeroides* RpoD and RpoE \\[[@B72],[@B73]\\], subverting the two-hybrid assays. ", "It is also possible that the *R. capsulatus* proteins interact with native *E. coli* proteins, which could also interfere with the two-hybrid assays. ", "Structural interaction studies in *E. coli* have led to hypotheses that currently unknown small regulatory molecules affect the binding between the anti-σ factor Rsd and σ^70^\\[[@B74]\\]. ", "The interaction of *R. capsulatus* RbaW with a cognate σ factor may require co-factors and specific interactions might not occur without supplementing an experiment appropriately. ", "It is also possible that RbaW may not function as an antagonist of σ factor activity, and that this system modulates RcGTA production in some other way (Figure [8](#F8){ref-type=\"fig\"}), as found in other systems such as *S. coelicolor*\\[[@B75]\\] and *Bordetella*\\[[@B64]\\] where no cognate σ factor was identified and the regulatory activities were predicted to occur through unknown pathways.", "\n\nWe have identified a sequence in the RcGTA gene cluster promoter region that was required for expression of the tested RcGTA-*lacZ* fusion construct. ", "The sequence is designated as an \"rpoD17\" site, which is the most common type of promoter sequence for RpoD in *E. coli*\\[[@B60]\\], but the specificity of conservation of these sites across proteobacterial lineages is unclear. ", "A recent publication on regulation of RcGTA suggested the promoter for the gene cluster was located 215 bp upstream from the predicted *orfg1* start codon \\[[@B76]\\]. ", "Our results with the targeted deletion of the predicted promoter sequence located \\~100 bp upstream indicate this sequence is also important for expression of the RcGTA gene cluster. ", "The \"rpoD17\" deletion construct on pX2Δp contains the more distal predicted promoter sequence \\[[@B76]\\], and so our results could reflect a requirement for this deleted sequence that is not related to transcription initiation for this fusion.", "\n\nIf the Rba proteins in *R. capsulatus* are indeed controlling the activity of a σ factor, the effect of the *rbaV* and *rbaY* mutations on colony morphology and culture viability may implicate these proteins as regulators of a σ factor with a large regulon, such as RpoD. However, the exact mechanistic functioning in this *R. capsulatus* Rba pathway is still unclear because of the dominant role of RbaV and in light of the diversity of similar partner-switching modules in other species that control downstream targets other than σ factors. ", "Nevertheless, RbaV, RbaW and RbaY are linked by their phenotypes and do affect RcGTA gene expression and production in *R. capsulatus*.", "\n\nConclusions\n===========\n\nWe have identified a set of predicted regulatory proteins that function in a common pathway to affect production of RcGTA (Figure [8](#F8){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Additionally, these proteins influence stationary phase viability and colony morphology, indicating this system also plays other regulatory roles in *R. capsulatus*. ", "Based on their homology to other proteins and the presence of conserved domains, we hypothesize that these represent a partner-switching regulatory system that integrates control of RcGTA gene expression with other aspects of physiology in *R. capsulatus*. ", "Whether or not this is mediated through the control of a cognate σ factor remains to be determined.", "\n\nCompeting interests\n===================\n\nThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.", "\n\nAuthors' contributions\n======================\n\nRGM and ASL designed the research. ", "RGM performed the experiments and analyzed the data. ", "RGM and ASL wrote the manuscript. ", "Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.", "\n\nSupplementary Material\n======================\n\n###### Additional file 1\n\nExperimental strains used in this study.", "\n\n###### \n\nClick here for file\n\n###### Additional file 2\n\nExperimental plasmids used in this study.", "\n\n###### \n\nClick here for file\n\n###### Additional file 3\n\nPrimers used in this study.", "\n\n###### \n\nClick here for file\n\nAcknowledgements\n================\n\nWe thank S. MacLellan, N. Bykova, K. Tahlan and D. Bignell for help with the protein experiments. ", "This research was funded by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) (<http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Index_eng.asp>) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (<http://www.innovation.ca/en>) to ASL. ", "RM was supported by fellowships from NSERC and the Memorial University School of Graduate Studies (<http://www.mun.ca/sgs/>).", "\n" ]

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[ "So as the extraordinary art festival ‘Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr’ ended last weekend, we had a few days to draw breath before the Swansea Fringe started on Thursday with an evening of cracking poetry at Unit Niniteen from Holly McNish, Claire E. Potter and Tongwynlais’ own Unity." ]

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[ "A variety of wireless power transfer systems are known. ", "A typical wireless power transfer system consists of a power source electrically connected to a wireless power transmitter, and a wireless power receiver electrically connected to load.", "\nIn magnetic induction systems, the transmitter has an induction coil that transfers electrical energy from the power source to an induction coil of the receiver. ", "The transferred electrical energy is then applied to the load. ", "Power transfer occurs due to coupling of magnetic fields between the induction coils of the transmitter and receiver. ", "The range of these magnetic induction systems is however, limited and the induction coils of the transmitter and receiver must be in optimal alignment for power transfer. ", "Resonant magnetic systems, which transfer power due to coupling of magnetic fields between the induction coils of the transmitter and receiver also exist. ", "In these resonant magnetic systems, the induction coils of the transmitter and receiver are resonated using high quality factor (high Q) capacitors. ", "The range of power transfer in resonant magnetic systems is increased over that of magnetic induction systems and alignment issues are rectified.", "\nIn electrical field coupling systems, the transmitter and receiver have capacitive electrodes and power transfer occurs due to coupling of electric fields between the capacitive electrodes of the transmitter and receiver. ", "Resonant electric field systems also exist in which the capacitive electrodes of the transmitter and receiver are made resonant using high quality factor (high Q) inductors. ", "Similar to resonant magnetic systems, resonant electric field systems have an increased range of power transfer compared to that of non-resonant electric field systems and alignment issues are rectified.", "\nAlthough wireless power transfer techniques are known, improvements are desired. ", "It is therefore an object to provide a novel wireless electric field power transfer system, a transmitter and receiver therefor and a method of wirelessly transmitting power." ]

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[ "Rumors have it that plastic Warlock Jetbike kits might be just around the corner, too. ", "I have to say, it's rather convenient that these releases just happened to fall during the span of time when a 3rd party producer of such models happened to have their assets frozen . . ." ]

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[ "“All of them were looking at my pizza dumbfounded as if they didn’t know what’s going on,” said McNeil, “I said ‘That’s mouse doo-doo on the bottom of my pizza.’”", "\n\nMcNeil said he called police, who, when they arrived at the restaurant, recommended he call the health department and report the violations. ", "After an emergency inspection was conducted of the restaurant, the business's license was suspended, and the location closed. ", "According to the inspector's report, multiple violations were found, including the presence of pests and/or rodents in the facility, faulty equipment, and dirty food racks.", "\n\nA follow-up inspection the next morning found the location had corrected the problems." ]

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[ "Nano-crystalline hydroxyapatite bio-mineral for the treatment of strontium from aqueous solutions.", "\nHydroxyapatites were analysed using electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. ", "Examination of a bacterially produced hydroxyapatite (Bio-HA) by scanning electron microscopy showed agglomerated nano-sized particles; XRD analysis confirmed that the Bio-HA was hydroxyapatite, with an organic matter content of 7.6%; XRF analysis gave a Ca/P ratio of 1.55, also indicative of HA. ", "The size of the Bio-HA crystals was calculated as ~25 nm from XRD data using the Scherrer equation, whereas Comm-HA powder size was measured as ≤ 50 μm. ", "The nano-crystalline Bio-HA was ~7 times more efficient in removing Sr(2+) from synthetic groundwater than Comm-HA. ", "Dissolution of HA as indicated by the release of phosphate into the solution phase was higher in the Comm-HA than the Bio-HA, indicating a more stable biomaterial which has a potential for the remediation of contaminated sites." ]

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[ "Do not underestimate the power of the dark side.", "\n\nA new academic study found that Russian online trolls and bots likely stoked fan dissent after the release of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” last year. ", "While the movie, from Walt Disney Co.’s DIS, -1.34% Lucasfilm, grossed more than $620 million domestically and more than $1.3 billion worldwide, it was the subject of a loud online backlash from angry self-professed fans and many on the so-called “alt-right,” some of whom objected to its anti-fascist message and female heroes.", "\n\nBut much of the movie’s criticism was “deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments,” wrote Morten Bay, a researcher at the University of Southern California. “", "The likely objective of these measures is increasing media coverage of the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society. ", "Persuading voters of this narrative remains a strategic goal for the U.S. alt-right movement, as well as the Russian Federation.”", "\n\nIn studying tweets sent to “Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson over a period of seven months, Bay found that more than half of the negative tweets were “likely politically motivated or not even human.”", "\n\n“A number of these users appear to be Russian trolls,” he wrote in his study, titled “Weaponizing The Haters: ‘The Last Jedi’ and the strategic politicization of pop culture through social media manipulation.”", "\n\nOverall, he found just 21.9% of “The Last Jedi” tweets he analyzed were negative in the first place.", "\n\nTwitter TWTR, +7.55% was one of the main social-media battlegrounds for Russian misinformation during the 2016 presidential election, and there is no indication Russian-backed tweets have stopped trying to sow dissent in the U.S. and elsewhere.", "\n\nThe study “shows that pop culture spaces on social media are now also political battlegrounds, vulnerable to the same organized vitriolic polarization, manipulation and disinformation seen in the usual venues for political discourse online,” Bay wrote.", "\n\nIn a series of tweets, Johnson, who said he was subject to “a virulent strain of online harassment,” said “what the top-line [of the study] describes is consistent with my experience online.”", "\n\nLast December, an alt-right group claimed credit for lowering the fan score for “The Last Jedi” on the movie-review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. ", "The same group claimed it also attempted to sabotage the Rotten Tomatoes score for “Black Panther,” another Disney film, earlier this year. ", "That campaign also didn’t end up hurting the movie at the box office, where it grossed more than $700 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide." ]

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[ "5, n: 2, f: 3, u: 3}. ", "Give prob of sequence unfu.", "\n3/1430\nWhat is prob of sequence yc when two letters picked without replacement from {y: 7, c: 6}?", "\n7/26\nCalculate prob of sequence jj when two letters picked without replacement from nmjjdmdjmjjmvnmcj.", "\n15/136\nThree letters picked without replacement from {r: 2, h: 5}. ", "What is prob of sequence hrh?", "\n4/21\nTwo letters picked without replacement from {x: 6}. ", "Give prob of sequence xx.", "\n1\nCalculate prob of sequence yypn when four letters picked without replacement from tpntntdjnynn.", "\n0\nWhat is prob of sequence khff when four letters picked without replacement from hfhffffhfhhkf?", "\n7/572\nTwo letters picked without replacement from {w: 1, s: 2}. ", "Give prob of sequence ss.", "\n1/3\nTwo letters picked without replacement from qdodbddhbthq. ", "What is prob of sequence db?", "\n2/33\nThree letters picked without replacement from {h: 3, c: 3, w: 3, x: 4, k: 6}. ", "Give prob of sequence hhx.", "\n4/969\nWhat is prob of sequence moo when three letters picked without replacement from nnonoooomnmomo?", "\n3/52\nWhat is prob of sequence ess when three letters picked without replacement from eseksksdsdkskkaksek?", "\n5/323\nCalculate prob of sequence rre when three letters picked without replacement from {r: 14, e: 4}.", "\n91/612\nWhat is prob of sequence gbb when three letters picked without replacement from {i: 3, b: 2, g: 3}?", "\n1/56\nCalculate prob of sequence ozo when three letters picked without replacement from rkdzozrrrrz.", "\n0\nWhat is prob of sequence hoh when three letters picked without replacement from {o: 14, h: 5}?", "\n140/2907\nThree letters picked without replacement from fwww. ", "Give prob of sequence wfw.", "\n1/4\nTwo letters picked without replacement from {p: 2, r: 5}. ", "Give prob of sequence rr.", "\n10/21\nFour letters picked without replacement from nlequ. ", "Give prob of sequence ulnu.", "\n0\nTwo letters picked without replacement from aoooeapoonaf. ", "Give prob of sequence ap.", "\n1/44\nTwo letters picked without replacement from {j: 4, h: 7}. ", "Give prob of sequence jh.", "\n14/55\nWhat is prob of sequence wzw when three letters picked without replacement from {w: 2, z: 1}?", "\n1/3\nTwo letters picked without replacement from yowoewoioyoowdiiyi. ", "What is prob of sequence ie?", "\n2/153\nTwo letters picked without replacement from {l: 2, g: 1, s: 1, j: 1, p: 1, q: 1}. ", "Give prob of sequence sl.", "\n1/21\nCalculate prob of sequence ys when two letters picked without replacement from hqtqyeqtqsqyqq.", "\n1/91\nCalculate prob of sequence lopp when four letters picked without replacement from {l: 5, o: 4, z: 1, p: 6}.", "\n5/364\nWhat is prob of sequence zjk when three letters picked without replacement from pzpggpktztzggtttjpkz?", "\n1/855\nFour letters picked without replacement from poqopqqqhoo. ", "Give prob of sequence oooo.", "\n1/330\nFour letters picked without replacement from gaga. ", "What is prob of sequence ggaa?", "\n1/6\nThree letters picked without replacement from fjejeufeeyueueu. ", "What is prob of sequence yue?", "\n4/455\nFour letters picked without replacement from {m: 1, t: 2, i: 3, l: 10}. ", "What is prob of sequence titl?", "\n1/728\nWhat is prob of sequence bpk when three letters picked without replacement from pybkyby?", "\n1/105\nWhat is prob of sequence vv when two letters picked without replacement from {m: 2, v: 2, n: 4, l: 1}?", "\n1/36\nTwo letters picked without replacement from ovccococosoos. ", "What is prob of sequence so?", "\n1/13\nTwo letters picked without replacement from {r: 2, c: 2, d: 1, m: 1}. ", "Give prob of sequence mr.", "\n1/15\nWhat is prob of sequence nxdx when four letters picked without replacement from xnazdgxxdxzd?", "\n1/330\nFour letters picked without replacement from {j: 14, s: 5}. ", "Give prob of sequence sjjj.", "\n455/3876\nWhat is prob of sequence ssss when four letters picked without replacement from gssgss?", "\n1/15\nCalculate prob of sequence xr when two letters picked without replacement from {r: 2, o: 4, n: 12, x: 1}.", "\n1/171\nCalculate prob of sequence iuzs when four letters picked without replacement from {s: 1, h: 2, z: 1, m: 1, u: 1, i: 1}.", "\n1/840\nWhat is prob of sequence zo when two letters picked without replacement from zuzxouxxzooux?", "\n3/52\nThree letters picked without replacement from {l: 4, y: 1, j: 3, a: 3}. ", "Give prob of sequence lyl.", "\n2/165\nCalculate prob of sequence lsvv when four letters picked without replacement from {v: 2, w: 1, l: 3, s: 1, m: 1, h: 3}.", "\n1/1320\nCalculate prob of sequence ikik when four letters picked without replacement from kiiikikiii.", "\n1/20\nFour letters picked without replacement from uvssgan. ", "What is prob of sequence sunv?", "\n1/420\nCalculate prob of sequence lul when three letters picked without replacement from uuqgqqqqqlulqqgq.", "\n1/560\nThree letters picked without replacement from tbhtbubhbbbbbu. ", "What is prob of sequence btu?", "\n4/273\nFour letters picked without replacement from {h: 7, q: 3}. ", "What is prob of sequence qhhq?", "\n1/20\nCalculate prob of sequence ysfe when four letters picked without replacement from asfeywf.", "\n1/420\nFour letters picked without replacement from ttttaattttat. ", "Give prob of sequence ttat.", "\n7/55\nWhat is prob of sequence zl when two letters picked without replacement from {l: 2, x: 2, z: 3, a: 2}?", "\n1/12\nWhat is prob of sequence pqqp when four letters picked without replacement from ppppqppppqp?", "\n1/55\nWhat is prob of sequence jdb when three letters picked without replacement from jddbjjqqdjdddjq?", "\n1/91\nWhat is prob of sequence nn when two letters picked without replacement from {n: 9}?", "\n1\nTwo letters picked without replacement from grvwqvj. ", "Give prob of sequence wg.", "\n1/42\nFour letters picked without replacement from jjskssfjkcsssjpj. ", "What is prob of sequence ksjs?", "\n5/728\nCalculate prob of sequence vjfj when four letters picked without replacement from jjffjvfjvjjjff.", "\n5/286\nCalculate prob of sequence mv when two letters picked without replacement from {m: 7, n: 1, v: 4, k: 1}.", "\n7/39\nWhat is prob of sequence pnpd when four letters picked without replacement from npndjddjjnpp?", "\n1/220\nFour letters picked without replacement from eeiiiiieeeeei. ", "Give prob of sequence ieie.", "\n21/286\nCalculate prob of sequence qd when two letters picked without replacement from {q: 2, d: 1, e: 1}.", "\n1/6\nCalculate prob of sequence ho when two letters picked without replacement from {x: 2, h: 1, e: 1, g: 12, o: 2}.", "\n1/153\nWhat is prob of sequence wtwt when four letters picked without replacement from dewwwtjdmtt?", "\n1/220\nWhat is prob of sequence cicr when four letters picked without replacement from {h: 4, r: 4, c: 2, i: 4, o: 3, y: 3}?", "\n4/14535\nCalculate prob of sequence jj when two letters picked without replacement from jjijlljlppp.", "\n6/55\nThree letters picked without replacement from nnanaat. ", "What is prob of sequence tan?", "\n3/70\nCalculate prob of sequence bc when two letters picked without replacement from {b: 7, c: 2}.", "\n7/36\nThree letters picked without replacement from {y: 1, k: 1, s: 3, n: 1, a: 1}. ", "What is prob of sequence nss?", "\n1/35\nCalculate prob of sequence muu when three letters picked without replacement from ririrumlquur.", "\n1/220\nWhat is prob of sequence be when two letters picked without replacement from beedbdbsbswwd?", "\n2/39\nWhat is prob of sequence ov when two letters picked without replacement from brvogvw?", "\n1/21\nCalculate prob of sequence dbb when three letters picked without replacement from {d: 13, b: 3}.", "\n13/560\nWhat is prob of sequence zpp when three letters picked without replacement from ppppzpppzpppppzppp?", "\n35/272\nThree letters picked without replacement from {i: 3, v: 3, h: 2, r: 1, f: 1}. ", "Give prob of sequence irf.", "\n1/240\nWhat is prob of sequence oi when two letters picked without replacement from ioyyyiidioii?", "\n1/11\nTwo letters picked without replacement from {j: 3, e: 1, a: 2, k: 3, l: 6}. ", "What is prob of sequence ja?", "\n1/35\nTwo letters picked without replacement from tuyyycutc. ", "Give prob of sequence cc.", "\n1/36\nTwo letters picked without replacement from {c: 3, w: 11}. ", "What is prob of sequence cc?", "\n3/91\nCalculate prob of sequence vvqq when four letters picked without replacement from {t: 6, l: 1, q: 3, v: 1, w: 8}.", "\n0\nThree letters picked without replacement from pppupppcpupjpp. ", "Give prob of sequence puu.", "\n5/546\nFour letters picked without replacement from kmmakkkam. ", "Give prob of sequence kakm.", "\n1/42\nFour letters picked without replacement from isstjrtd. ", "Give prob of sequence srds.", "\n1/840\nCalculate prob of sequence bbby when four letters p" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "DM Mathematics" }

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[ "(* Programming Languages, Dan Grossman *)\r\n(* Section 3: Another Closure Idiom: Combining Functions *)\r\n\r\nfun compose (f,g) = fn x => f (g x)\r\n\r\nfun sqrt_of_abs i = Math.sqrt(Real.fromInt (abs i))\r\n\r\nfun sqrt_of_abs i = (Math.sqrt o Real.fromInt o abs) i\r\n\r\nval sqrt_of_abs = Math.sqrt o Real.fromInt o abs\r\n\r\n(* tells the parser !", "> is a function that appears between its two arguments *)\r\ninfix !", "> \r\n\r\n(* operator more commonly written |>, but that confuses the current version\r\n of SML Mode for Emacs, leading to bad editing and formatting *)\r\n\r\n(* definition of the pipeline operator *)\r\nfun x !", "> f = f x\r\n\r\nfun sqrt_of_abs i = i !", "> abs !", "> Real.fromInt !", "> Math.sqrt\r\n\r\nfun backup1 (f,g) = fn x => case f x of NONE => g x | SOME y => y\r\n\r\nfun backup2 (f,g) = fn x => f x handle _ => g x\r\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Github" }

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[ "/*\nCopyright The Kubernetes Authors.", "\n\nLicensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\nyou may not use this file except in compliance with the License.", "\nYou may obtain a copy of the License at\n\n http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n\nUnless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\ndistributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\nWITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.", "\nSee the License for the specific language governing permissions and\nlimitations under the License.", "\n*/\n\n// Code generated by lister-gen. ", "DO NOT EDIT.", "\n\npackage v1\n\nimport (\n\tv1 \"k8s.io/api/admissionregistration/v1\"\n\t\"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors\"\n\t\"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels\"\n\t\"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache\"\n)\n\n// MutatingWebhookConfigurationLister helps list MutatingWebhookConfigurations.", "\n// All objects returned here must be treated as read-only.", "\ntype MutatingWebhookConfigurationLister interface {\n\t// List lists all MutatingWebhookConfigurations in the indexer.", "\n\t// Objects returned here must be treated as read-only.", "\n\tList(selector labels.", "Selector) (ret []*v1.MutatingWebhookConfiguration, err error)\n\t// Get retrieves the MutatingWebhookConfiguration from the index for a given name.", "\n\t// Objects returned here must be treated as read-only.", "\n\tGet(name string) (*v1.MutatingWebhookConfiguration, error)\n\tMutatingWebhookConfigurationListerExpansion\n}\n\n// mutatingWebhookConfigurationLister implements the MutatingWebhookConfigurationLister interface.", "\ntype mutatingWebhookConfigurationLister struct {\n\tindexer cache.", "Indexer\n}\n\n// NewMutatingWebhookConfigurationLister returns a new MutatingWebhookConfigurationLister.", "\nfunc NewMutatingWebhookConfigurationLister(indexer cache.", "Indexer) MutatingWebhookConfigurationLister {\n\treturn &mutatingWebhookConfigurationLister{indexer: indexer}\n}\n\n// List lists all MutatingWebhookConfigurations in the indexer.", "\nfunc (s *mutatingWebhookConfigurationLister) List(selector labels.", "Selector) (ret []*v1.MutatingWebhookConfiguration, err error) {\n\terr = cache.", "ListAll(s.indexer, selector, func(m interface{}) {\n\t\tret = append(ret, m.(*v1.MutatingWebhookConfiguration))\n\t})\n\treturn ret, err\n}\n\n// Get retrieves the MutatingWebhookConfiguration from the index for a given name.", "\nfunc (s *mutatingWebhookConfigurationLister) Get(name string) (*v1.MutatingWebhookConfiguration, error) {\n\tobj, exists, err := s.indexer.", "GetByKey(name)\n\tif err !", "= nil {\n\t\treturn nil, err\n\t}\n\tif !", "exists {\n\t\treturn nil, errors.", "NewNotFound(v1.Resource(\"mutatingwebhookconfiguration\"), name)\n\t}\n\treturn obj.(*v1.MutatingWebhookConfiguration), nil\n}\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Github" }

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[ "export { ClickOutsideDirective } from './click-outside.directive';\nexport { ClickOutsideModule } from './click-outside.module';\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Github" }

[ 0 ]

[ "<?", "php\n\nnamespace Guzzle\\Service\\Command\\LocationVisitor\\Request;\n\nuse Guzzle\\Http\\Message\\RequestInterface;\nuse Guzzle\\Http\\Message\\PostFileInterface;\nuse Guzzle\\Service\\Command\\CommandInterface;\nuse Guzzle\\Service\\Description\\Parameter;\n\n/**\n * Visitor used to apply a parameter to a POST file\n */\nclass PostFileVisitor extends AbstractRequestVisitor\n{\n public function visit(CommandInterface $command, RequestInterface $request, Parameter $param, $value)\n {\n $value = $param->filter($value);\n if ($value instanceof PostFileInterface) {\n $request->addPostFile($value);\n } else {\n $request->addPostFile($param->getWireName(), $value);\n }\n }\n}\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Github" }

[ 0, 0.01 ]

[ "Introduction {#Sec1}\n============\n\nAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that includes autism, Asperger's syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified and is characterized by restricted repetitive behaviour, delays in language development and lack of reciprocal social communication and interaction^[@CR1]^. The common psychiatric and cognitive comorbidities with ASD include intellectual disability (ID)^[@CR2]--[@CR4]^, sleep deprivation^[@CR5],[@CR6]^ and epilepsy (EP)^[@CR3],[@CR7]^.\n\nRecent studies have gradually emphasized the role of genetics in ASD, with up to 25% of ASD cases having genetically identifiable causes^[@CR8]^. Males have a 4-fold higher incidence of ASD than females^[@CR9]^, suggesting the involvement of genetics in the aetiology of ASD. ", "Previous studies have shown that 5% to 15% of patients with ASD have inherited copy number variations (CNVs) or *de novo* CNVs in some affected genes with synaptic function^[@CR10]^. Genome-wide association studies have indicated that common variations are risk factors for ASD^[@CR11],[@CR12]^. Meanwhile, *de novo* CNV and loss of function (LoF) mutations merely explain 2.6% of the variance in liability^[@CR12]^. Other studies have revealed that non-coding *de novo* mutations in the promoter regions also affect ASD^[@CR13],[@CR14]^. Recent genomic studies with large samples have explored new genes linked to ASD^[@CR15],[@CR16]^. To date, over 100 genes have been identified as strongly linked to the risk of ASD^[@CR17],[@CR18]^ and enriched in the following three main pathways: chromatin remodelling, transcription and splicing, and synaptic function^[@CR18]--[@CR20]^. In fact, ASD is highly genetically heterogeneous due to multiple familial inheritance patterns and the occurrence of a large number of *de novo* variations. ", "It is estimated that up to 1000 genes are potentially implicated ASD^[@CR21],[@CR22]^, making it one of the most complex disorders. ", "Genetic factors are known to play an important role in ASD aetiology, but that their elucidation is a work in progress^[@CR23]--[@CR25]^.\n\nThe prevalence of ASD has been recently reported as high as 16.8 per 1000 or 1/59 children in the US^[@CR9]^. Unlike that in Western populations, ASD is not well studied in Asia, where the prevalence of ASD varies from studies and populations, ranging from 0.09--1.07% in south Asia^[@CR26]^, 0.1018% in China^[@CR27]^ and 2.64% in Korea^[@CR4]^. Another study estimated that the prevalence of ASD in Asia from 1980 to recent present is 14.8/10,000 children^[@CR28]^. A comprehensive study on 17,277 children aged 18 to 30 months in Vietnam revealed that the prevalence was 0.752%, and the number continues to increase^[@CR29]^. It is estimated that ASD affects from 1% to 2% of the global population^[@CR4],[@CR30],[@CR31]^. The reason for the varied prevalence of ASD across populations remains unclear, although sociodemographic factors such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity and parental education level have been reported to influence the diagnosis of ASD, resulting in disparities in ASD prevalence across populations^[@CR32]--[@CR36]^. With an increasing number of new variants/genes associated with ASD and different prevalence rates of ASD, we wanted to help shed light on whether genetic variation linked to ASD varies between populations. ", "Thus, we conducted whole exome sequencing (WES) using a trio-based approach to investigate the genetic pattern of Vietnamese children with ASD.", "\n\nResults {#Sec2}\n=======\n\nClinical characteristics {#Sec3}\n------------------------\n\nWe initially recruited 105 children who were definitively diagnosed with ASD and their unaffected parents. ", "However, five families dropped out during recruitment. ", "Finally, 100 trios were selected to participate in this study. ", "In general, observations across populations, including Vietnamese populations, indicate that the ASD-affected male/female (M/F) ratio is approximately 4-fold^[@CR29],[@CR37],[@CR38]^. The ratio of M/F with ASD in our study was slightly higher than this value (M/F: 4.9-fold). ", "By the enrolment time, the proband's age ranged from 3 to 17 years old (y/o). ", "The average age was 6.9 y/o (Supplementary Table [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "The CARS scores ranged from 35 to 55.5, with an average score of 46.8 points. ", "The DSM-V results showed that most probands were ranked at level 3 or required very substantial support, accounting for 68% of the cases. ", "Denver II, comprising five domains including \"Personal-social\", \"Fine motor\", \"Gross motor\", \"Understanding\" and \"Language\", indicated that all probands had a lower developmental level compared to their chronological age. ", "Overall, our cohort included ASD patients from mild to severe levels (Supplementary Table [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}).", "\n\nIn addition to common autistic symptoms such as repetitive behaviours, speech delay, jargon, hyperactivity, toe walking and spinning, a quarter of the probands exhibited comorbid conditions such as ID (13 probands), EP (two probands), seizure (seven probands), ADHD (three probands) and cerebral palsy (CP) (one proband). ", "Two cases showed congenital foot defects (ASD025 and ASD082) (Supplementary Table [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Notably, six subjects had siblings with ASD (ASD004, ASD027) or with other neurological conditions, such as speech delay, CP and ID (ASD062, ASD065, ASD072 and ASD075). ", "Of these, proband ASD004 and his male sibling were twins conceived through *in vitro* fertilization (IVF), while proband ASD027 and his sibling were monozygotic twins (Supplementary Table [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Twenty-three probands showed language regression during their early life. ", "Six probands often experienced gastrointestinal (GI) problems, mostly chronic constipation and diarrhoea. ", "We were able to perform brain fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET/CT indicating hypometabolism of 29 probands and brain MRI of 40 cases (Supplementary Table [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Brain MRI in 15 probands showed abnormal signal changes, while the rest showed either no abnormality detected or unavailable information.", "\n\nScreening of Rett and Fragile-X syndrome {#Sec4}\n----------------------------------------\n\nRett syndrome (MIM\\#312750) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that almost exclusively affects females. ", "The disease is caused by heterozygous mutations in the X-linked *MECP2* gene, which encodes methyl-CpG binding protein 2. ", "We screened all 17 ASD females for mutations in exons 2, 3 and 4 of the *MECP2* gene but did not find any potential causal variants. ", "In other aspect, Fragile-X syndrome (MIM\\#30064) is caused by an expansion repeat of CGG in the 5′ UTR of the *FMR1* gene. ", "This syndrome is a common comorbid condition with ASD as well as ID^[@CR39]--[@CR41]^. Therefore, we next screened for this syndrome in all 100 children with ASD. ", "Surprisingly, no subjects in our study had changes in the *FMR1* gene. ", "The patients with no mutations found in these two screening tests and their parents were then selected for the WES experiment.", "\n\nVariant identification {#Sec5}\n----------------------\n\nPaired-end sequencing resulted in 36.4 billion reads from 100 trios with an average Q30 score of 95.2. ", "The average sequencing depth in the target region of all samples was 83×, ranging from 52 to 146.7× (Supplementary Table [S2](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "All samples passed the quality control recommended by the manufacturer (Illumina). ", "Although all the parents had self-claimed that they were biological parents to their children, our relatedness analysis revealed unclear parental relations in four cases (ASD080, ASD091, ASD100 and ASD101). ", "In addition, the mother's sample from case ASD034 was inadvertently sequenced twice (Supplementary Table [S3](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Therefore, we excluded these cases from the downstream analyses. ", "Reads with low depth, variants with MAF \\> 0.1%, synonymous variants and variants predicted as benign, tolerated or neutral by PolyPhen-2, SIFT and MutationTaster were removed accordingly. ", "We finally detected and Sanger validated a total of 18 unique variants in 17 genes from 16 unrelated probands. ", "X-linked variants predominated, accounting for 56% of the total, followed by *de novo* variants (44%) (Fig.", " [1a](#Fig1){ref-type=\"fig\"}, Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type=\"table\"}, Supplementary Fig.", " [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}).Figure 1Types of validated variants and inheritance modes. (**", "A**) The distribution of inheritance modes; (**B**) The distribution of variant types. ", "The values indicate the number of variants, and their percentages are presented in parentheses.", "Table 1Detected variants in 100 Vietnamese children with ASD.Proband/GenderChrPositionGeneVariantGenotypegnomADMAF (%)InheritanceSNP IDBase changeAmino acid changeProbandUMUFpLI/Z scoregnomAD/gnomAD East Asia/1000 GASD005/MX79279657*TBX22*rs368136178c.452 G \\> Tp.", "Arg151LeuTG/TG0.98/−0.130.007811/0.04724/0.0529801X-linkedASD006/F12102813438*IGF1*.c.251 G \\> Ap.", "Arg84GlnC/TC/CC/C0.27/1.54n/a*De novo*ASD032/M2149216339*MBD5*.c.14_15delAAp.", "Lys5fsCAA/CCAA/CAACAA/CAA1/1.14n/a*De novo*ASD035/MX76938776*ATRX*.c.1972C \\> Tp.", "Arg658CysAG/AG1/3.10.0005476/0.007216X-linkedASD038/M2138858853*DYRK1A*.c.601 C \\> Tp.", "Gln201\\*C/TC/CC/C1/3.34n/a*De novo*ASD046/M1213722914*GRIN2B*.c.2208dupGp.", "Asn737fsT/TCT/TT/T1/5.42n/a*De novo*X115304290*AGTR2*.c.757 C \\> Tp.", "Gln253\\*TC/TC0.01/−0.07n/aX-linkedASD056/M6132185700*ENPP1*.c.1081_1083delAAAp.", "Lys361delTAA/TTAAA/TAAATAAA/TAAA0/1.62n/a*De novo*ASD057/MX32663092*DMD*.c.1138 C \\> Tp.", "His380TyrAG/AG1/−2.43n/aX-linkedASD059/MX32490353*DMD*.c.2877 A \\> Cp.", "Glu959AspGT/TTn/aX-linkedASD063/M1421871315*CHD8*.c.3575 T \\> Cp.", "Ile1192ThrA/GA/AA/A1/5.95n/a*De novo*ASD068/F2166152561*SCN2A*rs34411329c.232delCp.", "Leu78fsGC/GGC/GCGC/GC1/6.46n/a*De novo*ASD076/MX49050795*SYP*rs782025908c.251 C \\> Gp.", "Ala84GlyCG/CG0.92/1.330.0005482/0.007216X-linkedX64737988*LAS1L*.c.1797_1805delTGATGAAGAp.", "Asp599_Glu601delCCTCTTCATCA/CCTCTTCATCA1/2.670.03504/0.05409X-linkedASD083/MX13778788*OFD1*rs778936071c.2209 A \\> Gp.", "Thr737AlaGA/GA0.96/0.320.005428/0.07444X-linkedASD086/MX85212934*CHM*.c.866 T \\> Cp.", "Met289ThrGA/GA1/0.790.001099/0X-linkedASD097/M1260165042*SLC16A7*rs141923225c.260 C \\> Tp.", "Pro87LeuC/TC/CC/C0.01/0.280.001598/0*De novo*ASD099/MX153693430*PLXNA3*rs201083788c.2113 C \\> Tp.", "Arg705TrpTC/TC0.05/0.680.004982/0.06801/0.0529801X-linkedChr (Chromosome); MAF represents the minor allele frequency that appeared in gnomAD and 1000 Human Genome Project; n/a (not available); UF (unaffected father); UM (unaffected mother).", "\n\nWe observed that only six variants were recorded in dbSNP (Build 152), and the remaining variants were newly uncovered (Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "Missense variants were the major events, accounting for 61% of the total detected variants, followed by frameshift (17%), in-frame deletion (11%) and stop gained variants (11%) (Fig.", " [1b](#Fig1){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Interestingly, we found two different variants in the *DMD* gene from two unrelated probands (ASD057 and ASD059) (Tables [1](#Tab1){ref-type=\"table\"}, [2](#Tab2){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "We used SnpEff, SIFT, PolyPhen-2, MutationTaster and CADD to predict the deleteriousness of the nucleotide changes. ", "SnpEff predicted that five different variants detected from four individuals had a high impact (Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type=\"table\"}), and all of them were LoF variants (MDB5:c.14_15delAA, DYRK1A:c.601 C \\> T, GRIN2B:c.2208dupG, AGTR2:c.757 C \\> T and SCN2A:c.232delC), while the rest had a moderate impact. ", "Two variants, DYRK1A: c.601 C \\> T (proband ASD038) and AGTR2:c.757 C \\> T (proband ASD046), had the highest CADD scores, suggesting these variants were most deleterious (Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "Two missense variants, CHM:c.866 T \\> C (proband ASD086) and SLC16A7:c.260 C \\> T (proband ASD097), were predicted to be benign by PolyPhen-2 but were damaging by MutationTaster and SIFT. ", "The remaining variants were predicted to be damaging or disease causing by all employed *in silico* tools (Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type=\"table\"}).Table 2*In silico* predictions of identified variants.", "Proband (Gender)GeneVariant*In silico* predictionImpactType of variantBase changeAmino acid changeCADD score (scaled)PolyPhen-2 (score)Mutation Taster (score)SIFT (score)ASD005/M*TBX22*c.452 G \\> Tp.", "Arg151Leu24.9P(0.703)D(1)D(0.001)ModerateMissenseASD006/F*IGF1*c.251 G \\> Ap.", "Arg84Gln27.2D(0.998)D(1)D(0.001)ModerateMissenseASD032/M*MBD5*c.14_15delAAp.", "Lys5fsD(1)HighFrameshiftASD035/M*ATRX*c.1972C \\> Tp.", "Arg658Cys24.7D(0.993)D(1)D(0)ModerateMissenseASD038/M*DYRK1A*c.601 C \\> Tp.", "Gln201\\*37A(1)HighStop gainedASD046/M*GRIN2B*c.2208dupGp.", "Asn737fsHighFrameshift*AGTR2*c.757 C \\> Tp.", "Gln253\\*36D(1)HighStop gainedASD056/M*ENPP1*c.1081_1083delAAAp.", "Lys361delD(0.547)ModerateIn-frame deletionASD057/M*DMD*c.1138 C \\> Tp.", "His380Tyr24.5D(0.994)D(0.999)D(0.015)ModerateMissenseASD059/M*DMD*c.2877 A \\> Cp.", "Glu959Asp24.5D(0.0999)ModerateMissenseASD063/M*CHD8*c.3575 T \\> Cp.", "Ile1192Thr27.1D(0.948)D(1)D(0)ModerateMissenseASD068/F*SCN2A*c.232delCp.", "Leu78fsD(1)HighFrameshiftASD076/M*SYP*c.251 C \\> Gp.", "Ala84Gly25.3P(0.816)D(1)D(0.002)ModerateMissense*LAS1L*c.1797_1805delTGATGAAGAp.", "Asp599_Glu601delModerateIn-frame deletionASD083/M*OFD1*c.2209 A \\> Gp.", "Thr737Ala24D(0.997)D(0.943)D(0.005)ModerateMissenseASD086/M*CHM*c.866 T \\> Cp.", "Met289Thr24.5B(0.322)D(1)D(0.013)ModerateMissenseASD097/M*SLC16A7*c.260 C \\> Tp.", "Pro87Leu24.5B(0.427)D(1)D(0.035)ModerateMissenseASD099/M*PLXNA3*c.2113 C \\> Tp.", "Arg705Trp27.2P(0.772)D(1)D(0)ModerateMissenseImpact of variants predicted by PholyPhen-2, SIFT, MutationTaster and CADD where the symbol and the score in the parentheses indicate the impact. ", "PolyPhen-2 includes three categories (B: benign; P: possibly damaging; D: damaging; score value close to 1 indicates likely damaging/deleterious); SIFT (D: damaging; T: tolerated; score value \\<0.05 is likely damaging/deleterious); MutationTaster (A: disease causing automatic; D: disease causing; N: polymorphism; P: polymorphism automatic; score value close to 1 shows a high security of the prediction); CADD (scaled score; the higher the value, the more deleterious the mutation is).", "\n\nPhenotype-genotype analysis and biological function {#Sec6}\n---------------------------------------------------\n\nIn total, we obtained 17 different genes, which showed genetic predispositions from 16 unrelated probands. ", "We used the three most popular autism databases, SFARI (<https://gene.sfari.org/>), AutDB^[@CR42]^ and the syndromic category in AutismKB^[@CR43]^, to investigate the association of the detected genes with ASD. ", "We found that 11/17 genes were previously reported in SFARI and AutDB (Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "Meanwhile, only four genes, *AGTR2*, *ATRX*, *DMD* and *MBD5*, were categorized as syndromic ASD genes in AutismKB. ", "We next compared our genes to gene sets of ASD or other neurological disorders and found that *CHD8*, *DYRK1A*, *GRIN2B*, *MBD5* and *SCN2A* overlapped with the ASD gene sets (FDR ≤ 0.1) reported in previous large-scale ASD studies^[@CR44],[@CR45]^. *CHD8*, *DYRK1A*, *GRIN2B* and *SCN2A* were found in a gene set containing 94 genes enriched in developmental disorders derived from the DECIPHER project^[@CR46]^. Three genes (*DYRK1A*, *GRIN2B* and *SCN2A*) were found in the EP gene set^[@CR47]^. Hence, these genes detected in our ASD cohort are highly implicated in ASD or other neurological disorders.", "Table 3ASD-associated genes, biological function and phenotype analysis.", "GENEHGNCEncoding protein; functionBiological process; PathwaySFARI (score)AutDBAutismKB (syndromic)HPOLinked to ASD or other neurological disorders*AGTR2*338Angiotensin II receptor type 2Blood circulation; Cellular response to peptide hormone stimulus; Inflammatory response; Regulation of anatomical structure size+ (4)++n/aX-linked MR 88, EP*ATRX*886Transcriptional regulator ATRX; Involvement in the gene regulation at interphase and chromosomal segregation in mitosisn/a+ (4)++Alpha-thalassemia, MR syndrome, X-linked, Myelodysplasia, Neuroendocrine tumour of stomachASD, DD, EP, ID*CHD8*20153Chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 8; Transcriptional regulation, epigenetic remodelling, promotion of cell proliferation, and regulation of RNA synthesisWnt signalling+ (1 S) + ASDASD, DD, ID, ADHD, SCZ*CHM*1940Rab proteins geranylgeranyltransferase component A1; Involved in geranylgeranyl transfer reactionIntracellular protein transport; Intracellular signal transduction; Nervous system process; Neurotransmitter secretion; Vesicle-mediated transportChoroideremia*DMD*2928Dystrophin; Bridging the inner cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrixMuscle fibre and organ development, positive regulation of neuron differentiation, neuron projection development, extracellular matrix+ (S)+Becker/ Duchene muscular dystrophy, cardiomyopathy dilated X-linked type 3BASD, ADHD, DD, EP, ID, SCZ*DYRK1A*3091Dual specificity tyrosine-phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A; Cell proliferation, brain development.", "Cell cycles, miotic G1-G1/S phases+ (1 S)+MR autosomal dominant type 7ASD, DD, EP, ID*ENPP1*3356Ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1ATP metabolic process; Biomineral tissue development; Cell differentiation; Inorganic anion transport; Nucleoside triphosphate catabolic process; OssificationHypophosphatemic rickets; Arterial calcification; Diabetes; Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum; Obesity; Cole disease*GRIN2B*4586Glutamate ionotropic receptor NMDA type subunit 2B; Brain development, circuit formation, synaptic plasticity, cellular migration and differentiation.+ (1)+MR; West syndrome; Epileptic encephalopathyASD, ADHD, DD, EP, ID, SCZ.*IGF1*5464Insulin-like growth factor I; Involved in mediating growth and development.", "Insulin/IGF pathwayInsulin-like growth factor I deficiency*LAS1L*25726LAS1 like, ribosome biogenesis factorMaturation of 5.8 S rRNA; Maturation of LSU-rRNAWilson-Turner X-linked MR syndrome*MBD5*20444Methyl-CpG binding domain protein 5; Involved in cell division, growth and differentiation.", "Post-translational protein modification; Metabolism of proteins+ (4)++2q23.1 microdeletion syndromeASD; ADHD, DD, EP, ID, SCZ*OFD1*2567OFD1, centriole and centriolar satellite proteinCell cycle; Centrosome maturation; Signalling by Hedgehog; Organelle biogenesis and maintenance+ (4)+Primary ciliary dyskinesia; Oral-facial-digital syndrome type 1; Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome type 2; Joubert syndrome type 10ASD*PLXNA3*9101Plexin A3Axon guidance; Cell adhesion and migration; Cell surface receptor signalling pathway; Regulation of GTPase activity+ (4)+n/aASD*SCN2A*10588Sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 2; Involved in the generation and propagation of action potentials in neurons and muscleAction potential; Chemical synaptic transmission; Nervous system process+ (1)+Seizures; Benign familial neonatal infantile; Epileptic encephalopathy;Dravet syndrome; West syndromeASD, ADHD, DD, EP, ID*SLC16A7*10928Solute carrier family 16 member 7Transport of bile salts and organic acids, metal ions and amine compounds+ (5)+n/aASD*SYP*11506SynaptophysinSynaptic vesicle traffickingX-linked non-syndromic ID;*TBX22*11600T-box transcription factor; Involved in the regulation of developmental processesRegulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II; Transcription by RNA polymerase IICleft palate; X-linked; Charge-like syndrome; Abruzzo-Erickson syndromeReported genes in the database are indicated as \"+\" symbol; Scores of the ASD genes in SFARI are presented in the parentheses: Syndromic ASD (S); High confidence, syndromic (1 S); High confidence (1); Strong candidate (2) Suggestive evidence (3); Minimal evidence (4); Hypothesized (5); Not supported (6); and \"no rating\". ", "ASD (Autism spectrum disorder); ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder); BPD (Bipolar disorder); DD (Developmental delay); EP (Epilepsy); ID (Intellectual disability); MR (Mental retardation); SCZ (Schizophrenia); n/a (not available); HPO (Human phenotype ontology).", "\n\nInterestingly, our data showed six ASD candidate genes, *CHM*, *ENPP1*, *IGF1*, *LAS1L*, *SYP* and *TBX22*, which have not been previously reported in the three aforementioned autism databases (Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "Human Phenotype Oncology (HPO) analysis showed that all of these candidate genes have been reported to be linked to human diseases (Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "Mutations in the *IGF1*^[@CR48],[@CR49]^, *LAS1L*^[@CR50],[@CR51]^ and *SYP*^[@CR52]^ genes have been found in patients with CP and ID. ", "In our study, a *de novo* missense variant was detected in the *IGF1* gene from a female proband (ASD006) whose language and intellectual status were regressed after 18 m/o. Her language and personal-social status were strongly delayed (Supplementary Table [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Brain PET-CT showed a decrease in FDG uptake in the temporal lobe, bilateral hippocampus, prefrontal region and parietal lobe (Supplementary Tables [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"},[S4](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). *", "IGF1* mutations have been previously found in individuals with hyperactivity and short intension^[@CR48],[@CR49]^. Treatment with *IGF1* or expression of *SHANK3*, which is associated with idiopathic ASD, may restore synaptic deficits in neurons from Phelan-McDermid syndrome^[@CR53],[@CR54]^. We thus conferred that IGF1 deficiency may reduce the synaptic transmission of neurons.", "\n\nWe also found two X-linked variants in the *LAS1L* and *SYP* genes from a male proband (ASD076). *", "SYP* encodes synaptophysin, which is involved in the regulation of synaptic plasticity^[@CR55]^. GO analysis also showed that this gene is involved in synaptic membrane activity (Fig.", " [2](#Fig2){ref-type=\"fig\"}, Supplementary Table [S5](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Moreover, several *SYP* mutations with evidence of segregation have been reported in patients with X-linked nonsyndromic mental retardation^[@CR52]^. Therefore, *SYP* is a plausible gene for ASD. ", "In addition, *LAS1L* encodes the ribosomal biogenesis protein LAS1L, which is required for cell proliferation, ribosome biosynthesis of the 60 S ribosomal subunit and the maturation of 28 S rRNA^[@CR56],[@CR57]^. Missense mutations in the *LAS1L* gene have been detected in individuals with Wilson-Turner X-linked mental retardation syndrome^[@CR50]^ and in a proband with congenital lethal motor neuron disease^[@CR51]^. Our proband showed language regression after 12 m/o. At 5 y/o, he remained nonverbal and progressively developed more severe symptoms (Supplementary Table [S4](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Brain PET-CT images showed severe hypometabolism in the hippocampus region and in the frontal lobe (Supplementary Table [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Interestingly, we observed that two probands (ASD006, ASD076) who carried *IGF1*, *SYP* and *LAS1L* variants showed language regression and brain hypometabolism (Supplementary Tables [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"},[S4](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}).Figure 2Gene ontology analysis. ", "Candidate genes and the gene sets are listed in the vertical line and in the upper horizontal line, respectively.", "\n\nGene ontology (GO) analysis of the 17 detected genes against 9996 gene sets derived from the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB) with a false discovery rate (FDR) \\<0.05 revealed that *AGTR2, PLXNA3, ATRX, GRIN2B* and *CHD8* overlapped in the GO categories head development and central nervous system development (Fig.", " [2](#Fig2){ref-type=\"fig\"}, Supplementary Table [S5](#MOESM1){ref-type=\"media\"}). ", "Four genes, *GRIN2B, SCN2A, DMD* and *SYP*, were found in the GO category synaptic membrane. ", "We also observed that *ENPP1, IGF1, AGTR2, PLXNA3, DYRK1A* and *CHD8* were involved in the GO category negative regulation of response to stimulus. ", "These results suggested that these particular biological processes might be related to ASD or other neurological conditions.", "\n\nDiscussion {#Sec7}\n==========\n\nThe rapidly declining cost of next-generation sequencing in recent years has resulted in many genetic studies of neurodegenerative disorders, including ASD^[@CR58]--[@CR60]^. As a result, an increasing number of new genes and variants have been found to be enriched in ASD individuals, revealing the highly heterogeneous nature of ASD. ", "In addition, cutting-edge molecular biology or modelling of ASD allows us to better define and understand the aetiology of ASD and biological pathways of associated genes^[@CR61]^. In this study, we performed whole exome sequencing of 100 Vietnamese children with ASD and their unaffected parents together with analysis of biological processes to explore the genetic landscape of ASD in Vietnamese children.", "\n\nGender bias between males and females in ASD is generally acknowledged, where males have an approximately 4-fold higher incidence of ASD than females. ", "Several hypotheses on male bias, such as the nonrecognition of females with ASD^[@CR62],[@CR63]^, differences in brain structure and genetic load between females and males^[@CR64]^ and female protective effect against autistic behaviour^[@CR65]^, have been proposed. ", "It is hypothesized that females carry a higher genetic load and are thus less vulnerable to ASD from genetic causes than males^[@CR66]^. Meanwhile, *de novo* variations are strongly associated with ASD, suggesting that females have a greater resistance to *de novo* variations than males^[@CR67],[@CR68]^. Our findings with a predominance of males over females (4.9-fold) are consistent with those from previous studies^[@CR65],[@CR69]--[@CR71]^. Moreover, the results of all X-linked variants detected in affected males further supported the recent hypothesis of the female protective effect against ASD^[@CR72]^.\n\nRegarding the number of *de novo* variants detected, a previous study using whole genome sequencing from the 1902 quartet family with ASD reported 67.1 *de novo* variants per child's genome (61 SNV and 5.6 indel DNV per child)^[@CR13]^. Another study using WES^[@CR73]^ detected 0.9 *de novo* variants per child's exome (869 SNVs and 27 indel *de novo* variants in a total cohort of 990 ASD samples). ", "In our study, before variant filtering by stringent conditions, we detected 1.3 *de novo* variants per child's exome, which was compatible with the results of previous studies. ", "After filtering, the *de novo* variant rate in our study was 0.08%, including three missense and five LoF variants (three frameshift, one stop gained and one in-frame deletion) (Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type=\"table\"}).", "\n\nWe observed that 11 genes from our cohort have been reported in the autism databases (Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "Among these genes, *CHD8, DYRK1A*, *GRIN2B*, *SCN2A*, and *MDB5* were highly recognized as ASD risk genes with FDR \\<0.1, as previously reported^[@CR17],[@CR18],[@CR44],[@CR45],[@CR74],[@CR75]^. In addition, *OFD1* is involved in the Wnt pathway and is highly suggested as an ASD risk gene^[@CR76]^. Most of these genes also overlapped in the gene sets of developmental disorders^[@CR46]^ or EP^[@CR47]^. Thus, these genes were highly universal for ASD regardless of population.", "\n\nGiven that ASD is highly genetically heterogeneous, there are several key biological processes involved in the development of ASD, including neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, synaptogenesis and neurite growth^[@CR8],[@CR20],[@CR77]^. Among the six newly uncovered genes in this study, we observed that *IGF1* and *SYP* encode proteins involved in brain development and synaptic activities, respectively. ", "In addition, a dozen ASD-linked genes are involved in several biological processes, such as ribosomal maturation and mRNA regulation, that are linked to synaptic function and chromosome condensation^[@CR18],[@CR20],[@CR78]^. Defects in genes encoding ribosomal proteins have resulted in downregulation of these genes in children with ASD and healthy woman with autistic children^[@CR79]^. Therefore, defects of *LAS1L*, which plays a role in ribosome biogenesis, likely lead to a disruption of ribosomal maturation.", "\n\nWe found 18 unique variants in 17 genes from 16 unrelated probands. ", "Biological analysis showed that many of these genes were involved in neuronal activities and formation. ", "Together with previously ASD-linked genes, other newly detected genes in this study, including *IGF1*, *LAS1L* and *SYP*, were found to be plausible ASD-related genes due to their involvement in some risk-associated biological processes and their associations with other neurological conditions. ", "In general, ASD is a complex disorder showing a broad range of phenotypes, where 35% of ASD cases have ID, 5--15% have EP and 50% have language developmental delay^[@CR22]^. Therefore, phenotype-genotype analysis accompanied by biological process/pathway analysis is critical for the determination of their associations with ASD. ", "However, functional studies on these genes in ASD development should be performed.", "\n\nConclusions {#Sec8}\n===========\n\nConsistent with previous studies, this study found a predominance of ASD-affected males over affected females (4.9-fold). ", "Rett and Fragile-X syndrome are the most common comorbidities with ASD, but there was no individual in our cohort with these syndromes. ", "With a stringent pipeline, we finally identified 18 unique variants that occurred in 17 genes, of which 12 variants were reported for the first time. ", "All X-linked variants were detected in male probands but not in affected females. ", "This finding is consistent with a contribution of X-linked recessive variants to ASD. ", "We found 11 genes formally associated with ASD, some of which have been previously identified as ASD risk genes (*CHD8, DYRK1A*, *GRIN2B*, *SCN2A*, *OFD1* and *MDB5*), indicating the genetic universal aetiology of ASD. ", "Interestingly, this study uncovered variants in six new candidate genes (*CHM, ENPP1, IGF1, LAS1L, SYP* and *TBX22*) enriched in our ASD cohort. ", "Analyses of phenotype-genotype and GO showed that many of our detected genes were associated with several neurological conditions and were involved in some neuronal biological processes, such as synaptic processes, regulation of transport and ribosome maturation. ", "We conferred that genetic predispositions in these genes might be causative factors. ", "This study is the first to elucidate the common and unique genetic landscape of ASD in Vietnamese children.", "\n\nMethods {#Sec9}\n=======\n\nEthics statement {#Sec10}\n----------------\n\nThe study protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of Vinmec International Hospital in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. ", "Before the enrolments, written informed consent forms including the use of peripheral blood and clinical data for research use and publication were obtained from the parents.", "\n\nStudy cohort and sample collection {#Sec11}\n----------------------------------\n\nChildren with suspected ASD were independently examined by trained physicians and psychologists at Vinmec Times City International Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam, using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V)^[@CR1]^, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)^[@CR80]^, and Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)^[@CR81]^. DSM-V classified the severity of ASD into three levels: Level 1 (requiring support), Level 2 (requiring substantial support) and Level 3 (requiring very substantial support). ", "To examine the development of the probands, the Denver Developmental Screening test II^[@CR82]^ (Denver II) was used. ", "Development of the proband (in months) was examined based on five domains: personal-social, fine motor, gross motor, understanding and language. ", "The developmental quotient (DQ) was calculated by dividing the average developmental age from five domains by the chronological age of the proband and multiplying by 100. ", "Definitively diagnosed children with ASD and their unaffected parents were recruited to participate in the study. ", "Approximately 3--4 mL of peripheral blood from children with ASD and their unaffected parents was collected and kept in EDTA tubes. ", "Genomic DNA was extracted by using a QIAamp Blood Kit (Qiagen, Germany) and stored at −80 °C before use.", "\n\nScreening of Fragile-X and RETT syndrome {#Sec12}\n----------------------------------------\n\nFragile-X and Rett syndrome are the most common causes of inherited mental retardation and are reportedly linked to ASD. ", "Therefore, this study aimed to exclude patients with either Fragile-X or Rett syndrome. ", "An AmplideX FMR1 PCR kit (Asuragen, TX, USA) was used for screening Fragile-X syndrome. ", "Genotypes were determined by examining the size of the trinucleotide repeat segment and the methylation status of the *FMR1* gene. ", "Since Rett syndrome is predominantly found in females due to the mutations in the *MECP2* gene, all females diagnosed with ASD were selected for screening for mutations in exons 2, 3 and 4 of the *MECP2* gene^[@CR83]^. A detailed method and primer list for *MECP2* mutation screening can be found in our previous study^[@CR84]^. Direct sequencing was performed on an ABI 3500 DX system as indicated hereinafter.", "\n\nWhole exome sequencing {#Sec13}\n----------------------\n\nProbands without mutations detected in the *MECP2* and *FMR1* genes and their biological self-claimed parents were selected for the WES experiment. ", "A DNA library was constructed by using a Nextera Rapid Capture Exome Kit (Illumina, USA) capturing over 98% of the exonic contents. ", "The library concentration was quantified by a Qubit dsDNA Broad Range Assay Kit (Invitrogen, USA). ", "Library size was measured by a Lab Chip 3 K Hisense Kit (Perkin Elmer, USA). ", "Paired-end exome sequencing with a read length of 75 × 2 bp was performed on a HiSeq. ", "4000 (Illumina, USA).", "\n\nData analysis {#Sec14}\n-------------\n\nAdapters were removed prior to downstream analysis. ", "BWA version 0.7.15 was used for alignment against the human reference genome version GRCh37^[@CR85]^. Short, index and mark duplicates were assessed by using Samtool version 1.3^[@CR86]^ and Picard version 2.7.2 (<http://broadinstitute.github.io/picard/>). ", "GATK toolkit version 3.6^[@CR87]^ and Platypus version 0.8.1^[@CR88]^ were used to call variants (single nucleotide variants and indels with less than 50 bp). ", "Variants were considered highly reliable if they were called by both GATK and Platypus with a Phred-score of equal or greater than 30. ", "The minor allele frequency (MAF) was attained from the 1000 Human Genome Project^[@CR89]^ and gnomAD database (<https://gnomad.broadinstitute.org/>). ", "Biological relatedness was analysed by using Peddy software version v0.4.3^[@CR90]^. Trio samples with non-biological relatedness were excluded from the downstream analyses.", "\n\nVariant classification {#Sec15}\n----------------------\n\nVariants were annotated by SnpEff programme version 4.3g^[@CR91]^ and fulfilled the following criteria: (i) variant with MAF \\<0.1%^[@CR92]^ against gnomAD, gnomAD East Asia, and 1000 Human Genomes Project; (ii) variant passed the GATK standard filters; (iii) nonsynonymous variants including missense variants with a prediction of damaging impact and LoF variants (nonsense, frameshift and splicing variants); and (iv) variant occurred in genes recorded in the DECIPHER and/or SFARI databases. ", "Putative *de novo* variants were considered if independent reads in all family members were ≥20 and if both parents were homozygous for the reference and the offspring was heterozygous; an X-linked variant was considered if it occurred on the X chromosome.", "\n\nIn silico prediction, gene function and biological process {#Sec16}\n----------------------------------------------------------\n\nPolyPhen-2 version 2.2^[@CR93]^, SIFT version 4.0^[@CR94]^ and MutationTaster^[@CR95]^ were employed to predict the damaging impact of the missense variants. ", "Combined Annotation-Dependent Depletion (CADD) GRCh37-v.14 was used to score the deleteriousness of variants with a single nucleotide change^[@CR96]^. Gene function, protein class and biological process were determined by the PANTHER classification system v.14^[@CR97]^. Validated gene sets were computed with the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB) v6.2^[@CR98],[@CR99]^ to further explore the gene ontology of the ASD candidate genes. ", "Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO-Web version 1.5.0)^[@CR100]^ was used to find the association of candidate genes with human diseases.", "\n\nVariant validation {#Sec17}\n------------------\n\nAfter the stringent filtering strategy, the identified variants were validated by Sanger sequencing. ", "Proper primers were designed for each variant by using Primer3Plus software^[@CR101]^. Fresh DNA was newly extracted from stored blood samples by using the same DNA extraction protocol. ", "Target fragments were amplified by GoTaq DNA polymerase (Promega, USA). ", "The amplicons were sequenced on an ABI 3500 DX system using a BigDye Terminator v3.1 (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). ", "Both forward and reverse read alignment were used to determine the sequence.", "\n\nSupplementary information\n=========================\n\n {#Sec18}\n\nSupplementary Information.", "\n\n**Publisher's note** Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.", "\n\nSupplementary information\n=========================\n\nis available for this paper at 10.1038/s41598-020-61695-8.", "\n\nWe thank the physicians, particularly Ms. Dang Thi Thanh Tung of the High Technology Unit for Cerebral Palsy and Autism, Vinmec Times City International Hospital, for their patient recruitment and assessment. ", "This work was financially supported by the Vinmec Health Care system with grant No. ", "ISC17.03.", "\n\nConception of the study: L.T.N., K.T.T. and V.S.L. Patient recruitment and assessment: H.T.P.B., D.H.D., L.T.H. and H.T.T.L. Whole exome sequencing: K.T.T. and D.M.V. Genetic screening and Sanger sequencing validation: H.T.T.L., L.T.H., H.T.N., L.T.M.D. and T.H.N. Bioinformatics analysis: V.S.L. and K.T.T. Data interpretation: K.T.T. Manuscript drafting: K.T.T., V.S.L., L.T.N., A.M., H.T.N., L.T.M.D. and T.H.N.\n\nSequencing data generated and analysed in this study are included in this article and its Supplementary Information.", "\n\nThe authors declare no competing interests.", "\n" ]

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[ "329 F.2d 878\nRobert E. LEEPER, Jr., Appellant,v.UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.", "\nNo. ", "18034.", "\nUnited States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.", "\nArgued December 3, 1963.", "\nDecided January 9, 1964.", "\nPetition for Rehearing en Banc Denied March 25, 1964.", "\nCertiorari Denied June 1, 1964.", "\n\nSee 84 S.Ct. ", "1641.", "\nMiss Selma Levine, Washington, D. C. (appointed by this court), for appellant.", "\nMr. Alan Kay, Asst. ", "U. S. Atty., ", "with whom Messrs. David C. Acheson, U. S. Atty., ", "and Frank Q. Nebeker and Victor W. Caputy, Asst. ", "U. S. Attys., ", "were on the brief, for appellee. ", "Mr. B. Michael Rauh, Asst. ", "U. S. Atty., ", "also entered an appearance for appellee.", "\nBefore WILBUR K. MILLER, DANAHER and WRIGHT, Circuit Judges.", "\nPER CURIAM.", "\n\nJUDGMENT\n\n1\nThis cause came on to be heard on the record on appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and was argued by counsel.", "\n\n\n2\nOn consideration whereof It is ordered and adjudged by this Court that the judgment of the District Court appealed from in this cause be, and it is hereby, affirmed.", "\n\n\n3\nJ. SKELLY WRIGHT, Circuit Judge (concurring).", "\n\n\n4\nI agree that, in the circumstances of this case, no error affecting substantial rights of the accused was committed during his conviction for robbery. ", "It may be useful, however, to comment upon the erroneous admission into evidence, over objection, of hearsay testimony of a police officer. ", "The officer was asked by the prosecutor:\n\n\n5\n\"Was any identification [of the accused] made at No. ", "14 Precinct by this person whom you know as John Jones?\"", "\n\n\n6\nObjection, on ground of hearsay, was overruled. ", "After answering in the affirmative, the officer was then allowed to describe the identification in some detail:\n\n\n7\n\"At the time, I hadn't seen Mr. Jones when he walked into the station. ", "I observed him standing back of the three defendants which we were booking at the time. ", "All three of them had their backs to him and in the process, they had turned around. ", "They were giving us quite a bit of trouble at the book. ", "And Mr. Jones, whom I didn't know him to be at the time, pointed this particular gentleman out as the one who struck Miss Donnelly and took the money.\"", "\n\n\n8\nThe admission of hearsay testimony identifying the defendant as the person who committed the offense for which he is on trial is \"the most flagrant violation of the hearsay rule * * *. ", "A person, not the witness, has made an out-of-court statement, which was offered in evidence by the witness for the truth of the assertion which it contained.\" ", "Comment, Extra-Judicial Identification, 19 Md.L.Rev. ", "201, 218-219 (1959). ", "See also Poole v. United States, 9 Cir., ", "97 F.2d 423 (1938); People v. Trowbridge, 305 N.Y. 471, 113 N.E.2d 841 (1953); cases collected in Annot., ", "71 A.L.R.2d 449, 485, n. 13 (1960). ", "Compare Baber v. United States, 116 U.S.App.", "D.C. 358, 324 F.2d 390 (1963).", "\n\n" ]

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[ "Ash, which grows throughout the eastern United States and Canada, is part of the olive family and has oils that are chemically similar to olive oil. ", "Pale in color naturally, Ash closely resembles oak both in its appearance and in its strength as a building material. ", "Ash is used extensively in bats because it's tough, durable and abundant. ", "The wood's grain is coarse and porous. ", "Its texture is uniform, with grain patterns making sweeping waves across the board. ", "Please see below for a list of our beautiful ash products.", "\n\nPlease be aware that product availability and listings vary from one portion of the country to another. ", "For the best results in viewing our hand-crafted products, please enter your zip code in our site's store locator on the top right hand side of our site. ", "You may also contact our customer service agents for more product details.", "\n\nThe purchase of Bella Cera Hardwood Flooring from an unauthorized dealer or via the internet will automatically void any manufacturer’s warranty. ", "An authorized dealer is not allowed to sell and ship material outside their local territory, particularly into another distributors territory." ]

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[ "The 2014 midterm was the election of fear, and offered a likely foreshadowing of the strategy the Republicans will use to try and win the White House in 2016. ", "In the midterms, the GOP stacked up impressive victories by brilliantly stoking a nightmare vision of an America about to be overrun by Ebola patients, anchor babies, and ISIS assassins. ", "In their quest to replace Barack Obama, Republican presidential hopefuls are making the starkest possible case that security is the primary issue, eclipsing all others.", "\n\nYesterday, Marco Rubio announced the new theme of his campaign: “The fundamental problem we have in America is that nothing matters if we aren’t safe.” ", "According to Rubio, “The world has never been more dangerous than it is today,” which means “the economic stuff” has to take a backseat to national security. ", "Rubio’s emphasis on safety echoed a remark made by his rival Chris Christie the same day: “You can't enjoy your civil liberties if you're in a coffin.”", "\n\nThese statements are startling in the all-or-nothing choices they offer. ", "Without security, “nothing matters.” ", "If we don’t have security, we’ll be in a coffin. ", "This black-and-white language negates the possibility that security is one value among others, that it needs to be balanced against competing values such as liberty or peace. ", "It’s hard to imagine cruder appeals to fear.", "\n\nAnd by appealing to fear in the name of security, they only ensure they’ll get less of what they say they want.", "\n\nWhile some political leaders have relied on fear-mongering since time immemorial, the specific national security based anxiety voiced by Rubio and Christie has a particular lineage. ", "According to George Mason historian Peter N. Stearns in his 2006 book American Fear, “American culture launched a really distinctive approach to fear only in the twentieth century: There was no long legacy of public fearfulness. ", "Indeed, current standards are particularly striking in their contrast with nineteenth-century norms, which quite explicitly called on Americans, at least American men, to face fear directly and stare it down.”" ]

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[ "We knew Hasbro was already working on a plan for a Power Rangers movie, but CEO Brian Goldner revealed today that they are in talks with Paramount to make it happen.", "\n\nAfter Goldner's previous comments about a new Power Rangers movie, it was assumed they would take advantage of their relationship with Paramount to make it happen. ", "Paramount has been the home of most Hasbro properties in recent years, including G.I. Joe and Transformers, and during today's Hasbro Financial call Goldner confirmed they are in talks with Paramount Pictures at the moment to make Power Rangers the next property in that relationship (via TokuNation).", "\n\nNow, no further information was revealed, so at the moment we don't know when the movie could be releasing (likely no sooner than 2021) and we also don't know if it will be a reboot of the previous reboot or a sequel to it. ", "There are fans in both camps regarding that subject, though the further we get from the 2017 movie the harder and less practical it becomes to get that cast back together.", "\n\nHasbro touched on the rather rough 2018 (thanks to the bankruptcy of Toys \"R\" Us) as well as all the promising ventures they have for 2019, which you can check out below.", "\n\n“Throughout 2018, we engaged in several major innovation initiatives and initiated significant organizational changes to enable us to stabilize our European business in 2019 and return Hasbro to profitable growth this year,” Goldner said. “", "In 2019 we are entering the next innovation cycle for NERF and we will deliver break frame innovation across price points in the market this year. ", "Hasbro’s POWER RANGERS line will hit the market in the second quarter, setting the stage for an all-new era for this iconic brand. ", "We are positioned to advance our gaming leadership, leveraging our investments, social relevance, innovative game play and the industry’s broadest games portfolio, including the launch of our digital game Magic: The Gathering Arena. ", "We will deliver all-new play experiences in support of a raft of compelling entertainment properties, including Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man: Far From Home, Disney Animation’s Frozen 2 and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Episode IX. ", "Finally, to successfully deliver these and numerous other initiatives, we’ve re-imagined and re-designed our go-to-market strategy globally supported by compelling, digital-first marketing programs for our consumers and retailers.”", "\n\nYou can check out the full rundown here.", "\n\nWhen do you think we'll get a new movie? ", "Let us know in the comments!" ]

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[ "The structural organization of type IV collagen. ", "Identification of three NC1 populations in the glomerular basement membrane.", "\nType IV collagen, which has long been assumed to contain two alpha 1(IV) and one alpha 2(IV) chains, also contains alpha 3(IV), alpha 4(IV), and alpha 5(IV) chains. ", "Stoichiometry of collagenous alpha(IV) chains differs among tissues, suggesting the existence of subclasses of type IV collagen, each with a unique chain composition. ", "This study seeks to define, by characterization of subunit compositions of NC1 domain populations, the structural organization of type IV collagen from bovine glomerular basement membrane. ", "NC1 hexamers from type IV collagen were separated on two affinity chromatography columns, one containing monoclonal antibodies to the alpha 3 chain, and another, to the alpha 1 chain. ", "SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immunoblotting, reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay identified three NC1 hexamer populations: 1) a hexamer composed of (alpha 1)2 and (alpha 2)2 homodimers; 2) a hexamer composed of (alpha 3)2 and (alpha 4)2 homodimers; 3) a hexamer containing all four alpha chains connected in heterodimers, alpha 1-alpha 3 and alpha 2-alpha 4. ", "Results suggest that there are two distinct type IV collagen molecules, one composed of alpha 1(IV) and alpha 2(IV) chains and another composed of alpha 3(IV) and alpha 4(IV) chains. ", "Furthermore, polymerization occurs between molecules with the same chain composition and between molecules with different chain composition. ", "Moreover, crosslinking between different alpha chains is restricted, thus limiting the number of possible macromolecular structures." ]

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[ "For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.", "\n\nOn October 20, Joe Biden rode into the well-heeled suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, to attend a high-dollar fundraiser hosted in his honor by the state’s governor, Ned Lamont. ", "The event was sandwiched between appearances in Manhattan, suburban Westchester County, and a swing through Pennsylvania, where the former vice president headlined another pricey event in advance of a speech in his hometown of Scranton—a speech that made an emotional appeal to the economic plight of the middle class.", "\n\nThe campaign wouldn’t disclose how much money the event at Lamont’s personal mansion raised, but the Hartford Courant reported that 140 attendees had chipped in more than $300,000—meaning at least three-quarters of donors had paid the $2,800 maximum campaign contribution that federal campaign laws allow. ", "The former vice president had arrived from Manhattan by car and departed the same way, with no public or smaller dollar events as part of this trip.", "\n\nBiden’s been at the top of the national polls since he entered the 2020 fray, but his fundraising numbers haven’t reflected that. ", "From July through September, Biden posted $15.7 million, nearly $2 million less than what he spent during that time. ", "His chief Democratic rivals, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, outraised him last quarter—by $12 million and $9.4 million respectively—while eschewing events like the one Lamont hosted. ", "They are each declining to hold high-dollar fundraisers and are raising money primarily with low-dollar online contributions.", "\n\nCritics and fans of Biden alike have noticed that his campaign has become overly reliant on exclusive events for the upper-tier of Democratic donors, and have suggested that the former VP might want to gin up some enthusiasm with the middle class voters who can chip in smaller amounts. ", "They say private gatherings with lower price tags or public appearances paired with the opportunity to donate—a ritual of the Sanders and Warren campaigns—could cultivate the demographics and bring in some much-needed cash.", "\n\nBut instead, Biden’s finance team is taking the opposite approach, pushing the campaign to be more reliant on max donations, by setting higher benchmarks for fundraisers that Biden will attend and keeping the candidate away from events with lower ticket prices. ", "Biden supporters in close contact with the campaign told me they have faith in Biden’s tactics, but wouldn’t mind seeing the former vice president take a page or two out of his rivals’ handbook and pair these high-dollar appearances with small-dollar stuff that both pads the coffers and builds grassroots-style rapport with a different swath of the electorate.", "\n\nA Politico analysis of candidate schedules found that Biden dedicated more than a third of his campaign schedule from April through August to fundraiser appearances, a percentage bested only by California Sen. Kamala Harris and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. ", "Biden’s appearance in Greenwich is one of at least half a dozen high-dollar fundraisers he’s held since the October 15 FEC filing deadline, where plates started at $1,000 and ran up to $2,800—and would-be donors willing to fork over the lower sums were turned away in favor of those who could dish out the max. (", "The Biden campaign declined to comment on details in this story.)", "\n\nAnd Biden finance staffers have encouraged higher thresholds for these big dollar events: In the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, hosts have been asked to hit a goal of $200,000 per event, a floor $50,000 greater than what had been asked in past months. ", "The campaign is rewarding bundlers with titles like “advocate” ($25,000) and “unifier” ($100,000) that come with attendant perks, like calls with campaign leadership and invites to finance committee meetings. ", "And last Thursday, his campaign announced that it would no longer rebuff financial assistance from super-PACs, groups that raise and spend unlimited amounts of money. ", "They tend to rely on massive checks from wealthy donors and offer another outlet for big spenders who have already maxed out in their donations to Biden’s primary fight.", "\n\nBiden’s two top challengers, Sanders and Warren, have taken an opposite tack. ", "Both have rejected corporate PAC donations, super-PAC help, and high-dollar fundraisers during the primary—and vow to continue doing so if one of them is chosen as the Democratic nominee. ", "They’ve instead spent much of their time on the road, holding rallies and small gatherings that give them face time with supporters, in addition to the occasional in-person contribution—a method that’s also helped them build massive online lists that they can solicit from again. ", "Sanders has held the occasional small-dollar fundraiser, like the one he did in Detroit in advance of the second debate. ", "Both Sanders and Warren publicly criticized Biden for his reversing his position on accepting help from super-PACs.", "\n\nIn the early states, Biden’s public appearances do mirror those of his Democratic rivals, where campaign aides collect contact information and small donations from attendees. ", "Jill Biden, the former vice president’s wife, has held lower-dollar events for her husband in Washington, Florida, Connecticut, and elsewhere, where the cost of attendance has hovered in the two- and three-figure ranges.", "\n\nBut some Biden supporters see the chance to do more events with smaller donors. “", "I wish we would do more unified events where you have high-dollar, medium-dollar, and low-dollar offerings,” says William Owen, a DNC member from Tennessee who has endorsed Biden. “", "I’m sure that will come. ", "The campaign’s saying what their priorities are now and I respect that.” ", "Owen co-hosted a top-dollar fundraiser at the Nashville City Club in May; hosts put up the maximum $2,800 donations while attendees paid $1,000.", "\n\n“I believe in small money,” says Charlie Diradour, a Biden backer based in Richmond, Virginia, who’s in frequent contact with the campaign. “", "I think there’s some unique ways of raising money for those who can do $25, $100, $250. ", "I don’t see what’s wrong with getting someone from the campaign on a phone or an iPad down here to do a presentation with beer and snacks. ", "You don’t need Joe Biden or Dr. Jill Biden in the city to do that.”", "\n\nDiradour held a fundraiser for Biden in August, where an invitation listed attendance prices ranging from $500 to $15,000. ", "He says the Biden campaign has told him that it will be doing small money events at some point in the future. “", "I believe going forward, you will see more small money contributions into the Biden campaign,” he says.", "\n\nBarry Goodman, a DNC member from Michigan and Biden supporter, co-hosted a fundraiser for Biden in Detroit around the second Democratic debate. “", "At our event, we were charging $1,000 per ticket, and for the maximum donation you got a photo,” he says. ", "But he insisted the campaign offer a lower-priced ticket for attendees under 35, at $250. “", "I didn’t want just 50- or 60-year-olds. ", "I’m trying to energize millennials who respond well to seeing Joe in person.” ", "Ticket prices at similarly timed Sanders fundraiser in Detroit started at $27.", "\n\nBut none of the Biden boosters Mother Jones spoke with begrudge the campaign’s tactics. “", "I wish there were no PACs anywhere, anytime, but unfortunately to compete, they’re what you need,” Goodman says. “", "You have to trust who are running for office that they won’t be beholden to those.”" ]

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[ "It may seem counter-intuitive, but some of the first people to get let go in a recession are the smartest, hardest working people. ", "This counters the common idea that lower-skilled, lower-quality workers are the first to be let go and have the hardest time finding a new job.", "\n\nColumbia's Andreas Mueller took a deep look at the data, and found that the unemployment pool shifts towards high-wage, high-skilled workers in recessions, and that they, have just as hard of a time finding a job as low-wage workers during recessions.", "\n\nAmong the people most likely to be let go are those with high wages compared to others with the same experience and education. ", "They're most likely paid more because they're the most productive, but still get fired at higher rates.", "\n\nA possible explanation is that higher-paid workers are overpaid or just got lucky. ", "In another study, Mueller found that highly paid people with higher IQs, more proven ability, and higher non-cognitive (personality and emotional) scores are still more likely to be laid off. ", "The highest-quality workers make up a higher share of the unemployed than is usually thought.", "\n\nThe biggest explanation, according to Mueller, are the credit crunches that result from recessions. ", "Firms understand that their best workers will be essential to recovering and would like to keep them, but lower revenue and tight credit sometimes leave them with no choice but to fire some of their best people.", "\n\nAll of this goes to emphasize the point that recessions are actually one of the best times to hire, if you can afford it.", "\n\nNOW READ: CEO Went On A Hiring Spree For Top Talent During The Recession — And It Paid Off" ]

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[ "A twenty-three-year-old woman wanting to get more serious about her hobbies. ", "I'm currently enrolled in University and aiming to get my bachelor's degree in English, and hopefully become a high school teacher." ]

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[ "Paraskevopoulos (crater)\n\nParaskevopoulos is an old lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, in the higher northern latitudes. ", "It lies just to the southwest of the younger and somewhat larger crater Carnot. ", "To the southwest is the smaller crater Stoletov, and to the southeast lies Fowler. ", "It is named after the astronomer John S. Paraskevopoulos.", "\n\nThis is a well-eroded crater formation, with a rounded and uneven rim edge. ", "The satellite crater Paraskevopoulos H lies across the eastern rim, and the smaller Paraskevopoulos E is located in the northeastern part of the interior floor. ", "The rim edge is better defined along the northern and southern edges, and is nearly worn away along the west. ", "The surviving interior floor is relatively level and featureless, with only a pair of small craterlets along the northwestern and southeastern edges.", "\n\nSatellite craters\nBy convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Paraskevopoulos.", "\n\nReferences\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\nCategory:Impact craters on the Moon" ]

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[ "Q:\n\nSQL Formula Returns Inconsistent Precision\n\nThe result of the two queries should be identical. ", " Same data. ", " Same formula. ", " Same cast. ", " One result is calculated in a query against a table variable, while the second is calculated against variables. ", " I have replaced the table variable with temp table and permanent table with identical results.", "\nWhy are my results different?", "\nDECLARE\n @comm DECIMAL(20 , 6)\n , @quantity INT\n , @multiplier INT\n , @price DECIMAL(38 , 10)\n\nSET @comm = 210519.749988;\nSET @quantity = 360000;\nSET @multiplier = 1;\nSET @price = 167.0791666666;\n\nDECLARE @t AS TABLE\n (\n [comm] [decimal](38 , 6)\n , [multiplier] [int]\n , [Quantity] [int]\n , [Price] [decimal](38 , 10)\n )\n\nINSERT INTO @t\n VALUES\n ( @comm , @quantity , @multiplier , @price )\n\nSELECT\n @comm = comm\n , @quantity = quantity\n , @multiplier = multiplier\n , @price = price\n FROM\n @t\n\nSELECT\n CAST(comm / quantity / multiplier / price AS DECIMAL(32 , 10))\n FROM\n @t\nUNION ALL\nSELECT\n CAST(@comm / @quantity / @multiplier / @price AS DECIMAL(32 , 10));\n\nResult\n1. ", "0.0034990000\n2. ", "0.0035000000\n\nSame results against different servers. ", " SQL Server 2008 R2 Web Edition, Standard and Express and SQL Server 2012 Standard.", "\n\nA:\n\nThe difference is due to the difference in precision of your two DECIMAL fields:\nChanging @comm to (38,6):\nDECLARE\n @comm DECIMAL(38 , 6)\n , @quantity INT\n , @multiplier INT\n , @price DECIMAL(38 , 10)\n\nI get:\n---------------------------------------\n0.0034990000\n0.0034990000\n\nLikewise changing comm in @t to [comm] [decimal](20 , 6) gets me:\n---------------------------------------\n0.0035000000\n0.0035000000\n\nIf the fields are consistent, the results will be consistent.", "\n\nA:\n\n@comm is defined as decimal(20,6) while the comm column is decimal(38,6). ", "You also assign a value with 7 decimal points to @comm, which only accepts up to 6 decimals\nAccording to the docs, decimals with a precision between 20-28 take 13 bytes while larger decimals use 17 bytes. ", "When you SELECT the larger value stored in comm back into the smaller @commvariable some rounding is bound to happen.", "\n\n" ]

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[ "That’s a pretty decent set of achievements and I’m proud of every single one of them!", "\n\nBut there were a couple more goals on my list…\n\nOne, that I considered lofty, was to have $10k in savings.", "\n\nHere, on the last day of the year, I’m finding myself in a bit of a grey area. ", "I don’t feel that I accomplished the goal but by a technicality (my paycheck was deposited today instead of tomorrow because of the holiday), I actually have $10k at my disposal.", "\n\nJust saying that blows my mind but, honestly, it doesn’t feel real.", "\n\nAnd it isn’t all in my savings account right this minute, but it could be, so that goal was pseudo accomplished as well.", "\n\nThe final goal was to increase my passive income. ", "That was a wishy-washy goal from the get-go and though my “side income” decreased by over $13k this past year, I managed to increase my 100% passive income… by just $63 over the entire year.", "\n\nHey, it’s better than nothing, right? ", "It’s not like I “worked” for it…\n\nSo, with that, I can’t say that I accomplished all of my goals, but I think I took care of the big ones.", "\n\nHmmmmm… Which to choose… I’m not really sure. ", "I’ve researched the advantages and disadvantages of both and it’s just left me more confused than I was at the start.", "\n\nIt seems most folks my age (32) lean heavily towards the Roth IRA because it’s taxed now and not in the future when you expect to be in a higher tax bracket.", "\n\nBut unlike most folks my age, I’m a little bit more realistic when it comes to my earning potential and what tax bracket I’ll fall in to fifteen to twenty years down the road. ", "I’m not optimistic.", "\n\nWhen nearing retirement, though taxes will most likely have gone up, I actually expect to be in a lower tax bracket than I am now so that “advantage” of the Roth is totally lost on me. ", "The Traditional IRA wins out.", "\n\nOn the other hand, with a Roth IRA, you can make withdrawals all along without penalty. ", "No waiting until turing 59 and a half. ", "If I need another $5k to build my dream garage or something, I can grab it from my Roth IRA and not get hit with a bunch of fees, penalties, and/or taxes. ", "In that respect, the Roth IRA is clearly better.", "\n\nBy the end of this year, I’ll easily have enough to fully fund one or the other. ", "Obviously I’m still having a hard time deciding which is the wiser course of action.", "\n\nFurther, I still struggle to come to terms with the idea that being limited to $5k per year will add up very quickly or keep me interested.", "\n\nI realized that the limit is increased slightly every few years, but even still — what takes me just three years of contributing to my 401k will take over a decade with either type of IRA.", "\n\nAfter the past two favorable days in the markets, combined with my monthly contribution that was deposited earlier this week, I’m happy to report that my balance is *finally* higher than it was on January 1.", "\n\nNow I know, it’s not really higher, since I’ve added thousands in contributions since the start of the year only to break even (and ahead) now, but it’s still nice (in a mental motivational sort of way) to finally see a number higher than where I started the year.", "\n\nAs of market close yesterday, I’m up $1230 since January 1 and at a new all time high! ", "Woo-hoo!", "\n\nAs of market close last night, the balance on my 401k is down $4600, or 7.25 percent, so far this year.", "\n\nDollarwise, that’s not really very much, but when you look at the percentage, well, the six-figure gains and losses you see occasionally on some NetworthIQ profiles start to make a little more sense. ", "It’s all about the number of shares/units.", "\n\nI didn’t really have any New Year’s resolutions, but I did lay down a few goals for 2008 and I guess now is as good a time as any to see if things are still on track…\n\nEliminate all credit card debt by the end of June 2008. ", "Current credit card debt is $10318. ", "I’m aiming to achieve this goal slightly ahead of schedule, by about a month, according to the snowball plan I started in November.", "\n\nProgress is far ahead of schedule on this goal. ", "This morning, my total credit card debt is under $5000 and with Thursday being another pay day, it’s likely to fall even more by the end of the month. ", "I’m hoping to have all of this wrapped up by the end of March now.", "\n\nEliminate PMI from the Mortgage by the end of December 2008. ", "Right now, it’s costing me over $1000 per year. ", "For what? ", "Nothing. ", "To meet this goal, I’ll have to contribute an additional $160 per month towards my mortgage.", "\n\nI’m on pace for this, though it doesn’t really feel like it. ", "At the start of the year, I began throwing $125 towards the principle each Monday. ", "So, with the extra payments this month, I’ve climbed $500 closer to my target of $6100. ", "In total, I have $5124 left to go.", "\n\nPay off my auto loan by the end of December 2008. ", "Current balance is $7418. ", "This is also included in my snowball plan and it’s scheduled to be paid off in October if all goes as planned. ", "I’m not looking to speed this up; just finish it off.", "\n\nNothing worth mentioning on this one. ", "I’m just making the payments…nothing extra. ", "This goal comes in a distant second to the credit card goal. ", "Current balance is $7177.", "\n\nIncrease my 401k contributions to 15%. ", "This way I’ll receive the maximum match allowed from my employer. ", "Right now, I’m contributing just under 10%. ", "I’ll plan to make this move once the credit card debt is eliminated.", "Achieved 12-27-2007\n\nI achieved this goal before the year even started, but with the way the markets have been going, my increased contributions habe only resulted in larger losses. ", "That’s okay though — in the long run, it will be a very good thing that I got this back up to the full match percentage when I did.", "\n\nIncrease my passive income. ", "Now that I’ve dumped my largest client, the hockey team, I’ll soon find myself bringing in a lot less income. ", "But, I also find myself with a lot more free time. ", "Free time that I should use to optimize my other ventures to make up the difference; except now I’ll focus on more passive income streams because, in all honesty, I’m tired of working so much. ", "Right now my 100% passive income hovers around $50/month. ", "With the least effort possible, I’m looking to triple that in 2008 and pick-up a few low maintenance clients as well.", "\n\nI’ve made a few moves in the past couple of weeks to get this goal on track, but nothing really impressive. ", "I missed out on a generous advertising opportunity last week because I took too long to respond to the email offer — but that won’t happen again. ", "I’ve got everything forwarding to one address now so nothing sits and waits for a week. ", "Eitherway, things are headed in the positive direction. ", "Passive income for January is looking to top out around $80.", "\n\n$10k in savings. ", "This is my lofty goal. ", "I’m not sure it’s even possible. ", "Right now my ING account is holding a mere $1k. ", "No matter how far rates fall, with a 5-figure balance working in my favor I’ll have to be making atleast $1/day in interest and for whatever reason, I like that. ", "I’d also like to pay for some still needed interior renovations in 2008 with cash and this is where I’ll draw from.", "\n\nI’m tanking on this goal. ", "On January 1st, I had around $1000 in savings. ", "Today, I’m well below that, and the interest rate is falling so I’m not real *excited* about trying to right the ship on this one. ", "I haven’t thrown in the towel just yet, there are 337 days remaining in the year, but I’d be shocked if I come close to realizing this goal." ]

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[ "Keith O'Neil\n\nKeith Daniel O'Neil (born August 26, 1980 in Rochester, Michigan) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants. ", "He earned a Super Bowl ring with the Colts in Super Bowl XLI as they beat the Chicago Bears. ", "He played college football at Northern Arizona.", "\n\nEarly years\nO'Neil attended Sweet Home High School, where he played at linebacker. ", "As a senior, he received second-team All-state, All-conference and All-Western honors. ", "He also practiced track and lacrosse.", "\n\nHe accepted a football scholarship from Northern Arizona University. ", "As a true freshman, he played in 10 games as a backup linebacker, tallying 28 tackles (3 for loss) and 2 sacks. ", "As a sophomore, he appeared in 10 games (7 starts), making 4 tackles (10 for loss), 6 sacks (led the team) and one forced fumble.", "\n\nAs a junior, he tallied 83 tackles (led the team), 15 tackles for loss and one forced fumble. ", "As a senior, he posted 75 tackles (21 for loss), 3 interceptions and 4 fumble recoveries.", "\n\nHe had 225 career stops, 20 sacks, 49 tackles for losses and 3 interceptions. ", "He was first-team All-Big Sky choice as a junior and senior.", "\n\nProfessional career\n\nDallas Cowboys\nO'Neil was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys after the 2003 NFL Draft. ", "As a rookie, he registered 17 special teams tackles (second on the team).", "\n\nIn 2004, he notified head coach Bill Parcells his intentions to retire from professional football, stating he was dealing with anxiety and sleepless nights. ", "Parcells and the team provided help, allowing him to remain a core special teams player (third on the team with 18 special teams) and the backup weakside linebacker for Dexter Coakley.", "\n\nOn September 3, 2005, he was waived because the defense switched to a 3-4 alignment and he wasn't seen as a good fit for the new scheme.", "\n\nIndianapolis Colts\nO'Neil was claimed off waivers by the Indianapolis Colts on September 5, 2005. ", "Four days before opening day, his anxiety made him seek help from head coach Tony Dungy and the organization. ", "\n\nIn 2006, he was inactive for 5 games with a high ankle sprain, he later suffered two fractured ribs and a sprained knee, but still was able to be a part of the Super Bowl XLI winning team. ", "On July 30, 2007, he was placed on the Physically unable to perform list recovering from a sports hernia surgery. ", "He suffered a chest injury in the second preseason game against the Chicago Bears. ", "On August 28, he was placed on the injured reserve list and was eventually released.", "\n\nNew York Giants\nOn February 18, 2008, he was signed as a free agent by the New York Giants, after spending a year out of football. ", "To focus on improving his mental health, he decided to retire and was placed on the reserve/retired list on June 2.", "\n\nPersonal\nO'Neil is the son of former NFL linebacker Ed O'Neil. ", "O'Neil's brother Kevin, played football for Syracuse University. ", "His brother-in-law Drew Haddad played wide receiver in the NFL. ", "He experienced extreme anxiety during his time in the NFL, that created a serious sleep disorder and eventually was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.", "\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nUnder My Helmet – By Keith O’Neil\nFormer NFL Star Describes Struggle With Bipolar Disorder\n\nCategory:1980 births\nCategory:Living people\nCategory:People from Amherst, New York\nCategory:Players of American football from New York (state)\nCategory:Sportspeople from Erie County, New York\nCategory:American football linebackers\nCategory:Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football players\nCategory:Dallas Cowboys players\nCategory:Indianapolis Colts players\nCategory:Super Bowl champions\nCategory:American people of Irish descent\nCategory:People with bipolar disorder" ]

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[ "1. ", "Field of the Invention\nThe present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacture. ", "More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device for inhibiting the corrosion of a copper (Cu) layer after chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and chemical mechanical polishing equipment used in the same.", "\n2. ", "Description of the Related Art\nAs high integration and high performance of semiconductor devices continue to make progress, the use of a Cu layer as a wiring material in a semiconductor device has been proposed. ", "A Cu layer is patterned by a damascene technique to obtain wiring lines. ", "The patterning of a Cu layer involves the use of CMP process after forming the Cu layer.", "\nA Cu layer, however, is susceptible to corrosion during its formation. ", "A Cu layer can be corroded during a CMP process or during a cleaning process after the CMP process. ", "It is well known that the corrosion of a Cu layer results from galvanic corrosion and photo assisted corrosion. ", "One approach to inhibiting the corrosion of a Cu layer during CMP includes continuously forming a corrosion barrier layer on the surface of a metal layer during CMP.", "\nHowever, the corrosion of a Cu layer may occur during a post CMP process. ", "More specifically, wafers to be loaded into CMP equipment for CMP of a Cu layer are held in a carrier, and several wafers are loaded into the CMP equipment at one time. ", "Thus, wafers on which CMP is performed are among wafers loaded into the CMP equipment that must stand-by at an unloading station of the CMP equipment until the remaining wafers are subjected to CMP. ", "For example, if twenty-five wafers corresponding to one run are loaded into the CMP equipment, wafers initially subjected to CMP may wait for about more than two hours at the unloading station.", "\nThe surfaces of the wafers being on stand-by are wet from a solution used in CMP, and a material that induces corrosion such as a slurry or an oxidizer may remain in the solution. ", "The solution, wetting the polished surface of a Cu layer, may lead to galvanic corrosion or photo assisted corrosion. ", "If two or more hours are required as a stand-by time as described above, the significant corrosion may occur. ", "Furthermore, since the polished wafers collect at the stand-by station and are then transferred to a cleaning step, the corrosion may continuously occur during a transfer time along with the stand-by time.", "\nTo solve the above problems, it is a feature of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device which can prevent the polished surface of a Cu layer from being corroded after chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).", "\nIt is another feature of an embodiment of the present invention to provide CMP equipment for protecting the polished surface of a Cu layer from corrosion after CMP.", "\nAccordingly, to provide the above features, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device for preventing the corrosion of a Cu layer. ", "When a wafer, on which a Cu layer is formed, stands by so as to be transferred to a cleaning system after being subjected to CMP in a CMP equipment, a solution containing a corrosion inhibitor is provided to the wafers collected at a stand-by station, so as to keep at least the polished surface of the Cu layer wet with the solution. ", "Then, the wafers collected at the stand-by station are transferred to the cleaning system and cleaned. ", "In this case, the solution is a solution in which the corrosion inhibitor is added to de-ionized water. ", "Benzo-tri-azole is preferably used as the corrosion inhibitor. ", "While transferring the wafer to the cleaning system, the surfaces of the transferred wafers are kept wet with the solution containing the corrosion inhibitor.", "\nAn embodiment of the present invention also provides CMP equipment including a polishing station including a polishing pad on which wafers from a carrier are sequentially loaded and a Cu layer formed on each wafer is polished, and a stand-by station where a vacant carrier, into which wafers unloaded by a robot at the polishing station are sequentially inserted, stands by and for supplying a solution containing a corrosion inhibitor onto the polished surface of the Cu layer on the inserted wafers.", "\nIn this case, the stand-by station includes a solution vessel for containing the solution so that the carrier may be loaded and soaked in the supplied solution, a supply pipe for supplying the solution to the solution vessel, a discharge pipe for drawing the solution from the solution vessel, and a solution supply container, connected to the supply pipe, for supplying the solution.", "\nThe present invention makes it possible to protect the polished Cu layer on a wafer from post CMP corrosion.", "\nThese and other features of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the detailed description that follows." ]

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[ "In Cameroon’s biggest city, Douala, we name streets and squares for the alcohol and sex trade (rue de la Joie), for corruption (Carrefour des Trois Voleurs, or Junction of the Three Robbers, for three officials who used public funds to build houses in the area), for violent deaths and footballers. ", "All these names are unofficial. ", "The only official names are those of the colonisers. ", "Carrefour Eto’o Fils, the junction named for our striker and captain Samuel Eto’o, is in New Bell, the populous quartier where he was born. ", "It is a few blocks from Place Roger Milla and Carrefour Thomas Nkono, named for past footballers. ", "New Bell is Cameroon’s Soweto – revolutions begin here.", "\n\nHemle! ", "This word from the Bassa language encapsulates good Cameroonian nationalism. ", "Hemle is what the English call “pride”, but deeper. ", "Rudolph Manga-Bell, founder of New Bell, tells the German colonisers to f*** off: hemle! ", "Ruben Um Nyobe tells the French colonisers to f*** off: hemle! ", "Both men get decapitated for their trouble but don’t let that get in the way of theory. ", "Hemle is the raison d’être of the Bassa people of Cameroon’s south. ", "Bassas have said “No” more consistently and resolutely than any other linguistic group in a country of 278 languages. ", "They have produced Cameroon’s most famous intellectuals, revolutionaries, bar-ladies and footballers. ", "Twelve of the 20 players who took Cameroon’s “Indomitable Lions” to the World Cup quarter-finals in Italy in 1990 are Bassa – including Roger Milla and Benjamin Massing. ", "Massing’s famous “tackle” of Argentina’s Claudio Caniggia in the dying minutes of that opening match, another attempted decapitation, is pure aesthetics of hemle.", "\n\nIt’s 1996. ", "You have to get to Douala International Airport three hours before departure. ", "You wait. ", "You check in. ", "Now it’s 23.30 and the flight was scheduled to depart at 19.30. ", "Your parents are tired but refuse to leave. ", "Your cousin tells you they never leave until after the plane has disappeared into the clouds. ", "You say goodbyes, make promises and wait another hour in the departure area. ", "Finally you board. ", "And wait. ", "The Cameroon Airlines flight is delayed.", "\n\nIn President Paul Biya’s Cameroon, the only right you have is to wait. ", "For the president to die. ", "For your salary. ", "Will you be outed as a homosexual? ", "Will you be caught by the épervier? (", "The rapacious bird is code-name for Biya’s anti-corruption drive, or rival-cleansing programme.)", "\n\nYou are travelling back to South Africa with your family. ", "Your one-year-old son, Malik, is crying on your lap. ", "The flight is overloaded. ", "François Omam-Biyik, scorer of the opening goal of the 1990 World Cup and captain of Cameroon’s national team, doesn’t have a seat. ", "You’d been waiting almost two hours when he walked in with 21 Lions, relaxed in yellow T-shirts and trackpants, sandals. ", "They have been through this before.", "\n\nAt 3pm today the Lions will play the opening match of the African Cup of Nations in Johannesburg. ", "It’s already 2am when the Boeing 737 starts to move. ", "You look back: two players are still standing, another occupies a flight attendant’s seat. ", "Shortly after take-off, the pilot announces that because of “unforeseen circumstances” he has to make a stop in Yaoundé, the capital. ", "Panicked, you ask fellow passengers about the unforeseen circumstances – the air hostesses won’t speak. ", "You learn that the players have refused to travel to South Africa without advance payment of their match fees. ", "The presidency has agreed to pay and you’re going to fetch the money. ", "The information circulates along the plane’s aisle like radio-trottoir (informal communication networks used primarily in urban Africa).", "\n\nAt Nsimaleng International Airport, the runway Biya built to avoid landing his plane anywhere near New Bell, you’re expected to wait inside the plane while the players meet “someone from the presidency” in the VIP lounge. ", "None of the passengers complains, at least not loudly. ", "You avoid the eyes of your South African wife. ", "When the players return an hour later, you look for the money-briefcase but can’t see it.", "\n\n‘Hemle’ is what the English call ‘pride’\n\nAfter refuelling stops in Kinshasa and Harare, you land in Jo’burg around 10am. ", "There’s a small group of Cameroonian fans waiting at the airport, looking as if they slept over – the flight is eight hours late. ", "The players are ushered to a bus, probably headed directly to the stadium where South Africa’s Bafana Bafana hungrily await. ", "You don’t look back.", "\n\nYou are now in your one-bedroom apartment in Cape Town. ", "Your wife is on the phone, telling her family about real Africa. ", "Your son is asleep. ", "Your travel mates are on TV. ", "South Africa’s Shoes Moshoeu picks up the ball near the halfway line. ", "He wrongfoots the first defender, finds Phil Masinga between two others and goes backdoor; Masinga backheels. ", "Shoes is clear, looks up, inside right foot: South Africa 3 – Cameroon 0.", "\n\nLater your friend Sandile calls from FNB Stadium – you are the only Cameroonian he knows. “", "Shoooooes!” ", "he screams. ", "You are silent. ", "Telling him about the flight would sound like an outrageous excuse. ", "You met Sandile at a Mozambican club in Yeoville, Johannesburg. ", "You’d been in South Africa two months and had your first football conversation with him. ", "You told him about le pied camerounais, the Cameroonian foot. ", "You said you’d been taught to play the man, not the ball. ", "You quoted your youth coach: “Man pass, ball no de pass. ", "Ball pass, man no de pass.” ", "You reminded him of Massing’s tackle. ", "You told him that was Cameroonian football, to put one’s foot down.", "\n\nThere are two types of instruments in Cameroonian football – le pied camerounais and le pied étranger: local and foreign feet. ", "In the final quarter of the past century, our local feet dominated African football. ", "As a product of La Fábrica, Real Madrid’s youth academy, Samuel Eto’o owns at least one foreign foot.", "\n\nIt’s 2013. ", "Cameroon Airlines is bankrupt and its former boss was caught by the épervier. ", "Malik is spending his 18th year living with your parents in Limbe. ", "Every afternoon he plays football at the school opposite the family home. ", "He tells you he still feels foreign even though he’s been coming here every year of his life. ", "You think that along with his lighter skin, South African accent and Afro, his pied étranger is rejected. ", "You can only give words of encouragement.", "\n\nA month later he tells you he might join the neighbourhood team. ", "What happened?", "\n\n“I don’t know really, I think I am just playing like everyone here now.”", "\n\nHow is that?", "\n\n“You know, you have to put your foot down.”", "\n\nSamuel Eto’o in a second-leg qualifier against Tunisia last year\n\nThe central question in New Bell’s bars is: can le pied étranger play hemle? ", "It is also the quest of Samuel Eto’o, proud son of the Bassa. ", "Eto’o has learnt, painfully, that rewarding the loyalty of his teammates with expensive watches, as he did at the 2010 World Cup, wouldn’t suffice; neither would everything he has won in Europe. ", "Can he show hemle?", "\n\nEvery time Eto’o visits New Bell the elders tell him about Milla. ", "On April 26 1981, Cameroon needs to beat Zaire by three goals to reach the final round of African qualifiers for the 1982 World Cup. ", "Milla tells Cameroonians, on national radio, that he will score four goals against Zaire – an extra goal, just in case. ", "And he does.", "\n\nEto’o hears stories about Joseph Antoine Bell, who grew up in New Bell’s notorious prison, then became captain of Marseilles in 1988, stood up to the club’s chairman Bernard Tapie and ate the bananas and groundnuts that racist fans threw at him during matches.", "\n\nWould Eto’o ever put his foot down?", "\n\nIt’s the final round of qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup. ", "Cameroon’s Afropolitan brigade lead Tunisia 2-0 at halftime in Yaoundé. ", "This squad of Lions include more métis than any other in history, you’d think it was the South African team. ", "Only two players in this squad have ever played in Cameroon’s league. ", "Most grew up in France.", "\n\nYou are watching in your father’s house in Limbe. ", "You took the TV to his bedroom. ", "You have just lost your mother and, as a widower, he is not allowed to leave the “conjugal space” for months – his in-laws will let him know when it’s OK to come out. ", "You watch the game in silence.", "\n\nA TV crew is in the Lions’ changing room at half-time. ", "Captain Eto’o is preaching, while the players and coaches hold hands in a circle around him: “As young boys we all dreamed of becoming great players. ", "We were lucky to achieve this. ", "We wanted money, God granted us money. ", "We wanted to play in the national team, He granted us that too! ", "Today we have our mission. ", "F***! ", "There are only 45 minutes left in this game and we’re leading 2-0. ", "But f***ing shit we have to keep the mindset of the very first second. ", "The score is 0-0! ", "Guys, I repeat, 0-0! ", "We kill the game here! ", "But with our heads, guys. ", "It’s not the time to start playing like Pelés [or perhaps he says “pédés” – gays – you’re not sure]! ", "We are the Lions. ", "Let’s go collect our qualification! [", "Screams from all the players].”" ]

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[ "It’s About the Child, Not You!", "\n\nTeaching has never been solely about the content to me. ", "In fact, I often consider it secondary to the main reason why I am in the classroom—which is to teach the whole child. ", "When I talk about why I teach, I rarely bring up content, because the interest of my subject matter, which happens to be English, should be a given. ", "I should never have to bore anyone with my reasons why Edgar Allan Poe is a god to me, nor should I ever attempt to light-heartedly laugh when you misconjugate a verb. ", "Content will never be learned without first reaching the child. ", "This is not an attempt in any way to minimize the years we spent in college taking all of our content-specific classes, but we must look beyond our core subject matter and focus on the children we are teaching.", "\n\nAs a former middle school teacher who jumped ship to teach high school last year, I brought with me the true understanding of what children need in the classroom—whole-child teaching. ", "It is such a simple concept that oftentimes, we overlook the simple in lieu of the difficult.", "\n\nRefocusing Our Teaching\n\nWhole-child teaching—these three words should guide every lesson plan we ever write. ", "Yes, we might have our Madeline Hunter anticipatory set emblazoned upon the top of our lesson, and we should still look towards our exit slips to see if content was absorbed, but we often miss the main point of any good lesson which is: “Did we teach the lesson in a way that reached the students?\"", "\n\nBut wait, wasn’t this concept pounded into our brains and discussed by our mentors the first few years? ", "Why would the reality of how to teach change over the years? ", "Ironically, the answer lies in our profession. ", "When we enter our first teaching assignment, for a while, everything we do or teach is carefully crafted around the child until something in our career changes and we throw out the child for the content.", "\n\nThis change often stems from the stress of test scores, the continuous attempts to memorize state standards, and the desire to compete with every other teacher in our building. ", "When this becomes the norm, we become strictly content focused and lose track of our purpose.", "\n\nBut aren’t we there to teach content? ", "Should we not focus on state standards, don’t they matter? ", "Absolutely they do, but not at the expense of losing our children in the process. ", "Our goal is to send every student out of our classroom more prepared than when he or she entered, but what are we actually teaching them? ", "Does rushing through the textbook to finish a certain concept or to reach a certain benchmark point outweigh the importance of asking them if they are having a good day? ", "What would happen if we pushed that lesson back a day and simply took time to value the students in our classroom?", "\n\nThe answer is simple; learning would happen for both the student and for the teacher. ", "Each and every day we should learn just as much as our students. ", "We need to learn what makes them achieve, what makes them focus, and what makes them successful.", "\n\nWhole-Child Learning in the Classroom\n\nAn example of this in my classroom would be at the beginning of the year when I teach perspective and point of view. ", "Instead of just having the students take notes over these two literary concepts, I show Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence,\" and then Disturbed's cover. ", "We compare the songs looking at how each artist chose to present the same concepts. ", "Each artist takes on their own perspective and point of view to get across what they felt was important in the song’s symbolism and meaning.", "\n\nThe students are engaged and enjoy analyzing the two songs from different perspectives and point of views. ", "I could simply teach the concept and test them on paper, but this would not reach the musical intelligence so many students possess. ", "Tests give you basic feedback, whereas analysis and synthesis give you the whole picture.", "\n\nAnother example of whole-child learning is in how I approach teaching poetry. ", "I found early on that teaching the elements of poetry by themselves coupled with a test only allows for a basic comprehension, if not simple memorization. ", "Instead, I encourage the students to take the risk not only to write their own poetry and slam it during class, but also to have them come to the front of the class and form a poetry line and create art. ", "I give the first student a poetic prompt and allow each subsequent student in the line to add to the poem until they have created, together, their own living poem.", "\n\nThis allows the students who have multiple learning styles to show their worth in the class. ", "They are working together cooperatively, moving around, laughing, and having fun—they are learning! ", "They have created true meaning in their writing rather than simply answering a test question. ", "Sometimes I give them specific poetry elements such as metaphor, simile, or personification to add to the poem when it is their time.", "\n\nThe result is each student finding success while working as a link in a chain both to comprehend the elements of poetry and to create a poem with these elements properly working together. ", "The content of what they wrote isn’t as important as correctly incorporating the elements into the poem. ", "What they don’t realize while they are up front having fun and laughing at what they created (note: what they created, not what I taught) is that they are demonstrating true learning.", "\n\nWe also must allow students to take risks in their learning by allowing them to voice how they learn. ", "Stop and ask the students throughout the year how they learn. ", "You will most likely see that in the beginning, they don't know, but as the year progresses, they now feel more comfortable expressing how they learn, comprehend, and most importantly, retain their knowledge. ", "Some of the best lessons in my class come when students discuss how they learn. ", "Students crave attention, and allowing them to discuss their preferences not only gives them that outlet, but also gives them the insight to understanding who they are as learners.", "\n\nTeaching for the Sake of Learning\n\nI have found success in teaching mainly through recognizing my own failures in not teaching the whole child. ", "Not every lesson has been successful, nor has every child fully grabbed every morsel of content I fed them. ", "We should encourage students to discuss their failures in order to understand and learn from them. ", "We must understand that students are learning a valuable lesson in our classrooms every day, which is that humans make mistakes and should be allowed to fix these mistakes.", "\n\nWe should encourage students to correct their failures and sometimes allow them to turn in that late assignment a couple weeks later. ", "Isn’t our goal as educators to see what they learned rather than meeting our scheduled needs? ", "Yes, responsibility and time management are important skills, but even as adults, we expect a little cushion now and then, so why are we so rigid? ", "If you subscribe to the Assessment for Learning protocol, you realize that the ultimate goal for our children is learning. ", "They need to be guided, corrected, and most often, forgiven. ", "They should be allowed retakes!", "\n\nMy students return year after year and tell me that they enjoyed my class for one reason—because they knew I cared for them and that they were valued as people. ", "What they have left with each year is an understanding of who they are as a student. ", "This was always the relevant and important lesson. ", "They gained an understanding of how they learn and why they are important. ", "This will always be the most important lesson I can ever teach my students.", "\n\nEvery educator wants to believe that he or she has made a difference in the lives of their students. ", "We are often driven towards education from a sense of duty, a calling, or even a desire to make a positive impact on the youth of today. ", "We are naïve, though, if we think that content alone will be that difference. ", "That difference is made when we teach to the emotional, psychological, and cognitive needs of our students. ", "The only child that has ever failed my class was the child who I failed to teach. ", "When we remember that it is not about us, but instead, about the student, then we have made a difference in the life of a child. ", "Isn’t this the main reason that we teach?", "\n\nRick Neal is a high school English teacher in the Valley Park school district in Missouri.", "\n\nNotice: We recently upgraded our comments. (", "Learn more here.) ", "If you are logged in as a subscriber or registered user and already have a Display Name on edweek.org, you can post comments. ", "If you do not already have a Display Name, please create one here.", "\n\nGround Rules for Posting\nWe encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. ", "Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. ", "By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.", "\nAll comments are public." ]

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[ "If this is your first visit, please click the Sign Up now button to begin the process of creating your account so you can begin posting on our forums! ", "The Sign Up\nprocess will only take up about a minute of two of your time.", "\n\nSmall parts including belt drive parts\n\nALL,\n\nAnyone looking for gears, belts or belt drives. ", "Should check out this site https://sdp-si.com .", "\nYou can find replacement gears and gears that can be used to change the gear ratio. ", "You can also\nbuild you own belt drive with the same 1:2.8 ratio or make up one you want to try.", "\n\nYou could also do the same if you are using the gear drive and you can get the gears in brass or steel." ]

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[ "Deployable, portable, and temporary hospitals; one state's experiences through the years.", "\nThis article will review the use of temporary hospitals to augment the healthcare system as one solution for dealing with a surge of patients related to war, pandemic disease outbreaks, or natural disaster. ", "The experiences highlighted in this article are those of North Carolina (NC) over the past 150 years, with a special focus on the need following the September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks. ", "It will also discuss the development of a temporary hospital system from concept to deployment, highlight recent developments, emphasize the need to learn from past experiences, and offer potential solutions for assuring program sustainability. ", "Historically, when a particular situation called for a temporary hospital, one was created, but it was usually specific for the event and then dismantled. ", "As with the case with many historical events, the details of the 9/11 attacks will fade into memory, and there is a concern that the impetus which created the current temporary hospital program may fade, as well. ", "By developing a broader and more comprehensive approach to disaster responses through all-hazards preparedness, it is reasonable to learn from these past experiences, improve the understanding of current threats, and develop a long-term strategy to sustain these resources for future disaster medical needs." ]

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[ "Please see the following articles:\n\nSac Bee, Tues, 7/31: Davis spokesman under fire for stock \nSac Bee, Tues, 7/31: Davis energy aide leaves -- without pay \nSac Bee, Tues, 7/31: Power delivery efficiency questioned: Output at low-cost \ngenerating plants has been cut while costlier ones continue to operate\nSac Bee, Tues, 7/31: Davis: FERC excluding $5 billion of owed refunds \nSac Bee, Tues, 7/31: Bill would streamline the path to local power: More \ncities, including Davis, are taking a look at creating municipal utility \ndistricts\nSD Union, Tues, 7/31: SDG&E denies it deceived ratepayers about debt \nSD Union, Tues, 7/31: Sempra set to unveil plans for new plant, business park\nSD Union, Tues, 7/31: Davis press secretary confirms buying energy company \nstock\nLA Times, Tues, 7/31: Davis' Energy Advisors Draw SEC Attention\nSF Chron, Tues, 7/31: California governor's press secretary confirms buying \nenergy company stock \nSF Chron, Tues, 7/31: PG&E's $500,000,000 second-quarter surprise \nSF Chron, Tues, 7/31: Power and 'juice' \nSF Chron, Tues, 7/31: S.F. to vote on electric power to the people \nMeasures would start public utility districts \nMercury News, Tues, 7/31: Davis' advisers probed by SEC \nOC Register, Tues, 7/31: Ethics issue in stock buy? ", "\nOC Register, Tues, 7/31: Aide denies stock deal was improper \nOC Register, Tues, 7/31: Power firms amp up lobbying \nOC Register, Tues, 7/31: Gouger Gray Davis (Commentary)\nEnergy Insight, Tues, 7/31: Turning coal into a tradable commodity\nWSJ, Tues, 7/31: Debt Pitch: California's Next Test In Electricity Crisis:\nSelling Power Bonds\nLA Times, Tues, 7/31: California ; Op Ed Desk \nCommentary The State Will Pay for Davis' Panic\nWSJ, Tues, 7/31: Electrical Switch: Now, Cheaper Power\nIs Causing Hefty Losses for California \n------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n-------------------------------------------------------------\n\nDavis spokesman under fire for stock \nBy Amy Chance and Dale Kasler\nBee Staff Writers\n(Published July 31, 2001) \nDavis administration spokesman Steve Maviglio acknowledged Monday that he \nbought stock in Calpine Corp. in June, at a time when the company was \nannouncing a breakthrough in its bid to build a controversial San Jose power \nplant. ", "\nHis disclosure came several days after Gov. Gray Davis dismissed five state \npower purchasers for owning stock in the company and drew new complaints that \nDavis administration officials may have improperly mixed their private \nfinances and their public roles. ", "\nMaviglio, now acting as interim communications director for the \nadministration, said he put in an \"open\" order for Calpine stock May 31, \nagreeing to buy 300 shares once the stock hit a certain price. ", "\nHe said that threshold was met June 20, the day after an action by the \nFederal Energy Regulatory Commission brought down \"all energy stock prices \nacross the board.\" ", "\nMaviglio said he bought the stock for his individual retirement account, and \nit has since declined in value. ", "Under terms of the open order, he said, he \nhad no control over the exact date of purchase. ", "\nMaviglio touted the company in his role as spokesman to the governor in a \nstory published June 27 in The Bee. ", "He said Monday that he was simply \nresponding to a reporter's question about the company's positive reputation. ", "\n\"They have made a clear commitment to invest in California's future,\" \nMaviglio said at the time. \"", "Their pricing has been far more reasonable than \nany other generator.\" ", "\nIn the interview, Maviglio also contrasted Calpine and Texas-based \ngenerators. ", "He said Calpine \"took a different tack from the Joe Bobs of the \nworld,\" an apparent reference to Joe Bob Perkins, a senior executive with \nReliant Energy Inc. of Houston. ", "\nMaviglio acknowledged the stock ownership several days after the \nadministration ended its relationship with several energy consultants who \nheld stock in energy companies, including Calpine. ", "\nUnder pressure from Secretary of State Bill Jones, a Republican who hopes to \nchallenge Davis for governor next year, the Davis administration has spent \nseveral weeks scrambling to answer questions about the stock holdings and \npotential conflicts of its consultants and energy traders. ", "\nJones said Monday that Maviglio should be fired. ", "\n\"These actions are unethical, unconscionable, unacceptable, and heads should \nroll,\" he said in a statement. ", "He said the Democratic governor should direct \nall of his staff to immediately file updated conflict-of-interest statements \nto reflect current holdings. ", "\nJones, who last week asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to \ninvestigate administration consultants for insider trading, also said the \nprobe should be expanded \"to include all of the governor's staff.\" ", "\nFederal law and SEC regulations forbid anyone from trading stocks while \npossessing \"insider information\" -- relevant facts not available to the \npublic, according to the SEC. ", "Violations can bring lawsuits and criminal \nprosecution. ", "\nMichael Prozan, a Menlo Park lawyer and expert on insider trading, said the \nprohibition against it originally focused on halting company executives from \nprofiting from news before it was disclosed publicly. ", "\nBut the laws have been broadened to include others besides company employees. ", "\nInvestment bankers, lawyers and journalists have been snared by \ninsider-trading crackdowns. ", "\nDavis' office was instrumental earlier this year in paving the way for \nremoving barriers to construction of a Calpine plant in San Jose. ", "On May 30, \nafter opposing the project for years, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales announced \nhe had negotiated an agreement addressing his concerns and agreed to support \nconstruction. ", "\nHis action came after Davis in April endorsed the plant's construction and as \nthe state Energy Commission threatened to approve it over local objections. ", "\nOn June 20, the company announced it had won tentative state approval to \nbuild the plant. ", "\nMaviglio said he buys many stocks and that Enron Corp. and Calpine are the \nonly energy generators among them. ", "He owns 100 shares of Enron stock, which \nhe purchased in 1996. ", "\n\"I deal with hundreds of California companies just about every day, and this \nwas one that I saw that looked like a good investment based on public \nknowledge,\" he said. \"", "I read six newspapers a day or more, and I know what's \ngoing on in the world. ", "If there's a standard that I can't invest in something \nthat I have general public knowledge of, then I wouldn't have any stocks at \nall.\" ", "\nMaviglio said that the \"open\" order he placed meant that he could not have \nused inside information to make his stock purchase. ", "\n\"Had I had specific knowledge about a contract being signed or what actually \nhappened in the office of the mayor of San Jose ... that would have been \nunrelated,\" Maviglio said. \"", "There was no timing-based sequence to it.\" ", "\nCalpine stock, despite the company's considerable success, has slipped in \nrecent weeks because of general investor anxiety about the California energy \ncrisis. ", "\nThe stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $49.30 on \nMay 31, the day Maviglio says he placed the purchase order. ", "The order was \nexecuted as the stock dipped below $40 on June 20, closing that day at \n$39.85. ", "\nThe day before, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced a \nprice-control plan that investors believed was damaging to generators' \nprofits. ", "On Monday, the stock closed at $37.13. ", "\nLast week, the Davis administration stopped doing business with five energy \ntraders under contract with the administration after Maviglio said \nadministration lawyers \"came to the determination that there are possible \nviolations of the law or close to it.\" ", "\n\"It's not a crime to own energy stock,\" Maviglio said Monday. \"", "The difference \nwith these traders is they're making governmental decisions. ", "They're \ncommitting the state's resources by spending money to buy power.\" ", "\nJim Knox, director of California Common Cause, said he believes the \nGovernor's Office made critical errors while hiring staff to purchase energy \nfor the state. ", "\n\"Had the Governor's Office gone to the trouble to have these people fill \nstatements of economic interest, as they were required to do by law, they \nshould have known this before they were hired and they shouldn't have been \nhired,\" Knox said. ", "\n\n\nThe Bee's Amy Chance can be reached at (916) 326-5535 or achance@sacbee.com \n<mailto:achance@sacbee.com>. ", "\nEmily Bazar of The Bee Capitol Bureau contributed to this report.", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavis energy aide leaves -- without pay \nBy Emily Bazar\nBee Capitol Bureau\n(Published July 31, 2001) \nA high-paid consultant to Gov. Gray Davis who came under fire for his \ndealings with a California utility has cut ties with the administration and \nwon't be paid for work already completed. ", "\nUnder terms of a settlement made final Monday, former Clinton damage control \nspecialist Chris Lehane will no longer help shape Davis' public response to \nthe energy crisis. ", "\nNeither Lehane nor partner Mark Fabiani -- who were hired by Davis in May on \na six-month, $30,000-a-month contract -- will receive any money for their \nservices. ", "Fabiani left last month. ", "\nBecause Lehane and Fabiani each received at least $10,000 under contract with \nSouthern California Edison in the past year, Lewis Uhler, president of the \nNational Tax Limitation Committee, filed a lawsuit alleging that conflict of \ninterest laws had been violated. ", "\nBut Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said Lehane and Fabiani were instrumental \nin persuading the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to limit the wholesale \ncost of power in the state. ", "\n\"Chris Lehane provided an invaluable service to the people of California in \nhelping us get action after a yearlong wait from FERC,\" he said. \"", "It's a \nshame that politics gets in the way of public service.\" ", "\nUhler, however, said he believes Lehane and Fabiani represent a larger \nproblem in the Davis administration, and he pointed to the recent dismissal \nof energy traders who held stock in energy companies. ", "\n\"Doesn't anybody in the Governor's Office understand conflict of interest?\" ", "\nUhler asked. ", "\n\"This is really sending a signal that the Governor's Office thinks that it is \nsomehow above the law.\" ", "\n\n\nThe Bee's Emily Bazar can be reached at (916) 326-5540 or ebazar@sacbee.com \n<mailto:ebazar@sacbee.com>.", "\n\n\n\nPower delivery efficiency questioned: Output at low-cost generating plants \nhas been cut while costlier ones continue to operate.", "\nBy Carrie Peyton\nBee Staff Writer\n(Published July 31, 2001) \nCalifornia is sometimes deliberately cutting output from low-cost power \nplants while running more expensive ones, utility and grid officials say. ", "\nThe sporadic episodes haven't cost much yet, but they illustrate a \npotentially troubling disconnect in the system that has quickly grown between \ntwo agencies that help deliver electricity to a power-strapped state. ", "\n\"We seem to be building this inefficiency into the system, and it doesn't \nseem to be getting better,\" said Mike Florio, a consumer advocate who sits on \nthe governing board of the Independent System Operator. ", "\nThe trouble is that the ISO, created in 1996 to manage the power grid in a \nderegulated electric market, tries to run the grid by auctions that -- in \ntheory -- provide the cheapest electricity for the state's consumers. ", "\nMeanwhile, the state Department of Water Resources, which in January stepped \nin to buy power on behalf of cash-strapped utilities, isn't bidding at some \nauctions because it believes it can provide cheaper power if it doesn't. ", "\n\"We have an inefficient market and an inept government entity. ", "It's sort of \nthe worst of both worlds,\" Florio said, criticizing his agency and the DWR. ", "\nISO staffers decline to discuss the situation in detail, saying it involves \nconfidential bidding behavior. ", "\nBut Pete Garris, chief of operations for the power-buying arm of the \nDepartment of Water Resources, confirmed that the ISO has been asking his \nagency to take part in more auctions, but the state has declined. ", "\nThe state's role is to buy electricity for customers of utilities whose \ncredit was no longer good enough to buy on their own, he said. ", "\n\"We're not in it to do those kinds of marketing functions,\" he said. \"", "It's \nnot necessarily a good fit.\" ", "\nSome of the ISO auctions are used to lessen congestion on transmission lines. ", "\nOthers are used to stabilize the grid by slightly increasing or decreasing \noutput when demand doesn't match forecasts. ", "\nGenerally, the highest-cost power plants should be the ones cutting back, a \nprocess the industry calls \"decking.\" ", "\nBut since May, on ISO orders, Southern California Edison has repeatedly \nthrottled back on the Mohave Generating Station, which produces some of the \ncheapest power available to California today, costing as little as $10 to $20 \na megawatt-hour. ", "\nEdison, which owns a majority share of Mohave, has cut its output by 5,660 \nmegawatt-hours between May and July, about one-half of 1 percent, at the \nISO's behest, according to data Edison provided to The Bee. ", "\nThe ISO could probably have saved the state's consumers $370,000 at one plant \nif it had asked a higher-cost gas-burning plant to cut back instead of \nMohave, a coal-burning workhorse in Laughlin, Nev., Florio said. ", "\nThe amount sounds like \"small potatoes,\" but in some ways it is more alarming \nthan the $14 million the state lost recently by selling excess power for less \nthan it paid, he said. ", "\nIndustry experts agree that such below-cost sales are common in a business \nwhere power needs fluctuate dramatically based on the weather. ", "\nBy contrast, \"this is a dead weight loss. ", "Higher costs are being incurred for \nno good reason,\" Florio said. ", "\n\"The question is, why is the ISO calling on Mohave and not (cheaper) gas \nplants? ", "The answer is, the gas plants aren't bidding ... probably because \nthey're contracted with DWR,\" he said. ", "\nFour Corners, another low-cost coal plant partly owned by Edison, has also \nbeen throttled back at ISO request, Edison officials said. ", "\nIn addition, so few bidders have shown up at ISO auctions to ease stress on \ntransmission lines that the system has fallen into disarray, with the ISO \ninstead ordering across-the-board power production cuts that are boosting \ncosts, Florio said. ", "\nFor its part, the ISO will say only that \"we are making the most economical \ndecisions we can based on the bids available,\" said spokeswoman Stephanie \nMcCorkle. ", "\nDWR's Garris said the state and the ISO have been meeting repeatedly on \nbidding and other coordination issues, and he hopes to have a \nsmoother-running system in place by next summer. ", "\n\n\nThe Bee's Carrie Peyton can be reached at (916) 321-1086 or \ncpeyton@sacbee.com <mailto:cpeyton@sacbee.com>.", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavis: FERC excluding $5 billion of owed refunds \nBy Jim Sanders\nBee Capitol Bureau\n(Published July 31, 2001) \nA ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week could cost \nCalifornians $5 billion in energy refunds, according to Gov. Gray Davis, who \nfiled a formal request Monday for a rehearing in the case. ", "\nAlthough the commission's order suggested that California is owed refunds \nbecause of exorbitant electricity prices during the recent energy crisis, the \norder's fine print placed severe limits on such refunds, Davis said. ", "\n\"FERC is up to its old tricks again,\" he said. \"", "They talk about refunds for \nCalifornia. ", "But in this case, talk really is cheap: The details of its latest \norder show it has no intention of making California whole.\" ", "\nTamara Young-Allen, a FERC spokeswoman, declined comment Monday and said the \nagency does not discuss pending cases. ", "\nCalifornia is seeking $8.9 billion in alleged overcharges for electricity \npurchased from May 2000 to June 19, when FERC imposed new rules to prevent \nprice gouging. ", "\nOn Wednesday, FERC ordered hearings to determine precisely how much money \nelectricity generators would have to pay in refunds to California. ", "\nAt the time, Davis applauded FERC's ruling, saying it validates California's \nclaim that \"significant refunds are due\" and that the agency's action \"gets \nus closer to realizing that refund.\" ", "\nBut after poring over details of the 40-page order, state officials said \nMonday that it excludes from consideration more than half the amount sought \nby the state -- leaving $3.9 billion in dispute. ", "\nAttorney Barry Goode and Nancy McFadden, key members of Davis' energy team, \nsaid the FERC order would not allow refunds: \nFor about $2 billion in alleged overcharges stemming from electricity \npurchased by Californians between May and October of last year. ", "\nFor electricity bought by the state Department of Water Resources from \nprivate companies this year. ", "The state says it is owed about $3 billion from \nsuch purchases. ", "\nThe FERC ruling means that only DWR's purchases through the state's \nnow-defunct Power Exchange or through the operator of a statewide electricity \ntransmission grid will be considered for refunds, officials said. ", "\nSuch limitations by the regulatory agency are impractical because the market \nwas dysfunctional, leaving DWR with few options, when the state began buying \nelectricity for debt-strapped private utilities in January, Goode said. ", "\n\"Now FERC says Californians are not entitled to refunds even though they \ndetermined the prices were excessively high,\" Davis said. \"", "It's time for FERC \nto decide who they are working for: the greedy out-of-state generators or the \npeople of California.\" ", "\nThe motion filed Monday sets the stage for a possible lawsuit. ", "\n\"We are calling on FERC to change its order,\" Davis said. \"", "If it doesn't, we \nwill be in court.\" ", "\n\n\nThe Bee's Jim Sanders can be reached at (916) 326-5538 or jsanders@sacbee.com \n<mailto:jsanders@sacbee.com>.", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBill would streamline the path to local power: More cities, including Davis, \nare taking a look at creating municipal utility districts. ", "\nBy Ed Fletcher\nBee Capitol Bureau\n(Published July 31, 2001) \nWith the future of California's investor-owned utilities clouded by the \nstate's energy crisis, more and more cities, including Davis, are looking to \ncontrol their own power destinies. ", "\nCities, public-power advocates and state Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, are \npushing a bill through the state Legislature that would make it easier to \ncreate municipal utility districts. ", "\n\"My solution to the power crisis is to reassert our interests and declare our \nindependence from out-of-state gougers and in-state irresponsible utility \ncompanies,\" said Soto, who is carrying the bill, SB 23xx. ", "\nThe Senate approved the bill earlier this month. ", "The Assembly is expected to \ntake it up when the Legislature reconvenes in mid-August. ", "The state's three \ninvestor-owned utilities are fighting the proposal. ", "\nDavis and other cities look longingly at the Sacramento Municipal Utility \nDistrict's success in sheltering ratepayers from the brunt of rate increases. ", "\nGiven the cloudy financial future of Davis' power provider, Pacific Gas and \nElectric Co., public power supporters say it's easy to understand why cities \nwant local control. ", "If run well, public power can be cheaper and more stable \nthan that supplied by investor-owned utility companies, they say. ", "\n\"You get to choose the type of energy you want. ... ", "I can't think of a bad \nreason\" to have public power, said Robert Milbrodt, a Davis resident active \nin the drive. ", "\nAfter Yolo County officials last year denied an effort to form a public power \nauthority in Davis, the city is ready to take a fresh look. ", "The city, which \ndid not formally support last year's attempt, this week is expected to name \nmembers to a public power task force. ", "It is also hiring a consultant to help \nevaluate the pros and cons of a Davis version of SMUD. ", "\nSoto's bill would create a path to public power that takes county local \nagency formation commissions out of the process. ", "Under the bill, if all the \ncities and counties affected by the proposed municipal utility district sign \non, the plan bypasses the local LAFCO, goes directly to the California Pubic \nUtilities Commission for analysis and then to the voters of the affected \nareas. ", "\nIt was the Yolo County Local Agency Formation Commission that turned down the \nDavis request a year ago, saying critical issues were unresolved. ", "Davis \npublic power activists said their plan would have put the basic formation \nquestion before the voters, leaving the details to be worked out later. ", "\nPublic power boosters said lobbying by PG&E doomed their plans. ", "\nSB 23xx also simplifies the approval process, allowing a simple majority of \nvoters in the proposed district to create the new power district. ", "\nSeizing transformers, power lines and other utility company infrastructure \nthrough eminent domain would become much easier for agencies starting \nmunicipal utility districts under the bill. ", "A utility company would not be \nable to challenge the taking of property based on the merits, but could only \nfight over price. ", "\nThe utility companies say the provision would take away a key protection \nagainst abuse. ", "\nSurveys show Californians like the idea of local officials controlling their \npower, in part because they blame investor-owned utilities for the state's \nelectricity mess. ", "\nNearly two-thirds say local governments taking the place of investor-owned \nutilities would be a good thing, according to a poll released earlier this \nmonth by the Public Policy Institute of California. ", "\nThere are those that warn, however, that pubic power is not without risk. ", "\n\"This bill does not address generation,\" said Dale Hunter, a PG&E lobbyist, \nand municipal utility districts that can't generate their own power will be \n\"exposing ratepayers to the volatility of the (power purchasing) market.\" ", "\nIn Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power has been highly successful \nbecause it has surplus power to sell, Hunter said. ", "SMUD has only recently \nbeen forced to raise its rates largely because it generates some of its \npower, Hunter said. ", "\nBy creating a way around LAFCOs, shifting the Public Utilities Commission to \nan advisory role and stripping the right of utility companies to fight in \ncourt, the bill would be removing important public safeguards, Hunter said. ", "\n\n\nThe Bee's Ed Fletcher can be reached at (916) 326-5548 or \nefletcher@sacbee.com <mailto:efletcher@sacbee.com>.", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSDG&E denies it deceived ratepayers about debt \n\n\n\\\nobjattph \nCompany calls gain on sales, debts 'separate transactions' By Craig D. Rose \nUNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER July 31, 2001 San Diego Gas & Electric yesterday \ndenied allegations that it systematically lied about the debt it racked up \nduring the power crisis, despite revelations that the company earned hundreds \nof millions from some power sales. ", " SDG&E and its parent company, Sempra \nEnergy, acknowledged making profits from selling electricity but insisted \nthose gains have no bearing on the $750 million debt the utility claims to be \nowed by customers for power purchases during the energy crisis. ", " \"Those are \ncompletely separate transactions,\" said Ed Van Herik, a spokesman for SDG&E. \nThe company's effort to seal a deal with the state to clear the $750 million \ndebt has come under attack by the Utility Consumers' Action Network. ", "The San \nDiego-based consumer group says SDG&E's claimed debt is the result of \nselective bookkeeping, bordering on fraud. ", " The bottom line, says UCAN, is \nthat SDG&E engaged in deception and probably owes its customers money. ", " \nSDG&E, which claimed to have sold customers electricity without markups, \nactually \"was buying electricity at a low price and selling it at a higher \nprice to us,\" said Shames. \"", "SDG&E customers have been systematically lied to \nover the past year about this balancing account.\" ", " UCAN says that SDG&E \nearned an estimated $450 million from its power sales to the state, while \npublicly declaring that it was posting only losses from buying power. ", " Shames \nsaid much of the information leading to UCAN's conclusion came from a \ndetailed analysis of documents made available in recent weeks. ", " The state \nOffice of Ratepayer Advocates, meanwhile, yesterday said a new filing by \nSDG&E that claims its power-sales profits belong to stockholders, not \nconsumers, is \"specious\" and \"without merit.\" ", " Van Herik insisted the company \nhad not been misleading. ", "The spokesman noted that the company earlier was \nrequired to buy electricity from the Power Exchange, a now-defunct \nmarketplace established by the state as part of its deregulation plan. ", " \"What \nwe said is that we were buying electricity for our customers and passing \nalong the cost without markup,\" said Van Herik. ", " What SDG&E failed to \npublicly announce was that it was simultaneously selling electricity to the \nPower Exchange for an apparently healthy profit. ", " Under certain contracts, \nSDG&E had locked in electricity at prices substantially below going rates \nduring the ongoing power crisis. ", "The company declined yesterday to reveal \nterms of the contracts. ", "But UCAN estimates the contracts provided electricity \nto the utility at no more than 5 cents per kilowatt-hour. ", " SDG&E then sold \nthat relatively cheap power to the Power Exchange for a higher price and \npocketed the profit, which it also declined to disclose. ", " As it profited from \nthe power sales, SDG&E bought power at higher prices from the exchange and \nbilled customers for what it paid. ", " Whenever SDG&E's costs to buy electricity \nexceeded what state regulators would allow the utility to charge customers, \nit recorded the amounts in balancing accounts. ", "That account grew to $750 \nmillion. ", " But SDG&E never offset its losses from electricity purchases with \nits profit from sales. ", " Van Herik said the practice was appropriate because \nthe lucrative contracts for cheap power were owned by the company's \nshareholders, not its customers. ", "The practice of keeping profits and losses \nentirely separate, he said, was endorsed by a California Public Utilities \nCommission audit. ", " But the first formal ruling on that matter came in June, \nwhen the full commission ruled that all profits from SDG&E's contractual \npower deals belong to its customers. ", " SDG&E went to court to overturn the \ncommission's ruling, but put the legal effort on hold shortly before Sempra \nreached a tentative agreement with the state to clear the $750 million debt. ", "\nThe proposal with the state would reverse the utilities commission ruling and \naward the company's shareholders ownership of the profits SDG&E made from \nselling power. ", " Van Herik said yesterday that the state made the concession \nbecause it recognized that SDG&E had a strong legal case. ", " But Shames says \nthe state had a strong case and noted that the Office of Ratepayer Advocates \nagreed. ", "He is asking the utilities commission to reject the deal. ", " State Sen. \nSteve Peace, D-El Cajon, said he believes that consumer objections to the \nbalancing account deal are aimed at getting ratepayers a better deal -- and \nthat's something he supports. ", " \"If Michael Shames can improve on the \nbalancing account deal I'm in full support as long as we don't lose any of \nthe gains we've already gotten,\" he said. ", " A spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis \ndid not return a telephone call seeking reaction to the UCAN allegations. ", " \nOutside UCAN's office in Little Italy yesterday, a group of trade unionists \ndemonstrated in support of SDG&E's position. ", "Dave Moore, a business manager \nfor the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 465, said SDG&E \nhas handled its power purchases in accordance with utilities commission \nrulings. ", " But Shames said the company sought to shield its actions from the \nscrutiny of consumer groups and the public. ", " \"They consistently said they \nwere not making money from this,\" said the consumer advocate. \"", "For them to \nsplit hairs and say, 'We didn't make money from purchases, we made it from \nsales,' is disingenuous.\" ", " Staff writer Bill Ainsworth contributed to this \nreport. ", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSempra set to unveil plans for new plant, business park \n\n\n\\\nobjattph \nBy Jonathan Heller UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER July 31, 2001 ESCONDIDO -- \nCity officials are expecting to get their first look today at long-awaited \nplans to build the largest power plant in North County since the Encina plant \ncame on line more than 30 years ago. ", " Sempra Energy Resources will file a \n200-page application with the city Planning Department for a 550-megawatt, \nnatural gas-fired power plant and roughly 100-acre business park in southwest \nEscondido, Sempra spokesman Tom Murnane said. ", " \"It (the application) is very \ndetailed,\" Murnane said. \"", "We have not done an application of this sort \nbefore. ", "This is the first time Sempra Energy Resources has been involved in \nthe development of a business park.\" ", " Sempra is building the project in \npartnership with JRM Real Estate, a Carlsbad-based developer. ", " The California \nEnergy Commission will have final say on the power plant, which could take \nthree to four years to get on line. ", "The City Council will decide on the \nindustrial park. ", " City officials have awaited Sempra's bid ever since the \nidea was broached in January. ", "The project addresses two needs: The power \nplant would provide enough energy to power almost a half-million homes, and \nthe business park would bring higher-paying jobs to a city with the lowest \nmedian income in North County. ", " \"I'm awaiting with great anticipation to see \nwhat they have planned,\" said City Councilwoman June Rady. \"", "I have met with \nSempra officials several times in the past and what they have shared with me \nI've been very excited about.\" ", " Sempra has promised that its proposed plant \nwould have lower emission levels than any plant now in the state. ", "The company \nalso has said the plant would not have a tall smokestack, or a visible vapor \nplume such as the one produced by the city's Iceoplex generating plant. ", " The \nplant and park are slated for Quail Hills, the last large parcel of vacant \nindustrial land in the city. ", "Several previous plans by other developers have \nfailed after they discovered the high costs involved with building on the \nhilly terrain. ", " Neighbors near the area have voiced concerns about noise, \ntraffic and dust associated with rock crushing, which would be needed to \ncreate level foundations for the project.", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavis press secretary confirms buying energy company stock \n\n\n\\\nobjattph \nASSOCIATED PRESS July 31, 2001 SACRAMENTO \u0001) Gov. Gray Davis' press \nsecretary recently purchased the same energy stock as five consultants the \ngovernor fired last week, he disclosed Monday. ", " Steve Maviglio confirmed that \non June 20, he bought 300 shares of stock in Calpine Corp., a San Jose-based \npower generator that has received about $13 billion in state contracts to \nsupply electricity for up to 20 years. ", " Maviglio's disclosure comes after \nDavis' office hastily ended the contracts of five consultants who helped \nnegotiate state power contracts and held stock in energy companies. ", " In a \nrelated development, an anonymous source told the Los Angeles Times on Monday \nthat the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a preliminary \ninquiry into whether the consultants used inside information to trade the \nenergy stocks. ", " About two dozen Davis energy consultants were required to \nfill out financial disclosure statements after complaints of conflict of \ninterest by Republicans and consumer groups. ", " \"When we reviewed them, we \nfound possible violations of the law and took swift action,\" Maviglio said \nMonday before Secretary of State Bill Jones issued a press release calling \nfor his termination. ", " Jones, a Republican, is a candidate for the GOP \nnomination to challenge Davis in November 2002. ", " Maviglio defended his \npurchase, saying that he \"owns several stocks in companies in all fields that \nare growing and are based in California.\" ", " Maviglio said Monday that he \nrequested on May 31 to purchase the stock if it dipped to $40 a share, which \nit did two days after a June 18 ruling by federal energy regulators \nrestricting wholesale electricity prices in California and 10 other states. ", " \nMaviglio served as Davis' chief spokesman urging the Federal Energy \nRegulatory Commission to impose price ceilings on electricity wholesalers. ", " \nHe also said he owns between $10,000 and $100,000 stock in Houston-based \nEnron Corp. He said he purchased the stock in 1997 and has reported it on \nfinancial disclosure forms. ", "He said that it is \"closer to $10,000.\" ", " \nMeanwhile, two energy consultants to Davis have agreed to forgo more than \n$50,000 in work they did for the state. ", " Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani will \nforgo the payments as part of a settlement with a Sacramento-area resident \nwho filed a lawsuit objecting to their hiring, calling it a conflict of \ninterest. ", " Fabiani could not be reached for comment Monday. ", "In the \nsettlement, they admitted no wrongdoing. ", " Lehane issued a statement through \nthe governor's office, calling it \"simply not worth the bother to challenge \nthe controller in court.\" ", " Davis has come under fire for his May hiring of \nLehane, former press secretary for Vice President Al Gore, and Fabiani, a \ndeputy campaign manager for Gore's presidential run. ", " They were hired to help \nshape Davis' response to the energy crisis, and helped craft Davis' \naggressive attack on Texas-based energy companies and President Bush. ", " Both \nalso have advised Southern California Edison, which is negotiating for state \nhelp in avoiding bankruptcy. ", "Financial disclosure forms showed they have each \nreceived at least $10,000 from Edison in the past year. ", " Davis announced at \nthe end of June that Fabiani terminated his contract, and Davis scaled back \nLehane's role with the state. ", " State Controller Kathleen Connell then said \nshe would not pay Lehane and Fabiani for any of their work and now the two \nhave agreed they will not fight her decision, Maviglio said. ", " Lewis K. Uhler, \nthe Placer County man who filed the lawsuit, said the settlement \n\"accomplished our objectives.\" ", " \"We wanted to block the egregious use of \ntaxpayer funds for essentially political spinmeisters,\" he said. ", "Uhler is \npresident of the Roseville-based National Tax Limitation Committee. ", " Maviglio \nsaid that Fabiani and Lehane \"did good work for the state\" and helped the \nstate win victories with federal regulators. ", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STATE\nDavis' Energy Advisors Draw SEC Attention\nProbe: Under review is the possible use of inside information to buy power \ncompany stocks. ", "GOP rival of governor requested the inquiry.", "\nBy WALTER HAMILTON JEFFERY L. RABIN and DARYL KELLEY\nTIMES STAFF WRITERS\n\nJuly 31 2001\n\nThe Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a preliminary inquiry \ninto whether energy consultants advising Gov. Gray Davis used inside \ninformation to trade stocks of power companies doing business with the state, \na source with knowledge of the matter said Monday.", "\n\nThe federal agency began its review late last week, the source said, in \nresponse to a request from California Secretary of State Bill Jones. ", "A \nRepublican rival of Davis, Jones charged that stock trading by consultants \nmay have violated federal laws barring buying and selling based on \ninformation not available to the public.", "\n\nOn Friday, top aides to the governor disclosed that five consultants had been \nfired for possible conflicts of interest between their official positions and \ntheir personal finances. ", "As news of the SEC inquiry spread through the \ncapital Monday, Davis officials were confronted by a flurry of questions \nabout who in the administration owns energy stocks.", "\n\nFinancial disclosure records filed by the governor's spokesman, Steve \nMaviglio, show that he owns between $10,000 and $100,000 in a Texas company \nhe and his boss have accused of making \"obscene\" profits while California has \nbeen \"on its knees.\" ", "Maviglio said he bought the shares in Houston-based \nEnron Corp. in 1996.", "\n\n\"It's not a crime to own energy stock,\" Maviglio said.", "\n\nHe also owns 300 shares of San Jose-based Calpine Corp., which has the \nlargest share of the $43 billion in long-term state power contracts.", "\n\nMaviglio placed the order for the stock on May 31, one day after San Jose's \nmayor dropped his opposition to a controversial Calpine plant favored by the \ngovernor and others. ", "Under the terms of Maviglio's purchase, the transaction \nwas completed about three weeks later when the stock reached $40 a share, a \nvalue of $12,000. ", "It has since fallen in value.", "\n\n\"I viewed it as a good long-term investment,\" Maviglio said, adding that he \npurchased the shares for his retirement account based on publicly available \ninformation.", "\n\nThe Davis administration has spared Calpine the kind of fierce criticisms \nthat it has leveled at other electricity suppliers, such as Enron. ", "But \nCalifornia's grid operator has identified the company as one of many energy \nmerchants to overcharge the state millions of dollars.", "\n\nThe fired consultants also owned shares in Calpine, ranging in value from \nseveral thousand dollars to more than $100,000, records show.", "\n\nAnother top Davis administration official, legal affairs secretary Barry \nGoode, disclosed in his economic interest statement that he recently held \nbetween $100,000 and $1 million in another out-of-state company accused of \nmultimillion-dollar price gouging.", "\n\nIn a statement, Goode said he sold his stock in Williams Co's. ", "a month after \nhe began working for the governor in February. ", "Goode said the shares were \nsupposed to be sold before he went on the state payroll, but his broker \nfailed to do so.", "\n\nIn light of the recent disclosures, Secretary of State Jones said the \ngovernor must do more to ensure the public that its interest comes first.", "\n\n\"The governor should direct all of his staff to immediately file updated \nconflict of interest statements that reflect current holdings and any \nactivity since their last statement of economic interest was filed,\" said \nJones, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor.", "\n\nWord of the SEC's entry into California's energy problems comes as the \ngovernor faces harsh criticism from lawmakers and others for the quick and \nbroad hiring of highly paid private consultants to guide him through the \ncrisis.", "\n\nIn his written request to the SEC, Jones said that recently filed disclosure \ndocuments showed that at least one consultant bought and sold shares of two \nenergy companies within the same month, raising \"a red flag\" about the \npossibility of insider trading.", "\n\nState law prohibits officials from participating in decisions involving their \npersonal financial interests.", "\n\nThe five consultants fired last week were among 11 named in Jones' letter, \ndelivered to the San Francisco office of the SEC last Wednesday. ", "It was not \nclear which individuals are the focus of the SEC's inquiry, or whether the \nagency's review would result in any charges.", "\n\nTwo of the former traders said Monday that they had not been contacted by \nfederal investigators and knew nothing of an inquiry into possible insider \ntrading.", "\n\nBut William Mead, fired Thursday, said it is no mystery why so many of his \ncolleagues owned Calpine stock.", "\n\nMead said he bought it 2 1/2 years ago and made so much money he recommended \nit to his colleagues last year, while they all still worked for the \nnow-defunct California Power Exchange in Alhambra. ", "Calpine power was not \ntraded on that exchange, so there was no conflict of interest, he said.", "\n\nMead and three other energy traders--hired by the state in February and \nMarch--were terminated by the Davis administration for allegedly buying power \nfor the state from Calpine while owning the company's stock. ", "Fired traders \nHerman Leung, Peggy Cheng and Constantine Louie did not list the date of \ntheir Calpine purchases on financial statements that the state required to be \nfiled only two weeks ago.", "\n\n\"But I'm sure they bought it while they were still at the power exchange, \nbecause that's when we discussed it,\" Mead said. \"", "It was kind of like a \nhobby. ", "I'm sure it wasn't done with the intent to manipulate.\"", "\n\nFormer trader Elaine Griffin, who also owned Calpine stock and resigned two \nweeks ago to take another job, said she didn't know she owned energy \nsecurities until she checked with her financial advisor July 13, just before \nleaving her state job.", "\n\nGriffin said she and her husband own about $10,000 worth of Calpine stock in \nindividual retirement accounts managed by their advisor, who bought the stock \nFeb. 1 without their knowledge, she said, after research found it to be a \ngood investment.", "\n\n\"I kind of feel like we've been used for political reasons,\" Griffin said. ", "\n\"We would have disclosed anything right at first, but they never asked.\"", "\n\nAs a trader, Griffin said she occasionally bought Calpine power for the \nstate, but only at market prices.", "\n\nMeanwhile, two Democratic political consultants, who helped Davis polish his \nimage after the ongoing energy crisis caused his poll numbers to plummet, \nhave agreed to accept no payment for their work as part of an out-of-court \nsettlement of a taxpayer lawsuit.", "\n\nTom Hiltachk, a lawyer for conservative anti-tax activist Lewis Uhler, said \nthe settlement was reached last Friday after negotiations with lawyers for \ncommunications consultants Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane.", "\n\n\"Now they will not receive one red cent,\" said Hiltachk. \"", "Very simply Mr. \nFabiani and Mr. Lehane have agreed to cease all activities for the governor, \nto accept no payments for their services and to basically get out of the \nconsulting business with the governor.\"", "\n\nAs his part of the agreement, Hiltachk said, Uhler withdrew his lawsuit \nMonday morning.", "\n\nUhler had filed a lawsuit against the two consultants and Controller Kathleen \nConnell in June contending that they should not receive any payments because \nof a conflict of interest. ", "The two men also did consulting work for \nfinancially troubled Southern California Edison, which was seeking help from \nDavis and the Legislature.", "\n\nConnell, a former Los Angeles mayoral candidate who has been at odds with \nDavis since he endorsed an opponent, had held up the payments pending the \noutcome of the lawsuit.", "\n\nUnder an agreement with Davis, the men were to have been paid $30,000 a month \nfor six months.", "\n\nFabiani and Lehane could not be reached for comment.", "\n\n*\n\nTimes staff writers Nancy Vogel and Virginia Ellis in Sacramento and Robert \nJ. Lopez in Los Angeles contributed to this story. ", "\nCopyright 2001, Los Angeles Times <http://www.latimes.com> \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCalifornia governor's press secretary confirms buying energy company stock \nALEXA HAUSSLER, Associated Press Writer\nTuesday, July 31, 2001 \n,2001 Associated Press \nURL: \n<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/07/31/natio\nnal1023EDT0543.DTL>\n(07-31) 07:23 PDT SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- \nGov. Gray Davis' press secretary says he owns stock in the same energy \ncompany as five state consultants who were fired because of possible conflict \nof interest. ", "\nSteve Maviglio confirmed Monday that on June 20 he bought 300 shares of stock \nin Calpine Corp., a San Jose-based power generator that has received about \n$13 billion in state contracts to supply electricity for up to 20 years. ", "\nSecretary of State Bill Jones called for Maviglio's termination. ", "Jones is a \ncandidate for the GOP nomination to challenge Davis in November 2002. ", "\nThe five energy consultants were fired last week because they owned shares in \nCalpine and also had helped the state buy electricity from the company. \"", "We \ndid not want them making governmental decisions and holding these stocks,\" \nsaid Barry Goode, the governor's legal affairs secretary. ", "\nAn anonymous source told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that the Securities \nand Exchange Commission has launched a preliminary inquiry into whether the \nconsultants used inside information to trade energy stocks. ", "\nMaviglio defended his investment, saying that he \"owns several stocks in \ncompanies in all fields that are growing and are based in California.\" ", "\nHe said he had arranged to buy Calpine stock if it dipped to $40 a share, \nwhich it did two days after a June 18 ruling by federal energy regulators \nrestricting wholesale electricity prices in California and 10 other states. ", "\nCalpine stock closed Monday at $37.13. ", "\nMaviglio had served as Davis' chief spokesman urging the Federal Energy \nRegulatory Commission to impose price ceilings on electricity wholesalers. ", "\nHe also said he owns stock worth $10,000 to $100,000 in Houston-based Enron \nCorp., the nation's largest power wholesaler. ", "He said he bought the stock in \n1997 and has reported it on financial disclosure forms. ", "He said his holding \nis \"closer to $10,000.\" ", "\n,2001 Associated Press \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPG&E's $500,000,000 second-quarter surprise \nVerne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer <mailto:vkopytoff@sfchronicle.com>\nTuesday, July 31, 2001 \n,2001 San Francisco Chronicle </chronicle/info/copyright> \nURL: \n<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/07/31/\nBU213760.DTL>\nPG&E Corp. said yesterday that it will earn $500 million to $600 million more \nthan anticipated in the second quarter because its bankrupt utility was able \nto buy cheaper electricity in March as wholesale prices dropped. ", "\nAs a consequence, PG&E reduced the amount of money it says the utility, \nPacific Gas and Electric Co., lost during California's energy crisis from \n$5.2 billion to between $4.6 billion and $4.7 billion. ", "\n\"Its a good thing for PG&E,\" said Paul Fremont, an energy industry analyst \nwith Jefferies & Co., an investment bank in New York. \"", "But it clearly does \nnot get them to the level where they are able to emerge from bankruptcy and \nmake all of their creditors whole.\" ", "\nThe disclosure by PG&E Corp. yesterday adds a modest boost to its quarterly \nearnings report, set for tomorrow morning. ", "The company is expected to report \nan operating profit of 71 cents per share, according to analysts polled by \nThomson Financial/First Call, an investment research firm. ", "\nPG&E Corp. is the owner of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which filed for \nChapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April after electricity prices soared \nthis year. ", "The utility had previously estimated that it lost $1.1 billion in \nthe first quarter and $4.1 billion in the fourth because it was prohibited by \nthe state Public Utilities Commission from passing higher costs on to \nconsumers. ", "\nPG&E Corp. also includes a energy producing unit, which generally makes \nmoney, and a venture capital arm. ", "Neither of those divisions is affected by \nthe utility's bankruptcy. ", "\nThe utility said it got a small break in March as the price it was paying to \nthe California Independent System Operator for energy declined sharply. ", "The \nunanticipated drop was attributed to declining demand because of energy \nconservation, low tempera- \ntures and the opening of new power plants in the state. ", "\nThe utility also benefited from the cancellation of power contracts by \ncompanies that did not want to do business with a bankrupt partner. ", "Those \ncontracts were for selling power at below cost. ", "\nWhat is the utility's gain, though, may be a negative for PG&E's power- \nproducing division. ", "The lower prices could mean the energy-producing group \nwill make less money from its sales, analysts said. ", "\nE-mail Verne Kopytoff at vkopytoff@sfchronicle.com \n<mailto:vkopytoff@sfchronicle.com>. ", "\n,2001 San Francisco Chronicle </chronicle/info/copyright> Page E - 1 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPower and 'juice' \n <mailto:chronfeedback@sfchronicle.com>\nTuesday, July 31, 2001 \n,2001 San Francisco Chronicle </chronicle/info/copyright> \nURL: \n<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/07/31/\nED133454.DTL>\nGOV. ", "GRAY DAVIS seems to have an ethical blind spot when it comes to the \nhiring of outsiders to help manage California's energy crisis. ", "\nThroughout the crisis, Davis has been intolerably slow in responding to \nquestions about whether certain members of his inner circle -- drawing big \nchecks off the public payroll -- might have possible financial conflicts. ", "\nAs of yesterday, the governor's office still has not required 16 contractors \nto file public disclosure documents that would reveal whether they have any \nfinancial stake in companies affected by policies they help develop. ", "\nSteve Maviglio, the governor's press secretary, said 42 energy \"consultants\" \nhave filed their economic disclosure statements. ", "But he said the other 16 \nwere \"contractors\" -- without actual decisionmaking authority -- and were \nthus not required to fill out the forms. ", "\nMaviglio's \"contractor versus consultant\" distinctions are technical and \nsemantic. ", "His spin simply doesn't wash. ", "\nThe bottom line is that \"contractors\" who are making big decisions involving \nbig dollars for the state are not playing by the same rules as others in the \npublic trust. ", "\nFor example, Davis has exempted two Wall Street executives, Joseph Fichera \nand Michael Hoffman, who are putting together a rescue plan that involves a \n$12.5 billion bond issue. ", "They are getting $275,000 a month for their advice. ", "\nYet they have not been required to fill out disclosure forms, which would \nallow the governor -- and any other Californian -- to assess whether a \npotential conflict exists. ", "\n\"They told us they don't have any conflicts,\" said Maviglio, who, \nincidentally, confirmed yesterday that in June he bought $12,000 worth of \nstock in the Calpine Corp., the generating company with the largest chunk of \nstate power contracts. ", "On July 2, Davis publicly praised Calpine as \"the most \nresponsible of the generators.\" ", "\nDavis should have finally learned his lesson last week after having to fire \nfive consultants -- all involved in energy trading -- when their belatedly \nfiled disclosure forms showed serious potential conflicts. ", "A sixth consultant \nquit. ", "Four of those traders owned Calpine shares. ", "\nA week earlier, the Davis administration was forced to order a group of \nconsultants to hastily unload their power-company holdings or lose their \ncontracts. ", "\nThe governor's office also has been stung by revelations that political \nconsultants Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani, hired at $30,000 a month to \ndevelop energy-related \"communications strategies,\" also had a contract with \nSouthern California Edison. ", "\nMoreover, some of the disclosure forms that have been filed to date have been \nless than complete, especially regarding the timing of the buying and selling \nof energy stocks. ", "\nHow many scandals will it take for Davis to insist on full disclosure -- and \nthe highest ethical standards -- of everyone who is working for him on the \nenergy crisis? ", "\n,2001 San Francisco Chronicle </chronicle/info/copyright> Page A - 16 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nS.F. to vote on electric power to the people \nMeasures would start public utility districts \nRachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer <mailto:rgordon@sfchronicle.com>\nTuesday, July 31, 2001 \n,2001 San Francisco Chronicle </chronicle/info/copyright> \nURL: \n<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/07/31/\nMNW145417.DTL>\nSan Francisco -- After decades of trying to persuade San Francisco to take \ncontrol of its electrical system, advocates of public power now have the \nissue before city voters. ", "\n\"The timing couldn't be better,\" said consumer advocate Medea Benjamin, co- \ndirector of San Francisco's Global Exchange. ", "\n\"It's not just the threat of blackouts or the highest rate hikes in history. ", "\nIt's the fact that PG&E is in bankruptcy. ", "It's the depletion of the state \nbudget,\" she said. \"", "This is a hell of an opportunity.\" ", "\nThe opportunity she is talking about centers on two November ballot measures \nthat would pave the way for creating a public power system and taking Pacific \nGas and Electric Co. out of the city's electricity market. ", "\nUnder the proposed measures, an elected board of directors would set the \nrates and have control over everything from the terms for buying electricity \nto whether to use more renewable energy sources, such as wind, hydroelectric \nand solar power. ", "\nPublic power would base policies \"on a more localized basis, where the values \nof an individual community can be put into practice,\" said Ed Smeloff, a \nlongtime public power advocate who was recently hired as an assistant general \nmanager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. ", "\nOne proposal, an initiative placed on the ballot by residents, calls for \nsetting up a municipal utility district in San Francisco and neighboring \nBrisbane. ", "The district would be governed by an elected board of directors. ", "\nThe other measure, placed on the ballot last week by the Board of \nSupervisors, would create a municipal water and power agency and would affect \nonly San Francisco. ", "\nPG&E has mounted a campaign to defeat the measures, so far pumping more than \n$200,000 into the effort. ", "\n\"We think the (ballot proposals) are a bad idea,\" said Frank Gallagher, \nspokesman for the Coalition for Affordable Public Services, the PG&E-financed \ngroup fighting the measures. \"", "They're confusing and do nothing to address the \nproblem.\" ", "\nThe company has a history of opposing public power proposals, derailing a \nplan in Davis in the 1990s and using a legal challenge to stall the start of \nSacramento's Municipal Utility District for two decades. ", "\nFor years, private utilities have enjoyed a powerful hold on state and local \npoliticians. ", "But the energy crisis has caused widespread public anger and \nconcern, forcing city and state officials to take another look at public \npower. ", "\nA poll conducted this month by the Public Policy Institute of California, a \nnonpartisan think tank in San Francisco, found that nearly two-thirds of \nCalifornians support the replacement of private electric companies with \nmunicipal power authorities formed by local governments. ", "\nSan Francisco already owns a power system, Hetch Hetchy, which provides power \nfor city departments. ", "PG&E provides power to residents and businesses. ", "\nThe San Francisco Charter amendment placed on the ballot by the supervisors \ncalls for abolishing the city's existing Public Utilities Commission, which \nis run by commissioners and a director appointed by the mayor. ", "The proposed \npublic power board would have seven elected directors, but the agency still \nwould retain some ties to City Hall. ", "\nThe supervisors' plan is intended to be used as a backup to the municipal \nutility district -- commonly known as a MUD -- which is considered to be more \nvulnerable to the expected legal challenges from PG&E. \n\"It's a great marriage, and will ensure that we get public power in San \nFrancisco,\" said Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano, chief sponsor of \nthe board's measure. ", "\nSan Francisco is not alone in looking at public power. ", "San Diego, the first \ncity to feel the hard pinch of the energy crisis, wants to establish a \nregional public power system in an attempt to pool resources and bring down \nenergy costs. ", "\nThe East Bay Municipal Utility District, which provides water and sewer \nservice, is considering expanding its reach to power. ", "In the Bay Area, the \ncities of Alameda and Palo Alto already have public power. ", "The two largest \npublic power agencies in the state serve Los Angeles and Sacramento. ", "\nIn San Francisco, the pro-public power forces are going to tout the promised \nvirtues of turning the electric utility over to a public authority that by \nlaw cannot turn a profit. ", "That, they contend, means lower rates. ", "\n\"It's an expectation, but it's also tried and true,\" said Ross Mirkarimi, \ncampaign director of MUD Now, the group sponsoring the ballot initiative. ", "\nOn average, consumers pay 18 percent less for power from public utilities, he \nsaid. ", "\nGallagher, spokesman for the opposition campaign, said ratepayers shouldn't \nassume that public power means lower energy bills. \"", "There's no way the rates \nare going down,\" he said. ", "\nHe blamed the energy crisis not on deregulation but on a shortage of \nelectricity, which jacked up prices and undercut reliability. ", "\n\"The measures do nothing about supply,\" Gallagher said. \"", "All this will do is \ncost people money. ", "You can't just take PG&E's assets. ", "You have to pay for \nthem.\" ", "\nE-mail Rachel Gordon at rgordon@sfchronicle.com \n<mailto:rgordon@sfchronicle.com>. ", "\n,2001 San Francisco Chronicle </chronicle/info/copyright> Page A - 11 \n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavis' advisers probed by SEC \nPublished Tuesday, July 31, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News \nBY WALTER HAMILTON, JEFFERY L. RABIN AND DARYL KELLEY \n\nLos Angeles Times \n\n\nThe Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a preliminary inquiry \ninto whether energy consultants advising California Gov. Gray Davis used \ninside information to trade stocks of power companies doing business with the \nstate, a source with knowledge of the matter said Monday. ", "\nThe federal agency began its review late last week, the source said, in \nresponse to a request from California Secretary of State Bill Jones, who is \nseeking the GOP nomination for governor. ", "Jones charged that stock trading by \nconsultants may have violated federal laws barring buying and selling based \non information not available to the public. ", "\nOn Friday, top aides to the governor disclosed that five consultants had been \nfired for possible conflicts of interest between their official positions and \ntheir personal finances. ", "\nIn addition, financial disclosure records filed by the governor's spokesman, \nSteve Maviglio, show that he owns between $10,000 and $100,000 in a Texas \ncompany he and his boss have accused of making ``obscene'' profits while \nCalifornia has been ``on its knees.'' ", "Maviglio said he bought the shares in \nHouston-based Enron Corp. in 1996. ", "\n``It's not a crime to own energy stock,'' Maviglio said. ", "\nCalpine purchase \nHe also owns 300 shares of San Jose-based Calpine Corp., which has the \nlargest share of the $43 billion in long-term state power contracts. ", "\nMaviglio placed an order for the stock with an electronic broker May 31, one \nday after San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales dropped his opposition to a \ncontroversial Calpine plant under pressure from the governor and others. ", "\nUnder the terms of Maviglio's instructions, the stock was automatically \npurchased on his behalf when Calpine fell to $40 a share, according Hilary \nMcLean, a spokeswoman for the governor. ", "It has since fallen in value. ", "\n``I viewed it as a good long-term investment,'' Maviglio said, adding that he \npurchased the shares for his retirement account based on publicly available \ninformation. ", "\nThe Davis administration has spared Calpine the kind of fierce criticisms it \nhas leveled at other electricity suppliers, such as Enron. ", "But California's \ngrid operator has identified the company as one of many energy merchants to \novercharge the state millions of dollars. ", "\nThe fired consultants also owned shares in Calpine, ranging in value from \nseveral thousand dollars to more than $100,000, records show. ", "\nAnother top Davis administration official, legal affairs secretary Barry \nGoode, disclosed in his economic interest statement that he recently held \nbetween $100,000 and $1 million in another out-of-state company accused of \nmultimillion-dollar price gouging. ", "\nIn a statement, Goode said he sold his stock in Williams Co's. ", "a month after \nhe began working for the governor in February. ", "Goode said the shares were \nsupposed to be sold before he went on the state payroll but his broker failed \nto do so. ", "\nIn light of the recent disclosures, the secretary of state said the governor \nmust do more to assure the public that its interest comes first. ", "\n``The governor should direct all of his staff to immediately file updated \nconflict of interest statements that reflect current holdings and any \nactivity since their last statement of economic interest was filed,'' Jones \nsaid. ", "\nWord of the SEC's entry into California's energy problems comes as the \ngovernor faces harsh criticism from lawmakers and others for the quick and \nbroad hiring of highly paid private consultants to guide him through the \ncrisis. ", "\nIn his written request to the SEC, Jones said that recently filed disclosure \ndocuments showed that at least one consultant bought and sold shares of two \nenergy companies within the same month, raising ``a red flag'' about the \npossibility of insider trading. ", "\nState law prohibits officials from participating in decisions involving their \npersonal financial interests. ", "\nThe five consultants fired last week were among 11 named in Jones' letter, \ndelivered to the San Francisco office of the SEC last Wednesday. ", "It was not \nclear which individuals are the focus of the SEC's inquiry, or whether the \nagency's review would result in any charges. ", "\nTwo of the former traders said Monday that they had not been contacted by \nfederal investigators and knew nothing of an inquiry into possible insider \ntrading. ", "\nBut William Mead, fired Thursday, said it's no mystery why so many of his \ncolleagues owned Calpine stock. ", "\nMead said he bought it 2 1/2 years ago and made so much money he recommended \nit to his colleagues last year, while they all still worked for the \nnow-defunct California Power Exchange in Alhambra. ", "Calpine was not traded on \nthat exchange, so there was no conflict of interest, he said. ", "\nTraders fired \nMead and three other energy traders -- hired by the state in February and \nMarch -- were terminated by the Davis administration for allegedly buying \npower from Calpine while owning the company's stock. ", "Fired traders Herman \nLeung, Peggy Cheng and Constantine Louie did not list the date of their \nCalpine purchases on financial statements that the state required to be filed \nonly two weeks ago. ", "\n``But I'm sure they bought it while they were still at the power exchange, \nbecause that's when we discussed it,'' Mead said. ", "``It was kind of like a \nhobby. ", "I'm sure it wasn't done with the intent to manipulate.''", "\n\n\nMercury News Staff Writer Noam Levey contributed to this report. ", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEthics issue in stock buy? ", "\nA top Davis aide bought shares in a power company dealing with the state. ", "\nJuly 31, 2001 \nBy JOHN HOWARD\nThe Orange County Register \nSACRAMENTO A top aide to Gov. Gray Davis bought stock in a power company that \nreceived a long-term contract with the state, the latest in a series of \nenergy investments that have cast an ethical cloud over the state's \nelectricity purchases. ", "\nSteven Maviglio, Davis' press secretary and acting communications director, \nordered through his broker 300 shares of San Jose-based Calpine Corp. stock \nMay 31, to take effect when it dropped to $40 per share. ", "It dropped below \nthat June 20 and Maviglio purchased $12,000 worth, he said. ", "\nTwo days earlier, federal regulators had placed a cap on what Calpine and \nother energy producers could charge for energy -- a cap Maviglio had touted \non behalf of Davis. ", "\nMonday's disclosure of Maviglio's transaction comes just days after Davis \nfired five consultants who were purchasing energy for the state from a \ncompany whose stock they owned. ", "At the time, Maviglio said it \"appeared to us \nthere was a possible violation of the law, or very close to it.\" ", "\nHe said his own situation was different, \"because they (the five) were \ncommitting state resources and timing their purchases.\" ", "The disclosure of his \ntransaction, he said, was \"clearly a political smear by a desperate \ncandidate,\" referring to Secretary of State Bill Jones, a Republican \ngubernatorial hopeful and rival of Davis. ", "\nJones said Maviglio \"should be fired immediately\" and that Davis should order \nall of his staff to immediately file updated conflict-of-interest statements \nto reflect current holdings. ", "\nMaviglio said he would sell the Calpine stock - which closed at $37.13 a \nshare Monday - if requested by Davis' legal staff. ", "He said he spoke with \nthose lawyers Monday and they had not made that request, nor had he been \nasked to resign. ", "\nA Davis aide, Hilary McLean, said, \"Absolutely, the governor has confidence \nin Steve.\"", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAide denies stock deal was improper \nMaviglio says the June 20 purchase, submitted online, was in the hands of \nothers. ", "\nJuly 31, 2001 \nBy JOHN HOWARD\nThe Orange County Register \nSACRAMENTO The governor's chief spokesman denies he committed any impropriety \nby buying Calpine Corp. stock June 20, saying the purchase was actually in \nthe hands of others. ", "\nSteven Maviglio said he submitted on May 31 a purchase order through his \nonline brokerage to buy 300 shares of Calpine, a San Jose-based power \ngenerator that has a long-term energy contract with the state. ", "\n\"It could have happened an hour after later (after the purchase order), a \nmonth later or five years later,\" he said. \"", "Or never.\" ", "\nBut Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at Clare mont Graduate \nUniversity, questioned the wisdom of Maviglio's stock transaction. ", "\n\"What I find puzzling is that he moved to change the dynamic of his stock in \nthe middle of this energy problem, in the middle of the governor's attacks \nand the governor's negotiations,\" she said. \"", "There ought to have been an \nunderstanding that even if not illegal, there should have been a perception \nthat he shouldn't be involved in playing with stocks.\" ", "\nThe disclosure of the transaction couldn't have come at a worse time for the \nadministration, or Maviglio: On Friday, five state energy consultants with \nstock-firm stock were summarily fired and a state lawyer was reassigned to \nanother job. ", "Another consultant with similar investments quit July 14 to take \na private job. ", "\nAll were involved in the energy-purchasing program that was launched under an \nemergency order Jan. 17, in which the state began buying power on behalf of \nthe strapped utilities, which did not credit to purchase power on their own. ", "\nDozens of people were directly involved in the energy purchases. ", "\nEarlier in the day Monday, in a separate issue, the governor's office \ndisclosed that two key consultants who had been hired to help Davis with his \npublic relations had decided to forgo $50,000 in contract fees as part of a \nlegal settlement with Davis' critics. ", "\nThe two consultants, Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani, both veterans of the \nClinton-Gore White House and political campaigns, had been hired in May under \na $30,000-a month state contract. ", "\nRepublicans complained that Davis was using state money to finance political \noperatives. ", "Fabiani left the payroll earlier under pressure; Lehane left this \nmonth.", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPower firms amp up lobbying \nPolitics: Edison spends $5.5 million to gain support for bailout to prevent \nbankruptcy. ", "\nJuly 31, 2001 \nBy KIMBERLY KINDY\nand HANH KIM QUACH\nThe Orange County Register \nSACRAMENTO Edison International has spent more than $5.5 million this year to \nenlist residents and stockholders to lobby the Legislature to bail out its \nsubsidiary Southern California Edison and save it from bankruptcy, reports \nreleased Monday show. ", "\nThe latest financial disclosure statements show that energy companies \ncontinue to spend millions of dollars to influence the Legislature. ", "Meals, \ncampaign contributions and tickets to sporting events continue to flow to \nlawmakers and their staffs. ", "\nOverall, the amount spent on direct lobbying of the Legislature rose slightly \nover last quarter, but gifts and contributions to candidates continued to \nfall. ", "The deadline for statements is today, but many companies and candidates \nfiled early. ", "\nEdison's $5.5 million is so far the largest expenditure directed toward an \norchestrated campaign to influence Capitol politicians. ", "Spokesman Brian \nBennett said Edison spent the money on television commercials to reach all \nCalifornians and on a telephone appeal directly to stockholders. ", "\n\"This was to educate the public about the dangers of bankruptcy to the \nstate's economy and to solicit their support in conveying a message to the \nLegislature that bankruptcy is not an option for the Edison company,\" Bennett \nsaid. ", "\nThe telephone work involved telling stockholders that the company's value \nwould drop if lawmakers did not support a bill to save Edison. ", "Then they \noffered to directly connect the stockholders to lawmakers' offices, asking \nthat they tell the lawmakers directly to support the bailout. ", "\nConsumer advocate Doug Heller said Edison's spending - which totaled $5.7 \nmillion for the three-month reporting period and jumped from $318,802 from \nthe prior quarter - is out of line. ", "\n\"It's amazing that a company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy has millions \nof dollars to throw around to politicians and to create phony grass-roots \ncampaigns to influence legislators,\" said Heller, of the Foundation for \nTaxpayer and Consumer Rights. ", "\nEdison said no contributions were made directly to anyone running for office \nor re-election for this quarter. ", "\nIn all, lawmakers sitting on energy committees and who had reported by Monday \nnight accepted nearly $61,000 from energy-related companies. ", "\nAs of late Monday, Assemblyman Dean Florez, D-Shafter, who sits on the \nAssembly Energy Committee, had received the largest contribution from energy \ncompanies this quarter, $21,000. ", "\nSeven of the largest power producers that sell electricity to the state spent \na total of $546,488 on lobbying and other efforts to influence the \nLegislature. ", "\nTopping the list was Calpine Corp., which spent $141,204. ", "Duke Energy came in \nsecond at $99,735.44 - a $20,000 leap over the prior quarter. ", "Most of Duke's \nmoney was spent on consultants who worked overtime building a defense for the \ncompany against accusations of price gouging made by former employees. ", "\n\"Overall, our consultants spent more time setting the record straight against \nsome blatantly false and misleading statements, regarding our rates and plant \noperations, which the state's own documents proved were false,\" said Duke \nspokesman Pat Mullen. ", "Some lawmakers and energy experts say the state \ndocuments do not clear Duke of wrongdoing, and the accusations are still \nbeing investigated by a Senate committee.", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGouger Gray Davis \nCalifornia's petulant governor ignores reality as he overpays for electricity\n\nLANCE T. IZUMI Mr. Izumi is a senior fellow in California Studies at the San \nFrancisco- based Pacific Research Institute.", "\nOn the surface, things seem to be going pretty good for Gov. Gray Davis with \nregard to California's electricity crisis. ", "The governor has scored some nice \npublicity by switching on some new power plants. ", "The weather has been \nunseasonably cool. ", "His poll numbers are edging back up. ", "Yet beneath this \noptimistic picture lie troubling problems. ", "For example, Davis's argument that \nout-of-state power generators are responsible for the electricity crisis has \nbeen falling apart. ", "For months, Davis has been claiming that private \ngenerators have overcharged California by $8.9 billion and demanded that this \namount be refunded to the state. ", "However, after a two-week mediation between \nstate officials and the generators, Curtis Wagner, the federal government's \nchief energy regulatory judge, rebuked Davis's claim saying that such a huge \novercharge \"has not and cannot be substantiated.\" ", "Further, while the \ngenerators may be liable to refund a much smaller amount to the state, \nperhaps $1 billion, Wagner said that generators are owed more money by the \nstate than they owe the state in refunds: \"Can a cash refund be required \nwhere a much larger amount is due the seller? ", "The chief judge thinks not.\" ", "\nDavis reacted to the judge's ruling by calling it a \"raw deal\" and by urging \nthe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ignore the lack of evidence and \nthe judge's conclusions and to \"step up and provide the refunds we've asked \nfor.\" ", "Davis's position, as usual, is motivated purely by politics. ", "Indeed, \nDan Walters of the Sacramento Bee says that Davis is operating in a \n\"melodramatic virtual world\" de-linked from reality. ", "\nDavis's blame-the-generators argument took another body blow when newly \nreleased documents showed that, on average, major out-of-state power \ncompanies such as Enron, Duke, Dynergy and Mirant charged less than the \naverage prices paid by the state during the first three months of the year. ", "\nCalifornia government utilities, on the other hand, such as the Los Angeles \nDepartment of Water and Power and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District \n(SMUD), charged the state much more for electricity than the out-of-state \ngenerators. ", "For example, while Texas-based Enron, a favorite Davis whipping \nboy, charged an average $181 per megawatt hour, SMUD charged an average $330 \nper megawatt hour. ", "\nDavis responded to this revelation in typical political fashion. ", "A Davis \nspokesman said that the governor had expressed his anger at \"the generators \nwho wear cowboy hats\" and that \"just because there are other entities that \nare charging us more doesn't change the fact that we are getting ripped off \nby companies from Houston, Tulsa, Atlanta or Charlotte.\" ", "\nYet, for all Davis' feigned indignation about consumers being ripped off, it \nturns out that he and his regulators are poised to ensure that business \nconsumers are ripped off by state government. ", "Davis has signed $43 billion in \nill-advised long-term purchase contracts at rates above-market-price. ", "The \nstate must, therefore, ensure that enough business customers remain in the \ncurrent state-controlled distribution system to pay for high-priced state \npower purchases. ", "This is especially important to Davis since the high prices \nare borne disproportionately by business. ", "Thus, Davis' regulators are set to \neliminate \"direct access,\" which allows businesses to shop for cheaper power. ", "\nWho's the real gouger? ", "No matter how much Davis points the finger, \nCalifornians are paying dearly for his political opportunism and bad \npolicies. ", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTurning Coal into a tradable commodity\nBy Rick Stouffer\nrstouffer@ftenergy.com <mailto:rstouffer@ftenergy.com>\nWith the California power debacle offering a neck-snapping jolt, a number of \nstates have determined they must offer more than lip service to ensure that \nresidents and businesses have enough power to function.", "\n\nWhile deregulation's brakes may have been applied in some locales, it doesn't \nmean that development incentives likewise have been scaled back. ", "\n\n\"There is no question that California was the wake-up call for these states,\" \nsaid Craig Goodman, president of the National Energy Marketers Association. ", "\n\nMidwest a hotbed for incentives\nMany of the states that have already passed legislation to entice new plant \ndevelopment are located in the Midwest, an area that, while not yet suffering \nfrom a lack of power, slowly, inexorably is heading in that direction. ", "\n\n\"Iowa, Illinois and Ohio are located in ECAR (the East Central Area of the \nNorth American Electric Reliability Council, or NERC), which is not yet in a \ncrisis situation when it comes to sufficient power, but is only a year or two \naway from that crisis,\" said Robert Burns, senior research associate with the \nNational Regulatory Research Institute at Ohio State University in Columbus, \nOhio. ", "\n\nIn its latest self-assessment presented as part of NERC's most recent 10-year \nprojection, 2000-2009, ECAR said that if 10,400 MW of new capacity is not \nadded within ECAR as planned, capacity margins within the region will go \nnegative in 2005. ", "\n\nPPAs a no-no in Iowa\nNo plant of any significant size has been built in Iowa since 1983, but \nlegislators, during a one-day special session in June, put in place what they \nhope will spur additional development. ", "\n\nThe Iowa measure allows utilities to see how their costs will be incorporated \ninto rates prior to plant investment, and also permits municipal systems to \nband together to finance new facilities. ", "\n\nOne item the Iowa legislature could not get past a veto that Gov. Tom Vilsack \npromised was allowing utilities to purchase power via power purchase \ncontracts from unregulated affiliates. ", "\n\nThe governor said such a measure would lock in profits for utilities and \npreclude potential rate cuts. ", "Proponents say the governor effectively locked \nout millions of dollars of investment in Iowa by Madison, Wis.-based Alliant \nEnergy Corp., which reportedly wanted to build as much as 1,200 MW of \ncapacity in Iowa. ", "\n\nWisconsin Energy likes the tune\nNortheast of Iowa, Wisconsin appears to be heading off a problem nearly all \npower plant developers have these days: a bad case of \"not in my backyard.\" ", "\n\n\"Even if a state approves a new power supply, you still have to deal with \nlocal siting officials and NIMBYism,\" said Goodman. ", "\n\nOne Wisconsin proposal given serious consideration is to double the impact \nplants have on shared revenue payments, to $250 million from $125 million. ", "\n\nChanging shared revenue payments to provide additional compensation to local \ngovernments that favor plant construction on existing plant sites also has \nbeen introduced in Wisconsin. ", "\n\nWisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum also has proposed lowering the state's gross \nreceipts tax on wholesale power to 1.59% from the current 3.19%.", "\n\nMany of the proposals floating around the Badger State are music to the ears \nof Wisconsin Energy, which is looking to spend some $7 billion over the next \ndecade to construct five new power plants. ", "\n\nNot everyone likes the look of incentive legislation in Iowa, Wisconsin and \nother states. ", "Many of the new laws are geared toward assisting incumbent \nutilities\u0001*effectively snubbing independent power producers, the IPPs say. ", "\n\n\"I would not call many of these incentive packages incentives for merchant \npower producers,\" said Samantha Slater, manager of state and regional affairs \nfor the Electric Power Supply Association. \"", "Utilities only building new \nplants definitely is not the way to go.\" ", "\n\nBig doings in Illinois\nPerhaps the biggest, most all-encompassing incentive package passed by a \nstate in recent memory isn't specifically about promoting plant development. ", "\n\nIllinois Gov. George H. Ryan in late June signed legislation that provides up \nto $3.5 billion in incentives designed, industry watchers say, to preserve \nand promote the state's $1 billion coal industry\u0001*and keep 25,000 coal-related \njobs intact.", "\n\n\"Illinois in part wanted to protects its coal jobs with this legislation,\" \nsaid Paul Cetevich, director of energy services at the Utility Research \nCenter at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business in \nGainesville. \"", "Illinois has been trying to do similar things for a number of \nyears.\" ", "\n\nThe Illinois plan includes sales (6.5%) and utility tax exemptions, along \nwith an investment tax credit, millions for a financial assistance program \nfor coal-fired facilities, bond funds set aside to be used for transmission \nupgrades and to finance renewable energy projects, even a review by the state \nEnvironmental Protection Agency to determine if new regulations concerning \nolder coal-fired plant emissions are warranted.", "\n\nHighlights of Illinois energy incentive legislation Designates new baseload \nplants, the mines that fuel them or firms that construct new or upgrade \nexisting transmission lines as so-called high-impact businesses. ", "These \nbusinesses are provided sales tax exemptions on building materials and \nequipment, utility tax exemptions and investment tax credits. (", "Natural \ngas-fired plants are only eligible for sales tax exemption.) ", " Creates a $500 \nmillion financial assistance program for coal-fired plants equal to the \namount of general obligation bond funding that can be repaid by coal tax \nrevenues gained on new Illinois coal purchases. ", " Provides up to $1.7 billion \nin revenue bond authorization to provide financing for electric plants \ngenerating Illinois coal mining jobs, including mine-mouth plants and plants \nthat use clean-coal technology, repayable by the developers. ", " Provides up to \n$300 million in revenue bond authorization designed to spur upgrades to the \ntransmission grid in Illinois, repayable by the wires' owner. ", " Provides up to \n$500 million in revenue bond authorization to finance renewable energy \nprojects, and $500 million for existing coal-fired plants to add scrubbers, \nboth repayable by the developers. ", " Mandates a review by the Illinois \nEnvironmental Protection Agency of the need for new state regulations \ngoverning emissions by older coal-fired plants not subject to stricter air \nquality restrictions imposed on new units. ", " Creation of additional local \noptions for property tax abatement. ", " In addition, Illinois Gov. George H. \nRyan amended an earlier executive order creating the Governor's Energy \nCabinet. ", "Under the revised order, the Energy Cabinet will have responsibility \nfor siting new generation, overseeing implementation of environmental \nregulations on new plant developers and streamlining the state's permitting \nprocess for new generation. ", "\n\n\"When the legislative session began in January, you had all the publicity \nabout California, the price of natural gas had spiked, there was talk of $3 a \ngallon gasoline, so there were probably three or four versions of coal \nlegislation floating around at one time,\" said Brian Reardon, a spokesman for \nthe Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. ", "\n\nRyan convened a coal summit in March, took ideas from all invited and put \ntogether what became the state's $3.5 billion incentive package. ", "\n\n\"I'm very impressed with what Illinois has put in place,\" the energy \nmarketers' Goodman said. \"", "I'm not aware of any other state with as \ncomprehensive a package.\" ", "\n\nA newly created Governor's Energy Cabinet in Illinois would seem to put \nNIMBYism to bed, if not totally to rest, by assuming responsibility for \nsiting new generation, overseeing environmental regulation implementation and \nstreamlining state permitting. ", "\n\n\"We were able to develop a comprehensive strategy that addresses our state's \nenergy needs while providing for a long overdue boost to our coal industry,\" \nGov. Ryan said in a statement. ", "\n\nLooking at the broader picture\nIllinois is preserving the coal industry, but also looking at the broader \npicture, according to the University of Florida's Cetevich. ", "Illinois, and \nmany other states, have determined that natural gas-fired plants may not be \nthe saviors the country should rely upon. ", "\n\n\"I believe the No. ", "1 overriding factor, while some states are putting \nincentive packages together, is that the states and public utility \ncommissions have realized that with the numerous natural gas price spikes, \ncoal is not such a bad option after all.\" ", "\n\n\"Having all our eggs in the natural gas basket could be a bad thing,\" agreed \nthe National Regulatory Research Institute's Burns. \"", "It cannot have good \nimplications.\" ", "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDebt Pitch:\nCalifornia's Next Test\nIn Electricity Crisis:\nSelling Power Bonds\n---\nThe $12.5 Billion Offering,\nCrucial to State Finances,\nFaces Skeptical Investors\n---\nThe Risk of Big Budget Cuts \nBy Mitchel Benson and Gregory Zuckerman \n\n07/31/2001 \nThe Wall Street Journal \nPage A1 \n(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) \nSACRAMENTO, Calif. -- For the past seven months, Gov. Gray Davis has begged, \ncajoled and even threatened legislators and regulators, to lay the groundwork \nfor a $12.5 billion bond issue California needs to cover the cost of keeping \nits lights on. ", "\nNow comes the tough part: persuading investors that the bond is an attractive \ninvestment. ", "On that score, Mr. Davis's team, whose credibility has been \nbattered by California's months-long electricity crisis, is hoping to bounce \nback from a rocky start. ", "\nThis week, a delegation headed by state Treasurer Philip Angelides is \nscheduled to visit Wall Street to pitch the municipal debt offering, which \nwould be the largest in U.S. history by a factor of nearly four. ", "To succeed, \nMr. Angelides will have to allay investors' fears of the kind of political \ninfighting that already has delayed the issue several times. ", "He will have to \nsatisfy bond-rating agencies that the bond is safe enough to merit a top-tier \ninvestment-grade rating. ", "And he'll have to make investors want to buy it \nwithout demanding costly inducements that would give California financial \nheadaches for decades to come. ", "\n\"This isn't building the Panama Canal. ", "It's not Apollo 11,\" says Mr. \nAngelides. ", "But, he concedes, the bond sale will be \"uniquely challenging.\" ", "\nThat is because this giant bond issue won't be backed by the full faith and \ncredit of the state or by tax dollars -- the types of guarantees public-debt \ninvestors often prefer. ", "Instead, the bonds, which will have maturities of as \nlong as 15 years, are to be paid off by the state's electricity ratepayers \nfrom their monthly bills, which some view as a riskier source of cash flow. ", "\nMoreover, there is still a question as to whether the issue's proceeds will \nbe adequate to repay the bonds, restore the state's financially troubled \nprivate utilities to health and finance future electricity purchases. ", "\nDespite these hurdles, many analysts predict California will eventually \nsucceed in pulling off the bond deal, though at a cost far higher than \noriginally anticipated. ", "In fact, the apparent easing of the state's energy \ncrunch may make its marketing job a bit less difficult. ", "A recent drop in the \nprice of natural gas, which fuels many California power plants, a mild summer \nin the West and a June decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission \nto impose electricity price caps in the region have helped avert the rolling \nblackouts that roiled the state earlier this year. ", "\nStill, the specter of history overhangs the bond offering. ", "Rating agencies \nare haunted by having failed to warn investors of such public-finance \ndisasters as the 1983 default of the Washington Public Power Supply System \nand the 1994 bankruptcy of Orange County, Calif. Moreover, Moody's Investors \nService and Standard & Poor's assigned investment-grade ratings as recently \nas early January to debt issued by Pacific Gas & Electric Co., just three \nmonths before the California utility sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court \nprotection. ", "\nBy the time California hopes to sell its bonds, in October or early November, \nthe state's electrical-power purchases are expected to leave it owing a total \nof about $10 billion to its lenders and its own general fund. ", "If the bond \nissue is delayed beyond that, or canceled, or if the offering flops, \nCalifornia could be forced to make billions of dollars in spending cuts, \nraise taxes or increase electricity rates for the third time in the past year \nto pay back what it owes. ", "\nIf the bond sale fails \"the state of California will be in deep trouble,\" \nsays Mr. Angelides. \"", "The state general fund must be repaid so money for \neducation, health care and children's services can be safe.\" ", "\nCalifornia's need for the bonds -- like most of the state's energy woes -- \nstems from its troubled 1996 electricity-deregulation plan. ", "Under the plan, \nthe state's investor-owned utilities were obliged to sell many of their power \nplants to other companies and purchase electricity through a state-sponsored \npower auction. ", "Consumer rates were frozen, but wholesale rates weren't. ", "\nThe system worked fairly well until May 2000, when wholesale rates began \nsoaring amid tight electricity supplies and stronger-than-expected demand. ", "\nLast year, the state's cost of wholesale power climbed to $27 billion from $7 \nbillion in 1999. ", "In the first six months of this year, that sum hit $20 \nbillion. ", "\nWith retail rates frozen, Pacific Gas & Electric, a unit of PG&E Corp., and \nEdison International's Southern California Edison racked up billions of \ndollars of debts. ", "In January, after power generators stopped doing business \nwith the utilities, the state began buying power on their behalf. ", "It borrowed \nthe money from its general fund, normally used to pay for everything from \npublic safety and environmental programs to social services and education, at \na pace of more than $1 billion a month. ", "\nIn February, Mr. Davis's allies in the state Legislature helped him pass a \nbill authorizing the state to sell bonds to replenish the fund and to \ncontinue making power purchases. ", "But legislators cautiously capped the size \nof the borrowing, using a complex formula. ", "Under the new law, the formula \nwould allow only for a bond sale of less than $1 billion. ", "\nRealizing that wasn't sufficient, the governor and the assembly drafted \nanother bill that scrapped the formula and allowed the state to sell up to \n$13.4 billion of bonds. ", "But, in a setback for Mr. Davis, Republican lawmakers \nbanded together to deny him the two-thirds majority needed for the bill to \nimmediately become law. ", "As a result, the law won't take effect until \nmid-August, when the public-finance market is all but moribund. ", "\nIn the meantime, Mr. Angelides moved to hire underwriters. ", "After receiving \nfour dozen bids from Wall Street investment bankers in February, he retained \na team led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. But under pressure to get the financing \nmoving, the treasurer didn't negotiate firm underwriting fees on the deal. ", "\nAt the time, Mr. Angelides said he expected the underwriters to \"skinny down\" \ntheir fees given the enormous size of the offering. ", "But Morgan, representing \na team of underwriters that includes Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Citgroup \nInc.'s Salomon Smith Barney unit and Bear, Stearns & Co., says it expects to \ncharge standard fees, given the significant challenges presented by the \nissue's size. ", "In the case of a $12.5 billion sale, that amounts to around $56 \nmillion. ", "J.P. Morgan and the California treasurer's office now say the fees \nwon't be decided until they determine the bond issue's final size and \nstructure. ", "\nFrom the start, relations between California officials and Wall Street seemed \nfraught with miscommunication. ", "In February, Mr. Davis called a meeting to \nexplain to institutional investors, analysts and rating-agency executives his \nblueprint for getting a grip on California's energy crisis. ", "The session, his \nonly face-to-face meeting with investors to date, was held at Manhattan's \nCornell Club. ", "Attendees say the governor kept them waiting for 20 minutes \nbefore breezing into the room and giving them only a general overview of the \nstate's energy plan, which left investors grumbling. ", "\nDuring the discussion, Mr. Davis, a Bronx, N.Y., native, made light of a \nconversation he had had with Richard Cortright Jr., a Standard & Poor's \ndirector. \"", "I told him: `You're from Indiana, that explains why you're not \ngetting it,'\" the governor said, according to several people present. ", "\n\"It was intended as a joke, but no one was laughing,\" says A.J. Sabatelle, a \nMoody's vice president. ", "A spokesman for Mr. Davis says the governor doesn't \nrecall the exchange; Mr. Davis is frequently late for public engagements. ", "A \nspokesman for Mr. Cortright wouldn't comment. ", "\nThen, in March, the governor's office set up a conference call to update \ninvestors. ", "Figuring they wouldn't get a big turnout, they used an open-mike \nsystem that allowed each investor's comments to be heard by everyone else. ", "\nBut with around 100 investors taking part, the presentation by Joseph \nFichera, a paid consultant who is one of Mr. Davis's top financial advisers, \nturned into a free-for-all, with one caller cursing Mr. Fichera in response \nto one of his answers. ", "\nInfighting among California politicians hasn't helped. ", "Earlier this year, for \nexample, state Controller Kathleen Connell criticized the way her fellow \nDemocrats, Messrs. Davis and Angelides, were handling the bond sale. ", "Unless \nit was far bigger, she warned, the state would face a \"cash-flow crunch\" by \nFebruary or March of 2002. ", "The governor's office fired back, calling her \nclaims \"completely\" political. ", "\nCalifornia policy makers have \"spent most of the year bickering and finger \npointing,\" Standard & Poor's director Peter Rigby said in a recent report, \n\"and that will raise some uncertainty among lenders.\" ", "Moreover, investors \nknow the state needs the money, and so \"it's a buyer's market,\" Mr. Rigby \nadded. ", "\nAware that it needed a financial pro to make its case to Wall Street, the \nDavis Administration pushed Mr. Fichera to the forefront. ", "Since May, the \nformer Prudential Securities investment banker has spent hours on conference \ncalls with Wall Street explaining the state's strategy. ", "That and a sense that \nCalifornia has gotten a better grip on its electricity woes indicates that \n\"the governor's staff is far higher on the learning curve than just a few \nmonths ago,\" says Paul Patterson, an electric-power analyst at ABN Amro Inc. \nCritical barriers remain. ", "The state's Public Utilities Commission has yet to \nmake key decisions intended to ensure that there's enough ratepayer revenue \nset aside to guarantee that bondholders get paid. ", "On Aug. 23, for example, \nthe PUC is expected to take up a rate agreement giving the state's power \npurchaser, the Department of Water Resources, unprecedented authority to \nraise rates without a public hearing. ", "The commission also is expected to \ndecide how to divvy up current ratepayer revenue among state and private \nutilities and to take up a measure that would prohibit large industrial \nconsumers from, in effect, bypassing the utilities and buying their juice \ndirectly from generators or traders. ", "\nBut opponents of those controversial measures are expected to put up a fight. ", "\nBusinesses and consumer groups are particularly upset that the state might \nget carte blanche to raise rates and are threatening to sue to block the PUC \ndecision before the state Supreme Court. ", "\nCalifornia already has some of the highest electricity rates in the nation. ", "\nResidential consumers in San Francisco, for instance, pay around 14 cents per \nkilowatt hour for power, up from about 10 cents in December. ", "That compares \nwith around seven cents per kilowatt hour in Atlanta and 10 cents in Chicago, \nbut it is still lower than the nearly 23 cents charged in New York City. ", "\nHigh costs are a big reason businesses think they ought to be free to buy \nelectricity directly. ", "It's not \"in the best interest of consumers to \neliminate direct access in order to market bonds that will keep the price of \nelectricity in California higher than necessary for at least 10 years,\" says \nAllan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce. ", "\nThe state's three largest investor-owned utilities, PG&E, SoCalEd and Sempra \nEnergy's San Diego Gas & Electric Co., are expected to demand the largest \npossible share of the revenues they collect from ratepayers. ", "PG&E, for \nexample, has already asked for a public hearing to examine the state's claim \nthat it needs so much money. ", "The pressure to allocate more cash to the \nutilities could also rise if a state-sponsored bailout plan for SoCalEd fails \nand the utility joins PG&E in bankruptcy proceedings. ", "\nSorting all these issues out before the PUC may lead to legal challenges that \ncould delay the bond issuance for months. ", "And potential investors face \nanother nagging concern: Under a $43 billion series of long-term power \ncontracts signed by the state, electricity generators and traders involved \nget first call on revenue from ratepayers. ", "Only then would bondholders, who \nare accustomed to being first in line, get paid. ", "\nIn fact, some investors who were initially enthusiastic about a bond that is \nexpected to pay more than half a percentage point above other municipal \nissues in the market are starting to have doubts. ", "Marilyn Cohen, president of \nEnvision Capital in Los Angeles, a firm that manages bond portfolios for \nindividual investors, says she spent several months setting aside money to \nparticipate in the deal. ", "Now, she says, she is starting to look elsewhere. \"", "I \ndon't have confidence that it will get done,\" she adds. ", "\nMany investors are concerned the state hasn't proved it can overcome its \nenergy crisis. \"", "These are the same guys who told us energy prices were going \nsouth five years ago, they're trying to gloss over the potential problems,\" \nsays Kelly Mainelli, a portfolio manager at Montgomery Asset Management in \nSan Francisco, who is considering investing in the bonds. ", "He says he also \nworries about a spike in natural gas prices ahead of the offering. ", "\nTo reassure potential investors, the state now is offering to amass a $3 \nbillion reserve -- from bond proceeds and ratepayer revenues -- to ensure \nthat bondholders would get paid in the event of any unforeseen developments \nin the power market. ", "In addition, California lawmakers are moving a bill \nthrough the Legislature that would set aside a specific portion of revenues \nfrom ratepayers solely to pay bondholders. ", "Such an approach could help the \nbond issue \"to get a higher rating,\" says David Hitchcock, director of \nStandard & Poor's state and local government group. ", "\nIt might not, however. ", "It isn't clear whether bankruptcy courts can overrule \nstate government. ", "So, some investors worry that PG&E's bankruptcy judge could \nrule that money collected by the utility should go to the company's \ncreditors, and not to paying investors in the coming bond deal, throwing a \nwrench into the offering. ", "The same would be true in the case of SoCalEd if it \nended up filing for Chapter 11 protection. ", "\nUnderwriters are moving to broaden the appeal of the planned issue by \nchopping it into small slices aimed at different types of investors. ", "There \nwill be taxable, tax-free, variable-interest, fixed-interest, short-term and \nlong-term bonds. ", "State Finance Director Tim Gage says the state is assuming a \nrating \"in the range of single-A\" on the power bonds and thus expects to pay \nan average annual interest rate of 5.77% on the tax-exempt issue and 7.77% on \nthe taxable bonds. ", "\nInvestors and analysts \"may think we're crazy,\" says Guy Phillips, one of the \nstate's top legislative aides on energy matters, \"But in the end, the \ndecision for them is: `Do we see a path to get our money.'\" ", "\n--- \nJournal Link: Would you purchase California bonds that are backed by utility \npayments? ", "Participate in the Question of the Day, in the online Journal at \nWSJ.com/Question. ", "\n\n (Graph)\n\n\n\n\n\nCalifornia ; Op Ed Desk \nCommentary The State Will Pay for Davis' Panic\nKATHLEEN CONNELL; PETER NAVARRO\n\n07/31/2001 \nLos Angeles Times \nHome Edition \nPage B-13 \nCopyright 2001 / The Times Mirror Company \nThe five-to-20-year power contracts signed in a panic by the Davis \nadministration have saddled California with billions of dollars of \"stranded \ncosts\" that will burden our economy and state budget for years to come. ", "\nNow, Gov. Gray Davis' spin doctors want us to believe that these $43-billion \nlong-term contracts were both necessary and the impetus for a moderating \nenergy market. ", "Here's the real story: \nLast summer, under a flawed deregulation, a handful of large out-of-state \ngenerators effectively cornered California 's wholesale electricity market. ", "\nThis \"sellers cartel\" first drained our electric utilities dry. ", "In November, \nit became the taxpayers' turn to be victimized, when the Davis administration \ngave carte blanche authority to the Department of Water Resources for energy \npurchases. ", "Between November and July, the department burned through $8 \nbillion in short-term energy purchases, devouring almost the entire state \nbudget surplus. ", "This required the state Public Utilities Commission to pass \nthe largest rate hike in California history and will require the state to \nissue $12.4 billion in bonds this fall to service this debt. ", "\nIn February, with spot market prices at all-time highs and rolling blackouts \nrippling through the state, the governor's representatives began to negotiate \nlong-term contracts with the sellers cartel. ", "This was an ill-advised \nlong-term strategy to fight a short-run crisis. ", "To understand why, look at \nthe negotiating chessboard from the electricity cartel's perspective. ", "The \ncartel's negotiators knew that within 18 to 24 months, there would be a huge \nglut of power on the market as many power plants were already under \nconstruction in California and throughout the West. ", "Once the new energy \nresources were available, the cartel would no longer be able to manipulate \nthe market. ", "This supply glut would drive prices back to the 1999 range of \nthree to five cents per kilowatt-hour, far lower than the prices now set in \nthe long-term energy contracts. ", "\nTo the cartel members, this looming power glut was a recipe for heavy losses. ", "\nLocking the state into long-term contracts at lucrative rates was their \nredemption. ", "The Davis administration walked into this market inferno, \nbargaining from extreme weakness at the top of the market, signing contracts \nthat were too expensive. ", "The administration also capitulated on two highly \nobjectionable clauses. ", "The first requires the state to absorb all costs of \nenvironmental protection for many of the generators. ", "The second holds the \ngenerators \"harmless\" for any increase in taxes imposed on the generators by \nthe state. ", "This provision essentially freezes taxes on the generators over \nthe next several years, requiring taxpayers to pick up the tab. ", "\nNotwithstanding the administration's spin, the current improvement in our \nenergy situation may be traced to at least four other factors: This summer \nhas been unusually cool, Californians have increased their conservation, \nrecessionary forces have reduced demand and, most important, the Federal \nEnergy Regulatory Commission finally imposed price caps on the sellers \ncartel, dampening market manipulation. ", "\nThe bottom line is this: Long after the rolling blackouts stop, California \nstill will be saddled with billions of dollars of unnecessary electricity \ncosts and high bond debt. ", "These higher costs will hurt consumers and \nbusinesses, put heavy pressure on the state budget for years and inhibit the \nstate's economic growth. ", "\nThere are two lessons from this multibillion-dollar mistake. ", "The first is to \nhave full public review of major energy decisions. ", "Equally important, the \nPublic Utilities Commission must be allowed to retain its rate-making \nauthority so that problems are not hidden in a state bureaucracy.", "\n\n\n\n\n\nElectrical Switch: Now, Cheaper Power\nIs Causing Hefty Losses for California \nBy Rebecca Smith\n\n07/31/2001 \nThe Wall Street Journal \nPage A3 \n(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) \nMild weather means that California is escaping blackouts, but it also means \nthat the state is amassing power-trading losses that are adding to the cost \nof an energy mess now in its 15th month. ", "\nInternal documents show that so far in July, California has resold the \nequivalent of 8% of the power it bought under short-term and long-term \ncontracts that were designed to reduce the state's reliance on the volatile \nand costly spot market. ", "The problem is, the state has had a surfeit of power, \nand it has been selling the juice into the market at a fraction of the price \nit paid, leading to losses from July 1 through Thursday of about $30 million \nto $35 million. ", "\nThe losses illustrate the difficulties dogging the state's new energy czar, \nthe California Department of Water Resources, despite a softening of \nelectricity prices and demand. ", "The department got into the power-purchasing \nbusiness in a big way in January, when the state's biggest investor-owned \nutilities quit buying power because they were no longer creditworthy. ", "Since \nthen, the state has signed $43 billion worth of contracts, one for as much as \n20 years, in a bid to tamp down high spot-market prices. ", "Critics now say it \nwas a mistake to lock in so much power at such a high cost. ", "\nPower officials say the state has been in the odd position since last month \nof having too much power contracted for off-peak hours. \"", "It's something you'd \nexpect when you first get into a new business and you'd hope to reduce it,\" \nsaid Pete Garris, chief of operations for the power-purchasing agency. ", "\nInternal numbers from the DWR, which the agency has confirmed, show that on \naverage the state paid, from July 1 to Thursday, $123 per megawatt hour for \nsome 1.8 million megawatts of power purchased under long-term contracts, and \n$148 per megawatt hour for some 2.2 million megawatt hours of power purchased \nunder short-term contracts. ", "In the same period, the records show it sold \nexcess power amounting to 320,000 megawatt hours at an average price of $27 \nper megawatt hour, less than what it costs to fuel many plants. ", "At times, the \nDWR sold the juice for as little as $2 per megawatt hour. ", "\nThis, ironically, has offered an opportunity to power traders that the state \nwas seeking to hem in through its contract program. ", "They have been able at \ntimes to substitute cheap power they buy from the state for the more costly \npower they otherwise would have to generate to meet their contract \nobligations. ", "\nDespite the agency's power-trading losses, total market costs still are down \nsubstantially from previous months, partly due to price limits set June 19 by \nthe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. ", "Slacker demand also has been a \nfactor. ", "In June, Southern California Edison, a unit of Edison International, \nsold 11.8% less electricity to its customers than in June 2000, reflecting \nenergy conservation and reduced demand for air conditioning. ", "\nSince January the state has spent $9.5 billion buying power at an average \ncost of $237 per megawatt hour, according to internal DWR documents. ", "That is \nmore than double the price of wholesale electricity last year, when prices \naveraged $114. ", "The state's cash-strapped utilities have reimbursed the agency \n$1.53 billion of the $9.5 billion it has spent so far. ", "As a result of the \nhuge shortfall, the state has tapped California 's general fund and now is \npursuing a plan to sell $12.5 billion worth of revenue bonds to replenish its \ncoffers. ", "\nThe state signed dozens of long-term power contracts after January, pushed by \nfederal energy regulators to protect itself against spot-market volatility. ", "\nSo far this year, it has spent $851 million under long-term contracts, $2.36 \nbillion under short-term arrangements and $5.54 billion on spot-market \npurchases, according to the DWR documents. ", "\nBut the state's \"long\" position in July, in which it had too much power, has \nat times given power-trading companies an arbitrage opportunity. ", "Last \nWednesday, for example, the state sold electricity for as little as $2 per \nmegawatt hour on the same day that it was paying $22 to $75 on the spot \nmarket, presumably because its advance purchases did not exactly match the \nactual shape of demand. ", "\nJohn Stout, senior vice president for Houston-based Reliant Energy Inc., a \nbig energy supplier to California , said a trader can double or triple his \ncompany's profit by substituting cheap market power from the water-resources \nagency for power the company otherwise would generate. ", "It is also free to \nresell the natural gas it might have used to fuel its plants. \"", "That's what \nthe trader is there to do and not leave money on the table,\" said Mr. Stout. ", "\n (Chart)" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Enron Emails" }

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[ "Rząd rozważa powrót do koncepcji z 2007 roku. ", "Nie było w niej udogodnień dla podatników.", "\n\nW piątek Senat zaakceptował ustawę przesuwającą do lipca 2016 r. start reformy w urzędach skarbowych. ", "Odłożone zostaną nowe zasady naboru na stanowiska kierownicze w administracji skarbowej i kilka udogodnień dla podatników. ", "W urzędach mieli rozpocząć pracę asystenci doradzający małym firmom, a dla wszystkich miały powstać centra obsługi podatników. ", "Nie będzie Krajowej Informacji Podatkowej, która miała ujednolicać interpretacje prawa podatkowego. ", "Poniżej dalsza część artykułu\n\nZ wcześniejszej debaty sejmowej wynika, że rząd ma zupełnie inną koncepcję reformy skarbówki.", "\n\n– Pracujemy (...) nad połączeniem administracji celnej i skarbowej w spójny, funkcjonalny organizm. ", "To koncepcja, którą opracowaliśmy w latach 2006–2007 – powiedział minister finansów Paweł Szałamacha w Sejmie.", "\n\nWięcej ścigania Czy MF chce wyrzucić do kosza przygotowaną przez poprzedni rząd reformę? ", "Szczegółów nowej koncepcji nie sposób się dowiedzieć.", "\n\n– Analizy i projektowanie są w toku – napisała nam rzeczniczka MF Wiesława Dróżdż.", "\n\nJak wyglądała koncepcja reformy sprzed ośmiu lat? ", "W projekcie datowanym na maj 2007 r. rząd PiS chciał stworzyć Krajową Administrację Skarbową. ", "Miało dojść do fuzji urzędów celnych i skarbowych. ", "Intencją była likwidacja ich wszystkich i utworzenie nowych izb i urzędów administracji skarbowej. ", "Miały też wygasnąć wszystkie umowy o pracę z urzędnikami, a od dobrej woli władz miało zależeć zatrudnienie ich na tych samych stanowiskach.", "\n\nProjekt z 2007 r. zakładał rozszerzenie kompetencji fiskusa. ", "Urzędy skarbowe mogłyby bez wiedzy podatnika uzyskiwać informacje z różnych państwowych rejestrów, w tym Krajowego Rejestru Karnego i Centralnego Rejestru Ubezpieczonych. ", "Specjalne mobilne grupy kontrolne miałyby prawo ścigać podatników na lądzie i na wodzie z użyciem broni palnej.", "\n\nMniej współpracy W projekcie próżno szukać rozwiązań takich jak w ustawie o administracji podatkowej, które miały wspomagać uczciwych podatników i tworzyć przyjaźniejsze oblicze fiskusa. ", "Tylko ogólnie w nim wspomniano o skutkach dla podatników, w tym przedsiębiorców. ", "Zresztą w sejmowym wystąpieniu Pawła Szałamachy też nie można było usłyszeć o współpracy z podatnikami. ", "Minister nie omieszkał natomiast zauważyć, że „są bardzo duże luki efektywnościowe\" w działaniu fiskusa.", "\n\nOpozycja zarzucała w Sejmie posłom PiS, że reforma jest w istocie pretekstem do wymiany kadr kierowniczych. ", "Na ten aspekt zwraca też uwagę Irena Ożóg, była wiceminister finansów i doradca podatkowy. ", "Jej zdaniem istotna w tej reformie będzie dbałość o zachowanie wykwalifikowanych kadr.", "\n\n– Każda władza może mieć swoją wizję administracji, ale żal byłoby stracić przy okazji reformy fachowców skarbowych. ", "Przecież ich wyszkolenie jest drogie i długotrwałe – zauważa.", "\n\nTomasz Misiak - senior manager w firmie PwC" ]

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[ "\n\nTable of Contents\n\nTitle Page\n\nDedication\n\nPraise\n\nPROLOGUE\n\nCHAPTER ONE\n\nCHAPTER TWO\n\nCHAPTER THREE\n\nCHAPTER FOUR\n\nCHAPTER FIVE\n\nCHAPTER SIX\n\nCHAPTER SEVEN\n\nCHAPTER EIGHT\n\nCHAPTER NINE\n\nCHAPTER TEN\n\nCHAPTER ELEVEN\n\nCHAPTER TWELVE\n\nCHAPTER THIRTEEN\n\nCHAPTER FOURTEEN\n\nCHAPTER FIFTEEN\n\nCHAPTER SIXTEEN\n\nCHAPTER SEVENTEEN\n\nCHAPTER EIGHTEEN\n\nCHAPTER NINETEEN\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY\n\nEPILOGUE\n\nIf you loved Kay Hooper's\n\nTUESDAY, MARCH 14\n\nSTEALING SHADOWS\n\nHIDING IN THE SHADOWS\n\nOUT OF THE SHADOWS\n\nBantam Books by Kay Hooper\n\nCopyright Page\n_**For** **My** **Family**_ \n _ **As** **Always**_\n**Praise for Kay Hooper's**\n\n **STEALING SHADOWS**\n\n\"A fast-paced, suspenseful plot . . . ", "The story's complicated and intriguing twists and turns keep the reader guessing until the chilling ending.\"", "\n\n— _Publishers Weekly_\n\n\"The first book in a 'thrillogy' which will feature back-to-back suspense novels by the awesome Ms. Hooper. ", "If _Stealing Shadows_ is any indication, readers are in for a terrific thrill ride.\"", "\n\n— _Romantic Times_\n\n\"This definitely puts Ms. Hooper in a league with Tami Hoag and Iris Johansen and Sandra Brown. ", "Gold 5-star rating.\"", "\n\n— _Heartland Critiques_\n\n **HAUNTING RACHEL**\n\n\"A stirring and evocative thriller.\"", "\n\n— _Palo Alto Daily News_\n\n\"The pace flies, the suspense never lets up. ", "It's great reading.\"", "\n\n— _The Advocate,_ Baton Rouge\n\n\"An intriguing book with plenty of strange twists that will please the reader.\"", "\n\n— _Rocky Mountain News_\n\n\"It passed the 'stay up late to finish it in one night' test.\"", "\n\n— _The Denver Post_\n\n **FINDING LAURA**\n\n\"You always know you are in for an outstanding read when you pick up a Kay Hooper novel, but in _Finding Laura,_ she has created something really special! ", "Simply superb!\"", "\n\n— _Romantic Times_ (gold medal review)\n\n\"Hooper keeps the intrigue pleasurably complicated, with gothic touches of suspense and a satisfying resolution.\"", "\n\n— _Publishers Weekly_\n\n\"A first-class reading experience.\"", "\n\n— _Affaire de Coeur_\n\n\"Ms. Hooper throws in one surprise after another . . . ", "Spellbinding.\"", "\n\n— _Rendezvous_\n\n **AFTER CAROLINE**\n\n\"Harrowing good fun. ", "Readers will shiver and shudder.\"", "\n\n— _Publishers Weekly_\n\n\"Kay Hooper comes through with thrills, chills, and plenty of romance, this time with an energetic murder mystery with a clever twist. ", "The suspense is sustained admirably right up to the very end.\"", "\n\n— _Kirkus Reviews_\n\n\"Peopled with interesting characters and intricately plotted, the novel is both a compelling mystery and a satisfying romance.\"", "\n\n _—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel_\n\n\"Kay Hooper has crafted another solid story to keep readers enthralled until the last page is turned.\"", "\n\n— _Booklist_\n\n\"Joanna Flynn is appealing, plucky and true to her mission as she probes the mystery that was Caroline.\"", "\n\n— _Variety_\n\n **AMANDA**\n\n\"Amanda seethes and sizzles. ", "A fast-paced, atmospheric tale that vibrates with tension, passion, and mystery. ", "Readers will devour it.\"", "\n\n—Jayne Ann Krentz\n\n\"Kay Hooper's dialogue rings true; her characters are more three-dimensional than those usually found in this genre. ", "You may think you've guessed the outcome, unraveled all the lies. ", "Then again, you could be as mistaken as I was.\"", "\n\n— _The Atlanta Journal-Constitution_\n\n\"Will delight fans of Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt.\"", "\n\n— _Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine_\n\n\"Kay Hooper knows how to serve up a latter-day gothic that will hold readers in its brooding grip.\"", "\n\n— _Publishers Weekly_\n\n\"I lapped it right up. ", "There aren't enough good books in this genre, so this stands out!\"", "\n\n— _Booknews from_ The Poisoned Pen\n\n\"Kay Hooper has given you a darn good ride, and there are far too few of those these days.\"", "\n\n— _Dayton Daily News_\nPROLOGUE\n\n **It was cold.**", "\n\nShe could feel the wind tugging at her hair, hear it whining around the eaves and rattling what sounded like a loose piece of tin somewhere. ", "The cold, moisture-laden air left her skin clammy and chilled her all the way to her bones.", "\n\nShe supposed she was in shock. ", "It was an odd sensation, shock. ", "A curious sort of limbo where nothing disturbed her very much.", "\n\nSo it must have been instinct rather than concern that prompted her to move, to pull herself forward despite the pain. ", "The unevenness of the floor was both a help and a torture, providing finger holds even as it cruelly scraped her skin and gouged her body.", "\n\nShe felt one of her fingernails tear painfully and was conscious of dirt and crusted blood underneath the few that were left undamaged. _", "I'm probably_ _corrupting evidence or something. ", "Probably really screwing things up._", "\n\nBut that didn't seem important either. ", "She focused on what was. ", "Just keep reaching out, one hand at a time. ", "Hold on to something, no matter how much it hurts. ", "Pull yourself forward, no matter how much it hurts.", "\n\nIt became automatic, mechanical. ", "Reach. ", "Grab. ", "Pull. ", "Reach. ", "Grab. ", "Pull. ", "There went another fingernail. ", "Damn. ", "Reach. ", "Grab. ", "Pull.", "\n\nWhen her reaching fingers abruptly encountered thin air, it took her several minutes of fumbling exploration to realize she was at the top of the stairs.", "\n\nStairs.", "\n\nJust the thought of her aching body bumping down rough step after rough step made her shudder, and she heard a thin sound of dread hardly louder than a whimper escape her swollen lips.", "\n\nIt was going to hurt like hell.", "\n\nIt did.", "\n\nSomewhere near the bottom, her strength gave out, and she slid over the last few steps in an agonizing rush that left her sprawled, limp and sobbing quietly, on the ancient tile floor that smelled of dirt and cooked cabbage and urine.", "\n\nShe might have slept a while, or maybe just lay unconscious, because her body refused to go on. ", "But eventually the same instinct that had driven her this far insisted she begin moving again.", "\n\n _I have to. ", "I have to._", "\n\n _Yes. ", "You have to._", "\n\nThat was peculiar, that other, alien voice in her head. ", "She thought about it for a while, curling into a fetal position on her side even though the position was more painful. ", "It was getting harder and harder to breathe. _", "Broken rib, probably_.", "\n\n _Three broken ribs. ", "And a punctured lung. ", "Listen to me,_ _Hollis. ", "You have to keep moving. ", "Someone will be passing_ _by in just a few minutes. ", "If you aren't outside by then,_ _you won't be found until tomorrow._", "\n\nHow strange. ", "The voice knew her name.", "\n\n _Tomorrow will be too late, Hollis._", "\n\nYeah, she thought it probably would be too late.", "\n\n _Do you want to live?_", "\n\nDid she? ", "She thought she did. ", "Not that it would be the life she'd had before. ", "In fact, it might not be much of a life at all. ", "But . . . ", "dammit . . . ", "she wanted it. ", "If only to live long enough for . . .", "\n\n _Vengeance?_", "\n\n _Justice._", "\n\nHollis turned painfully back onto her belly and began the methodical effort of inching forward once again. ", "She thought she was making progress, at least until she encountered a wall.", "\n\nDamn.", "\n\nListening, she thought she could hear faint traffic sounds; that was her only clue to the whereabouts of a door that would allow her to escape the building. ", "She began to feel her way along the wall toward the sounds.", "\n\nIt was getting colder. ", "The wind that had whistled through the building during her entire agonizing journey downstairs was blowing in her face now. ", "She guessed the building had long ago lost most of its windows and doors, so the wind found easy passage, stirring the dust and mold of many long years of neglect even as it cut into her shivering body.", "\n\n _Just a little farther now, Hollis._", "\n\nShe wondered why the voice didn't just call 911 but thought that was probably too much to ask of a figment of her imagination.", "\n\n _There's the doorway. ", "Feel it?_", "\n\nShe felt the threshold under her sore fingers, ancient weather stripping or something that was mostly rust. ", "Beyond it was the broken concrete of a stoop or walkway. ", "Hollis prayed there weren't any more steps.", "\n\nGrimly, she pulled herself across the threshold and out of the building, shivering as the full force of the cold wind out there cut into her. ", "There was one painful step down, then a walkway that seemed to be more rocks and gravel than concrete. ", "It hurt like hell to pull herself across that jagged surface; the only saving grace was that it continued to guide her toward the street.", "\n\nShe hoped.", "\n\n _Not long now, Hollis. ", "You're almost there._", "\n\nAlmost where? ", "she wondered. ", "Out in the street so a car could run over her?", "\n\n _He's near. ", "He'll see you any minute now._", "\n\nBefore Hollis could wonder who was supposed to see her, she heard a male voice utter a shocked exclamation, then hurried footsteps coming toward her.", "\n\n\"Please,\" Hollis heard herself say in an unfamiliar, thickened voice. \"", "Please help . . .\"", "\n\n\"It's all right.\" ", "The man's voice, near now, sounded nearly as thickened as her own had been. ", "And shocked and horrified and compassionate. ", "He touched her shoulder gently with a warm hand, then said, \"I don't want to move you until EMS gets here, but I'm going to cover you with my coat, okay?\"", "\n\nShe felt the blessed warmth and murmured a thanks, allowing her weary head to fall so that it rested on her forearm. ", "She was very tired. ", "Very tired.", "\n\n _Sleep now, Hollis._", "\n\nShe thought that was a good idea.", "\n\nSam Lewis checked her pulse just to make sure, then took a couple of steps away from her and spoke urgently into his cell phone. \"", "For God's sake, _hurry_! ", "She's—she's in bad shape. ", "She's lost a lot of blood.\" ", "His gaze followed the startlingly bright smeared trail of blood that marked her progress across broken concrete all the way back to the gaping doorway of the long-abandoned old house.", "\n\nHe tried to listen to the professionally detached voice in his ear, but finally cut off the 911 operator's questions by saying sharply, \"I don't know what happened to her, but she's bruised and cut up and bleeding—and naked. ", "Maybe she was raped, I don't know, but—but something else happened to her. ", "She's . . . ", "Her eyes are gone. ", "No, dammit, not _injured_. ", "Gone. ", "Somebody's cut her eyes out.\"", "\nCHAPTER ONE\n\nTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2001\n\n **She's not going to like this.\" ", "Andy Brenner's voice** was more unhappy than worried.", "\n\nJohn Garrett stepped past him into the small, bare room. \"", "I'll take the flak,\" he said, his gaze already fixed on the large two-way mirror that dominated the far wall and offered them a secret view into another small room.", "\n\nThis mostly bare room contained a scarred wooden table and several chairs. ", "Three women sat at the table, the two facing the mirror sitting close together in a posture that suggested they were clinging to each other even though they weren't touching. ", "The younger of the two wore very dark, heavy-rimmed sunglasses and sat rigidly in her chair, while the older woman watched her worriedly.", "\n\nSitting at right angles to them at the table, her back to the mirror, was the third woman, her face hidden from the watching men. ", "It was impossible to guess her shape, since she wore a bulky flannel shirt and faded jeans, but a rather wild cloud of long, dark red hair made her appear slight.", "\n\nAndy sighed. \"", "It's not flak I'm worried about. ", "The chief likes to pretend Maggie works for us on our terms, but the rank and file know better; what Maggie wants, Maggie gets—and she wants total privacy when she's interviewing a victim.\"", "\n\n\"She'll never know we're here.\"", "\n\n\"I keep trying to tell you, John—she'll know.\"", "\n\n\"How? ", "I push this button, and we can hear what's going on in the room but they won't hear us, right? ", "We see in, they don't see out. ", "So how will she know we're here?\"", "\n\n\"Beats the hell out of me, but she will.\" ", "Andy watched the other man move closer to the window and stifled another sigh. ", "Anybody else and he would have stuck to his guns, but John Garrett was a hard man to say no to. ", "Andy tried to think of an argument he hadn't used yet, but before he could come up with anything, John pushed the right button, and a quiet, curiously pleasing voice reached them clearly and without any of the tinny, hollow characteristics that were usual with an intercom.", "\n\n\". . . ", "how difficult this is for you, Ellen. ", "If I could, I'd far rather wait and give you more time to—\"\n\n\"Heal?\" ", "The woman wearing the sunglasses laughed, a brittle sound holding no amusement. \"", "My husband is sleeping in the guest room, Miss Barnes. ", "My little boy is afraid of me. ", "I can't find my way through my own house without knocking over furniture and bumping into walls, and my sister has to cook for my family and help me dress every morning.\"", "\n\n\"Ellen, you know I'm happy to help,\" her sister protested, her soft voice half pleading and half weary. \"", "And Owen wouldn't be sleeping in the guest room if it wasn't what you wanted, you know that.\"", "\n\n\"I know he can't bear to touch me, Lindsay.\" ", "Ellen's voice was tight, a bare note away from shrill. ", "Her hands were clasped together on the table, and her long, pale fingers writhed. \"", "And I don't blame him for that. ", "I can't blame him. ", "Why would he want to touch me after—\"\n\nMaggie Barnes reached across the table and covered Ellen's hands with one of her own. \"", "Listen to me, Ellen.\" ", "Her voice remained quiet, but there was a new note in it now, an oddly soothing, almost hypnotic rhythm. \"", "What that animal did to you can never be undone, but you can't allow it to destroy you. ", "Do you hear me? ", "Don't give him that power over you. ", "Don't allow him to win.\"", "\n\nListening, John unconsciously tilted his head to one side, trying to focus on the strangely compelling undercurrent he heard in her voice. ", "It was almost . . . ", "it was as if he knew that sound, as if it was something he only half remembered, like a song from his childhood or the last faint notes of music from a dream chased away by morning. ", "Haunting.", "\n\nEllen didn't attempt to free her hands, and her rigid posture seemed to ease a bit, just a bit. \"", "I don't want to remember,\" she said, low, almost whispering. \"", "Don't ask me to remember.\"", "\n\n\"I have to.\" ", "The regret in Maggie's voice was achingly genuine. \"", "I need your memories, need every scrap of information you can give me. ", "I need you to remember everything you can, Ellen. ", "Every sound, every scent, every touch.\"", "\n\nEllen's shudder was visible. \"", "He touched . . . ", "I can't bear to think about how he touched me. ", "Please don't make me . . .\"", "\n\n\"Don't make her.\" ", "Lindsay's face twisted, and she put a hesitant hand on her sister's arm.", "\n\n\"I don't have a choice,\" Maggie said. \"", "The police can't catch this animal without some idea who he is, what he looks like. ", "We can't even warn other women to watch out for him. ", "Ellen, some detail you remember may help me put a face on him. ", "I—\"\n\nShe turned her head suddenly, and John actually started in surprise at the abruptness of the movement—and the fact that he had the unsettling feeling she was looking directly into his eyes, even through the two-way mirror. ", "She had very light brown eyes, the only unusual feature in a face that was pleasant but unremarkable.", "\n\nAnd those pale eyes were looking right at him, he was sure of it. ", "He felt it.", "\n\nBehind him, Andy murmured, \"Told you.\"", "\n\nHardly conscious of speaking aloud, John said, \"She sees me. ", "How can she—\"\n\n\"X-ray vision. ", "How the hell do I know?\" ", "Andy sounded as disgruntled as he felt. ", "He hated it when Maggie was mad at him—and she was definitely going to be mad at him.", "\n\nMaggie turned back to face the other two women and spoke gently. \"", "I'm sorry, but there's something I have to do. ", "I'll be right back.\"", "\n\nLindsay gave her an accusing look, then leaned closer to her sister as though in support. ", "Ellen didn't say a word, but she had the appearance of someone poised on the brink, frozen, as if unable to move forward or back.", "\n\nJohn turned his back to the mirror as Maggie left the interview room. \"", "She must have heard us,\" he said.", "\n\n\"No,\" Andy said. \"", "She didn't hear us. ", "This room is soundproofed, I told you that. ", "She just knew, that's all.\"", "\n\nThe door of the observation room opened and Maggie Barnes stepped inside. ", "John was surprised at how tall she was—at least five-ten, if he was any judge. ", "But he hadn't been mistaken in thinking her slight; she wasn't unnaturally thin, just one of those very slender, almost ethereal women. ", "He wondered if she dressed in the bulky layers out of some need to have more weight or substance.", "\n\nWhen he looked at her face, John decided he'd been wrong in thinking it unremarkable. ", "Graced with very regular features, not quite pretty but pleasant, it was saved from plainness by those slanted, catlike golden eyes and something stamped into her expression, innate to it, that was more than compassion and less than pity, a kind of empathy for the feelings of others that he knew was far more rare and valuable than high cheekbones or a perfect nose.", "\n\nShe looked at him briefly, a head-to-toe glance that missed nothing along the way and left him with the disconcerted realization that he had been very accurately weighed and analyzed.", "\n\nAndy did his best to melt into the woodwork before she looked at him but obviously felt pinned to it instead when those catlike eyes fixed on him. ", "He held his hands out, palms up, and offered an apologetic shrug.", "\n\n\"Andy?\" ", "Her voice was very gentle.", "\n\n\"Sorry, Maggie.\" ", "He shifted uncomfortably, ruefully aware that he probably looked for all the world like a scolded schoolboy.", "\n\nJohn stepped toward them. \"", "It's my fault, Miss Barnes. ", "I asked Andy to bend the rules. ", "My name is—\"\n\n\"I know who you are, Mr. Garrett.\" ", "Her gaze was direct, her voice matter-of-fact. \"", "But some rules apply to you too, whether you like it or not.\"", "\n\n\"It wasn't a question of rules not applying to me. ", "I have special permission to observe the investigation.\" ", "He only just managed not to sound defensive, which surprised him.", "\n\n\"And that includes watching and listening like a voyeur while a shattered woman forces herself to remember a nightmare you can't even begin to imagine? ", "Is that the observing you were given permission to do?\"", "\n\nJohn stiffened, but her accusation struck a nerve and left him at least momentarily silent. ", "Maggie didn't wait for a response but went on coolly. \"", "How would you feel, Mr. Garrett, if two strange men had watched and listened in silence and secret while someone you cared about relived the entire horrific experience of being brutally raped and maimed by an animal?\"", "\n\nThat struck more than a nerve. ", "He drew a breath and let it out slowly. \"", "You're right. ", "I'm sorry.\"", "\n\nAndy said, \"Sounded like you were reaching her there for a minute. ", "The interruption won't help things, will it?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "No, it won't help things. ", "I'll try again, but she may not be willing to talk to me anymore today.\"", "\n\nJohn felt the reproach, even though she wasn't looking at him. \"", "I'm sorry,\" he said again. \"", "I didn't intend to interfere. ", "That's the last thing I want to do.\"", "\n\n\"Fine. ", "Then you won't mind leaving.\" ", "She stepped back, holding the door open in a clear invitation—if not a command—for them to leave.", "\n\nAndy wasted no time in obeying, but John paused in the doorway and met her gaze steadily. \"", "I would like to talk to you, Miss Barnes. ", "Today, if possible.\"", "\n\n\"If you want to wait around, suit yourself.\" ", "Her tone was indifferent, but the steady golden eyes never left his. \"", "I may be a while.\"", "\n\n\"I'll wait,\" John said.", "\n\nHollis was awake but didn't move or make a sound to indicate that. ", "For the first few moments it was always like this, tension and terror until her scrambling mind left nightmare and caught up with reality.", "\n\nWhich was also a nightmare.", "\n\nThe bandages over her eyes—over where her eyes had once been—were becoming a familiar weight. ", "She didn't yet know how she felt about the fact that beneath those bandages were now someone else's eyes. ", "An accident victim who had lost her life but left a signed donor card behind.", "\n\nThe surgeon, proud of his groundbreaking work, had been surprised and rather aggrieved when Hollis's only question had been one he obviously considered unimportant.", "\n\n\"What color are they? ", "Miss Templeton, I don't think you understand the complexity—\"\n\n\"I understand, Doctor. ", "I understand that you believe medical science has advanced to the point that I'll be able to see with this poor woman's eyes. ", "And I understand that it'll be days at least, possibly weeks, before we find out if you're right. ", "In the meantime, I'm asking what color my . . . ", "new . . . ", "eyes are.\"", "\n\nBlue, he'd said.", "\n\nHer old ones had been brown.", "\n\nWould she be able to see? ", "She didn't know, and she suspected that her doctor, for all his confidence in his abilities, was unsure of the surgery's outcome as well. ", "The optic nerve was a tricky thing, he didn't have to tell her that. ", "And then there were all the other nerves, the blood vessels, the muscles. ", "Far too many tiny connections to be certain of anything. ", "They didn't think her body would reject the new eyes, and antirejection drugs would probably make certain of that, but nobody seemed nearly as sure what her brain might do.", "\n\nVision was as much the mind's interpretation of images as it was anything else, after all. ", "With the intricate connection between organ and mind severed and then painstakingly rebuilt, who really knew what her brain's response might be?", "\n\nHell, maybe it was no wonder she hadn't even been able to decide how she felt about it.", "\n\nMost of the other physical injuries had been surprisingly minor, given everything she'd been through. ", "The broken ribs were healing, though she still breathed carefully, and doctors had repaired the puncture in her lung. ", "A few stitches here and there. ", "Scrapes and bruises.", "\n\nOh—and she'd never be able to have children, but what the hell. ", "No kid needed to be saddled with a probably blind, certainly emotionally wrecked mother anyway, right? ", "Right.", "\n\n _I know you're awake, Hollis._", "\n\nShe didn't move, didn't turn her head. ", "That voice again, quietly insistent, as it had been virtually every day of the past three weeks. ", "She'd asked a nurse once who it was that came to visit her and sit by her bed hour after hour, but the nurse had said she didn't know, hadn't seen anyone except the police officers who came regularly to ask gentle questions Hollis didn't answer.", "\n\nHollis had so far refused to question the voice, just as she refused to speak to the cops or say any more than absolutely necessary to the doctors and nurses. ", "She wasn't ready to think about what had happened to her, far less talk about it.", "\n\n _You'll be able to leave soon,_ the voice said. _", "What will_ _you do then?_", "\n\n\"Stepping in front of a bus might be a good idea,\" Hollis said calmly. ", "She spoke aloud to remind herself that hers was really the only voice in the room. ", "Of course it was. ", "Because that other voice was just a figment of her imagination, obviously.", "\n\n _If you really wanted to die, you never would have_ _crawled out of that building._", "\n\n\"And if I wanted rational platitudes from a figment of my imagination, I'd go back to sleep. ", "Oh, wait—I am asleep. ", "I'm dreaming. ", "It's all just a bad dream.\"", "\n\n _You know better._", "\n\n\"Better that it happened? ", "Or better that you aren't just a figment of my imagination?\"", "\n\nInstead of answering either question, the figment said, _If I handed you a lump of clay, what would you_ _make, Hollis?_", "\n\n\"What kind of question is that? ", "One of those inkblot questions? ", "Is my figment psychoanalyzing me?\"", "\n\n _What would you make? ", "You're an artist._", "\n\n\"I was an artist.\"", "\n\n _Before, you created art with your hands and your_ _eyes and your mind. ", "Whether or not the surgery is_ _successful, you still have your hands. ", "You still have your_ _mind._", "\n\nThe figment, Hollis realized, didn't believe she'd be able to see with these borrowed eyes either. \"", "So I should just turn myself into a sculptor? ", "It isn't quite as simple as that.\"", "\n\n _I didn't say it was simple. ", "I didn't say it would be_ _easy. ", "But it would be a life, Hollis. ", "A rich, creative life._", "\n\nAfter a moment, Hollis said, \"I don't know if I can. ", "I don't know if I'm brave enough to start over.\"", "\n\n _You'll have to find out, then, won't you?_", "\n\nHollis smiled despite herself. ", "So her figment could offer more than knee-jerk platitudes, after all. ", "And the challenge was unexpectedly bracing. \"", "I guess so. ", "That or go looking for that bus to step in front of.\"", "\n\n\"Miss Templeton? ", "Were you speaking to me?\" ", "The day-shift nurse was a bit hesitant as she approached the bed.", "\n\nHollis was learning to read footsteps, even the nearly soundless ones of the nurses. ", "This nurse feared for Hollis's sanity; it wasn't the first time she'd caught the patient talking to herself.", "\n\n\"Miss Templeton?\"", "\n\n\"No, Janet, I wasn't speaking to you. ", "Just talking to myself again. ", "Unless there's somebody sitting in that chair beside the bed, of course.\"", "\n\nWarily, Janet said, \"No, Miss Templeton, there's nobody in the chair.\"", "\n\n\"Ah. ", "Well, then, I must have been talking to myself. ", "But don't let it worry you. ", "I did that even before the attack.\" ", "She had learned to refer to it that way, as \"the attack.\" ", "It was the phrase the doctors used, the nurses, the cops.", "\n\n\"Can I—can I get you anything, Miss Templeton?\"", "\n\n\"No, Janet. ", "No, thank you. ", "I think I'll take a nap.\"", "\n\n\"I'll make sure nobody bothers you, Miss Templeton.\"", "\n\nHollis listened to the footsteps recede and pretended to be asleep. ", "It wasn't difficult.", "\n\nThe hard part was keeping herself from asking aloud if the figment was still here. ", "Because it couldn't be, of course.", "\n\nUnless she really was crazy.", "\n\n\"We're no further along than we were when you were here six weeks ago.\" ", "Luke Drummond, the lieutenant in charge of detectives in this division of the Seattle P.D., was accustomed to reporting to his superiors, but he disliked being obliged to divulge details of an ongoing investigation to a civilian, and his hostility showed. ", "Especially since he couldn't report any progress.", "\n\n\"There've been two more victims since then.\" ", "John Garrett kept his voice level. \"", "And still no evidence, no clues to lead you any closer to identifying this bastard?\"", "\n\n\"He's very good at what he does,\" Drummond said.", "\n\n\"And you aren't?\"", "\n\nDrummond's eyes narrowed, and he leaned back in his chair, deceptively relaxed. \"", "I have a very skilled and experienced squad of detectives, Mr. Garrett. ", "We also have some damned good forensics experts on the payroll, and state-of-the-art equipment. ", "But none of that is much good when there's no evidence to study or witnesses to question and when the victims are, to say the least, traumatized and unable to give us much to go on.\"", "\n\n\"What about Maggie Barnes?\"", "\n\n\"What about her?\"", "\n\n\"She hasn't come up with anything useful?\"", "\n\n\"Well, as everybody keeps reminding me, what she does is an art—and apparently it can't be rushed.\" ", "He shrugged. \"", "In all fairness to Maggie, she hasn't had much more to work with than the rest of us. ", "The first two victims are—well, I don't have to tell you. ", "But neither gave us anything much to go on right after the attacks. ", "The third is just now well enough physically to sit down and talk to Maggie. ", "And the fourth is not only still in the hospital but so far hasn't been willing to answer even the simplest question from any of us. ", "All the shrinks tell us that if we push these women we'll lose any chance we might have of gaining any relevant information from either of them.\"", "\n\n\"Why haven't you called in the FBI?\" ", "John demanded.", "\n\n\"Because there's nothing they can do that we can't,\" Drummond replied tersely.", "\n\nJohn wasn't so sure about that, but he knew he was on the edge of alienating Drummond completely and dared not push any harder. ", "Pulling the right strings had gotten John access to the investigation, but if Drummond wanted to, he could make that access fairly useless.", "\n\nHolding his voice level, he said, \"So the consensus is that Maggie Barnes is your best bet to get something useful from the victims?\"", "\n\n\"If anybody can guide those women back through the hell they experienced without hurting them even more, it's Maggie. ", "Whether she gets anything we can use is something else. ", "We'll just have to wait and see.\" ", "He watched John Garrett shift in his chair almost unconsciously and for the first time felt a genuine pang of sympathy for the other man. ", "He might be a pain in the ass at the moment, but his motives were certainly understandable, and Drummond could hardly blame him for muscling in on the investigation. ", "In Garrett's place, Drummond thought he'd probably do the same.", "\n\nAssuming, of course, that he had a billion or so dollars and a shitload of political influence to make both the chief and the mayor practically piss their pants in their eagerness to be cooperative.", "\n\nLuke Drummond would have loved to have at least that political influence; he intended to sit in the governor's mansion one day. ", "He hadn't made any secret of his political aspirations and, despite not being an elected official, tended to react to any situation as a politician rather than a cop, but to date that hadn't hurt either his present career or his ambitions. ", "He was enough of a cop to be able to do his job and do it well.", "\n\nAt least until this damned psychopath had turned up.", "\n\nAt the moment, however, Drummond had neither Garrett's political juice nor his money, so it was in the cop's best interest to be at least courteous to the man.", "\n\n\"Maggie needs time to interview the two surviving victims,\" he said evenly. \"", "We have to be patient.\"", "\n\n\"He attacked Hollis Templeton a little more than three weeks ago; how much longer do you think he'll wait before he acts again?\" ", "John heard the edgy tension in his own voice, but he was beyond being able to hide it.", "\n\nDrummond sighed. \"", "According to the shrinks, he could grab another woman tomorrow—or six months from now. ", "So far, he hasn't established any kind of time pattern we can identify. ", "There were two months between the first two victims, but he grabbed the third only two weeks later. ", "Then he waited nearly three months to strike a fourth time.\"", "\n\n\"No pattern,\" John echoed.", "\n\n\"And nothing else to hang our hats on. ", "No blood evidence other than the victims', and he was smart enough to wear condoms, so there's been no semen found. ", "Nothing under the fingernails of the victims, no hair or fibers found on them or anywhere near them, nothing to identify where he might have held them. ", "They're always dumped someplace else afterward, a remote or at least unoccupied building. ", "Ellen Randall remembers being transported inside something, the trunk of a car, she thinks, but since he stuck to pavement we didn't find any tire tracks.\"", "\n\n\"How was Hollis Templeton transported?\"", "\n\n\"We don't know, not yet. ", "I told you, she's not answering our questions. ", "Her doctors say Maggie can try talking to her in a few days. ", "That's if she's agreeable, and she probably won't be, since she hasn't been anxious to talk to us so far.\"", "\n\n\"What then?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know.\" ", "Drummond sighed again. \"", "Look, Garrett, I'm sorry as hell, but there's nothing more I can tell you, at least not at the moment. ", "We're doing the best we can. ", "And that's all.\"", "\n\nAndy was waiting for John around the corner from Drummond's office and offered a wry \"Told you so.\"", "\n\n\"I can see I'm going to make myself real popular around here,\" John said.", "\n\n\"Oh, don't mind Drummond. ", "He's a nice enough guy, for a politician.\"", "\n\n\"I'd rather he were just a cop.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, so would most of us. ", "But we comfort ourselves with the certainty that he won't be around long, just long enough to get a secure toehold to boost himself higher up the food chain. ", "In the meantime, however, we're stuck with him.\"", "\n\nAndy led the way to his own corner of the bullpen, snagging two cups of coffee as they passed the pot.", "\n\n\"Jeez, Andy, take it all, why don't you?\" ", "a nearby younger cop grumbled. \"", "You could at least make another pot.\"", "\n\n\"I made the last one, Scott. ", "Your turn.\"", "\n\nJohn sat in Andy's visitor's chair and accepted one of the cardboard cups. ", "He took a sip, grimaced, and said, \"This is really lousy coffee, Andy.\"", "\n\n\"Usually is, no matter who makes it.\" ", "Unoffended, Andy took a healthy swallow of his own and shrugged. \"", "You going to wait around for Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Do you think she'll talk to me?\"", "\n\nAndy thought about it. \"", "Well, you pissed her off, so it's hard to say. ", "Just what is it you're hoping she'll tell you, John?\"", "\n\nThere was no easy answer to that, and John let the silence build for a few moments before he finally replied with a question of his own. \"", "Why are all of you so convinced she's your best chance of catching this bastard? ", "What is it that's so special about Maggie Barnes?\"", "\n\nAndy leaned back in his chair until it creaked in protest, and took another swallow of coffee. ", "He studied the man across from him, wondering how much to say. ", "Wondering how much would be believed. ", "John Garrett was a hardheaded, hard-nosed businessman who'd made a fortune by understanding the cold logic of finance; Andy hadn't known him long, but common sense told him John wasn't the sort of man to easily accept anything he couldn't see with his own eyes or hold in his hands.", "\n\n\"Andy?\"", "\n\n\"Maggie has . . . ", "a knack, John. ", "You can call it exceptional skill, or talent amounting to genius, or amazing empathy, but whatever you call it, the result is that she talks to shattered victims of crimes and from the little they're able to tell her she manages to give us a face we can look for.\"", "\n\n\"I didn't think police even used sketch artists anymore. ", "Isn't there a computer program just as good?\"", "\n\n\"Not as good as Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"She's that talented?\"", "\n\nAndy hesitated, then sighed. \"", "Talent's only part of it, though she has that in spades. ", "She could make a fortune as a real artist, but instead she spends her days sitting in cramped interview rooms listening to horror stories I hope you never have to listen to. ", "She listens, and she talks to those people, and somehow she helps them relive a nightmare without letting it destroy them. ", "And then she comes out and starts drawing and nine times out of ten gives us a sketch so accurate the guy could use it on his driver's license.\"", "\n\n\"Sounds like magic,\" John said dryly.", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "It does, doesn't it? ", "Looks like it sometimes too. ", "I don't know how she does it. ", "Nobody here knows how she does it. ", "But we've learned to trust her, John.\"", "\n\n\"Okay. ", "Then why doesn't she have a sketch of the rapist yet?\"", "\n\n\"Because not even Maggie can work with nothing.", "The women haven't _seen_ anything. ", "And besides that— the first victim died before anybody could talk to her, the most recent one is still in the hospital, and you saw what kind of shape Ellen Randall's in.\"", "\n\n\"You didn't mention Christina,\" John forced himself to say.", "\n\nAndy gazed at him steadily. \"", "I didn't think I had to. ", "She did the best she could for us, but she didn't see anything either.\"", "\n\n\"Maggie Barnes talked to her, didn't she? ", "That's what you told me, what the report said.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, she talked to Christina.\"", "\n\n\"Without witnesses?\"", "\n\nSlowly, Andy frowned. \"", "Without anybody in the observation room, if that's what you mean.\"", "\n\n\"Then maybe she can tell me something none of the rest of you can tell me.\"", "\n\n\"Like what?\"", "\n\n\"Like why Christina killed herself.\"", "\nCHAPTER TWO\n\n **As she'd expected, Maggie quickly found that Ellen** Randall had withdrawn again into her frozen shell. ", "Pushing her would only make matters worse. ", "So Maggie didn't protest when Lindsay announced she was taking her sister home, and she didn't try to arrange another meeting.", "\n\nEven though she could hear the clock ticking away in her head. ", "Time was running out, she knew it. ", "She felt it. ", "And every day that passed with the police no closer to catching the animal the newspapers had begun calling the Blindfold Rapist brought them closer and closer to another victim.", "\n\nAnother life ruined.", "\n\nAnother soul marked.", "\n\nWorse, Maggie knew that he would only become more violent as time passed. ", "It would take more cruelty to satisfy whatever unnatural hunger drove him to do what he did. ", "Soon, very soon, he would begin killing his victims. ", "And when that happened, when the police were denied even the shaky recollections of living victims, then they would have no chance at all of stopping him—unless and until he made a mistake.", "\n\nSo far, he hadn't made a single one.", "\n\nMaggie glanced into the bullpen and saw John Garrett sitting at Andy's desk. ", "She didn't want to talk to Garrett, not now. ", "Not yet. ", "She retreated to an unoccupied office near the interview rooms and sat down with her sketch pad open before her.", "\n\nThere was very little on the page. ", "Just the vague shape of a face surrounded by hair so long that Maggie suspected he'd worn a wig. ", "At their first meeting a few days before, Ellen Randall had given Maggie that much. ", "Longish hair, she'd felt it brush her skin when he bent over her.", "\n\nBut no other useful details, nothing for her to build on. ", "Maggie had no feeling for the shape of the face, whether his forehead was high or low, his jaw strong or weak, his chin jutting or receding. ", "She didn't even know if his complexion was smooth or rough; both Ellen and one other victim thought they remembered the touch of cool, hard plastic covering his face, as though he'd worn a mask.", "\n\nJust the possibility disturbed Maggie, on a level as much instinctive as it was analytical. ", "What man would be so wary of discovery, of being identified, that he would wear a mask even after blinding his victims? ", "Of course, criminals seldom wanted to be identified, but Maggie had talked to the cops working on the investigation, and all of them agreed that this particular criminal was going to unusual extremes to protect his identity.", "\n\nWhy?", "\n\nWas there something about his face even a blinded victim could recognize when it touched her? ", "Scars, perhaps, or some other kind of deformity?", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\nShe didn't look up and swore silently at him for disrupting a mental musing that had often, in the past, produced results for her. \"", "Hey, Luke.\"", "\n\nHe came into the office and sat down in the visitor's chair across from hers. \"", "Any luck?\"", "\n\n\"No, unless you count bad luck.\" ", "She closed the sketch pad with a sigh. \"", "Ellen froze up again. ", "We were . . . ", "interrupted, and it broke the connection I was trying to establish. ", "I'll have to wait a few days and then get her back in here.\"", "\n\n\"I just talked to Hollis Templeton's doctor,\" Drummond said. \"", "She's doing even better than he'd hoped, physically at least. ", "He's hopeful the surgery was a success. ", "If it was, if she can see again, then maybe . . .\"", "\n\n\"Maybe what?\" ", "Maggie looked at him steadily. \"", "Maybe she'll be a little less traumatized and able to help us?\"", "\n\n\"It's possible, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Yeah, I know it is. ", "It's also possible she noticed things the other victims wouldn't have. ", "Since she was an artist, I mean.\"", "\n\n\"Would you go try to talk to her? ", "She hasn't said shit to any of us, but she might talk to you.\"", "\n\n\"I'd rather wait until she leaves the hospital. ", "The atmosphere there isn't exactly conducive to the kind of conversation I need.\"", "\n\n\"I know, but . . . ", "there's a lot of pressure, more every day. ", "The newspapers, citizens' groups, the mayor. ", "There's a panic building out there, Maggie, and I can't stop it. ", "Get me something I can use to stop it.\"", "\n\n\"I can't work miracles, Luke.\"", "\n\n\"You have before.\"", "\n\nShe shook her head. \"", "That was different. ", "This guy is determined his victims will never testify against him. ", "He's not letting them see him, he doesn't speak to them, he makes damned sure they don't get their hands on him. ", "The only sense left is smell, and so far all I've got is that he smells like Ivory soap. ", "Deliberately, of course. ", "He's using the scent of the soap to block anything else they might smell.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I know he hasn't missed a trick so far. ", "But, like you said, his most recent victim was an artist, and I'm told artists are trained to use their senses differently from most of the rest of us. ", "Hollis Templeton might be able to give you more to go on. ", "Try, Maggie. ", "Please.\"", "\n\nShe had stopped wondering if he had any idea what he asked of her, of the victims. ", "He didn't. ", "Luke Drummond was a fair cop, an able administrator, and a good politician, but he didn't have much in the way of imagination or empathy, not when it came to victims.", "\n\nDid he even guess she was as much a victim as the women she talked to? ", "No, probably not.", "\n\n\"I'll go over there tomorrow,\" she said. \"", "But if she won't talk to me, I can't press her, Luke. ", "You know that.\"", "\n\n\"Just try, that's all I ask.\" ", "He got to his feet, visibly relieved. ", "She could almost see him silently deciding what he was going to tell the chief of police and the mayor. ", "He wouldn't mention her by name, of course, just say that they were \"pursuing a good lead in the investigation.\"", "\n\nIt wasn't that Luke Drummond didn't want to share the credit, it was just that he mistrusted what he didn't understand, and he didn't understand how she did what she did. ", "He wouldn't have understood even if she had explained it to him—and she had no intention of doing that.", "\n\n\"I'll try,\" Maggie said, because there was nothing else he would hear.", "\n\n\"Great. ", "Hey—have you talked to Garrett yet?\"", "\n\n\"No, not yet.\"", "\n\n\"He's waiting out in the bullpen, I think.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I know.\"", "\n\nDrummond looked down at her with a little frown. \"", "Don't tell him any more than you have to. ", "He might have the mayor and the chief in his hip pocket, but I don't like civilians being handed all the details of an ongoing investigation.\"", "\n\n\"Such as they are,\" Maggie murmured.", "\n\n\"You know damned well we're holding back a few things publicly. ", "Like the Ivory soap bit. ", "I'm just saying I'd rather we kept that stuff within the unit—to rule out copycats, if nothing else. ", "I'm serious, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"I know you are. ", "Don't worry. ", "John Garrett doesn't want to talk to me about things like that.\"", "\n\nDrummond had started to turn away but paused as his attention was caught by what she'd said. \"", "I thought you hadn't talked to him yet.\"", "\n\n\"I haven't.\"", "\n\n\"Then how do you—\" He broke off and frowned. \"", "Oh, yeah. ", "I guess it makes sense he'd have only one thing on his mind, at least when he's talking to you. ", "You were the last one to talk to Christina Walsh, weren't you?\"", "\n\n\"So they tell me.\"", "\n\n\"I read the report,\" he said unnecessarily. \"", "Garrett read it. ", "I don't know what the poor bastard thinks you can tell him.\"", "\n\n\"I don't know either,\" Maggie said, lying.", "\n\n\"Tread lightly, Maggie. ", "He can cause us a lot of trouble if he wants to.\"", "\n\nShe nodded but didn't say anything else, and Drummond left her alone in the office. ", "Pushing John Garrett from her mind, at least for the moment, she opened her sketch pad again and stared down at the vague outline of a man's face.", "\n\n\"Who are you?\" ", "she murmured. \"", "Who are you this time?\"", "\n\nAndy said, \"I doubt Maggie knows the answer to why Christina killed herself, John. ", "She hasn't mentioned it, and I think she would have.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe not. ", "If it had nothing to do with your investigation, she might have kept it to herself.\"", "\n\nCarefully, wary of what he knew was still an open wound, Andy said, \"John, after what happened to Christina, suicide was probably the only option she felt she had left.\"", "\n\n\"His other victims didn't kill themselves.\"", "\n\n\"He didn't do to them what he did to her, you know that. ", "The bastard was apparently still experimenting with ways of blinding his victims, and that acid did more than take her sight. ", "Jesus, John—I know a lot of strong men who would have taken the same way out under those circumstances.\"", "\n\n\"Not Christina.\" ", "John's voice was level with the sort of control that was about as stable as nitro. \"", "As bad as things were, it would have taken more, much more, before she gave up. ", "She was one of the strongest people I've ever known. ", "I'm absolutely certain of that, Andy.\"", "\n\n\"Okay. ", "But everybody has a breaking point, and none of us can be that sure of somebody else's. ", "I'm just saying, don't expect too much from Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"All I expect is the truth.\"", "\n\nAndy grimaced. \"", "Well, I'm pretty sure you'll get it from her. ", "If she talks to you at all, she'll tell you the truth as she sees it. ", "But . . .\"", "\n\n\"But?\"", "\n\n\"If you want my advice—and you probably don't— you'll be careful how you ask. ", "Maggie's very independent, John, and I mean on the prickly side. ", "From what I've seen, she doesn't take any shit from anybody, no matter who they are. ", "I don't think you could piss her off to the point that she'd walk away from her work here, but I'd rather not take any chances. ", "She's committed to helping us, and I'd like to keep it that way.\"", "\n\n\"Why?\"", "\n\n\"Why would I like to keep it that way?\"", "\n\n\"Why is she so committed to helping you? ", "You said yourself she has to listen to horror stories, that she could make a fortune as an artist. ", "So why does she do this instead?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know.\"", "\n\n\"You've never asked her?\"", "\n\n\"Sure I have. ", "So have some of the others. ", "But whatever her reasons are, they're obviously private. ", "This time, take my advice—and don't go there.\"", "\n\nIt wasn't in John's nature to accept being warned off, not when he was curious. ", "And not when he was feeling an unaccustomed sensation of frustrated helplessness about this entire situation. ", "But all he said was \"I'll keep that in mind.\"", "\n\nAndy knew when he was being humored. \"", "Yeah, yeah. ", "Look, you want more lousy coffee?\"", "\n\n\"I just want to talk to Maggie Barnes.\"", "\n\n\"I saw Ellen Randall and her sister leave a little while ago, so Maggie's probably free. ", "But I don't know—\"\n\n\"I'm free,\" Maggie said from just behind John's left shoulder. \"", "You wanted to speak to me, Mr. Garrett?\"", "\n\nHe got to his feet quickly. \"", "If you can spare me a few minutes, I'd appreciate it.\"", "\n\n\"Drummond's office is empty right now,\" Andy offered. \"", "He's headed across town for a meeting.\"", "\n\n\"With who?\" ", "Maggie asked.", "\n\n\"Dunno, but probably another citizens' group. ", "He's catching a lot of heat, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"He told me.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "I'll just bet he did.\"", "\n\nMaggie shrugged. \"", "Can't really blame him for pushing. ", "Or for not understanding he didn't have to.\"", "\n\nAndy sighed an agreement.", "\n\nMaggie turned away, clearly assuming John would follow her as she led the way to Luke Drummond's office. ", "When they went in, she took one of the visitor's chairs in front of the desk, shifting it so that it faced the other one. ", "After closing the door behind them, John took the other one and turned it as well.", "\n\nThe closed door would keep them from being overheard, but that was the extent of privacy; the partitions between this office and the bullpen were glass from the waist up, and though there were blinds, all were wide open. ", "John was aware of several curious stares directed their way, but Maggie didn't seem to notice.", "\n\n\"I don't know what you expect to learn from me, Mr. Garrett,\" she said. \"", "There's nothing I can tell you that isn't in any of the numerous reports I'm sure you've read.\"", "\n\nHe caught himself listening to her voice more than what she said, trying to identify that elusive sense of a half-remembered song. \"", "I know what's in the reports.\"", "\n\nShe nodded and looked down at the sketch pad in her lap. \"", "Then you know it all.\" ", "She really didn't want to talk to him like this. ", "She didn't want to have to answer the question she knew he wanted to ask her.", "\n\n\"Miss Barnes—\" He shook his head. \"", "Look, I'll be around until this bastard is stopped, even if I'm not officially part of the investigation, so why don't we drop the formality? ", "My friends call me John.\"", "\n\nShe made herself look at him and nod again. ", "Tried to distract herself with an artist's automatic inventory. ", "He was a good-looking man, in a commanding sort of way. ", "Big, broad-shouldered, athletic—or at least worked to stay in good shape. ", "Though he was undoubtedly both impressive and formidable in a business suit, the more casual jeans and black leather jacket lent him a slightly dangerous air that was probably, Maggie thought, not the least bit deceptive.", "\n\nHis hair was very dark, but she knew there'd be a hint of red in the sunlight. ", "Eyes an unusual shade of blue-green, and deep set beneath brows that flared slightly upward at the outer corners so perfectly an artist might have drawn them.", "\n\nHe'd look mean as hell when he scowled, she thought idly. ", "Probably _be_ mean as hell mad. ", "But there was humor in the curve of his mouth, in the laugh lines fanning out from his eyes, and more than enough intelligence and self-control in those eyes to mitigate whatever temper he had.", "\n\nMost of the time, anyway.", "\n\n\"Okay, John it is. ", "I'm Maggie,\" she said, wishing she hadn't been here today or he hadn't. ", "Anything to postpone this conversation a little longer. \"", "But I still can't tell you anything about the investigation that you don't already know.\"", "\n\n\"That isn't what I wanted to talk to you about. ", "At least, not directly.\" ", "He drew a breath. \"", "There's something I wanted to ask you.\"", "\n\nShe hadn't intended to, but Maggie found herself nodding. \"", "Yes. ", "About Christina.\"", "\n\n\"I guess it's not so surprising that I'd want to ask you about her,\" he said after a moment.", "\n\n\"No. ", "But there's nothing I can tell you.\" ", "Until that moment, Maggie hadn't known what she would say. ", "She hadn't known she would lie. ", "It required an effort to keep meeting his eyes steadily.", "\n\n\"You were the last person to see her. ", "The last one to speak to her before she died.\"", "\n\n\"I interviewed her. ", "Just the way I interviewed Ellen Randall today. ", "Asked her questions, asked her to relive what had happened to her. ", "It was painful for her.\"", "\n\n\"So painful she decided to kill herself twelve hours later?\" ", "John demanded, his voice suddenly harsh.", "\n\nMaggie didn't blink or flinch. \"", "It wasn't our first interview. ", "We were going over what we'd discussed before, there was nothing new. ", "No new impressions from her, no new questions from me. ", "She seemed . . . ", "the same as always when I left.\"", "\n\n\"You left her alone.\"", "\n\nShe did flinch at that. \"", "The nurse had always been there, in the next room. ", "I assumed she was there that day, even though I hadn't seen her. ", "I didn't find out until later . . .\"", "\n\nJohn relented, uncertain in his own mind whether it was because he knew she wasn't to blame or because that haunting voice of hers affected him in a surprisingly powerful way. \"", "You couldn't have known what she'd do. ", "She was always . . . ", "a very good actress.\" ", "He gazed into those strange cat eyes and had the sudden realization that here was another woman entirely capable of hiding her thoughts. ", "But before he could do more than wonder if he wanted to pursue that, she spoke again in the same level tone.", "\n\n\"In any case, there's nothing helpful I can tell you. ", "I'm sorry you wasted your time.\"", "\n\n\"I didn't waste it. ", "I've wanted to meet you since Andy first told me they had a uniquely talented sketch artist working on the investigation. ", "I'm curious about how you work—which is why I barged in on your interview today. ", "I really am sorry about that, by the way.\"", "\n\nShe didn't respond to the apology, other than with a brief nod. \"", "There's nothing extraordinary about the way I work. ", "It's the way sketch artists have always worked. ", "I talk to victims, ask them questions, gain impressions, and then I draw what I think they saw. ", "Sometimes I get lucky.\"", "\n\n\"According to Andy, it's more than luck. ", "And more than just sometimes.\"", "\n\nMaggie shrugged. \"", "Andy's a friend. ", "He's biased.\"", "\n\n\"And is the police chief also biased? ", "He was singing your praises to me yesterday.\"", "\n\nShe dropped her gaze briefly to the sketch pad in her lap, then said in a matter-of-fact tone, \"His niece was abducted from her school playground about five years ago, and I helped them find the guy before he could hurt her.\"", "\n\n\"With a sketch? ", "There were witnesses?\"", "\n\n\"The other kids. ", "The oldest was only nine, so it was . . . ", "difficult. ", "Kids tend to elaborate, to invent details using their imaginations, so we had to weed through what they said they saw to get at the truth.\"", "\n\n\"How were you able to do that?\"", "\n\nMaggie hesitated only an instant. \"", "I listened to them.\"", "\n\n\"And you knew truth from an elaboration—how?\"", "\n\n\"I . . . ", "don't know. ", "I mean, I don't know how to explain it. ", "Andy calls it intuition, instinct. ", "I guess that's as good a word as any. ", "I've been doing this a long time.\"", "\n\nSurprised, John said, \"It can't have been all that long. ", "You're—what?—twenty-five?\"", "\n\n\"Thanks, but it's thirty-one. ", "The first time I sketched a face for the police I was eighteen. ", "So I've been doing this almost half my life.\"", "\n\n\"Isn't eighteen awfully young to work for the police?\"", "\n\n\"I wasn't working for them then, not officially.\" ", "Maggie sighed. \"", "I happened to witness a crime and I was the only one present who saw anything. ", "I also happened to be able to draw. ", "One thing led to another, and by the time I was in college I was also officially on the police payroll.\"", "\n\nJohn had more questions, but before he could ask them Andy knocked on the door and opened it to say, \"Sorry for the interruption, but—Maggie, we just got a call. ", "Hollis Templeton says she'll talk to you Saturday afternoon at the hospital.\"", "\n\nMaggie got to her feet. \"", "She called us?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "After ignoring us for weeks.\"", "\n\n\"Did she say why?\"", "\n\n\"No, but . . .\" ", "Andy shifted his weight the way he did when he was uneasy. \"", "You two haven't met, right?\"", "\n\n\"Right.\"", "\n\n\"Know each other by reputation?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know her work. ", "Don't see how she could know mine. ", "Why?\"", "\n\n\"She asked for you by name, Maggie. ", "Said she'd only talk to you.\"", "\n\nJohn got up. \"", "Why is that strange?\" ", "he asked.", "\n\n\"Because,\" Andy said, \"none of us has told her Maggie's name. ", "And there's been no publicity about her being our sketch artist; we keep that quiet. ", "So Hollis Templeton really shouldn't have known who to ask for.\"", "\n\nFRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2\n\nThe hotel room in Pittsburgh was like every other hotel room he'd ever stayed in, and Quentin Hayes wondered idly if there was a hotel decorators' association and they met secretly two or three times every year to decide what all the hotel rooms in America were going to look like. ", "Because surely it was beyond coincidence that they all used variations of the same floral-print bedspreads and drapes and hung the same bland landscapes on the walls. ", "And arranged the furniture in the most unreasonable way so that there was never an outlet where one was needed and it was always necessary to unplug a lamp in order to plug in a computer or fax machine.", "\n\nNo, it was obviously a conspiracy. ", "He expressed that opinion to his companion, and she gave him a wry response.", "\n\n\"You've been on the road too long,\" Kendra Eliot said.", "\n\n\"That does not,\" Quentin said, \"negate the probability I'm right.\"", "\n\nKendra typed another sentence into her report, keeping her gaze on the laptop even as she said, \"A vacation, that's what you need. ", "A nice, long one. ", "A couple of weeks spent _not_ chasing after bad guys or coming up with imaginative reasons to explain how you know the things you know.\"", "\n\n\"How can you talk and type at the same time? ", "If I try that, I end up typing what I'm saying.\"", "\n\n\"My uniquely flexible mind. ", "I'm telling Bishop you need a break.\"", "\n\n\"A change of scene is what I need.\" ", "Quentin lay back on the bed and clasped his hands together behind his neck, resting his blond head against the headboard. \"", "I'm tired of this place. ", "It's going to snow tonight.\"", "\n\n\"According to the weather reports?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "It's going to snow.\"", "\n\nShe glanced at him, then continued typing. \"", "Well, we should be able to get out before the bad weather moves in. ", "Right?\"", "\n\n\"Mmmm.\"", "\n\n\"And maybe our next assignment will be someplace warm and sunny.\"", "\n\n\"Mmmm.\"", "\n\nKendra stopped typing, this time turning in her chair to study him. ", "He appeared to be looking at the ceiling, but she knew that inward-turned gaze, the utter stillness, and waited patiently.", "\n\nFinally, softly, Quentin said, \"Shit.\"", "\n\n\"Trouble?\"", "\n\nHe sat up, raked his fingers through his rather shaggy hair, and swore again beneath his breath. ", "He looked at his cell phone lying on the nightstand, and five seconds later it rang.", "\n\nKendra lifted an eyebrow but went back to her report. ", "Quentin answered the phone. \"", "Hey, John.\"", "\n\n\"I wish you wouldn't do that,\" John Garrett said.", "\n\n\"Answer the phone? ", "It rang, so I answered it. ", "That's what they're for, you know.\"", "\n\n\"I know what they're for, and you know what I meant. ", "Even if you do know it's me calling, I wish you'd pretend otherwise.\"", "\n\n\"But that would be denying my deepest self,\" Quentin said solemnly.", "\n\nJohn sighed.", "\n\nQuentin grinned, then said, \"Okay, okay. ", "But it's just so much fun to poke holes in your certainties.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, is that what you've been doing all these years?\"", "\n\n\"It's what I've been trying to do. ", "Without visible results. ", "One of these days, my friend, you're going to admit that there are more things in heaven and earth than you can find in those balance sheets of yours.\"", "\n\n\"I never denied that.\"", "\n\n\"No, you just deny precognition.\"", "\n\n\"How can you see something that hasn't happened yet?\" ", "John demanded.", "\n\n\"I don't _see_ anything, I just know what's going to happen before it happens.\"", "\n\n\"Bullshit.\"", "\n\n\"I knew you were going to call.\"", "\n\n\"Lucky guess.\"", "\n\nQuentin laughed. \"", "Yeah, I just guessed it'd be you calling on a Friday morning in November when we haven't talked for more than a month. ", "Use that hard head of yours and admit the paranormal exists.\"", "\n\nIt held the sound of an old argument, and Kendra tuned out Quentin's side of it until something he said a couple of minutes later caught her attention and made her realize the friendly debate was over.", "\n\n\" . . . ", "again? ", "So it's four victims now?\" ", "He shook his head. \"", "I had no idea, John. ", "We've been caught up in something in Pittsburgh for the past few weeks, and I've barely looked at a newspaper. ", "They're sure it's the same guy?\"", "\n\n\"They're sure. ", "He's still blinding his victims, for one thing. ", "And I've got a hunch there are a few more similarities they haven't put in their reports. ", "At least, not the reports I've seen.\"", "\n\n\"You said the detectives handling the investigation were good.\"", "\n\n\"Not good enough. ", "Quentin, they don't know a bit more than they did when Christina died, and that was three months ago. ", "Two more women have been maimed for life, and the cops don't even have a decent description they can broadcast so the rest of the women in Seattle know who to be wary of. ", "It isn't a real fun time to be a man in this city, I can tell you that.\"", "\n\n\"You're staying out there?\"", "\n\n\"For the duration.\"", "\n\nSurprised, Quentin said, \"I know all those companies of yours practically run themselves these days, but is it wise for you to spend so much time away from L.A.?\"", "\n\n\"I can fly down if I have to. ", "I need to be here, Quentin.\"", "\n\n\"Okay, but the cops there may not be happy to have you breathing down their necks, John. ", "Why don't you back off and give them room to work?\"", "\n\n\"They can't work when they have nothing to work _with_.\" ", "John drew a breath. \"", "If you're really convinced that this new FBI unit you're with can get results using . . . ", "unconventional methods, then now's the time to prove it. ", "The usual five senses aren't accomplishing a goddamned thing.\"", "\n\nQuentin frowned. \"", "Have you persuaded the lieutenant in charge to call us in?\"", "\n\n\"Not exactly.\"", "\n\n\"By _not exactly,_ do you mean he's wavering? ", "Or do you mean this is all your idea?\"", "\n\n\"The latter.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, hell, John.\"", "\n\n\"Look, I know it should come through official channels, but the lieutenant in charge is stubborn as a mule and he's not going to yell for help until he's up to his ass in outraged citizens. ", "So far, he's handling the flak and pushing his own people to work harder. ", "But with nothing to go on, all they can do is sit around and wait for this bastard to make a mistake. ", "That means more victims, Quentin.\"", "\n\n\"I know what it means. ", "But this is out of our jurisdiction, you know that. ", "And without an official request for help made through official channels, the Bureau is not going to send us in. ", "We're walking a tightrope as it is, bending over backward to be careful as hell every time we _are_ called in so the locals don't get the peculiar idea that we use witchcraft to solve their crimes.\"", "\n\n\"I won't let you be burned at the stake.\"", "\n\n\"Very funny.\" ", "Quentin sighed, and looked across the room to find Kendra watching him with raised brows and her patented don't-do-anything-you'll-regret expression. ", "He sighed again. \"", "You've still got political juice there, right? ", "Can the mayor or governor put pressure on the chief of police to call us in?\"", "\n\n\"They're reluctant. ", "The lieutenant has some juice of his own, and he wants his team to handle this.\"", "\n\n\"Because he's a good cop and sure of his team?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "Because he wants to sit in the governor's mansion himself one day.\"", "\n\n\"Shit.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "I just don't think he's going to ask for help, Quentin. ", "At least not officially.\"", "\n\n\"I knew you were going to say that.\"", "\n\n\"Then you know what I'm going to say next. ", "You've probably got vacation time coming.\" ", "John's voice was persuasive. \"", "Spend some of it here. ", "You haven't been home except for flying visits in years. ", "I'll pay the tab— send the jet for you, best hotel suite, you name it.\"", "\n\n\"Best hotel suite, huh?\" ", "Quentin gazed around at the repressively unoriginal decor of the room he was in.", "\n\nKendra murmured, \"Oh, God.\"", "\n\nJohn was saying, \"Absolutely the best. ", "Say the word, and I'll send the jet. ", "Where did you say you are?\"", "\n\n\"Pittsburgh.\"", "\n\n\"Why?\"", "\n\nQuentin almost laughed at his friend's astonished tone. \"", "I told you, we had a case. ", "Unfortunately, it was here.\"", "\n\n\"Is the case over?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "We won in overtime.\"", "\n\n\"Good. ", "Then you most certainly need a break.\"", "\n\n\"I'll agree with that much—but I'm not sure I can take one right now, John. ", "It all depends on whether there's another assignment waiting for me. ", "Let me check with the office and get back to you.\"", "\n\n\"All right. ", "Call me on my cell.\"", "\n\n\"I'll let you know something by this afternoon, I hope. ", "Talk to you then, John.\" ", "Quentin turned off his phone and set it on the nightstand.", "\n\nPatiently, Kendra said, \"We aren't supposed to work unofficially, Quentin, you know that.\"", "\n\n\"I know that.\"", "\n\n\"Bishop won't like it.\"", "\n\n\"I know that too.\"", "\n\nKendra sighed. \"", "Seattle, huh?\"", "\n\nHe smiled slowly. \"", "Seattle.\"", "\n\n\"Because he's your friend?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "And because his sister was.\"", "\nCHAPTER THREE\n\n **Since she was forced to wait until Saturday afternoon** to see Hollis Templeton and knew better than to try arranging another interview with Ellen Randall so soon, Maggie found herself at loose ends on Friday. ", "Her small house was too quiet and the bright studio where she painted held no appeal, so late in the morning she picked up the sketch pad that went virtually everywhere with her and drove across town to another small, rather shabby house.", "\n\nShe went around to the back door that was never locked, pushing it open and calling out a hello.", "\n\n\"Studio,\" he called back.", "\n\nMaggie picked her way through the usual clutter of books, magazines, newspapers, and half-finished craft projects to the studio, an addition to the house that was in stark contrast to the rest. ", "Not only was it roomy and very bright due to numerous windows and skylights, it was also extremely neat and well organized, with paints and brushes stored precisely and canvases stacked in wooden bins. ", "Various props and materials for drapes were kept ready on shelves between the windows, and the assorted chairs, lounges, and tables often used for backgrounds were arranged simply to comfortably furnish the large room.", "\n\nIn the center of the room an artist worked at an easel on a nearly completed canvas. ", "The subject was a woman, and though she wasn't present in the flesh it was clear from the charcoal sketches pinned to another easel nearby that she had posed more than once for the artist.", "\n\nThe artist himself was about thirty, a tall and lanky man with the face of an angel—or so Maggie had always thought. ", "She'd never seen an angel, but she had seen traffic literally stop and mouths drop open when this man walked by, and she figured he was about as close to heavenly perfection as earthly mortals were likely to get. ", "He had long, wheat-gold hair he wore tied back at the nape of his neck, and his faded jeans and work shirt were, as usual, flecked with paint.", "\n\n\"Half a minute,\" he said without looking at her, his attention fixed on the careful shading beneath his subject's left ear.", "\n\n\"Take your time. ", "I was tired of my own company and just came by to visit,\" Maggie said.", "\n\nHe sent her one quick glance from very pale blue eyes that were almost unnervingly discerning, then continued with his work. \"", "Not like you to be bored,\" he said.", "\n\nMaggie sat down at a clean but scarred wooden table and watched him. \"", "Not bored exactly. ", "Restless. ", "I'm supposed to go talk to the most recent victim tomorrow, and until then there isn't a whole hell of a lot I can do. ", "It's very wearing on the nerves, just sitting around waiting for the next attack.\"", "\n\n\"I warned you,\" he murmured.", "\n\n\"I know you did. ", "But why didn't you also warn me that Hollis Templeton would ask for me by name?\"", "\n\nHe stopped working and looked at her steadily. \"", "Nobody told her your name?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\n\"What do you know about her?\"", "\n\nMaggie shrugged. \"", "She's an artist, but she's new in Seattle and I think the work she did on the East Coast was mostly commercial stuff, so we wouldn't have heard of her. ", "Late twenties, single. ", "From the photo I saw, she was attractive before the attack. ", "I don't know about now.\"", "\n\n\"He took her eyes.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "Removed them—very neatly, according to her doctors. ", "No acid this time. ", "He used a knife or scalpel and seems to have known what he was doing. ", "Little damage to the optic nerve, to the eye socket and eyelids. ", "Which is why they decided to try the transplant.\"", "\n\n\"Was it successful?\"", "\n\n\"You tell me.\"", "\n\nHe smiled slightly and turned back to his painting.", "\n\n\"I hate it when you do that,\" Maggie told him.", "\n\n\"Do what?\" ", "His tone was innocent.", "\n\n\"Ignore a question. ", "I start really dreading it when you don't want to answer.\"", "\n\n\"Whether Hollis Templeton sees again is entirely up to her.\"", "\n\n\"Well, that's cryptic enough. ", "Did they teach you to talk like that at seer school?\"", "\n\n\"I didn't go to seer school.\"", "\n\n\"Prognosticator's school, then.\"", "\n\nHe chuckled. \"", "That either.\"", "\n\nWhen it became clear he wasn't going to say anything else, at least for the time being, Maggie sighed and opened her sketch pad. ", "For several moments she stared at the vague outline of a rapist's face, then swore beneath her breath and closed the pad again.", "\n\n\"I really hate this, Beau,\" she said.", "\n\n\"I know you do. ", "I'm sorry.\"", "\n\n\"But not sorry enough to be a little less cryptic.\"", "\n\n\"Being sorry has nothing to do with it.\"", "\n\n\"Free will.\"", "\n\nHe nodded and stepped away from the easel to begin cleaning his brushes. \"", "Free will. ", "You have to make the decisions and choices facing you of your own free will.\"", "\n\nMaggie watched him broodingly. \"", "And yet you know what those decisions and choices are going to be. ", "Which argues that fate is set, my destiny planned—and there is no such thing as free will.\"", "\n\n\"Then let's call it the illusion of free will.\"", "\n\n\"You can be very maddening sometimes, you know that?\"", "\n\n\"You tell me so often enough.\" ", "Beau disappeared into the kitchen for a few minutes and returned with two canned soft drinks. \"", "This stuff is very bad for us,\" he said vaguely. \"", "I read it somewhere.\" ", "He handed her a can and sat down across from her to pop the top of his own.", "\n\nMaggie followed suit. \"", "You swear to me you can't tell me who the rapist is?\"", "\n\nBeau frowned. \"", "There's no sense of identity, and I can't see his face. ", "That's something I would tell you if I could, Maggie, believe me. ", "There's nothing in the seer's handbook about protecting monsters.\"", "\n\n\"He is that, you know. ", "Inhuman.\"", "\n\n\"I know.\"", "\n\n\"I have to stop him.\"", "\n\n\"You mean you have to try.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "Yes, of course that's what I mean.\"", "\n\n\"You're helping, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"Am I? ", "I don't have a sketch yet.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe not, but you're helping those women. ", "If they have any kind of a life when this is over, it'll be largely due to you.\"", "\n\n\"Then why don't I feel better?\"", "\n\nQuietly, he said, \"Because you've let yourself get too close to them. ", "You won't be able to do this much longer if you don't back away a bit. ", "Try to stop feeling everything they feel.\"", "\n\n\"Teach me how to do that and I'll give it a shot.\" ", "She laughed, but the sound held no amusement. \"", "We're running out of time. ", "It's only going to get worse from here on out, Beau, we both know that.\"", "\n\n\"Even so, stop trying to carry all of the load yourself. ", "You can't do this alone, I've told you. ", "You have to trust someone else to help you.\"", "\n\n\"Someone other than you.\"", "\n\n\"I'm . . . ", "outside the loop. ", "My job is to offer cryptic warnings, remember?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, right.\"", "\n\nBeau smiled slightly, but it was sympathetic rather than humorous. \"", "I wish I could do more.\"", "\n\n\"Then do more, dammit.\"", "\n\n\"The seer handbook, remember? ", "We all have to play by the rules, Maggie. ", "Putting one foot carefully in front of the other, testing the ground, feeling our way, studying the signs. ", "So wary of doing something that might make things even worse. ", "You've been doing that too. ", "Otherwise you would have told them the truth a long time ago.\"", "\n\n\"And how am I supposed to tell them the truth? ", "Andy, the other cops? ", "How will they ever understand? ", "Hell—how will they even believe me?\"", "\n\n\"When you don't quite believe it yourself,\" he murmured.", "\n\n\"It isn't an easy thing to believe, to accept.\"", "\n\n\"I know.\"", "\n\n\"You could be wrong about it,\" she said, more of a question than a statement.", "\n\n\"I really wish I was, Maggie. ", "For your sake.\" ", "He watched her for a moment in silence, then said, \"Is Garrett here yet?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "He was at the station yesterday. ", "Wanted to talk to me about Christina.\"", "\n\n\"Did you tell him?\"", "\n\n\"The truth? ", "No. ", "I lied. ", "I looked that man in the eye and lied to him about his sister's death.\"", "\n\n\"Why?\"", "\n\n\"Because . . . ", "I don't know why. ", "Because he wouldn't suffer less for knowing the truth. ", "Because he'd blame himself for something he did, or failed to do. ", "Because Christina wouldn't want him to know. ", "Because he wouldn't believe me.\" ", "She lifted her drink in a mocking salute. \"", "Or maybe just because I'm a coward.\"", "\n\n\"I don't think that was it.\"", "\n\n\"Don't you? ", "I'm beginning to wonder. ", "I'm afraid, Beau. ", "I'm scared to death.\"", "\n\n\"Of the future?\"", "\n\n\"Of now. ", "What if I'm not strong enough? ", "Or smart enough, or quick enough? ", "I wasn't before.\"", "\n\n\"You will be this time.\"", "\n\n\"Is that from the seer? ", "Or just from you?\"", "\n\n\"From me.\"", "\n\nMaggie sighed. \"", "That's what I thought.\" ", "She brooded in silence for several minutes, then said abruptly, \"Garrett. ", "You're wrong about him.\"", "\n\n\"Am I?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\n\"Well,\" Beau said affably, \"I've been wrong before. ", "Not often, mind you, but it has been known to happen. ", "Time will tell, won't it, Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah,\" she said. \"", "Yeah, time will tell.\"", "\n\nAndy Brenner had been a cop almost fifteen years. ", "He loved the work, even though it had cost him his marriage—which wasn't exactly an unusual price for cops to pay. ", "Half the guys in the department were either divorced or trying to make a second marriage work better than the first one had. ", "And the female officers didn't seem to have it any easier.", "\n\nLike most of the spouses, Andy's had hated the long hours and lousy pay, the stress of knowing her husband waded in filth virtually every day and might not come home except in a flag-draped box. ", "But, even more than that, Kathy had hated his commitment to his job.", "\n\nWell, Andy could hardly change that. ", "Hell, he couldn't even apologize for it. ", "A cop wasn't much good to anybody if he wasn't dedicated, was he?", "\n\nNo.", "\n\nWhich was why he was staying late yet again on this Friday night. ", "Going over files he'd already studied so many times the information was practically embedded in his brain cells. ", "Only now there was nobody waiting for him at home, pacing the floor or drinking too much wine after a supper alone.", "\n\n\"Andy?\"", "\n\nHe looked up. \"", "I thought you left hours ago, Scott.\"", "\n\nScott Cowan shook his head. \"", "No, Jenn and I were just in the back digging through some of the old files.\" ", "He was holding a dingy gray folder in his hands.", "\n\n\"What the hell for?\"", "\n\n\"Just following up on a hunch.\"", "\n\n\"A hunch about what? ", "The rapist?\" ", "Not, Andy thought, that there was much chance it was about anything else; the case possessed all of them these days.", "\n\n\"Well, yeah.\"", "\n\n\"So? ", "Let's hear it.\"", "\n\nScott hadn't been a detective long enough to have a lot of faith in his hunches, and he reddened a bit under Andy's gaze. \"", "Well, I know we fed all the information we've got on this rapist through the computer to look for similar crimes, but Jenn and me were talking today and we started wondering about the old files. ", "Some of those files go back fifty years and more, and none of the info is in the system.\"", "\n\nPatiently, Andy said, \"I doubt our rapist was attacking women fifty years ago, Scott. ", "That'd make him—what?—seventy-five or eighty now? ", "Not even a little blue pill could help a geezer like that get it up.\"", "\n\n\"No, that's not the way we're thinking. ", "Something the shrink said at the meeting yesterday. ", "She said this rapist seemed to have his rituals well established, as if he'd been at this much longer than the six months we know he's been active. ", "So we thought he might have found himself some ready-made rituals, copying a much older string of crimes.\"", "\n\n\"Taking the information right out of our old files?\"", "\n\n\"Not necessarily. ", "Jenn checked, and some of this stuff has been written up in books over the years, especially the unsolved crimes. ", "It's a popular subject, Andy, you know that. ", "And it's at least a possibility that our guy could be following somebody else's game plan, isn't it?\"", "\n\n\"Anything's possible.\" ", "Andy pursed his lips for a moment as he considered the idea. \"", "Not bad, Scott. ", "It's an angle we haven't considered. ", "Find anything yet?\"", "\n\n\"We're not sure.\"", "\n\n\"Something else interesting?\"", "\n\n\"Something peculiar. ", "At least we thought so. ", "Maybe you can say different.\" ", "He opened the file and extracted a yellowed sheet of paper, which he handed across the desk. \"", "Just for the hell of it, we started with the really old files, those from more than fifty years ago. ", "Specifically from 1934. ", "Jenn found this in one of them, among some case notes of a murder investigation.\"", "\n\nAndy stared down at the sketch and felt a sensation he'd never felt before, as though a cold finger had trailed slowly up his spine. ", "The heart-shaped face and delicate features, the long dark hair . . . \"", "Who is this? ", "I mean—who was she?\"", "\n\n\"She was the victim, Andy. ", "A young teacher, stabbed to death in an alley. ", "Apparently she was pretty beat up, so much so that they used an artist to sketch her the way they figured she looked uninjured, just so they'd have something to show around while they tried to identify her. ", "They found out who she was, all right, but . . . ", "the case was never solved.\"", "\n\n\"It must be a coincidence,\" Andy muttered. \"", "The artist got it wrong, guessed wrong about how she really looked. ", "Or some kind of family tie. ", "What was her name?\"", "\n\nScott opened the folder again. \"", "Her name was . . . ", "Pamela Hall. ", "Spinster, twenty-two. ", "No family in Seattle, at least not that the cops could discover.\"", "\n\n\"Was she raped?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, she was. ", "In those days, though, rape was seldom reported and never investigated, at least as far as I can tell. ", "It was just mentioned by the doctor in his postmortem notes; the cops treated it like a murder, pure and simple. ", "They weren't looking for a sexual predator.\"", "\n\nJennifer Seaton joined them at Andy's desk in time to hear that, and said, \"I don't think that term even existed then.\" ", "She shook her head, more in weariness than anger. \"", "They still thought rape was a forceful act of sex—and nothing more.\"", "\n\n\"Have you found any other attacks around the same time?\" ", "Andy asked.", "\n\nJennifer shook her head again. \"", "Not yet. ", "But this one happened early that year, and there are more files we can go through. ", "We just thought we should check with you before we go any further. ", "It wasn't the attack itself that caught my attention—lots of women were killed in Seattle around that time. ", "It was the sketch I couldn't get past.\"", "\n\nAndy drew a breath. \"", "I see what you mean. ", "Shit. ", "If this sketch is accurate, she was the image of our first victim, Laura Hughes.\"", "\n\n\"That's what we thought.\"", "\n\nAndy propped the sketch against his phone and stared at it. ", "Probably just coincidence. ", "Hell, it had to be. ", "Still . . . \"", "Look, it's late, you two should go home. ", "But when you come back on duty, you might want to keep digging in those files, see if you turn up anything else.\"", "\n\nScott nodded, eager to participate more fully in an investigation where, so far, he'd been more of a glorified gofer than anything else. \"", "Sure, I can do that. ", "Jenn?\"", "\n\n\"Gladly. ", "Beats the hell out of sitting at my desk taking call after call from panicky citizens.\"", "\n\nScott said, \"Hey, Andy, you think we might have something here? ", "Maybe this guy is copying old crimes by hunting for look-alike victims?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe,\" Andy said. \"", "But let's not get too excited just yet, okay, guys? ", "One sketch doesn't mean much, except maybe that all of us have—or had—doubles in the world. ", "Just keep digging, and bring me anything you find.\"", "\n\n\"You bet, Andy. ", "Want us to leave this file for you?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\" ", "Andy accepted the file and wished the younger cops a good night. ", "They walked out together, talking, and he wasted a minute or so wondering if they were sleeping together. ", "Not very surprising, if so, and they wouldn't be the first pairing in the department. ", "But he hoped they were smarter than that.", "\n\nWhen he was alone again, he stared at the sketch of a young woman long dead and gone. ", "Hell, _twice_ dead and gone, or at least that was how it looked. ", "Pamela Hall, stabbed to death in 1934 after being brutally raped; Laura Hughes, brutally raped and beaten in 2001, blinded, dying days later of her injuries.", "\n\nThe two women didn't just resemble each other— they were virtually identical, right down to the little mole at the left corner of their mouths. ", "But an artist had drawn this sketch with only the battered face of the victim as a guide, and Andy reminded himself that artists were hardly infallible.", "\n\nExcept for Maggie, anyway.", "\n\nAndy combed through the file, but it held precious little information. ", "From the sound of their notes, the investigating cops had been saddened by the murder of this young woman but not surprised; she had been found in the bad part of town, and it was clear they considered it her own fault that she had placed herself in the path of danger. ", "Still, they had investigated methodically for a while—and then moved on to the next crime demanding their attention.", "\n\nThe postmortem notes were no more helpful. ", "The victim had died of blood loss and shock; there was evidence of _forcible sexual activity_ , and she was beaten and bruised. ", "It was the opinion of the doctor that she had fought her attacker, evidenced by the injuries to her arms and hands, but her strength had, clearly, been no match for his.", "\n\nAndy went back to studying the sketch. ", "Were Scott and Jennifer right in their speculation? ", "Was their modern-day serial rapist choosing his victims from old unsolved cases?", "\n\nIt was, of course, ridiculous to base an assumption such as that one on a single example, but Andy couldn't help doing a little speculating himself. ", "So far, they hadn't been able to find any pattern in the means or reasoning their rapist had used to choose his victims. ", "Since one of the women had been abducted from a crowded shopping mall and another from her high-security apartment building, they had ruled out simple ease of access, which meant he was picking his victims some other way and quite deliberately.", "\n\nCould he be using old unsolved investigations? ", "And if he was, had he found the information he sought in books? ", "Or in the actual files themselves?", "\n\nIf he was, Andy hoped it was the former. ", "He really hoped so. ", "Because he was pretty sure that the only people who could have gained access to the old files without attracting notice were cops.", "\n\nSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3\n\nMaggie wasn't terribly surprised to find John Garrett at the hospital when she arrived to talk to Hollis Templeton shortly after two o'clock. ", "She also wasn't terribly happy about it.", "\n\n\"The interview will be private,\" she told him.", "\n\n\"I know that. ", "I just thought we might be able to get a cup of coffee somewhere afterward. ", "Talk.\"", "\n\nShe didn't bother to explain that interviews such as this one was likely to be usually left her feeling something less than sociable. \"", "I doubt I'll have any new information,\" she warned him instead. \"", "The first interview with a victim seldom produces anything we can use.\"", "\n\n\"I understand that. ", "I'd still like to talk. ", "And—there's someone I'd like you to meet.\"", "\n\nMaggie was curious enough about that to nod and say fine, that she'd meet him at the waiting area near the elevators when she was finished with her interview. ", "Then she went on to Hollis Templeton's room, braced herself as well as she could, and knocked quietly before going in.", "\n\n\"Miss Templeton?\"", "\n\n\"Yes?\" ", "She was sitting by the window, her face turned toward it even though bandages covered her eyes. ", "She was dressed in jeans and a bulky sweater, much as Maggie was dressed herself—even to the comfortable running shoes. ", "Her brown hair was short and styled for a casual look and ease of care, nothing at all fussy about it.", "\n\nMaggie crossed the small room to stand by the empty chair apparently awaiting her. \"", "I'm Maggie Barnes.\"", "\n\n\"I see.\" ", "Her face turned toward Maggie, and lips that bore a healing cut moved in a smile. \"", "Well, I don't, really. ", "Have you ever stopped to think about how many things we say using words like _see_ and _look_ , when we don't actually mean to describe doing anything visual?\"", "\n\nMaggie slipped into the chair. \"", "I've thought about it a lot lately,\" she answered.", "\n\nHollis smiled again, her face seemingly unmarked except for the healing cut—and those bandaged eyes. \"", "Yes, I imagine in speaking to blinded victims you find verbal minefields all over the place. ", "I'm Hollis, by the way. ", "A ridiculous family name. ", "My father tried to shorten it to Holly when I was small, but I hated that even more.\"", "\n\nMaggie had talked to too many victims of violent crime to find the conversation in any way strange; some victims had to discuss irrelevant things first, partly to delay reliving the pain of what had happened to them and partly to at least attempt to establish a feeling of normalcy. ", "So she was able to respond easily and without impatience.", "\n\n\"Most people think Maggie is short for Margaret, but it isn't. ", "I've always been Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"It's a good name. ", "It means _pearl_ , did you know?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\n\"Hollis means _lives by the holly trees_. ", "What kind of name is that for a grown woman?\" ", "She shook her head, adding abruptly, \"Dumb subject. ", "And trivial. ", "Sorry, I don't mean to waste your time.\"", "\n\n\"You aren't, Hollis. ", "I'm glad you called us.\"", "\n\n\"Us.\" ", "She nodded as though a private thought had been confirmed. \"", "So you do consider yourself one of the cops, huh?\"", "\n\n\"I guess so.\"", "\n\n\"It can't be a fun job, listening to horrible stories about . . . ", "man's inhumanity to man.\"", "\n\n\"No, that part of it isn't fun.\"", "\n\n\"Why do you do it?\"", "\n\nMaggie studied the other woman, noting the stiff posture, the hands still bearing faint scratches and fading bruises gripping the arms of the chair tensely. ", "Slowly she said, \"I . . . ", "have a knack. ", "I listen to disparate details and manage to put them together to form a picture. ", "A face.\"", "\n\nHollis tilted her head slightly. \"", "Yes, but why do you do it? ", "Were you a victim once?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\n\"Somebody you cared about?\"", "\n\nMaggie almost shook her head, then remembered Hollis couldn't see her. ", "It was an odd surprise; she could almost feel a gaze, feel attention fixed on her so completely that it was as if the other woman _could_ see her. \"", "No,\" she murmured, answering the question even as she wondered if what she felt was her imagination—or something more.", "\n\n\"Is it pity?\"", "\n\nIf Hollis was expecting a swift denial, she didn't get it. ", "Calmly Maggie said, \"I imagine that's part of it. ", "Pity, sympathy, whatever you want to call it.\"", "\n\nHollis smiled. \"", "You're honest. ", "Good.\"", "\n\n\"I try to be.\"", "\n\nA little laugh escaped Hollis. \"", "And truthful enough to know it isn't always possible to be completely honest with other people.\"", "\n\n\"A lesson sadly learned.\"", "\n\n\"Life is full of them.\" ", "Abruptly, Hollis said, \"I know I'm the fourth victim. ", "I remember reading in the newspapers that the first two were dead.\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\n\"But he didn't leave them dead. ", "They died later.\"", "\n\n\"Laura Hughes died of her injuries. ", "Christina Walsh killed herself about a month after she was attacked.\"", "\n\n\"Did either of them have kids?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\n\"What about the third woman?\"", "\n\n\"She has a little boy.\"", "\n\n\"I hadn't even decided if I wanted kids. ", "Now it's a decision I don't have to worry about anymore.\"", "\n\nMaggie didn't offer platitudes. ", "Instead, she asked, \"Is that the worst of it for you? ", "That there won't be any children of your own?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know.\" ", "Her lips moved again in that small, brief smile. \"", "I guess it might depend on whether the transplant was a success. ", "The doctor's confident, but . . . ", "I don't know what you learned in art school, but one of the things they taught us is that the eyes, like the spine, are hardwired into the brain. ", "That's why there hasn't been a successful transplant before now. ", "They can transplant corneas, of course, but not the eyeball—or at least that's conventional medical wisdom. ", "My doctor intends to become a pioneer.\"", "\n\n\"You'll be one too,\" Maggie reminded her.", "\n\n\"I'm not so sure I want to be. ", "But I do want to see again, so I signed the papers. ", "Any chance is better than none, right?\"", "\n\n\"I'd say so.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "But nobody really knows what might happen. ", "My body doesn't seem to be rejecting the eyes, but the odds against them working the way they're supposed to are pretty long. ", "The funny thing is . . .\"", "\n\n\"What?\"", "\n\nShe drew a little breath. \"", "They say when you lose a limb, you get phantom sensations—that you still feel the limb attached to you, moving. ", "Hurting.\"", "\n\n\"I've heard that.\"", "\n\n\"I asked my doctor if it was the same way with eyes. ", "I don't think he quite got what I meant until I asked him if I should be able to move them. ", "Because that's the kind of sensations I feel, that the eyes are moving under the bandages, behind my eyelids. ", "Like now, when I think about looking toward the door . . . ", "I can feel them move.\"", "\n\n\"What did your doctor say?\"", "\n\n\"That it was probably phantom sensations, there hadn't been time for the muscles and nerves to heal. ", "That was just after the operation, so I guess he was right. ", "But it still feels the same to me, those sensations.\"", "\n\n\"When will they take the bandages off?\"", "\n\n\"Another week or so. ", "Until then, all I can do is sit here . . . ", "and wait. ", "I never was very good at waiting.\"", "\n\n\"Is that why you called us?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "If I could do anything to help them catch that . . . ", "monster . . . ", "then I want to do it.\" ", "She paused and swallowed hard. \"", "At least, that was the plan. ", "Now I'm not so sure I can talk about it yet. ", "I'm sorry, but—\"\n\n\"Hollis, it's all right. ", "You have to do this in your own time and way. ", "Look, why don't I come back tomorrow, and we'll talk again. ", "We'll talk about anything you want for as long as you want. ", "Until you're ready.\"", "\n\n\"If you don't mind.\"", "\n\n\"I don't. ", "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, okay?\"", "\n\n\"Thank you, Maggie.\"", "\n\nHollis didn't move after the door closed behind her visitor. ", "She turned her face back toward the window, thinking vaguely that if she'd been back in New England she might have felt the sunlight on her face even in November. ", "But the nurses had told her it was a typical Seattle day, overcast and dreary, with no sunlight to be had. ", "They hadn't understood why she'd wanted to sit by the window anyway.", "\n\n _You should have talked to her, Hollis._", "\n\n\"I did talk to her.\"", "\n\n _I told you that you could trust her._", "\n\nShe laughed under her breath. \"", "I don't even know if I can trust you.\"", "\n\n _You know._", "\n\n\"All I know is that I'm creeping out the nursing staff by talking to someone who isn't there.\"", "\n\n _I'm here. ", "And you know I'm real._", "\n\nHollis turned her head so that she faced the chair across from her own. \"", "If I could see, would I see you?\"", "\n\n _Perhaps._", "\n\n\"And perhaps not. ", "I think I'll make up my own mind who to trust, if it's all the same to you, figment.\"", "\n\n _Make up your mind soon, Hollis. ", "We're running out of_ _time._", "\nCHAPTER FOUR\n\n **I couldn't push her,\" Maggie said. \"", "I can't push her.** ", "We just have to wait until she's ready to talk about it.\"", "\n\n\"And when will that be?\" ", "John asked. ", "He sat back to allow the waitress to serve their coffee, wondering if Maggie had suggested this coffee shop across from the hospital because she liked it or because she wanted to spend as little time with him as possible.", "\n\n\"My guess is a few days. ", "She's coping better than I expected, maybe because she has the hope of seeing again. ", "But her emotional condition is still . . . ", "very fragile.\"", "\n\n\"Did you ask her how she knew to ask for you by name?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "I didn't want to ask anything that might have been interpreted as . . . ", "suspicious.\"", "\n\n\"Bad for the rapport?\"", "\n\n\"That's one way of putting it. ", "If I can't establish a strong bond of trust, then she won't confide in me. ", "Especially as long as she can't see.\"", "\n\nJohn didn't lack imagination, and it was not difficult for him to at least try to understand the terror of being suddenly locked away in darkness, especially as it applied to dealing with others. \"", "No visual clues,\" he said slowly. \"", "We use our eyes so much when it comes to weighing other people and judging the worth of what they tell us.\"", "\n\nA little surprised, Maggie said, \"Exactly.\"", "\n\nHe smiled but didn't comment on her surprise. \"", "So you didn't learn how she knew about you. ", "Anything else? ", "Do you think she saw anything before he blinded her?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know. ", "She has something on her mind, but I have no way of knowing what that might be.\" ", "If she hadn't been gazing directly at his face, she wouldn't have seen his instant of hesitation—and the decision to say what was on his mind.", "\n\n\"So what we need,\" he said lightly, \"is a good psychic.\"", "\n\n\"Have a few on the payroll, do you?\" ", "Her voice was matter-of-fact.", "\n\n\"Not on my payroll, no. ", "At least, not that I know of. ", "But I have a friend who might be willing to help. ", "Assuming he can, of course.\"", "\n\n\"You doubt his abilities?\"", "\n\n\"I,\" John said deliberately, \"doubt the entire concept, if you want the truth. ", "I have a hard time believing in the so-called paranormal. ", "But I've seen Quentin find answers when no one else could, and even if I'm not sure how he does it, at least his way is another option. ", "Especially in a situation where there is so little information and so much need for more.\"", "\n\nMaggie sipped her coffee to give herself a moment to think, then said, \"I'm pretty sure Luke Drummond would balk at having one more civilian officially involved in the investigation.\"", "\n\n\"I'm positive he would. ", "Which is why Quentin can only be involved _un_ officially.\"", "\n\n\"Which means access to the investigation is going to be a problem. ", "Is that why you're telling me? ", "Do you expect me to get him access to the victims?\"", "\n\nJohn immediately shook his head. \"", "I wouldn't put you in that position _or_ ask those women to talk to yet another stranger, especially a strange man. ", "No, I'm telling you because from everything Andy's said about you, my hunch is that you're going to be at the center of this investigation for the duration—and I don't mean sitting in an interview room downtown.\"", "\n\n\"What do you mean?\"", "\n\n\"Andy says you've walked the areas where the first three victims were found. ", "True?\"", "\n\nShe nodded slowly.", "\n\n\"Why?\"", "\n\nMaggie couldn't think of a simple answer and finally shrugged. \"", "To gather impressions, I suppose. ", "I told you, a lot of what I do is intuition.\"", "\n\n\"According to Andy, you always immerse yourself in an investigation. ", "You don't just interview victims and witnesses or just study the crime scenes. ", "You read all the reports, talk to the cops, comb through files, even hit the streets following up on your hunches. ", "You talk to family and friends of the victims and construct your own diagrams of crime scenes. ", "Andy swears he believes you have a filing cabinet tucked away somewhere at home with your own personal files of the investigations you've participated in.\"", "\n\nMaggie only just stopped herself from flinching. \"", "Andy talks too much.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe so, but did he lie?\"", "\n\nShe laced her fingers together around her cup and stared down at it for a long moment before finally meeting his gaze again. \"", "Okay, so I get involved. ", "What does that have to do with you and your friend? ", "I won't share confidential details of the investigation.\"", "\n\n\"I don't expect you to. ", "Look, I can get most of the information on the formal investigation myself, as least as much as Andy can give me. ", "What I'm asking you to do is to work separately—independently of the official investigation—with Quentin and me.\"", "\n\nMaggie frowned at him. \"", "You're planning to run an independent investigation?\"", "\n\n\"Why not? ", "I have resources the police can't begin to match. ", "I can go places they can't go, ask questions they'd be damned for asking.\"", "\n\nSteadily, she said, \"As the brother of a victim?\"", "\n\nHis jaw tightened, but John nodded and replied calmly, \"As the brother of a victim. ", "Nobody will be much surprised that I'm trying to find answers on my own, and most people will be sympathetic. ", "We can use that if we have to.\"", "\n\n\"Ruthless,\" she noted.", "\n\n\"Practical,\" he disagreed. \"", "There's nothing cold-blooded about this, remember. ", "That bastard destroyed Christina. ", "He murdered her as surely as if he killed her with his own hands. ", "I intend to see to it that he pays.\"", "\n\n\"I don't think much of vigilante justice.\"", "\n\n\"That isn't what I have in mind. ", "If we get even a whiff of a viable suspect, we'll hand the information over to the police immediately. ", "I don't want to do their job, Maggie, I promise you that. ", "But I do believe the investigation needs a fresh start, a new slant. ", "It's been six months since the first victim was attacked; do you believe the police know much more today than they did then?\"", "\n\nReluctantly, she said, \"No, not much more.\"", "\n\n\"Neither do I.\"\n\n\"Okay, but what makes you think you—we—can accomplish any more working independently?\"", "\n\n\"Call it a hunch.\"", "\n\nShe shook her head. \"", "For a man who denies belief in the paranormal, you're putting a lot of faith in a hunch.\"", "\n\nHe smiled. \"", "No, I'm putting a lot of faith in Quentin. ", "And in you. ", "And . . . ", "I can't keep just waiting around twiddling my thumbs, Maggie. ", "I have to at least _try_ to find some way of putting this bastard behind bars before he attacks again.\"", "\n\nShe understood that drive all too well, but his plans still made her uneasy. ", "Stalling for time, she said, \"Don't you have a business empire to run?\"", "\n\n\"What I need to do I can do by phone, fax, or modem. ", "I've spent the past six weeks arranging things so I could take time off for this.\"", "\n\n\"And you expect me to take time as well?\"", "\n\n\"I expect you to go on doing exactly what you would have done anyway—but with sometime companions.\" ", "John leaned forward a bit. \"", "Useful companions; I wasn't kidding about having resources. ", "But even more than that, we can help you with the legwork, case notes, research—whatever is needed. ", "Quentin and I can share the load.\"", "\n\n _. . . ", "stop trying to carry all of the load yourself._", "\n\nMaggie didn't have to wonder if it was a coincidence that Beau had used the same phrasing; there were few coincidences anywhere in his orbit. ", "She drew a breath. \"", "And when Andy and the other cops find out I'm involved in a private parallel investigation? ", "Just how long do you expect it to take for them to slam the door in _all_ our faces?\"", "\n\n\"They won't do that—if we've made progress. ", "And I expect us to make progress.\"", "\n\nShe swore under her breath and stared down at her coffee again.", "\n\n\"You're going to investigate on your own anyway, aren't you?\"", "\n\nNot yet ready to admit that she'd already started, Maggie shrugged.", "\n\nIt was John's turn to swear, just as softly as she had. \"", "If I thought money motivated you, I'd ask your price. ", "But it doesn't. ", "So what does motivate you, Maggie? ", "What can I say to convince you to help me?\"", "\n\nShe finished her coffee and set the cup down, meeting his gaze with a sense of inevitability. \"", "You just said it.\" ", "And before he could question her apparently sudden capitulation, she added, \"You're right, I'd investigate on my own anyway. ", "Might as well make it a team effort.\"", "\n\nHe reached across the table and covered her hand with his. \"", "Thank you. ", "You won't regret it, I promise you.\"", "\n\nThe physical contact caught her off guard, and for just that unprotected instant before she could shut it out, she felt his determination as well as his conviction that she could help him. ", "And she felt something else, something warm and very male and disturbingly familiar.", "\n\nShe sat back, gently drawing her hand away under the pretext of pushing her coffee cup to one side. \"", "What's the game plan? ", "I assume you have one.\"", "\n\nJohn frowned briefly, as if something he couldn't quite define puzzled him. \"", "The beginnings of one, anyway. ", "Andy said you hadn't yet walked over the area where Hollis Templeton was found.\"", "\n\n\"No, not yet.\"", "\n\n\"That's as good a place as any to start. ", "I've asked Quentin to meet us there.\"", "\n\nAs much as she hated to admit it even to herself, Maggie had put off that chore because she dreaded what she knew awaited her there. ", "What she wasn't sure of was whether having companions on the visit would make it better—or worse.", "\n\nStill . . . ", "maybe it was time to show John Garrett a glimpse of her \"magic.\" ", "Time for him to at least begin to understand.", "\n\n\"We don't have much daylight left,\" she said, keeping her tone brisk. \"", "I'm ready if you are.\"", "\n\n\"Well,\" Jennifer said, \"we definitely have something. ", "But I'll be damned if I know what it is.\"", "\n\n\"It's gotta be coincidence,\" Scott said. \"", "It's gotta be coincidence, right, Andy?\"", "\n\nAndy didn't blame either of them for being bewildered. ", "What they'd found, by mid-afternoon on Saturday, were three more files concerning murder investigations in 1934. ", "All three victims were young women, all three had been brutally attacked, raped, and left for dead, and all three murders had gone unsolved.", "\n\nIn two of the three folders they had found something more than scanty case notes. ", "They had found sketches of the victims, sketches the police had used in identifying the women, again because their faces had been so badly battered—obvious in the grainy crime-scene photos. ", "One of the sketches was rather inexpertly done and had not, in fact, helped the police to identify the dead woman; she had gone nameless to a pauper's grave.", "\n\nBut the second sketch was a good one and had been backed up later once she was identified by a photograph. ", "The victim had been the daughter of a local businessman, and not only had her reputation been spotless but she had apparently been attacked not twenty yards from her own back door—in the best part of town. ", "Her name was Marianne Trask.", "\n\nAnd according to the sketch, she bore an uncanny resemblance to Hollis Templeton. ", "The same medium-brown hair and strong, attractive features, same oval face, same slender neck.", "\n\n\"Not identical,\" Jennifer noted. \"", "But damned close. ", "And if you read the descriptions of the other victims, even without sketches to go by, they sound a lot like Christina Walsh and Ellen Randall. ", "Coincidence? ", "I guess it could be.\"", "\n\n\"It's arguable,\" Andy said. \"", "Four women attacked, and each case matches up with one of ours—at least as far as the description of the victim is concerned. ", "But there are differences.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "All the 1934 victims died within hours.\" ", "Jennifer sighed and reached into her pocket for a cinnamon-flavored toothpick; she'd recently quit smoking and claimed chewing the toothpicks soothed her oral fixation. ", "It was a mark of the respect in which she was held by the men that not one of them had ventured a lewd response. ", "At least not out loud.", "\n\n\"That's not all,\" Andy said. \"", "There's no mention in the case files of any of them being blinded.\"", "\n\nScott offered, \"That could be our guy's own personal twist. ", "I mean, maybe he's trying to find look-alike victims but making damned sure they can't look at him.\"", "\n\n\"In 1934,\" Jennifer pointed out, \"leaving them for dead did the trick, so that killer didn't have to worry about his victims even trying to identify him.\"", "\n\n\"Why doesn't our guy kill his victims?\" ", "Scott asked, directing the question to Jennifer. \"", "He goes to such pains to blind them; wouldn't killing them outright be a hell of a lot easier?\"", "\n\n\"Why ask me?\" ", "She shifted the toothpick to the other side of her mouth and added, \"If I had to guess, I'd say he just hasn't been quite ready—so far— to cross the line into outright murder. ", "But I'm no expert, and if you want my opinion that's what we need on this case. ", "Our shrink's good, but she's no profiler.\"", "\n\nAndy grunted. \"", "Drummond won't call in the FBI, and you know how the chief feels about the officer in charge of an investigation making that decision.\"", "\n\n\"If we can't solve this, he'll have to,\" Jennifer objected.", "\n\n\"You don't know our Luke,\" Andy said sourly.", "\n\nJennifer rolled her eyes. \"", "Oh, yes, I do. ", "I just keep hoping I'm wrong, that's all.\"", "\n\nScott made a rude noise not quite under his breath.", "\n\n\"I wouldn't mind being wrong about that,\" she told him mildly.", "\n\n\"Let's stick to business,\" Andy said. \"", "Four victims. ", "That's it for the year?\"", "\n\n\"Well, we aren't sure about that.\" ", "Jennifer traded looks with Scott and shrugged. \"", "Files are missing, Andy.\"", "\n\n\"What the hell do you mean, missing?\"", "\n\n\"I mean that from June—just after the fourth victim was killed—through the end of that year, there are no files. ", "And the box is so packed it's hard to say if files have been removed or were never there.\"", "\n\n\"They had to be there, Jenn, at least in 1934. ", "Crime doesn't just stop in June to take a vacation.\"", "\n\nShe shrugged again. \"", "Well, they aren't there now. ", "Jeez, how many times since then do you figure the file boxes have been moved around? ", "This isn't the original site of the investigating station, and even this building has been rebuilt or remodeled at least three times. ", "As the city grew, the districts multiplied; police records for Seattle are probably scattered over a dozen different buildings or more.\"", "\n\nScott sank down in Andy's visitor's chair and groaned. \"", "I never thought . . . ", "But you're right. ", "Every station probably has file boxes in its basement or storage rooms.\"", "\n\n\"And none of it on computer,\" Jennifer reminded them. \"", "It's taking all the manpower we can muster to get the modern records on computer for comparison; if the old stuff is ever part of the computerized record it won't be anytime soon.\"", "\n\nAndy sat back in his chair and stared at the two sketches propped up against his lamp. \"", "Two pretty conclusive matches,\" he said slowly, \"and descriptions of two more that sound close enough to be strong maybes. ", "Four victims closely matching our four victims. ", "You know, guys . . . ", "I'd really like to see the files for the rest of that year, maybe the year after.\"", "\n\nJennifer got it first. \"", "In case there are more rape– murders. ", "You think if there were more victims then— we'll have more now. ", "And maybe a shot at identifying would-be victims?\"", "\n\n\"Hell, I don't know.\" ", "Andy scowled. \"", "Even with sketches and photos we don't have much hope of finding look-alikes in a city this big. ", "But more files may give us more information, and God knows we could use it, so I say we look for them.\"", "\n\n\"I just had a creepy thought,\" Jennifer said. \"", "What if this bastard is just yanking our chains, copying old crimes or picking look-alike victims only as long as we don't catch on?\"", "\n\n\"How could he know we'd caught on?\" ", "Scott objected.", "\n\n\"If we manage to identify a potential victim, say.\"", "\n\n\"One nightmare at a time,\" Andy told them. \"", "You guys want to get on the phone and try to track down those missing files?\"", "\n\nThe building where Hollis Templeton's bleeding body had been dumped wasn't precisely in the bad part of town, it was just somewhat isolated from the buildings nearest it and in very bad shape. ", "Intended for demolition so that a modern new apartment complex could rise in its stead, it had stood empty for at least six or eight months.", "\n\nMaggie got out of her car and stood on the curb, absently hugging her sketch pad to her breast as she waited for John to park his car and join her. ", "It was chilly, a restless wind whining around like something lost and alone, and the overcast sky was allowing darkness to approach even earlier than usual.", "\n\nMaggie hated this. ", "She hated this lonely place, hated being here with darkness creeping ever closer. ", "She hated the cold fear writhing in the pit of her stomach and the dread that made her skin feel prickly as though the nerves lay rawly exposed on the surface.", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\nShe started despite herself and tore her gaze from the broken rubble walkway leading to the building to find John standing beside her.", "\n\n\"Are you all right?\"", "\n\nShe nodded quickly. \"", "Yes, of course. ", "Just . . . ", "wool-gathering. ", "Where's your friend?\"", "\n\n\"Well, since there's a rental car parked across the street, I'd say he's already here.\" ", "He studied her face, not quite frowning but clearly bothered by what he saw. \"", "Are you sure you want to go in there?\"", "\n\n\"Want to? ", "No. ", "But I'm going in.\"", "\n\nHe smiled faintly. \"", "Determination, or just plain stubbornness?\"", "\n\n\"Is there a difference?\" ", "Maggie didn't wait for him to answer but walked steadily up the walkway to the building.", "\n\nJohn walked beside her. \"", "I've always thought so. ", "Do you have a set pattern for going over crime scenes, or is every one different?\"", "\n\n\"I suppose each is different. ", "And this isn't really a crime scene, anyway. ", "She was left here but not attacked here.\"", "\n\nHe paused with her just a few feet from the doorway and looked down at her. \"", "But her attacker was here, if only long enough to leave her inside. ", "Is that what you hope to pick up on . . . ", "intuitively?\"", "\n\nAs tense as she was, Maggie had to smile. \"", "You really are uncomfortable discussing intuition, aren't you?\"", "\n\n\"The way you and Quentin appear to use it—yes.\"", "\n\n\"I'm not psychic.\"", "\n\n\"Sure about that?\"", "\n\nBefore Maggie could answer, a tall blond man appeared suddenly in the doorway and offered a cheerful greeting.", "\n\n\"I hope somebody brought a flashlight. ", "Because unless we're damned quick in here, we're going to end up in the dark.\"", "\n\n\"I thought they taught you to always be prepared,\" John said.", "\n\n\"That's the Boy Scouts. ", "I wasn't a Boy Scout. ", "Wasn't a marine either.\"", "\n\nJohn didn't question the latter statement, just sighed and said he had several flashlights in his car.", "\n\n\"I knew you would. ", "That's why I didn't bring any.\"", "\n\n\"Don't start with me. ", "Maggie, this is Quentin Hayes, who claims to know things before they happen.\" ", "There was no scorn in his voice, merely a sort of amused mockery, and he left her to make what she would of the introduction while he returned to his car for the flashlights.", "\n\n\"So you're a seer?\" ", "she asked.", "\n\n\"Not in the true sense of the word, meaning one who sees. ", "I don't, actually. ", "No visions.\" ", "He shrugged. \"", "I just know things. ", "Sort of the way most people tune in to memory or bits of information they've learned. ", "The difference is that when I tune in, it's often to the knowledge of something that hasn't happened yet.\"", "\n\n\"That must be unsettling.\"", "\n\n\"It took some getting used to.\" ", "He eyed her thoughtfully. \"", "I hear they call what you do nothing short of magical.\"", "\n\n\"That's not what I call it.\"", "\n\n\"Oh? ", "What do you call it?\"", "\n\n\"An ability I've practiced nearly half my life to perfect. ", "I happen to be able to draw. ", "I also happen to be able to listen to people describe what they've seen and then draw it. ", "Nothing magical about that.\" ", "It was virtually automatic by now, this reasonable explanation of her abilities.", "\n\n\"When you put it like that,\" Quentin said affably, \"it does sound perfectly normal, doesn't it?\"", "\n\n\"Only because it is.\"", "\n\nJohn returned to them then, handing out flashlights. \"", "Quentin, how long have you been here?\"", "\n\n\"Half an hour, maybe a little longer. ", "I went upstairs for a bit, following the path she took when she dragged herself out of here.\"", "\n\nMaggie said, \"It's still visible, isn't it? ", "The blood.\" ", "She gripped the flashlight tightly with one hand and held her sketch pad close with the other.", "\n\nQuentin looked at her, and for just an instant she felt as if he'd reached over and touched her physically with a warm hand—even though he hadn't moved. ", "But the moment passed, and he nodded, sober now.", "\n\n\"I'm afraid so, at least in places. ", "Dried and brown now, but still there. ", "Those of us with vivid imaginations—or something more—can even smell it. ", "I'm sorry, Maggie.\"", "\n\nShe wasn't certain if he was expressing sympathy or apologizing for something, and she decided not to ask. ", "Instead, she said, \"I want to see where he left her.\"", "\n\n\"This way.\" ", "Quentin turned, and they followed him into the building.", "\n\nMaggie was so accustomed to guarding herself that it usually required a conscious effort to open the barriers inside and let all her senses probe her surroundings. ", "She didn't like any of the sensations but by now at least knew what to expect when she reluctantly dropped her guard.", "\n\nWith all the broken windows in the place, there was light enough to see, if not very well. ", "Stairs rose upward along the right side of the foyer. ", "A hallway stretched past the stairs toward the rear of the building, with doorways lining it, most of them gaping open because of missing or severely damaged doors. ", "Peeling paint covered the woodwork, and stained wallpaper dangled in ragged strips from the walls.", "\n\nFixtures such as doorknobs and lights had been removed and all else of any possible value long ago carted out of the building either legitimately or by vandals. ", "Beneath their feet, creaking floorboards were barely covered by ancient linoleum, and the place smelled of dirt and mold and many years of cooking and living.", "\n\nAnd blood.", "\n\nHeavy, coppery, the stench rose up, threatening to choke her. ", "All she saw on the floor was the faint brown trail Quentin had described, but what she smelled was something still warm and wet and sticky.", "\n\nMaggie tried to unobtrusively breathe through her mouth. ", "Could Quentin really smell that, or had he only known that she could?", "\n\n\"According to the reports,\" John said, switching on his flashlight and shining it around them, \"the police found nothing here. ", "At least nothing they considered evidence.\"", "\n\n\"Just like his other dumping places, right?\" ", "Quentin's voice was as matter-of-fact as John's had been. ", "He turned on his own flashlight and led the way to the stairs, walking beside the intermittent brown trail of dried blood.", "\n\n\"So they told me. ", "Drummond claims to have a very efficient forensics team, and they have a solid reputation. ", "According to their reports, they went over this entire building and searched a block in every direction. ", "Nothing.\"", "\n\nNothing, Maggie thought, but Hollis Templeton's blood. ", "She concentrated on turning on her flashlight, on walking up the stairs behind Quentin and ahead of John, all of them avoiding the dried blood trail. ", "She could feel the familiar inner quivering, the cold weight in the pit of her stomach, and her legs felt stiff, awkward as they moved. ", "At first distantly, she became conscious of twinges of pain and dull aches that slowly intensified until they throbbed inside her.", "\n\nThe darkness came in flashes that lasted only a second or two, and Maggie climbed steadily without outwardly betraying the fleeting moments of blindness.", "\n\nThe smell grew stronger.", "\n\nShe had hoped that more than three weeks would have made it all feel more distant and unreal, that she could get through this without exposing her pain to these two men, but that seemed increasingly unlikely.", "\n\nAt the top of the stairs, Quentin pointed his flashlight toward the rear of the building, down a hallway. \"", "She was left in a room at the back of the house. ", "Odd, really. ", "Why carry her upstairs at all? ", "Why not just dump her downstairs?\"", "\n\nSoftly, hardly aware of speaking, Maggie said, \"He wanted her to have to drag herself all that way.\"", "\n\nAlmost as softly, Quentin asked, \"Why did he want that?\"", "\n\nMaggie walked past him, only dimly aware of the question. ", "She followed the blood trail down the hallway, her light pointed at the floor, until she found herself in a room. ", "Like the rest of the place, it was peeling paint and ancient wallpaper and not much else. ", "A broken window allowed light into the room, though it wasn't much light. ", "She walked to the center of the room and pointed her flashlight to one of the rear corners, where the blood trail ended and a roughly rectangular shape of less dusty floor hinted that something had lain there for a while.", "\n\n\"There was a mattress,\" John said, his voice low but nevertheless startling in the silence. \"", "It's where he left her. ", "The police don't believe he brought it here, just found it here. ", "They have it now, of course.\"", "\n\nMaggie stood there stiffly for a long moment, wanting to fight everything she felt but trying not to. ", "It came at her in waves, the stench of the blood, the warm stickiness of it that clotted and chilled with the icy wind touching it. ", "And the pain, all the degrees of it, sharp jolts and dull aches and the swelling agony that was as much emotional as physical. ", "And the intermittent flashes of darkness that lasted seconds now, horrible darkness filled with terror and panic and loss, such loss . . .", "\n\nShe had forgotten her companions and started when John grasped her arm. ", "She was coughing. ", "When had she started coughing?", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"I have to . . . ", "get out of . . .\" ", "She jerked her arm free of his grasp and lurched toward the door, almost stumbling.", "\n\nJohn started after her, but Quentin caught his arm to stop him.", "\n\n\"Jesus,\" the other man murmured softly.", "\n\nStaring at him in the dim light, John was surprised to see something that looked like awe on his friend's mobile face. \"", "What?\" ", "he demanded. \"", "What is it? ", "What was wrong with Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Wrong? ", "I don't know if I'd call it wrong.\" ", "Quentin drew a deep breath. \"", "But I don't envy your Maggie, I'll tell you that.\"", "\n\nJohn didn't question the possessive. \"", "Why?\"", "\n\n\"It explains a lot,\" Quentin mused. \"", "How she's able to establish such a strong bond with victims, how she's able to so accurately draw what they see. ", "Christ, no wonder it looks like magic to those around her.\"", "\n\n\"She's psychic?\"", "\n\n\"It's not quite that simple, John. ", "There's psychic . . . ", "and then there's gifted. ", "Or cursed. ", "Did you see her face just now? ", "She was in agony. ", "Actual physical pain.\"", "\n\n\"Why? ", "What was hurting her?\"", "\n\n\"He had hurt her. ", "The rapist. ", "He attacked her, raped and beat her, took her eyes—and left her here to suffer.\" ", "Quentin shook his head. \"", "John, that's what Maggie was feeling. ", "She was feeling everything Hollis Templeton felt in this room more than three weeks ago.\"", "\nCHAPTER FIVE\n\n **Jennifer Seaton was a good cop. ", "But even more, she** was an intuitive cop who had learned to trust her hunches. ", "So while Scott worked the phones attempting to track down those missing files, she got on her computer, connected to the Washington state library system database, and conducted a different kind of search.", "\n\nShe hit possible pay dirt before Scott did, but since it was very late on a Saturday afternoon it took her another half hour just to track down a library still open for business.", "\n\n\"I understand the request, detective,\" the head librarian said, the confusion in her voice belying the words, \"but we're locking the doors in ten minutes, and—\"\n\n\"Police emergency,\" Jennifer said, ruthlessly misusing her authority. \"", "If you'll hold them for me until I get there, I'd appreciate it. ", "I'm leaving now.\"", "\n\nAs she hung up the phone and rose to her feet, Scott said sourly, \"Oh, yeah, leave me with this, why don't you?\"", "\n\n\"Any luck?\" ", "she asked, pausing by his desk and digging into her pocket for another cinnamon-flavored toothpick.", "\n\n\"All I've got so far is a growing list of stations with old files stored in their basements. ", "Nobody really knows what they've got, and nobody's volunteering to go down and check, especially on a cold Saturday afternoon. ", "And I can't say that I blame them.\" ", "He raked fingers through his hair and peered up at her. \"", "Calling it a day?\"", "\n\n\"No, I'll be back in about an hour. ", "I may have found a shortcut for us—or at least another source we can use.\"", "\n\n\"Well, bring me back a snack, will you? ", "I missed lunch, and there's nothing here but stale sandwiches and some _really_ stale donuts.\"", "\n\nJennifer nodded. \"", "I'll see what I can do. ", "Where's Andy?\"", "\n\n\"Beats me. ", "He was at his desk a minute ago.\"", "\n\n\"If he gets back before I do, ask him not to leave for the night until he talks to me, okay?\"", "\n\n\"Sure.\"", "\n\nJennifer left the station and made her way to the side lot where her car was parked. ", "The streetlights had come on even though twilight made it easy to see, and she paused beside her car to look around, uneasy for no reason she could explain to herself. ", "Being intuitive didn't make her overly imaginative, so she was surprised to realize that she definitely had the creeps.", "\n\nIt was a sudden sensation, a chill that crawled slowly over her body and raised the hair on the nape of her neck. ", "What her mom had sometimes referred to as \"somebody walking over my grave.\" ", "It wasn't a commonplace feeling, and Jennifer had learned to pay attention and be wary, because she had come to realize that it invariably meant her subconscious had noted something important and/or dangerous that her conscious mind was as yet unaware of.", "\n\nA cop's instincts, Scott called it.", "\n\nSo what was it? ", "The scene she studied was perfectly normal, a few cops moving in or out of the building, a couple of civilians walking briskly past on the sidewalk, not much else. ", "A slight wind stirred the nearby trees, their bare limbs scratching against one another while the last dead leaves clinging to them rattled dryly.", "\n\nJennifer shivered and zipped her jacket all the way. \"", "You're getting jumpy, Seaton,\" she muttered to herself. ", "As if she could possibly be in danger here in the parking lot of the police station. ", "It was absurd. ", "But she couldn't help looking back over her shoulder as she unlocked her car, and she was careful to check the backseat thoroughly before she got in.", "\n\nThere was nobody there, of course. ", "But as she put the key into the ignition, Jennifer saw a folded piece of paper lying on the dashboard. ", "Something that definitely hadn't been there when she had returned alone from lunch and locked the car up. ", "She was wearing gloves, as usual this time of year, so didn't hesitate to carefully unfold it.", "\n\nBlock-printed on the paper in a faint and rather unsteady hand were two numbers. ", "Dates?", "\n\n1894 \n1934\n\nJennifer sat staring at the paper for a long time, her mind working. ", "The 1934 date—always assuming it was a date, of course—corresponded with the date of the murders in their incomplete files, and that couldn't be a coincidence.", "\n\nCould it?", "\n\nWas the earlier date another year during which other similar crimes had taken place? _", "Was_ their brutal rapist copying crimes from long ago, choosing his victims to closely match doomed women some other monster had attacked and left for dead, adding only his own personal touch of blinding them?", "\n\nIf he was, why? ", "What twisted motivation compelled him to at least partially re-create old, unsolved crimes? ", "Because they were unsolved? ", "Because he believed he, too, could commit his crimes and walk away undiscovered?", "\n\nCould it be so simple?", "\n\nThat possibility was unsettling enough; what really disturbed Jennifer was the certainty that someone had placed this note inside her locked car while it had been parked mere yards from the police station. ", "Someone who seemingly knew a lot more about this series of brutal rapes than the police had yet discovered.", "\n\nWho? ", "And was this note an effort to help the police?", "\n\nOr was it a direct and mocking challenge from an animal more hunter . . . ", "than hunted?", "\n\n\"She's gone,\" John said as he rejoined Quentin in the chill, empty room at the top of the stairs.", "\n\n\"Told you she would be.\" ", "Quentin moved slowly around the room, his flashlight pointed at the floor. ", "Most of his attention seemed focused on what he was doing, but his voice was matter-of-fact. \"", "Fight or flight. ", "She couldn't fight, so she ran. ", "I imagine she has a place she feels safe and reasonably secure. ", "Home, probably. ", "She'll be there. ", "She'll need to be there, at least for a while.\"", "\n\nJohn frowned as he watched his friend. ", "The room still wasn't quite dark, and he could see Quentin fairly well. \"", "Is that why you stopped me when I would have gone after her? ", "Because she needed to get somewhere she felt safe?\"", "\n\n\"And because I knew you'd push her.\"", "\n\n\"What are you talking about? ", "Push her how?\"", "\n\n\"Push her to tell you whatever information she might have gained in this room, information that could help us find answers. ", "You're convinced she can help us find those answers, and your tendency will be to press forward without any loss of time, just the way you would in business. ", "And I'm telling you that's the wrong tactic with Maggie. ", "Like it or not, you're going to have to be very careful with her. ", "She'll help us in her own time and her own fashion—and that's the way it's going to be.\"", "\n\n\"Why? ", "Because she's _gifted_?\"", "\n\n\"Pretty much, yeah. ", "John, living with this sort of thing, most of us develop defense mechanisms to cope. ", "If we have . . . ", "understanding or at least sympathetic family and friends, the defenses tend to be simple ones. ", "But if we feel too alone, too isolated and different from those around us, especially for most of a lifetime, then the defenses can be major and complex. ", "I'd guess your Maggie belongs in the latter group.\"", "\n\n\"Isolated? ", "She's surrounded by people who admire what she does,\" John objected. \"", "Not one of the cops I talked to showed anything but respect and gratitude toward her. ", "Hell, it was almost awe.\"", "\n\n\"I'm sure they are grateful. ", "And I'm sure they respect her for her ability to help them catch bad guys. ", "But that _awe_ you were picking up on can be read another way. ", "Fear. ", "You can bet most of those cops don't understand how she does the things she does, and when there's no understanding there's often fear. ", "Especially of something that looks like magic. ", "You can also bet that Maggie knows exactly how they feel.\"", "\n\n\"It doesn't seem to bother her,\" John said. \"", "At the station, she was very sure of herself, not at all hesitant.\"", "\n\n\"She would be—there. ", "My guess is that while she's probably strongly empathic with people and able to bond with them fairly easily when she wants to, where she really connects is at a scene of violence. ", "Like this one.\" ", "Quentin hunkered down for a moment to more closely examine the area of floor where a mattress had lain.", "\n\n\"How is that possible?\"", "\n\n\"Well, one theory is that thoughts and emotions contain an actual electrical signature, a form of energy that may linger in objects, in an area, especially if what was experienced in that area is particularly intense or violent. ", "If you think about it, it'd explain a lot of the so-called ghostly sightings of things like battles and soldiers. ", "Hell, there are places in Europe where some people swear ancient Roman soldiers still march.\"", "\n\n\"You don't believe in ghosts?\"", "\n\n\"If you mean do I believe the dead have an existence beyond the flesh, yes, I do. ", "But I'm also convinced that what most people believe are ghosts are actually those electrical signatures I'm talking about. ", "Violent things\n\nhappened in some places, and some of those places— for reasons we don't yet understand—retained that energy. ", "It wouldn't be visible to most people, because people tend to use their senses in only the simplest and most limited way. ", "But some people would be sensitive to it, able to feel and possibly interpret the energy. ", "As a rough comparison, think about static buildup on a cold, dry day; it isn't apparent until you touch something and are able to discharge the energy.\"", "\n\n\"Are you saying Maggie's a conduit?\"", "\n\n\"More or less. ", "If electrical energy _can_ permeate objects, then it's reasonable to assume the energy would remain for at least a while, until it could dissipate naturally or could be discharged through some kind of contact.\"", "\n\n\"You make it sound like a logical equation.\"", "\n\nQuentin straightened and absently flexed cramped muscles. \"", "In a way it is. ", "Stop thinking of it as something magical or unnatural; take what you know is scientific and push it a little further, extend it to the next logical step. ", "On the most basic level, our thoughts are nothing more than electrical energy interpreted by the brain. ", "True?\"", "\n\n\"True.\"", "\n\n\"Okay. ", "Then it's perfectly reasonable to suppose that just as there are incredibly gifted musicians and scientists, people who seem born with amazing knowledge and abilities, some people could also be born with an unusual sensitivity to the kind of energy we're talking about. ", "Just another talent or ability, perfectly human even if rare. ", "Where you look at this room and see dirt and stains and peeling wallpaper, people especially sensitive to the electrical energy of thoughts and emotions might see a lot more.\"", "\n\nJohn shook his head. \"", "Even assuming I can accept that, it still doesn't explain Maggie and what she seemed to be going through. ", "You seriously expect me to believe that she has the ability to feel—physically experience—what happened to another person here in this room weeks ago?\"", "\n\n\"You saw the same thing I did,\" Quentin reminded him.", "\n\n\"Yeah, but . . .\"", "\n\n\"But you didn't believe it.\"", "\n\n\"I believe she's sensitive enough to have . . . ", "imagined . . . ", "what Hollis Templeton must have gone through here in this room, but to say she actually, physically _felt_ it—no. ", "I don't believe that. ", "I can't believe it, Quentin.\"", "\n\n\"Which is another reason I told you not to go after her.\" ", "Quentin completed his examination of the room and returned to John. \"", "One of the hardest things to deal with when you know you can do something beyond the abilities of most other people is the disbelief and often fear of those around you. ", "Nobody quite calls you a liar—but the doubt is easy to see. ", "And feel. ", "Especially when you can't really prove what you can do. ", "She can't prove to you that she's an empath any more than I can prove to you I know some future events before they happen. ", "Even though I keep trying.\" ", "Quentin studied his friend with a faint smile. \"", "We've laughed and joked about it for nearly twenty years. ", "And in all that time, you've ascribed my ability to tell you what's going to happen before it happens to luck, to intuition, to inspired guesswork or a logical sequence of events—to everything except what it is. ", "Precognition. ", "Clairvoyance. ", "Knowledge before the fact.\"", "\n\n\"You've been right more than you've been wrong,\" John admitted.", "\n\n\"Thank you,\" Quentin said dryly.", "\n\n\"But how is it possible to know something before it happens? ", "Explain _that_ by taking what we know to be scientific and extending it to the next logical level.\"", "\n\n\"I can't. ", "The truth is, I have no idea how I'm able to do it. ", "If I understood it, I could probably control it. ", "I could say to myself, Quentin old buddy, how will the stock market look by, say, the end of the year? ", "What lottery numbers are going to come up winners? ", "Which one of the dotcom companies is _really_ worth an investment? ", "Who'll win the Super Bowl?\" ", "He shrugged. \"", "But it doesn't work like that. ", "I wish it did—but it doesn't.\"", "\n\n\"Which is why you can't tell me if the police are going to catch this rapist.\"", "\n\n\"Which is why. ", "I only know what my wayward mind chooses to tell me—and that isn't something I've been told. ", "So far, at least. ", "Sometimes, once I've got involved in a situation, I've been able to pick up facts related to the future of that situation—but my control could best be described as erratic as hell.\"", "\n\n\"That's not much help.\"", "\n\n\"Tell me about it. ", "You know, my boss says that if a psychic is ever born who can totally control his or her abilities, the whole world will change. ", "He's probably right. ", "He usually is. ", "Dammit.\"", "\n\nJohn stirred slightly. \"", "And speaking of Bishop—how long before he shows up here with blood in his eye?\"", "\n\n\"Never, I hope.\" ", "Quentin sighed. \"", "Realistically, I figure I've got maybe forty-eight hours or so until the case he's on breaks or he has a spare minute or two to realize I should be back at Quantico by now. ", "I was going to ask Kendra to run interference for me, but I figured we'd need her here. ", "She's a crackerjack profiler and researcher as well as an adept, and we may well need all her abilities.\"", "\n\n\"She's at the hotel?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "On the computer, tapping into every database we thought might be helpful. ", "And I suggest we go back there. ", "This place is giving me the creeps.\"", "\n\n\"Professionally, or psychically?\"", "\n\n\"Both. ", "Not being empathic, all I get is a sense that the bastard picked his dumping place very carefully— but I don't know why. ", "The cop in me sees the signs that other cops went over this area with a fine-tooth comb. ", "I won't find anything they missed. ", "You have the forensics report?\"", "\n\n\"A copy, yeah.\" ", "By mutual consent, both men turned and began making their way out of the abandoned building. \"", "I have no way of knowing, of course, how complete it is. ", "But I'm betting Drummond has given orders to hold back on at least some information.\"", "\n\n\"Probably. ", "It's standard procedure to keep some facts within the investigating unit—to weed out copycats and more quickly zero in on similar crimes, if nothing else.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe, but I figure this is personal.\"", "\n\n\"Don't get paranoid.\"", "\n\n\"It isn't that. ", "I've weighed enough competitors across boardroom tables to know when someone is out to beat me. ", "Drummond wants his people to find this bastard, and he wants it bad. ", "He isn't above keeping some information out of my hands just to make sure I'm handicapped.\"", "\n\n\"His political aspirations?\"", "\n\n\"Partly. ", "And he's the competitive sort by nature.\"", "\n\n\"Well,\" Quentin said, \"we can work around that. ", "Hopefully. ", "You do realize we're going to have to be very, very careful not to do anything to impede the official investigation?\"", "\n\n\"I realize that.\"", "\n\n\"And that your Maggie is going to have to walk a very fine line while she works to help both us and the police?\"", "\n\n\"After what happened here, I'm not at all sure she'll be willing to help us,\" John said.", "\n\n\"Willing,\" Quentin said, \"has little to do with it. ", "Unless I miss my guess, Maggie Barnes feels she has to help us. ", "She simply doesn't have a choice.\"", "\n\n\"I don't like it,\" Andy said. ", "He stared down at the scrap of paper now sealed in a clear plastic evidence envelope, feeling as grim as he looked. \"", "Jenn, you're _sure_ this wasn't in your car when you got back from lunch today?\"", "\n\n\"Positive. ", "So somebody put it in there while my car—my locked car—was parked in a police lot. ", "Lousy security around here, Andy.\"", "\n\nHe looked across his desk at Jennifer, not misled by the flippant tone. ", "And he didn't blame her for being shaken. ", "He was pretty damned unnerved himself. \"", "Assuming this is useful information and not just a couple of random numbers, _and_ assuming it's even connected to this particular case, I suppose somebody might have been trying to help us. ", "Or it could have been some enterprising member of the press, maybe trying to get a reaction out of us,\" he speculated. \"", "It's at least conceivable that one of them might have stumbled onto the 1934 murders.\"", "\n\nScott, sitting across from Jennifer in Andy's other visitor's chair, said reluctantly, \"Isn't that a bit of a stretch? ", "I mean, even supposing a reporter dug up the similar murders, why tell us—and anonymously? ", "Why not just run with the story?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, it's a stretch,\" Andy admitted. \"", "The truth is, I can't think of a reason why anybody'd do this. ", "Except for our perp, that is.\"", "\n\nHaving given the matter a lot of thought, Jennifer shook her head. \"", "I don't see that. ", "He's gone to a hell of a lot of trouble to hide from us—why step out into the open and do this? ", "If he wanted to taunt us, I figure he'd do it another way. ", "Maybe leave something on the victim or change his M.O. suddenly. ", "But notes left in a cop's car? ", "No, I don't think it's him.\"", "\n\n\"Then who?\" ", "Scott demanded. \"", "You and I stumbled into this just tossing around ideas because we were frustrated there wasn't more we could do. ", "How likely is it that somebody else took the same turns and reached the same possibility?\"", "\n\n\"Not very,\" she admitted. \"", "Besides which, if this note was intended to be helpful, then why give it to us anonymously and make damned sure there were no prints on it? ", "Why not come forward and explain themselves?\"", "\n\nSlowly, Andy said, \"Unless whoever it is knows there's a connection because he—or she—knows or suspects who the rapist is. ", "It wouldn't be the first time a family member or suspicious wife or girlfriend knew just enough to worry about it but was too afraid or ashamed of their suspicions to come forward openly.\"", "\n\n\"A good possibility. ", "But why the hell did they have to pick my car? ", "And how'd they unlock and then relock the doors without leaving signs, dammit?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe it was a locksmith,\" Scott offered, only half joking.", "\n\nAndy shrugged. \"", "Hell, maybe it was just somebody who knows cars well enough to be able to get into yours, Jenn. ", "Or had an electronic key that worked. ", "In these days of glorified electronics, it's getting easier rather than harder to jack cars, so why not? ", "Anyway, until we find out who left the note, there's no way of knowing.\"", "\n\n\"I really hate not knowing,\" Jennifer said gloomily.", "\n\nAndy picked up the scrap of paper and studied it more closely. \"", "Do any of those books of yours have murders listed for 1894?\"", "\n\n\"Nothing like what we have here, or at least I don't think so. ", "I might be able to find other books, but when I found these they seemed to be all the ones available on local unsolved crimes.\"", "\n\n\"That means we'll have to depend on our own police files. ", "And we'll have to look all the way back to 1894.\"", "\n\nScott groaned. \"", "Shit. ", "I can already tell you that either we do the legwork ourselves, going into the basements and storage rooms of the other buildings to dig into the files, or else somebody's going to have to make it a priority request to get us some more willing hands. ", "Andy, I've been pretty cagy about asking so far—I haven't wanted to say what case it is, not when all this is so . . .\"", "\n\n\"Iffy?\" ", "Jennifer supplied dryly.", "\n\n\"Weird,\" Scott corrected. \"", "Call a spade a spade. ", "Anyway, without something more solid to go on, I didn't really want to tell file clerks in the other divisions why I was interested in the old files. ", "And I sure as hell wouldn't want to talk to the detectives about it— at least not until we're sure there's a connection.\"", "\n\n\"Not even then,\" Andy ordered after only a moment's thought. \"", "We keep this among ourselves for the time being. ", "If our guy is a copycat and we've managed to find his playbook, I sure as hell don't want to show our hand. ", "The last thing we need is anybody outside the team discovering what we've found and broadcasting the info.\"", "\n\n\"That means we do the legwork.\" ", "Jennifer didn't appear to be nearly as daunted as Scott was. ", "Her eyes were very bright and she was smiling a little. \"", "We'll need some kind of excuse, Andy, if we don't want the other cops to start wondering what we're up to. ", "I mean, how often do we need to dig up files over a hundred years old?\"", "\n\nAndy pursed his lips as he considered that, his mind turning over various possibilities. ", "Then he smiled. \"", "I've got it. ", "Everybody knows Drummond is ambitious as hell and always coming up with this theory or that plan to improve police efficiency so the political powers that be will take notice. ", "So we tell anybody who asks that he's got a new bee in his bonnet and has us hunting down records of past crimes in order to do a comparative study. ", "As long as it's one of you asking and not me, I don't see anybody tying it to a current investigation, and most especially not this one.\"", "\n\n\"Because we're glorified gofers,\" Scott said, sighing.", "\n\n\"No,\" Andy corrected, \"because I've had TV cameras shoved in my face as the lead detective on this investigation; the rest of our team is thankfully invisible to the public—and to most cops outside this division. ", "Just keep your requests casual and try to sound completely bored with the whole thing.\"", "\n\n\"Are you going to tell Drummond about this?\" ", "Jennifer asked.", "\n\n\"Not yet. ", "Not unless and until we have some very solid connections between past victims and present ones.\"", "\n\nVoicing a reluctant thought, Jennifer said, \"What if we do all this work and still end up with information that doesn't help us stop this creep? ", "Knowing how many women he plans to attack won't help us identify possible victims before he gets them. ", "Records this old, we're lucky to get sketches and reasonably accurate descriptions of the victims, and we can only connect those to crimes he's already committed.\"", "\n\n\"So what good will it do us to find all the files?\" ", "Scott echoed.", "\n\n\"It might do us a lot of good,\" Andy said. \"", "Think about it. ", "If this bastard is copying past crimes, he has to have a source for his information. ", "And if we're lucky, it'll either be books like those Jenn found—or our files. ", "Either way, we may be able to find something—a name on a library card or notation by a police file clerk that a certain file was checked out for research purposes by whoever. ", "Anything that might point us in his direction.\"", "\n\n\"Would he have been that careless?\" ", "Jennifer wondered.", "\n\nAndy smiled. \"", "Careless? ", "What possible fact or lead would have caused us to look a hundred years into the past for clues? ", "The very idea is absurd.\"", "\n\nAcross town in his studio, Beau Rafferty worked on the painting that was his latest commission, using an exceptionally fine brush to get the most painstaking detail exactly right. ", "He was a perfectionist. ", "Always had been.", "\n\nAnd he had an ever-present sense of his surroundings, a built-in radar that told him whenever someone was near. ", "Even when they didn't make a sound opening his front door or moving through his house to the studio.", "\n\n\"One of these days, I'll have to start locking that door,\" he said without turning around.", "\n\n\"That might be a good idea. ", "These are dangerous times.\"", "\n\n\"The times are always dangerous. ", "People never change.\" ", "Beau glanced back over his shoulder at the visitor. \"", "Is that why you're here?\"", "\n\n\"Don't you know?\"", "\n\nBeau returned his attention to the painting and very carefully shadowed a character line in the lovely face. \"", "No. ", "I didn't see you. ", "I probably should have, I guess. ", "You're usually around when bad things start happening.\"", "\n\n\"Bad things have been happening here for quite a while.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "So what brings you now? ", "Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Would that surprise you?\"", "\n\n\"No, not really. ", "You were back east when it started, weren't you?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\n\"They never put it together when it started.\" ", "Beau shook his head. \"", "Not so surprising, I suppose. ", "He's always more lucky than he is careful. ", "And he's very careful.\"", "\n\n\"He doesn't want them to see him.\"", "\n\nBeau turned at last from the painting, frowning as he began to clean his brushes. \"", "But Maggie will see him. ", "Sooner or later. ", "She's determined to. ", "The only question is, will she see him before he sees her.\"", "\n\n\"I know.\"", "\n\n\"I want to help her.\"", "\n\n\"I know you do. ", "But you can't.\"", "\n\n\"I could at least tell her what to watch out for. ", "Who to trust.\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "You can't do that, and you know it. ", "Free will. ", "You've already told her too much.\"", "\n\nBeau put his brushes away and studied his visitor wryly. \"", "I haven't told her about you.\"", "\n\n\"I appreciate that.\"", "\n\n\"Do you? ", "I wonder.\" ", "Beau shook his head. \"", "Never mind. ", "I don't think I want to know after all. ", "Is there a particular reason you came to see me today?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "I wanted to talk to you about Christina Walsh. ", "And why she died.\"", "\nCHAPTER SIX\n\nMONDAY, NOVEMBER 5\n\n **Gazing around the large, spacious room, Quentin** said, \"There are hotel rooms and then there are hotel rooms.\"", "\n\nWithout looking up from her laptop, Kendra said, \"That's the third time you've said something like that.", "\n\nKeep it up, and John will think the FBI makes its agents stay in backstreet dives crawling with roaches and rats.\"", "\n\n\"I never said it was that bad.\" ", "Quentin went into the kitchenette to pour himself a fresh cup of coffee, then came back into the parlor. \"", "But you must admit—this is much, much better than our usual digs.\"", "\n\nKendra did look up then, rather absently glancing around the spacious, airy parlor of their two-bedroom suite. ", "It was a room geared to business functions, with half the space taken up by a generous desk containing every modern technological amenity—including a multiline phone, a fax machine, and a computer supplied by the hotel—and a conference table that seated eight. ", "On the other side of the room, a sitting area grouped around a large television promised relaxation, conversation, or entertainment.", "\n\nIt was a luxurious space in the sense of true luxury, nothing ornate or gilded, but beautiful, well-made, and comfortable furnishings and fixtures, and muted but tasteful decorating. ", "Not exactly surprising for the best hotel in the city.", "\n\nShe smiled slightly as she watched Quentin contemplate with satisfaction the oil painting hanging over the desk, but said mildly, \"With your taste for luxury, I don't know why on earth you ever joined the Bureau.\"", "\n\n\"I don't have a taste for luxury, I just enjoy being in a room that isn't a carbon copy of every other room in the place.\"", "\n\nPretending as always that she hadn't noticed him neatly evade the implied question about his past, Kendra said, \"Well, while you're enjoying that, could you please hand me the forensics file? ", "Once I get the last of that fed into our personal-investigation database here, we'll have everything the police _say_ they have.\"", "\n\n\"You're as paranoid as John is,\" he told her, taking a file from the stack on the desk and handing it across the conference table to her.", "\n\n\"I resent that,\" John said, coming out of Quentin's bedroom, closing up his cell phone. ", "His leather jacket was hanging over a chair in the sitting room, and he slid the phone into a pocket before joining them at the conference table.", "\n\n\"You should never resent the truth,\" Quentin said. \"", "Did you get hold of Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"I got her voicemail. ", "Asked her to drop by here in the next couple of hours if possible or to meet me at the station at four.\" ", "John gave Quentin a wry look. \"", "I was very polite and low-key. ", "No pressure, no demands, just a pleasant request.\"", "\n\nSeriously, Quentin said, \"There will come a time for demands, John, believe me.\"", "\n\n\"What do you mean?\"", "\n\nIt was Kendra who answered, her gaze remaining on the files whose information she was feeding into the laptop's database; her fingers flew even as she spoke. \"", "In this sort of investigation, the emotions of everyone involved tend to grow more powerful and erratic as time goes on. ", "Naturally. ", "Not just for the victims, but for the investigators as well. ", "It'll be hard on all of us, but particularly on an empath. ", "At some point, Maggie's natural instincts for self-preservation will demand that she distance herself from all the pain around her.\"", "\n\n\"And that's when we make demands?\" ", "John asked, watching Kendra in unconscious fascination. ", "It was his first encounter with Quentin's usual partner, and so far he wasn't having much luck in figuring her out. ", "A quiet, contained woman with rich brown hair and soft brown eyes, she was pretty without being in any way extraordinary—except that she obviously was.", "\n\n\"That's when we'll have to. ", "Always assuming she's a help in the investigation and not a drawback.\"", "\n\n\"Why would she be a drawback?\"", "\n\n\"Powerful emotions tend to cloud the mind and affect judgment, among other things. ", "Worse for an empath, naturally. ", "Maybe she's learned to handle that, or maybe not. ", "If not, feeling her own and everyone else's pain could drive her to do things she wouldn't ordinarily do.\"", "\n\n\"For instance?\"", "\n\n\"She could get careless with her actions or incautious in sharing information. ", "Get obsessed with a particular line of investigation to the exclusion of all else or, conversely, have increasing difficulty in even remembering things from one day to the next. ", "She could strike out at those around her.\"", "\n\nQuentin murmured, \"That would be us.\"", "\n\nKendra nodded, but added, \"She could also feel driven to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, whatever the cost to herself.\"", "\n\n\"You said her instincts for self-preservation would protect her,\" John objected.", "\n\n\"Eventually, yes. ", "But from all we've been able to find out, Maggie's been doing this for some years, which means she has to be strongly motivated to see it through. ", "But this is quite probably the worst investigation she's been involved in, given the depth and scale of the sheer human suffering. ", "Rape is bad enough for any woman to just have to imagine; feeling that physical and emotional trauma even at second hand has got to be sheer hell. ", "When you hurt badly enough, you'll do almost anything to stop the pain as quickly as possible.\"", "\n\n\"She could do that by walking away.\"", "\n\n\"Could she?\" ", "Kendra glanced up, her fingers pausing only an instant, then continued with her work and continued speaking calmly. \"", "Whether or not you believe she's an empath, John, you can't deny that for anyone to deliberately expose themselves on a regular basis to the worst pain and trauma experienced by other people argues an incredible amount of resolution and dedication. ", "She's driven to do this out of some deeply felt motivation, and whatever it is, it won't allow her to just walk away.\"", "\n\n\"So she'll stick it out as long as she can bear it,\" Quentin said. \"", "Deliberately opening herself up to pain and emotions none of us would choose to feel—if we had a choice. ", "Fighting herself and her own instincts harder than she'll ever have to fight anyone or anything else.\"", "\n\n\"In other words, she's a loaded gun,\" John said.", "\n\n\"More like nitroglycerin in a paper cup.\"", "\n\nJohn sighed. \"", "But she can help us?\"", "\n\nQuentin nodded. \"", "Oh, yeah, you were right about that. ", "She can help us. ", "She might even be able to help herself, by the time this is over. ", "But the duration is apt to be . . . ", "painful for everyone concerned.\"", "\n\n\"I buried my sister a few months ago,\" John said steadily. \"", "More painful than that?\"", "\n\nQuentin hesitated, traded a quick glance with Kendra, then said, \"Could be, John. ", "I know that's hard for you to believe, but the truth is that when new pain follows old pain, the weight of the whole tends to be a hell of a lot heavier than any individual wound.\"", "\n\nHer eyes once again on the forensics file, Kendra said, \"Four victims so far, and the rapist has left us virtually no hard evidence to consider. ", "Nothing even remotely objective for us to concentrate on. ", "That means our investigation is going to have to focus on the people involved. ", "Victims, their backgrounds, friends and families. ", "People in pain, all around us. ", "Frightened, angry, grieving, hurting people.\"", "\n\nJohn looked from one to the other of them with a frown. \"", "Are you two trying to persuade me to leave Maggie out of this?\"", "\n\n\"We never attempt the impossible,\" Quentin said.", "\n\n\"Almost never,\" Kendra corrected.", "\n\nQuentin considered that, then shrugged and said to John, \"Anyway, what we're trying to do is warn you that things are likely to get a lot worse before they get better, even for you.\"", "\n\n\"How could things get worse?\"", "\n\nWincing, Quentin replied, \"Never, never ask that question. ", "Things can always get worse—and usually do. ", "We've got a vicious madman roaming around out there, and he hasn't exactly left us a trail of bread crumbs to follow in order to stop him. ", "We have four victims so far and no sign whatsoever that there won't be more. ", "We don't know how he's choosing said victims, who appear to have virtually nothing in common except that they're female and white—which gives us about half the population of a major city to worry about. ", "We have a police lieutenant with political aspirations in charge of a police department that seems to have just about reached the limits of its resources. ", "We have a frightened city, an increasingly militant press— and we have to walk on eggshells while trying to investigate this because we're not supposed to be involved.\"", "\n\nQuentin drew a breath, traded another glance with Kendra, then finished, \"How could things get worse? ", "Jesus, John—how could they not?\"", "\n\n\"All right, point taken.\"", "\n\nQuentin didn't press it. \"", "When Kendra finishes our database, we'll run a comparison with everything the Bureau has on unsolved aggravated rape cases; even though most such seemingly isolated crimes aren't technically FBI territory, we've begun in recent years keeping track of as many as possible simply because sexual predators tend to grow more and more violent the longer they remain at large. ", "And they usually have a history—if we can find it and track it.\"", "\n\n\"What do you mean?\"", "\n\n\"He's been active here in Seattle for about six months, as near as the police can estimate. ", "But his ritual is too well-established for him to be that new at it.\"", "\n\n\"I thought you weren't a profiler.\"", "\n\n\"I'm not the best at it. ", "But I work with a few of the best, and I've picked up a thing or two. ", "Kendra agrees with me on this. ", "Our guy is no rookie.\"", "\n\n\"So he's been . . . ", "active . . . ", "somewhere else?\"", "\n\n\"Probably.\"", "\n\n\"Wouldn't the police have checked for that?\"", "\n\nQuentin nodded. \"", "Sure. ", "According to the reports, they did. ", "But in checking NCIC and VICAP and various other sources, it looks like they only listed the most obvious similarities between these attacks: that he blinds and maims his victims, never speaks to them, dumps them somewhere else in a fairly isolated place when he's finished with them. ", "Not nearly enough specifics and similarities to provide for a thorough search of all the available files, in our experience.\"", "\n\n\"What other similarities are there?\"", "\n\nIt was Kendra who replied. \"", "He goes to extraordinary lengths to make certain these women can never identify him, yet it's clear he watches them for at least a period of time before he grabs them. ", "He has very specific reasons for taking the women he takes, and it has nothing to do with how easily he can get his hands on them. ", "He's varied his methods of blinding, becoming arguably more adept and skilled at it, which indicates it's a fairly recent part of his ritual. ", "He may well have begun by simply blindfolding his victims or knocking them unconscious before raping them: a possibility that must be noted. ", "The fact that he blinds them now could be a natural evolution and escalation of his ritual—or it could be because at least one victim in his past saw him and was able to identify him.\"", "\n\nAfter a moment, John said, \"You mean this bastard might have been caught at some point? ", "Jailed?\"", "\n\n\"Possibly.\"", "\n\n\"And—what? ", "Escaped?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "Or maybe served his time. ", "I'm estimating he's between thirty and forty now, so he certainly could have served time in prison at some point.\"", "\n\n\"Do you believe he did?\"", "\n\nKendra paused in her typing long enough to turn to a new page in the report she was studying, then replied, \"No, somehow I don't think he's seen the inside of a jail. ", "I think he moves around, changing location after some specific period of time or specific event or point of transition in his ritual.\"", "\n\n\"So,\" Quentin said, \"we'll run all the information— and educated guesswork and skilled speculation—we can muster and compare it to the Bureau files drawn from police departments all over the country. ", "If we're very lucky, we just might find enough to be able to build a history on this bastard. ", "And with a history we can study, there's a better chance of figuring him out, of knowing where and how to look for him.\"", "\n\nKendra said, \"Once the database is set up, it'll probably take a day or two to run the comparison, at least with the information we've got, and that may only give us a long list of possibles we'll have to narrow down.\"", "\n\nJohn looked at Quentin. \"", "How does she do that? ", "Type and talk at the same time?\"", "\n\n\"Her uniquely flexible mind,\" Quentin murmured.", "\n\n\"It's a little scary,\" John noted.", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "I think she does it just to unnerve me.\"", "\n\nKendra smiled but didn't look up from the file. \"", "It would also probably be wise to check in with the police and find out if they have anything new.\"", "\n\n\"That's why I asked Maggie to meet me at the station,\" John said. \"", "Not that I expect them to have anything new, but Andy would sure as hell start to wonder if I didn't keep turning up there to ask every day or two.\" ", "He was looking at Kendra, but when she stopped typing suddenly and looked at Quentin, he followed her gaze and felt an odd little chill.", "\n\nQuentin didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, except perhaps something only he could see. ", "His eyes were unfocused yet curiously fixed, unblinking, and he was very, very still.", "\n\n\"Quentin?\" ", "Kendra's voice was quiet. \"", "What is it?\"", "\n\nHe didn't answer immediately; it was a full minute of silence before he stirred and looked at them, saw them. ", "His expression hadn't changed, but there was something bleak in the depths of his eyes. ", "Slowly, he said, \"The police will have something new, John. ", "Any minute now.\"", "\n\nHollis knew that Maggie was relaxed; she could hear that in the other woman's casual tone. ", "It was an interesting voice, oddly compelling for something so soft and pleasant, and as deceptively benign as the surface calm of a deep pool. ", "But what lay beneath the surface? ", "Something always did.", "\n\n\"We can talk about anything you like,\" she was saying. \"", "Just like when I came back yesterday. ", "Pick a topic. ", "The weather, sports—cabbages and kings.\"", "\n\nHollis smiled. \"", "My favorite quote was always the one about believing six impossible things before breakfast. ", "That always seemed like a good attitude to have.\"", "\n\n\"I know what you mean. ", "The way the world is these days, it's almost incomprehensible how anyone could have a closed mind. ", "It seems like most every day there's a story in the news about one of our certainties being turned on its ear.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe that's what it means to be human,\" Hollis offered. \"", "Forever questioning our certainties.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe,\" Maggie agreed. \"", "It's as good a definition as any other, I guess.\" ", "She paused, then said, \"Only a few more days until the bandages come off. ", "How do you feel about that?\"", "\n\n\"You sound like the hospital shrink,\" Hollis noted, neatly avoiding an answer.", "\n\n\"Sorry. ", "Occupational hazard, I suppose; I spend so much time asking people how they feel about one thing or another. ", "But I am curious. ", "If the operation was successful and you can see again, do you think that will help you to get past this and move on with your life?\"", "\n\nHollis didn't really want to answer but heard herself answering anyway. \"", "In some ways, sure. ", "If I can see, he won't have . . . ", "destroyed everything. ", "I'd still have my art, and still in the same way, so that'd probably help. ", "Give me something to concentrate on.\"", "\n\n\"But your art is going to be different no matter what,\" Maggie said. \"", "Nobody experiences violence without coming out of it fundamentally changed.\"", "\n\n\"You mean the dreams?\" ", "Hollis asked the question jerkily.", "\n\n\"Yes.\" ", "Maggie's voice remained quiet, easy, as if nothing she said was at all unusual. \"", "Your dreams have become more violent and far more vivid, with nightmares common. ", "You wake up often in the night, suddenly, even without nightmares. ", "Most of your senses have become sharper, and you'll be quicker to react to them. ", "And it'll be a long time—if ever—before you feel completely safe again.\"", "\n\n\"You're more blunt about it than the shrink was.\"", "\n\n\"I don't see any reason to soft-pedal it. ", "You're an intelligent woman, and you've had plenty of time to think these last weeks. ", "To wonder. ", "To ask yourself what is and will be different now. ", "Your art will be. ", "I don't have to know what you drew or painted before to be certain of that.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I know.\" ", "Hollis gripped the arms of the chair, her fingers clenching and unclenching restlessly. \"", "But how will it be different?\"", "\n\n\"There's no way to be sure until you find out for yourself. ", "I'd guess that if you paint you'll discover a tendency toward starker images, more vivid colors. ", "You may choose subjects you avoided before, or even fixate on one or two images to the exclusion of most others.\"", "\n\n\"Images like the scalpel he used to take my eyes?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "Or some other image that represents violence or loss to you. ", "It might have no connection at all to what happened to you—at least to all appearances. ", "But it will be connected. ", "And you'll know how or will have to figure it out. ", "The images won't leave you alone until you deal with them.\" ", "Maggie's voice remained matter-of-fact but was not without compassion or understanding.", "\n\nHollis drew a shaky breath. \"", "My mind was always preoccupied with images before this. ", "But how will there be images, visible images, from this? ", "What happened to me was all . . . ", "darkness. ", "I never saw anything at all.\"", "\n\n\"Your other senses will fill in the blanks. ", "What you heard and felt, what you smelled, what you touched and what touched you.\"", "\n\n\"Evil touched me. ", "How will I paint that?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know. ", "But you'll know. ", "Eventually, you'll know. ", "And you'll have to paint it or somehow give it form. ", "That's what artists do.\"", "\n\n\"Is that what you do? ", "Give evil form?\"", "\n\n\"I . . . ", "suppose I do. ", "Or at least try to give it a face.\"", "\n\nHollis half laughed under her breath. \"", "You know what's most ironic about all this? ", "I came out here for a whole new start. ", "I inherited enough money to be able to quit my crass commercial-art job and spend a few years finding out if I had enough talent to be a real artist. ", "And I'd barely got my studio set up when this happened. ", "Fate just loves to kick us in the ass.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I've noticed.\" ", "Maggie paused, then added, \"I suppose it's useless to ask you if you remember anybody watching you before the attack. ", "Following you.\"", "\n\n\"I don't remember anything out of the ordinary. ", "So if he was watching me, I never saw him. ", "Which is a very, very creepy thought. ", "Why did he—do you know why he picked me?\"", "\n\n\"The police haven't found a helpful common denominator among the victims. ", "Different physical appearances, different jobs and lifestyles, a fairly wide range of ages—though he does seem to lean toward women in their twenties. ", "It was probably nothing you did, Hollis, and it certainly wasn't your fault. ", "You just fit whatever requirements he's put together in his twisted mind.\"", "\n\n\"Do you think . . . ", "he'll do it again? ", "Attack another woman?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\nThe immediate, calm answer made Hollis hesitate, but only for a moment. \"", "Until he's stopped. ", "Yes, of course. ", "But why? ", "Why is he doing this?\"", "\n\nIt was Maggie's turn to hestitate, but then she replied slowly. \"", "I'm sure a psychologist or profiler could develop all sorts of motivations. ", "And I'm sure they'd be right. ", "There are always reasons, at least explainable—if not understandable. ", "Even for monsters.\"", "\n\n\"But there's only one real reason, isn't there? ", "One real motivation behind his acts?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "There's always a single driving motivation behind a predator like this one.\"", "\n\nHollis tilted her head, listening to that voice, the steady calm that was so deceptive. ", "She wondered what it was she could almost hear moving about in the unseen depths beneath Maggie's tranquillity.", "\n\nSomething . . . ", "cold. ", "No, not really cold. ", "Chilled. ", "Something dark and chilled.", "\n\nFear? ", "Knowledge? ", "Understanding?", "\n\nFor some reason, Hollis was unwilling to ask aloud. ", "Maybe because she didn't know Maggie well. ", "Maybe because she was half convinced she was imagining way too much in the darkness behind her bandages.", "\n\nOr maybe just because she was afraid of the answer.", "\n\nShe forced herself to concentrate on the subject of a monster's motivation. \"", "What is it? ", "Why does he do this to us, Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Because he wants to. ", "Because he likes it.\"", "\n\nHollis drew a breath. \"", "Yes. ", "I . . . ", "felt that. ", "The way he touched me. ", "As if the very texture of my skin intrigued him somehow. ", "The way he . . . ", "smelled me.\"", "\n\n\"He enjoyed your scent?\"", "\n\n\"Must have. ", "Or wanted to remember it later. ", "He kept . . . ", "sniffing. ", "I'd feel his breath on my skin, then hear him sniff. ", "My arm, my throat, breasts. ", "All over. ", "I'd stopped . . . ", "begging . . . ", "by then.\" ", "Hollis heard her own voice as though it belonged to someone else, the words coming faster and faster, almost spilling out of her.", "\n\n\"I was tied up, unable to move. ", "When I'd come to the first time, it was to realize he'd taken my eyes. ", "I struggled then, fought him. ", "Cursed him. ", "But it was no use; no matter how loud I screamed or how hard I struggled, it didn't seem to affect him at all. ", "He . . . ", "did what he wanted to do. ", "Raped me. ", "And after that, after I'd stopped screaming and cursing, he . . . ", "beat me—almost methodically. ", "It seemed to take all my will to deal with the pain without screaming. ", "I didn't want him to hear me scream from the pain. ", "Didn't want him to . . . ", "have that satisfaction. ", "So I didn't make a sound, just concentrated on listening to him.\"", "\n\n\"What else did you hear, Hollis?\"", "\n\n\"Him. ", "Breathing. ", "He was very quiet, but once or twice I heard him humming to himself. ", "Not a tune I recognized, although there was something familiar about it. ", "Not even a tune, really. ", "Just humming. ", "And . . .\"", "\n\n\"And?\"", "\n\n\"There was something else, but . . . ", "I can't remember. ", "I know I heard another sound, a sound that bothered me somehow. ", "Because I recognized it, or thought I should have. ", "Something. ", "But I don't remember now.\"", "\n\nHollis knew Maggie leaned toward her, and didn't start when a cool hand covered one of hers.", "\n\n\"You'll remember when you can, Hollis.\"", "\n\n\"I remember everything else. ", "I remember every goddamned thing he did to me. ", "I remember the way his breath smelled in my face, like spearmint chewing gum. ", "The way _he_ smelled of Ivory soap. ", "The way his skin felt against mine, hot and slick with sweat. ", "The way he . . . ", "grunted in the back of his throat while he raped me. ", "I remember . . . ", "everything. ", "Except that. ", "Why not that?\"", "\n\n\"There's a reason. ", "There's always a reason.\"", "\n\n\"You mean my mind doesn't want me to remember? ", "But why that? ", "All the horrible things he did to me—and I can't remember a sound? ", "Just a sound? ", "Why?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know. ", "But we'll figure it out. ", "I promise you, Hollis, we'll figure it out.\" ", "Maggie drew a little breath, and Hollis thought she heard a catch in the sound, but the other woman's voice was steady when she said, \"Can you start from the beginning? ", "Can you tell me everything that happened from the moment he grabbed you?\"", "\n\n\"Yes,\" Hollis said. ", "Her hand turned and gripped Maggie's tightly. \"", "I think I can now.\"", "\n\nHollis Templeton's room was around a corner and near the end of an unusually quiet corridor on a quiet floor of the hospital; her doctors felt she would be better off not disturbed by the hustle and bustle common in most of the building. ", "So when John got off the elevator and passed the silent waiting room, he found himself half consciously walking more quietly down the deserted hallway so as not to intrude upon the peaceful atmosphere.", "\n\nHe turned the corner having seen no one and stopped abruptly when he did see someone. ", "Maggie. ", "She was outside Hollis's room, leaning back against the wall beside the closed door. ", "She was hugging her sketch pad with both arms, her head bent, long hair falling forward to mostly hide her pale face, but even from this distance John could see her shoulders shaking and hear the muffled but wrenching sobs.", "\n\nBefore she could see or sense him there, John stepped silently back around the corner and retreated to the doorway of the waiting room, more shaken than he wanted to admit to himself.", "\n\nMagic. ", "No, it wasn't magic, what she did. ", "Whether her ability was paranormal as Quentin insisted or merely an overdeveloped sensitivity to the feelings of others, the undeniable fact was that Maggie suffered right along with the victims of violence she tried to help. ", "He wondered if he had the right to ask her to put herself through that. ", "If anyone did.", "\n\nAnd, not for the first time, he wondered why she did it. ", "He had considered having her background investigated, certainly something he could have done, but it wasn't his habit to acquire information about people that way. ", "Especially people he wanted to work with. ", "Digging into somebody's past without so much as a by-your-leave was hardly a good first step to induce trust and cooperation.", "\n\nBoth Quentin and Kendra had adamantly stated that Maggie's motives had to be both powerful and deeply felt, and John could see that clearly enough. ", "To willingly put herself through what she did, her reasons would _have_ to be strong ones.", "\n\nSo what were they? ", "What could possibly drive a sensitive woman, with the intelligence and artistic talent to be anything she wanted, to torture herself this way?", "\n\nJohn shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and waited there, leaning beside the doorway, all too aware that only Maggie could answer that question. ", "And nobody had to tell him it wasn't something she would willingly discuss, especially with a virtual stranger.", "\n\nBoth the question and that reluctant answer were difficult to accept, and he thought about both, so preoccupied that he didn't hear her approach until she spoke.", "\n\n\"What are you doing here?\" ", "Except for a faint redness around her eyes and a hint of strain in her face, there were no lingering signs of that storm of emotion John had briefly witnessed.", "\n\n\"I called the station. ", "Andy said you were probably here talking to Hollis Templeton. ", "He said he'd tried to call you.\"", "\n\n\"I turned off my cell phone. ", "I usually do during interviews.\" ", "Maggie frowned slightly. \"", "But I got your message; I was planning to meet you at four.\"", "\n\nHe nodded, accepting that. \"", "Yeah, well, it might be a good idea if we go there now.\"", "\n\n\"Why?\"", "\n\nHe didn't want to tell her, but there was no choice. \"", "The police think there's been another attack, Maggie. ", "A woman was reported missing a couple of hours ago. ", "Her husband just returned from a business trip and discovered her gone and the front door literally standing open.\"", "\n\nMaggie was very still, staring up at him. \"", "There's something else, isn't there? ", "What else?\"", "\n\nHe really didn't want to tell her.", "\n\n\"John? ", "What is it?\"", "\n\n\"She's pregnant. ", "More than six months.\"", "\n\nHollis remained in her chair by the window, but only because she felt too drained to move. ", "Talking about the attack, telling Maggie all the horrible, painful details, even those she hadn't dared think about, had exhausted her. ", "But not nearly as much as she had expected it to.", "\n\nAnd her emotional state was much better than it had any right to be, she knew that. ", "She felt peculiarly calm, almost . . . ", "at peace.", "\n\n _Because of her._", "\n\n\"Because of Maggie?\" ", "By now, it seemed almost normal to discuss things with her figment. ", "Reassuring, even.", "\n\n _Yes._", "\n\n\"Why? ", "Just because she listened? ", "Because she was sympathetic and understanding?\"", "\n\n _No. ", "Because she took some of your pain._", "\n\nHollis frowned. \"", "What do you mean?\"", "\n\n _She took it away. ", "Took it into herself, so that you_ _wouldn't hurt so much._", "\n\n\"You don't—surely you don't mean she actually _physically_ absorbed what I was feeling?\"", "\n\n _She has a unique gift. ", "It's why I wanted you to talk to_ _her. ", "So you could begin to heal._", "\n\n\"But . . . ", "she felt it? ", "All the pain?\"", "\n\n _Yes._", "\n\nHollis was horrified; she wouldn't have wished that on anyone, and for Maggie to have suffered so when she was only trying to help . . . \"", "Dammit, why didn't you warn me?\"", "\n\n _I couldn't warn you. ", "Neither could she. ", "We both knew_ _you'd fight not to inflict such pain on another. ", "We both_ _knew you wouldn't tell her the things she had to know if_ _you had been warned it would hurt her too._", "\n\nAs upset as she was, Hollis had a realization then, one she was surprised hadn't occurred to her before. \"", "You know her, don't you? ", "You know Maggie.\"", "\n\n _Yes. ", "I know Maggie. ", "I know her very well._", "\nCHAPTER SEVEN\n\n **The forensics team is going over that house inch by** inch, but so far nothing. ", "I've got people canvassing the neighborhood, but on a busy Monday with most at work or at school, the area was all but deserted—today, anyway.\"", "\n\n\"How long was the husband away?\" ", "John asked.", "\n\n\"From last Thursday. ", "He says at a business conference on the East Coast, and I don't expect to find anything different; he arrived at Sea-Tac this morning, sure enough. ", "And I'd bet my pension he's half out of his mind with worry, so I'm not looking at him as a suspect. ", "He says he talked to her late last night when he called from his hotel; records confirm he certainly called the house and there was a lengthy conversation, so we're probably looking at about a twelve-hour window during which she might have disappeared. ", "According to friends and family, she wouldn't have run away . . .\"", "\n\nMaggie tried to concentrate on what Andy was telling them, but it wasn't easy. ", "The interview with Hollis, productive though it might turn out to be, had drained her; the pain and anguish of the other woman, dragged out into the light of day and sanity for the first time since the attack, had been virtually an open wound. ", "Maggie needed to recover from that. ", "Unfortunately, she hadn't been granted the time or seclusion necessary.", "\n\nSo she was faking it. ", "Or trying to.", "\n\n\". . . ", "the husband says you'd never know she's pregnant. ", "One of those women who hardly show at all right up to delivery, apparently.\"", "\n\n\" _He_ knows,\" Maggie heard herself say.", "\n\nAndy frowned across his desk at her. \"", "The rapist? ", "If she isn't showing, how could—\"\n\n\"He's been watching her. ", "He would have seen her doing things to prepare for a baby.\"", "\n\n\"Things?\" ", "John asked.", "\n\nMaggie didn't look at him. \"", "Doctor visits, shopping, decorating. ", "It's a first baby. ", "There'd be a lot to do.\"", "\n\nAndy said, \"But he might not have realized how far along she is.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe not. ", "I wouldn't bet money on it, though.\"", "\n\nAndy grimaced and rubbed the nape of his neck. \"", "No, me either. ", "Is this supposed to be a fun new twist for the bastard? ", "Christ. ", "If it turns out that Samantha Mitchell was taken by the rapist, this city is going to come apart at the seams.\"", "\n\nMaggie drew a breath and fought to keep her voice steady. \"", "You realize she's not likely to survive.\"", "\n\n\"You could have gone all day without saying that.\"", "\n\n\"It's true and you know it. ", "Hollis says he beat her almost methodically and violently raped her at least three times. ", "She was so damaged internally she'll never be able to have children. ", "Add to that the sheer physical and emotional shock of being blinded, and the odds are that neither a pregnant woman nor her child could survive the attack.\"", "\n\nAndy shook his head, his face grim, but said, \"Did you get anything helpful from the interview with Hollis?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know. ", "Maybe. ", "Details, but not the sort to help the police, at least not yet.\"", "\n\n\"Such as?\"", "\n\nMaggie drew a breath and let it out slowly, trying not to sound as tired as she felt. \"", "He used spearmintflavored gum or breath mints. ", "He hummed to himself sometimes, but not a tune Hollis recognized. ", "He was fascinated by the texture of her skin and her scent.\"", "\n\nJohn moved slightly in his chair, and under his breath muttered, \"Son of a bitch.\"", "\n\nMaggie sent him a quick glance of apology. ", "It had to be hell for him, hearing this sort of thing and knowing that his sister had been held and tortured by the same animal. ", "In situations like this one, an informed imagination could be a lot worse than an ignorant one.", "\n\nFor the first time, Maggie realized that he probably slept no better than she did and that his nightmares undoubtedly grew more vivid with each brutal fact he learned about what his sister had actually gone through.", "\n\nAndy, more adept than either of them at not letting his emotions sidetrack him, said to Maggie, \"Those don't even sound like the sorts of details that might help you. ", "Are they? ", "Are you beginning to see this guy?\"", "\n\n\"Every detail helps me see him. ", "Eventually.\" ", "Every detail, every throb of agony and anguish she had felt right along with Hollis. ", "And Ellen. ", "And Christina.", "\n\n\"Do you have a sketch yet?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "Not yet.\"", "\n\nJohn said, \"Andy, I know your boss would hate it, but is there any way we can see the Mitchell house today?\"", "\n\n\"We?\"", "\n\n\"Maggie and me.\"", "\n\nMaggie wanted to protest but bit back the words. ", "She had so far managed to hide from Andy her reaction to actual scenes of violence or suffering and intended to keep it that way if she had any choice. ", "It was difficult enough to do what she did without having to also cope with the increased uneasiness or even fear she knew most of these cops would feel if they saw one of her little . . . ", "performances.", "\n\nShe had no idea what John thought of what he had witnessed on Saturday, but she didn't doubt he and his friend had discussed her. ", "His supposedly psychic friend.", "\n\nShe felt cold. ", "And worried. ", "Was she moving too fast? ", "Could she afford not to? ", "It was so desperately important that they stop this monster before he destroyed more lives, but what would be the price demanded if she chose the wrong path? ", "And who would have to pay it?", "\n\n\"Maggie, are you up to it?\" ", "Andy asked.", "\n\nShe nodded. \"", "I'm fine.\" ", "A lie, but she thought it was probably a pretty convincing one.", "\n\n\"I know Maggie usually walks the scene eventually,\" Andy said slowly, \"but why you, John?\"", "\n\n _Because he wants to watch me._ ", "But Maggie didn't say that, of course. ", "She just waited silently.", "\n\n\"I suppose,\" John said, \"because I'm trying to . . . ", "immerse myself in the investigation. ", "To see everything. ", "And who knows, Andy—I may see something all you cops miss. ", "I may not be trained in police work, but I usually don't miss many of the details when I turn my mind to something.\"", "\n\nIt was the truth, Maggie thought. ", "But not all of it.", "\n\nAndy drummed his fingers on his desk for a moment, eyeing John intently, then shrugged. \"", "I'll okay it. ", "I wanted Maggie to walk it anyway, and you might as well go along, although I doubt you'll find anything we missed. ", "The forensics team should be just about finished up by the time you can get to the house, and Mitchell has given us permission to do whatever it takes to find his wife, so I don't imagine he'll object. ", "If he even notices, which is doubtful.\"", "\n\nMaggie got to her feet when John did, but paused to ask Andy, \"Is there anything else? ", "Anything new?\"", "\n\nOnly someone who knew him well would have seen the hesitation before he replied, \"No, nothing. ", "At least until we have the forensics report later today.\"", "\n\nMaggie pretended she didn't know him well and nodded as she turned away. ", "She'd have to come back here later and corner Andy, try to find out what was going on. ", "Unless it was her, and not John Garrett, he didn't want to tell.", "\n\nShe didn't much like this. ", "If it came down to it, where would her loyalties have to lie? ", "With the police or with John? ", "That shouldn't have been a question, but it was. ", "And she knew why it was.", "\n\nPushing those troubling thoughts aside for the moment, Maggie followed John from the station. ", "He didn't speak until they were on the steps, and then it was to make a wry request.", "\n\n\"Would you mind if we went together in my car? ", "I'll bring you back here afterward to get your car.\" ", "He grimaced slightly when she looked at him quizzically. \"", "I don't know if you've noticed, but these days any unaccompanied man moving around the city tends to draw quite a few suspicious stares, especially in a neighborhood such as the one we'll be visiting. ", "Aside from disliking the way it makes me feel, I'd just as soon avoid the undue attention.\"", "\n\nMaggie half nodded and went with him to his car, and it wasn't until they were on their way that she said, \"It's the not knowing, of course. ", "As far as most of the women in this city are concerned, any man they don't know could be the rapist—and sad to say there are probably far too many women who aren't even sure of the men they do know.\"", "\n\n\"That is sad. ", "It must be hell to look at someone you believed you could trust and realize you aren't completely sure anymore. ", "And hell to be on the receiving end of that doubt.\"", "\n\n\"I imagine so.\"", "\n\nHe glanced at her. \"", "Imagine? ", "Can't you feel it? ", "When they do, I mean.\"", "\n\n\"Why ask when you don't believe it's possible?\" ", "Maggie made her voice a little dry but still casual. \"", "Is that why you wanted me to go with you to the Mitchell house, by the way? ", "So you could watch another . . . ", "performance and explain it away?\"", "\n\nJohn was silent for a moment, then said, \"I hate it when Quentin's right. ", "He said you'd probably lived with doubt and disbelief most of your life.\"", "\n\n\"He'd know, being a seer. ", "Not that you believe that either.\" ", "She realized abruptly that they weren't heading for the address of the Mitchell house Andy had provided but in another direction entirely. ", "Where—\n\n\"That's an old-fashioned term for it, isn't it? ", "Seer?\" ", "Maggie shrugged, feeling a slow little chill crawl over her skin. \"", "I suppose. ", "Anyway, he said he didn't see things, just knew them.\"", "\n\n\"And you?\"", "\n\n\"What about me?\" ", "She clung to casual disinterest and fought the rising panic.", "\n\nJohn drew a breath and said softly, \"When you walk through a place where something violent happened, do you see things? ", "Know them? ", "Or feel them?\"", "\n\nRepeating her earlier answer, Maggie said, \"Why ask when you don't believe it's possible?\"", "\n\n\"I never have believed it's possible, but that doesn't mean I can't change my mind, Maggie. ", "Not long before I called Andy and found out about the Mitchell woman, Quentin told me another woman had been taken. ", "He knew.\"", "\n\n\"I'm sure you explained that away. ", "It could have been a lucky guess.\" ", "She knew where they were going now. ", "Damn. _", "Damn_.", "\n\n\"It could have been. ", "But if so, there've been a lot of lucky guesses over the years, too many times he knew things before he should have. ", "And then there's you.\"", "\n\nStolidly, Maggie said, \"I'm just overly sensitive, that's all. ", "With a vivid imagination.\"", "\n\n\"I guess you've heard that a lot during your life.\"", "\n\n\"Enough.\"", "\n\n\"Okay. ", "But at least I'm trying to have an open mind. ", "Give me that much credit.\"", "\n\nAfter a moment, she said quietly, \"I'm sure you use calculators and computers and other machines in your business affairs; do you really have to understand the nuts and bolts of how they work in order to be satisfied with the information and answers they provide?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "But I have to trust that the information they provide is accurate and reliable, and sometimes that requires at least some level of understanding. ", "And you're not a machine. ", "I really do want to understand you, Maggie.\"", "\n\nDeliberately, Maggie half turned in the seat to look at him steadily. \"", "If your friend Quentin hasn't convinced you in years of trying to, then what hope do I have? ", "At least the things he tells you can be verified, predictions backed up by fact when those predictions turn out to be true. ", "But what I do? ", "What I do isn't backed up by anything, really. ", "It's all subjective. ", "Besides, I don't have the spare energy to jump through hoops for you, John. ", "Just tell yourself I have a peculiar skill honed by half a lifetime of working with the police, and let it go at that. ", "I can't prove anything to you.\"", "\n\n\"Can't you?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\nHe pulled the car over to the curb and stopped, then looked at her, his jaw tight. \"", "I know a way you can.\"", "\n\nShe didn't have to look to know where they were. \"", "No. ", "I can't.\"", "\n\n\"Because the interview with Hollis took too much out of you?\"", "\n\nShe had to be honest. \"", "No.\"", "\n\n\"Because you have to save your energy for the Mitchell house?\"", "\n\n\"Partly.\"", "\n\nHe nodded as if an inner belief had been confirmed. \"", "But not completely. ", "So what's the rest of the answer, Maggie? ", "Andy told me you never walked through Christina's apartment after she died. ", "Why not?\"", "\n\nMaggie drew a short breath. \"", "I have my reasons.\" ", "Reasons he wouldn't understand, let alone believe.", "\n\n\"What reasons?\"", "\n\n\"Private reasons.\"", "\n\n\"Maggie—\"\n\n\"John, I'm not going to walk through Christina's apartment. ", "Not today.\"", "\n\n\"And you won't tell me why.\"", "\n\nShe shook her head slightly in a brief but final negation.", "\n\n\"I'm trying to understand this,\" he said, his voice slow, as though he chose his words carefully. \"", "Because it's such a simple question, Maggie—why did my sister kill herself? ", "I think you could answer that question, so I have to wonder why you won't even make an attempt. ", "Am I asking so much? ", "Just walk through her apartment and tell me what you see. ", "Or know. ", "Or feel.\"", "\n\nAndy hung up his phone and scowled at Jennifer as she approached his desk. \"", "Please tell me you have something,\" he begged.", "\n\nShe sat down and said, \"We didn't expect forensics to find anything, especially not this quickly. ", "So something else must have put you in a bad mood. ", "Or somebody. ", "Drummond?\"", "\n\nIf anything, Andy's frown deepened. \"", "I don't know whether to look forward to the day he's sitting in the governor's mansion or dread it. ", "He'd be mostly out of my hair—but God help the state.\"", "\n\n\"Let me guess. ", "Samantha Mitchell or her husband has a Very Important Friend in government?\"", "\n\n\"Hell, they know everybody. ", "At least according to Luke. ", "And _everybody_ is yelling at him to find the lady, pronto.\"", "\n\n\"I guess you told him we're trying to do that.\"", "\n\n\"I mentioned it, yeah.\"", "\n\nJennifer smiled. \"", "Well, here's something else to brighten your day.\"", "\n\nHe braced himself visibly. \"", "What?\"", "\n\n\"While Scott's trying to track down those missing files, I've been taking a closer look at that book I got from the library. ", "There aren't a lot of specific details on the series of murders in 1934, but there was one very interesting thing. ", "It turns out the cops were undecided whether to call it six victims—or eight. ", "Six was the official verdict, but there was a lot of doubt, apparently, among the investigating officers.\"", "\n\n\"What kind of doubt?\"", "\n\n\"They were positive the first six victims were killed by the same man because of the similarities. ", "The women were always raped and killed somewhere else and their bodies dumped later in remote or deserted spots, he always beat them up badly, the women always bore defense injuries, and he never tore their clothing.\"", "\n\nAndy blinked. \"", "Never?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "The bodies were always discovered dressed, all the buttons fastened and nothing ripped. ", "Which is interesting in several ways. ", "For one thing, the women were always found without underwear. ", "No bras or panties, no girdles or stockings or slips. ", "Just their outer dresses. ", "And there was usually very little blood or dirt on those dresses.\"", "\n\n\"So he stripped them—and then dressed them afterward, but without their underwear. ", "Kept the underwear as trophies, maybe?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "But think how difficult just the mechanics of it had to be. ", "By the time he finished with them, the women were either dead or dying. ", "And instead of dumping them somewhere, naked, which would certainly have been the easiest and simplest thing to do, he takes the time and trouble to dress them in their outer clothing. ", "Almost as if . . . ", "he was trying to protect their modesty.\"", "\n\n\"You been talking to the shrink?\" ", "Andy wanted to know.", "\n\n\"No, but I've listened to her talk about this sort of thing before, so I feel safe in making a semieducated guess about it. ", "I think the detail is important, Andy. ", "It could be something as simple as the fact that the 1934 killer lived during a more . . . ", "modest time. ", "Or a quirk of his psyche—he'd defile them in every way possible, but it was for his own enjoyment. ", "When other men saw the women, they had to be decently covered.\"", "\n\n\"Sounds like the sort of quirk entirely likely in one of these twisted bastards. ", "Okay, it makes sense to me. ", "It definitely sounds like those six women were killed by the same man. ", "But there was doubt about two more victims?\"", "\n\n\"Uh-huh.\"", "\n\n\"Why? ", "The M.O. was drastically different?\"", "\n\n\"Two young women found in remote places, having obviously been raped and killed somewhere else, badly beaten, with defense injuries, and wearing their virtually undamaged outer clothing all neatly fastened.\"", "\n\n\"Sounds like the same guy.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, except for one addition.\"", "\n\n\"Which is?\"", "\n\n\"Their eyes were missing. ", "Cut out—with absolutely no finesse.\"", "\n\nAndy stared at her a moment, then drew a short breath. \"", "Shit.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Knowing what we know now about the escalation and evolution of this sort of sick predator, I say those last two victims belong with the first six. ", "He had just grown more violent, and more creative. ", "Which means eight, Andy. ", "Killed within the space of about eighteen months.\"", "\n\n\"Which may or may not mean we could have a year and four—or three—more victims to go.\"", "\n\n\"If our guy is copycatting earlier crimes, yeah. ", "The killings that started in 1934 sure sound familiar. ", "All of our victims survived the attacks, and only one actually died of her injuries, but that could be as much luck as anything else; they were found before they could bleed to death, unlike the women in 1934. ", "We have naked victims, but that may just be because our particular monster has fewer hang-ups than his predecessor did. ", "Or a better knowledge of forensics.\"", "\n\n\"He certainly has that,\" Andy said heavily. \"", "And it does sound more and more like he studied at least some of these earlier crimes. ", "For inspiration, goddamn his soul.\"", "\n\n\"He doesn't have one,\" Jenn declared.", "\n\nAndy grunted an agreement. \"", "What about the earlier date, 1894?\"", "\n\n\"Nothing so far, at least in that book. ", "And we haven't found any files from that year—not here and not at any other station. ", "It was a long time ago, Andy.\"", "\n\n\"Tell me about it.\" ", "He sighed. \"", "All we can do is keep looking. ", "What else have we got?\"", "\n\nJennifer sighed and got to her feet. \"", "Yeah, you're right. ", "By the way—I know we're keeping this to ourselves for the time being, but are you going to tell Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"I haven't decided yet. ", "What do you think?\"", "\n\n\"I say tell her.\"", "\n\nAndy leaned back and looked at her curiously. \"", "Why?\"", "\n\n\"Because Maggie works best when she has all the information we can give her. ", "And because . . . ", "she's very good with intangibles, Andy. ", "Victims give her subjective impressions and feelings and pain—and in all that confusion, Maggie finds a face we can search for. ", "As far as I can tell, with her it's all instinct and emotion. ", "She comes at this differently than we do. ", "Maybe she'd have an idea or observation we'd never have.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\" ", "He nodded slowly. \"", "Yeah, maybe.\"", "\n\n\"You going to tell Garrett?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know that yet either.\"", "\n\n\"It might give him a focus other than his sister's death.\"", "\n\n\"It might. ", "And we might need the resources he can tap. ", "I don't know. ", "We'll see how it goes.\"", "\n\n\"I'm glad it's your decision and not mine,\" Jennifer told him with a casual salute, then returned to her own desk.", "\n\nAndy wished it was somebody else's decision. ", "He was a good cop, and maybe it was that inborn instinct that warned him uneasily that this particular case was somehow beyond his experience. ", "Not just because this bastard was torturing his victims the way he was and going to such elaborate extremes to hide his own identity, but because of the chillingly methodical way he went about satisfying his twisted needs.", "\n\nAndy would have loved to hand the whole mess over to somebody else. ", "But he couldn't do that. ", "It was his mess, and he had to find his way through it. ", "Which meant Jenn was right and he'd have to tell Maggie about these latest puzzle pieces.", "\n\nEven more, he might just have to break the rules and ignore Drummond's orders and bring John Garrett fully into the investigation. ", "He needed all the resources he could get his hands on, and with Drummond's stubborn refusal to call in the FBI, John could provide a wide and willing conduit to virtually every database and source of information available.", "\n\nMaybe even some sources that could take them all the way back to 1894.", "\n\nMaggie wondered if he had any idea at all what he asked of her and thought that he had at least an inkling. ", "But not belief. ", "Because if he believed, he could never have asked her to go to the apartment where a despondent, tormented woman had died and allow those emotions to seep into her. ", "At least . . . ", "she hoped he couldn't ask that of her.", "\n\n\"Even if I did, it wouldn't be proof,\" she said flatly. \"", "Because Christina isn't here to verify whatever I'd say.\"", "\n\n\"I'll know if it's the truth.\"", "\n\n\"Will you? ", "And how will you know that? ", "Because you were her brother? ", "You've lived in L.A. for the last ten years, and she moved back to Seattle more than five years ago; did you know so much about her life? ", "I'd bet not. ", "I'd bet you didn't know much at all.\"", "\n\n\"Maggie—\"\n\n\"She volunteered at a day-care center in her neighborhood, did you know that? ", "And at the local animal shelter. ", "She still woke up in the night and reached for her husband, even though it had been nearly two years since he'd died. ", "She talked to her plants, even sang to them sometimes. ", "She was learning to use a computer for the first time; with Simon gone, she no longer felt she'd have to compete with his genius in that area. ", "She watched old movies in bed at night, and just before the attack she'd been in the middle of a wonderful series of mystery novels.\"", "\n\nMaggie drew a breath. \"", "Did you know that? ", "Did you know any of that?\"", "\n\nJohn stared out through the windshield, a muscle moving in his tight jaw. \"", "No,\" he said finally. \"", "I didn't know any of that.\"", "\n\nLooking down at the sketch pad in her lap, Maggie consciously loosened her grip on it. ", "She really needed to stop clinging, she thought vaguely. ", "It was a very bad sign. \"", "John, if I believed, really believed, that I could help you by going up to Christina's apartment, then I would. ", "But nothing I could find out by doing that would help you in any way.\" _", "Assuming I survived to tell_ _you._ ", "But she didn't add that, of course.", "\n\nQuietly, she said, \"We should try to get to the Mitchell house while the cops are still there.\"", "\n\nWithout a word, John put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb.", "\n\nMaggie didn't sense any hostility coming from him, so she didn't worry about his silence. ", "Instead, she used the time granted to her to do her best to shore up what few defenses she had. ", "Not that she ever had many, except for a fair ability to master her expression and what Beau referred to as her prickly touch-me-not posture.", "\n\nSo she worked on those, at least for the ten minutes or so until they reached the Mitchell house. ", "The police had tried to keep this disappearance as quiet as possible until they knew whether Samantha Mitchell had been abducted by the serial rapist, but the press had found out at least part of it and were milling about just beyond the long drive, where several uniformed officers were holding them at bay.", "\n\nAndy had sent word of their clearance, so they were waved through and pulled into the driveway with barely a pause. ", "But with enough of a pause, unfortunately, for one photographer to get a picture.", "\n\n\"Shit,\" John muttered.", "\n\nMaggie, who had done her best to make certain her face wouldn't be visible, said, \"You'll make the papers tomorrow. ", "I wonder if Andy realized that seeing you here would pretty much confirm the reporters' suspicions about this woman being the latest victim.\"", "\n\n\"It won't be an official confirmation, so all they can do is speculate. ", "That isn't what's bothering me.\"", "\n\n\"Then what?\"", "\n\n\"Drummond.\" ", "John sent her a wry look. \"", "He wasn't happy I was granted access to the investigation, and I more or less promised to keep my involvement low-key.\"", "\n\n\"Ouch.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\" ", "Without saying anything else about that, John parked the car and they got out.", "\n\nIt was a big Spanish-style house in an upper-middle-class neighborhood where virtually every house had its own unique style. ", "Manicured lawn, exquisite landscaping. ", "Maggie glanced around as they made their way through the tangle of police vehicles clogging the upper part of the driveway and murmured, \"Wouldn't you think a stranger would be noticed in this neighborhood?\"", "\n\n\"I'd think so, yeah. ", "Unless he was dressed as some kind of maintenance or service person. ", "Hiding in plain sight.\"", "\n\nMaggie knew the cops had undoubtedly made a note of that possibility; neither Andy nor any of his people was stupid. ", "But it nevertheless struck her as distinctly odd that a rapist who went to such lengths to hide his identity from his victims could allow himself to move openly in neighborhoods and shopping malls where he was almost certain to be noticed— even hiding in plain sight.", "\n\nThe cop at the door said they'd been okayed to go through the house, and since the forensics team was packing up now, they could come in whenever they wanted.", "\n\n\"Where's Mr. Mitchell?\" ", "Maggie asked.", "\n\n\"He's in the kitchen with a couple of detectives.\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded and stepped past him into the foyer. ", "Several equipment boxes standing open and closed on the polished wood floor of the area attested to the presence of the forensics team, and an occasional voice could be heard from upstairs. ", "It appeared they had finished their work downstairs.", "\n\nShe was momentarily highly conscious of John standing just behind her but forced herself to concentrate on what she was here to do. ", "It was difficult to prepare herself for the painful and disturbing invasion even after all these years, especially when she could hear the forensics team. ", "One of the reasons she always tried to delay a walk-through of the scene until after everyone else had finished their work and gone was because the emotions of other people could affect what she was trying to do.", "\n\nOne of the reasons.", "\n\n\"There's no blood trail here.\" ", "John's voice was matter-of-fact. \"", "So where do you start?\"", "\n\nShe glanced at him, wishing she didn't have to prove herself to him this way. ", "But if he couldn't accept and believe this, how would he ever be able to accept and believe the rest? ", "And no matter which way it went, he'd have to believe the rest.", "\n\nWouldn't he?", "\n\nMaking up her mind abruptly, Maggie abandoned the I'm-just-an-overly-sensitive-person mantra. \"", "I'm a human divining rod for violence,\" she said, matching his tone. \"", "If there was any here, I'll find where it happened.\"", "\n\nHe was completely expressionless. \"", "I see.\"", "\n\n\"I doubt it.\" ", "Maggie hugged her sketch pad like the security blanket it virtually was and walked into the living room on her left. ", "She didn't look at the comfortable and expensive furnishings or pay any attention to the decorating scheme but just stood in the center of the room, closed her eyes for a moment, and reluctantly opened the inner door to that unnerving sixth sense.", "\n\nAs always, it was a peculiar feeling, at first a distant murmur accompanied by flashes of scenes, like a strobe projector flickering images in her mind's eye. ", "Then she caught the whiff of wine, the acrid smell of wood smoke, cologne or aftershave. ", "Heard voices raised suddenly in an argument, felt her hand sting as if she'd slapped someone. ", "Then hands gripping her wrists and a mouth coming down hard on hers . . .", "\n\nMaggie took a jerky step backward to physically break the connection and under her breath muttered, \"Shit.\"", "\n\n\"What?\" ", "John was watching her intently, a tiny frown between his brows.", "\n\nShe glanced at the fireplace, where no fire burned today, then looked at the apparently very comfortable couch and sighed. \"", "There's violence—and then there's violence. ", "Dammit. ", "I hate being a voyeur.\"", "\n\n\"Maggie, what are you talking about?\"", "\n\n\"Nothing was done in this room against anyone's will, John. ", "I just picked up on . . . ", "Well, let's just say the Mitchells have an active and . . . ", "energetic sex life.\"", "\n\nHe glanced at the couch as she had done, then looked quickly back at her face. \"", "Oh.\"", "\n\nMaggie didn't try to read his face or his emotions or waste time wondering if he believed her; she was reasonably sure he didn't. ", "Instead, she moved into the next room. ", "She didn't stop now but walked slowly, looking around her but allowing that inner sense to be the one seeing. ", "And hearing. ", "And feeling.", "\n\nShe caught the flicker of another marital argument in the den that seemed to be about, of all things, a parrot, another scene of rather violent lovemaking in the sunroom, and knew someone had been cut—oddly enough by a broken mirror—in the breakfast room. ", "In Thomas Mitchell's study, many business arguments had taken place, the most recent of which had been between Mitchell and his father-in-law.", "\n\nMaggie reported each event calmly and without looking at John, speaking aloud as much to keep herself grounded as to supply him with information. ", "She was holding on to her control with all her will, determined not to allow herself to be lost within the emotional turmoil of these people's lives.", "\n\nIt was getting more and more difficult to keep herself separate and apart from what she sensed, and that frightened her more than a little. _", "Could_ she actually get lost in the violence of past events? ", "And if she did . . . ", "would she ever be able to find her way out again?", "\n\nThey bypassed the kitchen, where they could hear the murmur of voices, and moved on to the other ground-floor rooms. ", "There was nothing of interest to report in a powder room or exercise room, a butler's pantry or laundry room.", "\n\nMaggie was beginning to wonder if everybody had got it wrong and Samantha Mitchell had walked out of this house of her own free will, when they reached the game room. ", "Maggie walked into the fairly dark room and was staggered by an overwhelming wave of absolute terror.", "\n\nIt was as brief as it was fierce, just cold terror and iron arms around her and the bitter bite of chloroform—and then darkness so intense it was as if she had fallen into an abyss.", "\n\n _\"Maggie.\"_", "\n\nShe came out of it abruptly, shaken. ", "It was John's arms she felt around her then, holding her upright, and the terrifying darkness receded, leaving only the bone-deep cold behind. ", "And the terrible certainty.", "\n\n\"He's got her,\" she whispered.", "\nCHAPTER EIGHT\n\n **In what had once been an ordinary conference room** of a New Orleans police station, now transformed by bulletin boards and computers and stacks of files into the base of operations for a very unique task force, Special Agent Tony Harte refilled his coffee cup and then returned to brooding over the photographs pinned to the center bulletin board.", "\n\n\"I just don't see a pattern,\" he announced.", "\n\n\"Look again.\"", "\n\nTony sighed. \"", "Boss, I've looked so often and so hard my eyes are starting to cross.\"", "\n\nSpecial Agent Noah Bishop looked up from the laptop where he'd been working and said dryly, \"Maybe you'll be able to see better that way.\"", "\n\n\"Personally, I think we've been hexed.\"", "\n\nBishop lifted an eyebrow.", "\n\n\"Hexed,\" Tony insisted firmly. \"", "That source of yours down in the Quarter talked about voodoo, and I think we should pay attention to her.\"", "\n\n\"I think you need a vacation, Tony.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, come on—is it so much easier to believe in telepathy and precognition than in hexes?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\n\"Why?\"", "\n\n\"Telepathy and precognition don't involve fashioning a doll out of burlap and human hair and sticking pins in it.\"", "\n\nTony pondered that for a moment. \"", "I don't know, boss. ", "I've seen some pretty weird things since I started working for you.\"", "\n\n\"Next you'll be seeing zombies.\"", "\n\n\"I could state the obvious,\" Tony observed, eyeing his boss pointedly. \"", "But I won't.\"", "\n\nBishop didn't rise to the bait. \"", "Hand me that file on the banker, will you?\"", "\n\nTony handed it across the conference table. \"", "Anyway, if you and Miranda could just have a vision and help us out a little, I'd really appreciate it. ", "Try, why don't you?\"", "\n\nThe words were barely out of his mouth when Bishop paled and closed his eyes, an in-drawn breath hissing between his teeth.", "\n\nTony watched him intently and had to wait at least a minute or two longer than was customary before the other man's unusually penetrating gray eyes opened. ", "Hopeful, he asked, \"About our case?\"", "\n\n\"Shit.\" ", "Bishop massaged his temples briefly, then raked his fingers through his black hair, slightly disarranging the vivid white streak over his left temple. ", "He looked decidedly grim. \"", "Who the hell gave Quentin permission to go to Seattle?\" ", "he demanded.", "\n\nTony blinked. \"", "Not about our case, then. ", "Beats me. ", "I thought his and Kendra's last assignment was in Pittsburgh.\"", "\n\n\"It was. ", "But they aren't there now, typing up their reports like good little agents. ", "They're in Seattle, and up to their asses in trouble.\" ", "Bishop looked toward the doorway, and an instant later a tall, raven-haired, and strikingly beautiful woman appeared. ", "She was absently massaging one temple with her fingers, and her startling blue eyes went instantly to Bishop.", "\n\n\"Out loud,\" Tony requested automatically.", "\n\nShe looked at him, sighed, then came to the conference table and sat down. \"", "We can't go out there,\" she reminded Bishop. \"", "Not yet, anyway.\"", "\n\n\"I know.\"", "\n\n\"He can take care of himself. ", "Kendra too. ", "You trained them well.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "But this . . . ", "Jesus Christ. ", "Why do I put up with him, can you tell me that?\" ", "Bishop asked.", "\n\n\"Because he's good. ", "A good investigator and a strong psychic. ", "Too good to lose even if he does sometimes try your patience.\"", "\n\nBishop shook his head grimly. \"", "Be that as it may, Miranda, it's taken us years to get this unit on its feet and earn enough respect from law enforcement _and_ the Bureau to be taken seriously. ", "Far from gaining the autonomy we want, one major public screwup and we'll find ourselves chained to our desks doing background checks for security clearances. ", "And any time we stick our noses in where they aren't wanted, we run a huge risk of political fallout as well. ", "Quentin knows damned well we don't get involved unofficially in ongoing investigations.\"", "\n\nShe smiled slightly. \"", "You mean like the one you got involved in a couple of years ago in Atlanta?\"", "\n\n\"That was different.\"", "\n\n\"Was it? ", "Kane's your friend. ", "John Garrett is Quentin's friend. ", "We should have expected it, you know. ", "Once Garrett's sister became a victim out there, it was only a matter of time before Quentin had to get involved—officially or unofficially.\"", "\n\nTony, who had been listening intently, decided he was up to speed at last and ventured a comment. \"", "That serial rapist? ", "Lots in the papers about the case.\"", "\n\nMiranda looked at him, still smiling. \"", "And what are you doing reading the Seattle newspapers?\"", "\n\nCaught, Tony grimaced and said \"shit\" under his breath, then tried to brazen it out. \"", "Look, I didn't know for sure what was going on, it's just that Kendra had made a modem request for some data, and the return tag said Seattle, so I figured . . .\"", "\n\n\"And you didn't think we'd be interested?\" ", "Bishop demanded. ", "He shook his head. \"", "Jesus, Tony, you're as bad as Quentin is. ", "Keeping you two even marginally under control is like trying to herd cats.\"", "\n\nTony grinned. \"", "Maybe you should stop trying, boss.\"", "\n\n\"They do tend to land on their feet,\" Miranda observed. \"", "Although what I can't figure out is how either of them believes they can hide anything for long in a unit run by a telepath.\"", "\n\n\"Eternal optimists, both of us.\"", "\n\n\"Um. ", "And you're both convinced you can charm your way out of trouble.\"", "\n\n\"Only because we usually do,\" Tony said guilelessly.", "\n\nBishop groaned.", "\n\n\"Don't waste your energy,\" Miranda advised him, still amused. \"", "You'll never fit either of them into any kind of FBI mold.\"", "\n\n\"I wasn't going for that,\" Bishop confessed, staring at Tony. \"", "I seldom hope for miracles. ", "Just something reasonable, like occasional obedience to my so-called authority. ", "Not very much to ask, I'd think.\"", "\n\n\"Would it make you feel better,\" Tony inquired, \"if I said I'd always considered you an authority figure? ", "I mean, I do call you boss, after all.\"", "\n\n\"Only to remind yourself that's what I _am_. ", "Otherwise, you'd never remember.\"", "\n\n\"Hey, you're the one who always says psychics are a prickly, independent lot, prone to go it alone more often than follow the rules or the regs. ", "Can I help it if Quentin and I fit your definition to a T?\"", "\n\n\"You could at least pretend to follow the rules every once in a while.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, I do. ", "Every once in a while.\" ", "Tony's smile died, and he added quietly, \"Okay, you've both done a dandy job of trying to lead me away from asking about your vision.\"", "\n\n\"Not so dandy,\" Miranda murmured.", "\n\n\"I'm also tenacious,\" Tony reminded her. \"", "So what is it you're trying very hard _not_ to tell me?\"", "\n\nMiranda exchanged a glance with Bishop, then said, \"We need you here, Tony.\"", "\n\n\"I know that. ", "I won't go haring off after Quentin and Kendra no matter what you tell me. ", "Like you said—they can take care of themselves.\" ", "But he could feel tension seeping into his muscles, and when he looked at Miranda, he had the sudden, disquieting idea that she _knew_. ", "And if she knew . . .", "\n\nIt was Bishop who said, \"They're into something a lot more complicated than they realize.\"", "\n\n\"A fairly common trait of investigations we get involved in,\" Tony said, trying not to think about how much both of them knew about things he would have preferred to keep to himself. \"", "So what did you see?\"", "\n\nMiranda said, \"Sometimes visions are as clear and distinct as if they're scenes from a movie, a story with a beginning, a middle, and an ending. ", "But sometimes they aren't. ", "Sometimes they're flashes of stop-motion images, out of sequence, all jumbled together. ", "Even worse, instead of presenting a single prediction, they can be—variations on a theme. ", "Possible outcomes to a complex, fluid situation.\"", "\n\nTony scowled. \"", "Meaning you don't know exactly what's going to happen out there, but at least one possible outcome is a bad one?\"", "\n\n\"No,\" she said softly. \"", "Meaning only one possible outcome is a good one. ", "The deck's stacked against them this time, Tony. ", "Against all of them.\"", "\n\n\"We have to warn them.\" ", "Tony spoke before he considered and wasn't surprised by Bishop's response.", "\n\n\"You know better than that. ", "In the kind of situation they're in, any foreknowledge, especially from outside, could trigger the very events we want to avoid. ", "We can't help them by telling them what may or may not happen. ", "They have to make their own choices, their own decisions, based on what's happening at any given time and based on their own abilities—paranormal and otherwise. ", "Anything else is virtually guaranteed to only make things worse.\"", "\n\n\"Then what the hell good is it to even be precognitive?\" ", "Tony demanded.", "\n\nBishop smiled wryly. \"", "Who told you it was a good thing? ", "You've been listening to fairy tales again, Tony.\"", "\n\n\"Shit.\" ", "Tony drew a breath. \"", "So we say nothing? ", "We leave them to . . . ", "fate?\"", "\n\nMiranda said, \"Fate's a very big player in this one, and some things really do have to play out as they're meant to. ", "So, yes, we leave them to fate. ", "We don't have a choice.\"", "\n\nTony looked from one to the other of them, then said with forced lightness, \"I guess this is where I demonstrate my ability to obey orders and follow the rules, huh?\"", "\n\n\"I'm afraid so,\" Bishop said.", "\n\n\"Okay. ", "Well, then, if you two don't mind, I think I'll go see how Sharon is coming with that autopsy.\" ", "He didn't wait for approval but left the conference room briskly.", "\n\nBishop said, \"You know he's rattled when he voluntarily observes an autopsy. ", "He hates them.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "This isn't going to be easy for him.\" ", "Miranda hesitated. \"", "Are we right to keep him away?\"", "\n\nBishop sighed explosively. \"", "Hell, I don't know. ", "You saw the same thing I did. ", "That whole situation's so damned precarious, one player too many turns it into a bloodbath. ", "Quentin and Kendra are involved now, there's nothing we can do to change that. ", "Pull them out, and we could make things immeasurably worse. ", "Go in ourselves and the same thing could happen. ", "And, like you said—this one's about fate. ", "We'll have to leave them all to find their destiny.\"", "\n\n _They'll make it,_ Miranda said through the telepathic link they shared.", "\n\n _I hope so. ", "But I've found fate to be a . . . ", "brutal master._ _", "Even if they do make it, they'll never be the same again._", "\n\nHer hand reached across the table, and their fingers twined together in a gesture neither of them had to comment on. ", "No matter how intimately minds touched, sometimes the only real comfort to be found was in the warmth of flesh touching flesh.", "\n\nMaggie turned off her cell phone and returned it to her pocket. \"", "Andy said he'd have the forensics team go over the game room again, just to be sure. ", "Apparently they didn't find much the first time, but he said they were figuring she was grabbed in the kitchen or front hall.\"", "\n\n\"So he believed you when you told him Samantha Mitchell was attacked in that room?\"", "\n\n\"Yes, he believed me. ", "Experience has taught him to trust my . . . ", "instincts.\"", "\n\nThey were sitting in John's car, still parked in the drive of the Mitchell house, and he made no move to start the engine. ", "Instead, turned slightly in the driver's seat, he watched her intently. \"", "You haven't shown him what you've shown me, have you? ", "Why not?\"", "\n\nMaggie was trying very hard not to shiver visibly, but the cold weariness she felt was getting harder and harder to ignore. ", "She just wanted to go home and soak in a hot tub, maybe listen to some peaceful music and simply try to _forget_ for a while.", "\n\n\"Why not?\" ", "John repeated.", "\n\n\"Because it wasn't necessary,\" she answered, almost too tired to think. \"", "All Andy ever needed from me was sketches, and he could believe what I gave him without questioning where it came from, because I'd proven he could believe it.\"", "\n\n\"So I need more from you?\"", "\n\nFor a moment, Maggie was tempted to tell him what a loaded question that really was. ", "Instead, she abruptly opened her sketch pad and turned to a certain page and stood the pad up on her lap so he could see the sketch.", "\n\nJohn caught his breath.", "\n\nIt was a sketch of Christina as she'd been before the attack that had ruined her face and destroyed her life. ", "This face he stared at was, John realized dimly, more than simple pencil lines on ivory paper. ", "Much more. ", "The pale brown hair, straight and cut casually mid-length, surrounded a delicate oval face that was unusually pretty, with large sparkling eyes and a beautiful smile with a deep dimple on one side . . .", "\n\nIt was his sister as he remembered her, so vividly alive he expected her to laugh suddenly or cut her eyes sideways at him the way she always had when she found him amusing or he tried her considerable patience when he was, as she put it, \"being big brother.\"", "\n\n\"Jesus,\" he murmured.", "\n\nMaggie tore the sketch neatly from the pad and handed it to him. \"", "If this was all you needed from me, you wouldn't have to believe anything beyond what you understand. ", "I knew your sister, I drew her likeness—there it is. ", "I'm an artist, it's what artists do. ", "Nothing paranormal about it.\"", "\n\n\"I'm not so sure,\" John said, handling the sketch carefully. \"", "But thank you for this.\"", "\n\n\"You're welcome. ", "Do you mind if we leave now? ", "I know you wanted me to go with you to talk to your friend Quentin at this command post you guys have set up, but I need to be home for a while first. ", "I'm a little tired.\"", "\n\nJohn looked at her for a moment, then nodded. \"", "Quentin said you probably needed to spend time at home alone whenever one of these . . . ", "events . . . ", "tired you.\"", "\n\n\"Quentin was right.\"", "\n\nHe got his briefcase from the backseat and secured the sketch carefully inside before starting the car. ", "It was several miles before he spoke again, and then it was to ask a slow question.", "\n\n\"So what more do I need from you?\"", "\n\nShe didn't hesitate. \"", "Answers.\"", "\n\n\"About Christina?\"", "\n\n\"About all of it. ", "You want to know why she killed herself, but more than that. ", "You want to find the man who destroyed her life. ", "And . . .\"", "\n\nHe frowned. \"", "And?\"", "\n\nMaggie stared out through the windshield. ", "Was Beau right about this man? ", "He was usually right. ", "And if he was right—she had to be very, very careful.", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"And . . . ", "you want him to pay for what he did. ", "You may not fully believe there's anything paranormal about my work, but you do believe I can help you find this rapist.\"", "\n\nAfter a moment, he said slowly, \"Why do I think that isn't what you were originally going to say?\"", "\n\nShe was silent.", "\n\n\"Okay, then tell me this. ", "How is it you're so sure Samantha Mitchell was abducted by the serial rapist? ", "Abducted I'll buy, but how can you know it was him?\"", "\n\nMaggie hesitated, then said deliberately, \"Because it felt like him.\"", "\n\n\"You . . . ", "don't mean felt emotionally, do you?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "It physically felt like him. ", "When he grabbed her from behind, the feel of his arms around her, his chest against her back, the way he . . . ", "rubbed himself against her as she struggled, were all just the same as with the other attacks.\"", "\n\n\"You felt that because they did?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\n\"When you interviewed them? ", "When they relived those memories?\"", "\n\nShe nodded.", "\n\n\"Did you go to the places the other women had been abducted from?\"", "\n\n\"Only one of them. ", "Laura Hughes was abducted from her high-security apartment building, so I was able to do a walk-through there. ", "But the others were grabbed either in very public places or places where there had been far too many people around later. ", "It would have . . . ", "muddied the impressions.\"", "\n\n\"Impressions?\"", "\n\nDryly, she said, \"What do you expect me to call them—psychic vibes?\"", "\n\n\"You flatly denied being psychic just the other day.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, well, that's always the safe thing to do—at least until I get to know whoever's asking.\"", "\n\nHe shot her a quick look. \"", "Is that why you're finally being honest with me?\"", "\n\n\"Well, I thought it might avoid a game of twenty questions. ", "Obviously, I was wrong.\"", "\n\nThat surprised a laugh out of him. \"", "Okay, point taken. ", "It's just that I really do want to understand, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"And believe?\"", "\n\nHe barely hesitated. \"", "And believe. ", "It's just so far outside my experience that I know virtually nothing about it.\"", "\n\n\"You don't like not knowing, do you?\"", "\n\n\"No, I don't. ", "So I ask questions.\"", "\n\nMaggie waited until he turned the car into the police lot where she'd left her own to say, \"I really don't mind questions, John. ", "But my brain isn't working too clearly at the moment, and I'd rather postpone them, if it's all the same to you.\"", "\n\nHe pulled into the slot beside her car. \"", "Will you come to the hotel later? ", "I still think we should sit down and go over everything with Quentin and his partner, come up with some kind of game plan from here on out.\"", "\n\n\"Partner?\"", "\n\nJohn swore under his breath, wondering if Maggie's apparent psychic abilities included being able to make him say things he had no intention of saying. \"", "Yes, his partner.\"", "\n\n\"He's a cop, isn't he?\" ", "Maggie had one hand on the door handle but was waiting, brows slightly raised. \"", "Quentin's a cop.\"", "\n\n\"He's here unofficially, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"Uh-huh. ", "What kind of cop?\"", "\n\n\"Federal,\" John answered reluctantly. \"", "FBI.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, lovely. ", "And if Drummond finds out?\"", "\n\n\"Then everything hits the fan. ", "But I'm hoping he won't find out—at least until we have something to help his people put this bastard behind bars for the rest of his miserable life.\"", "\n\nMaggie shook her head. \"", "You do like to live dangerously.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "Will you come to the hotel later?\"", "\n\nShe didn't think there was a maybe about it but was too tired to worry much about it at the moment. \"", "Look, I'll see how I feel in a couple of hours and let you know, okay? ", "I still have your cell number.\"", "\n\nHe nodded but turned the car off and got out when she did, saying, \"I want to talk to Andy for a few minutes.\"", "\n\nMaggie unlocked her car door and said calmly, \"Do you want me to write down the stuff I told you at the Mitchell house so Andy can try to verify it for you?\"", "\n\nJohn stood on the walkway a few feet away, staring at her. \"", "Shit. ", "Was I that obvious?\"", "\n\n\"Let's just say I'm beginning to understand the way you think.\"", "\n\nHe smiled slightly. \"", "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?\"", "\n\n\"I'll let you know.\"", "\n\nHe half laughed. \"", "Fair enough. ", "No, you don't have to write anything down. ", "As it happens, I have a very good memory.\"", "\n\n\"Now, that doesn't surprise me at all. ", "See you later, John.\" ", "She got into her car and closed the door. ", "She started the engine, watching him walk toward the station, and muttered under her breath, \"FBI. ", "Great. ", "Just great.\"", "\n\nAndy hung up the phone and frowned across his desk at John. \"", "Okay, I checked. ", "And, as you heard, an understandably bewildered Thomas Mitchell confirmed. ", "He and his wife _did_ have an argument in their den about a parrot last week, his wife _did_ cut herself on a hand mirror in the breakfast room the week before that, and he and his father-in-law _did_ have a rather loud 'discussion' about business in his study just the other day. ", "Now I've left the poor bastard wondering if somebody's got him bugged. ", "I'm wondering too.\"", "\n\nJohn tried to head him off. \"", "I've got to know more about the parrot. ", "Why'd they fight about that?\"", "\n\n\"Samantha Mitchell wanted one as a pet,\" Andy answered impatiently. \"", "John—\"\n\n\"Who won the fight?\"", "\n\n\"She did. ", "The bird's on order. ", "John, how the hell did you know about this stuff?\"", "\n\nHe hesitated, but only briefly. ", "There really wasn't another explanation and, besides, John had a hunch that if any one of these cops could accept Maggie totally no matter how bizarre her talents seemed to be, it would be Andy.", "\n\n\"I know,\" he answered finally, \"because Maggie told me. ", "While she was walking through the Mitchell house.\"", "\n\nAndy didn't even blink. \"", "So she is psychic, huh? ", "Well, I always thought so.\"", "\n\n\"I'm still not a hundred percent convinced,\" John said, \"but I have to admit she's been pretty damned impressive. ", "I was just a step behind her when she walked into the Mitchells' game room, and I'll swear whatever she was experiencing nearly knocked her to her knees. ", "She says the attacker _felt_ a certain way, his arms, his body behind her. ", "And she claims to have felt those same physical traits when the victims she interviewed relived their attacks.\"", "\n\n\"Jesus,\" Andy murmured. \"", "If she felt that . . . ", "then she must have felt the rest. ", "All that pain and fear. ", "I knew she was strong, but I had no idea just how strong.\"", "\n\nJohn studied him. \"", "You don't doubt that, do you? ", "That she really feels what she says she does.\"", "\n\n\"No, I don't doubt it.\" ", "Andy drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. \"", "About two years ago, we had what looked like a simple case of a runaway teenager. ", "Normally, I wouldn't even have been involved, but the parents were political players in the city, and the chief wanted his best people looking for their fifteen-year-old daughter.", "\n\n\"So we interviewed dozens of her friends, trying to establish when and how she might have run away. ", "Maggie sat in on the interviews because the chief asked her to, but she never asked a question, just listened. ", "When we were done, none of us had a clue where that girl might be, but everything—and I mean _everything_ —pointed to her having simply packed up some things and left home. ", "Even the shrink agreed.\"", "\n\n\"So what happened?\"", "\n\n\"We'd spent the better part of two days interviewing the friends, and afterward Maggie asked if she could walk around the girl's house and the yard. ", "Well, we'd been all through the house, forensics had been over it, and I didn't hold out much hope Maggie could find something all of us had missed. ", "I think they call that hubris, don't they?\"", "\n\nJohn smiled slightly. \"", "She found something?\"", "\n\n\"You could say that. ", "I knew by then, of course, that she preferred to walk a scene alone, so I was keeping my distance. ", "I was standing out near the garage and hadn't realized she'd come back outside until I saw her near the patio. ", "She was walking very slowly, apparently not looking at anything in particular. ", "When she got to the edge of the yard, she just stood there for the longest time. ", "I didn't realize at first that she was crying, but it eventually dawned on me.", "\n\n\"I figured she was just upset about the missing girl, and I didn't want to embarrass her by calling attention to it, so I went to the car and waited. ", "She came back a few minutes later, and except for a little red around her eyes, she looked the same as always. ", "I asked if she'd found anything and she said no. ", "Then, about halfway back to the station, she started talking about the interviews. ", "She said something about one of the older boys bothered her. ", "Nothing she could put her finger on, mind you, just a hunch. ", "Wondered if I'd mind calling him back in for another talk, if maybe she could ask him a question or two.", "\n\n\"I wasn't looking forward to telling the chief we had squat for leads, so I said sure, why not. ", "The boy wasn't a suspect, and since he was eighteen we didn't have to interview him in the presence of his parents, but we did tell him he could have a lawyer if he wanted one. ", "He didn't. ", "I asked him a few questions, then Maggie started talking to him. ", "Just talking to him, quiet and gentle. ", "About his school and his parents. ", "About the girl.\"", "\n\nWhen Andy fell silent, John said, \"She got him to confess.\"", "\n\nAndy nodded. \"", "Took nearly an hour, and by the time he finally told the truth he was bawling his eyes out. ", "The girl was supposed to meet him in the woods for what had become a regular session. ", "Only that night she'd had a fight with her parents and decided to run away. ", "To him. ", "So she'd packed a bag, left a note for her parents, and there she was, expecting him to take care of her.", "\n\n\"He hadn't bargained on having a fifteen-year-old hung around his neck for life, and he panicked. ", "They argued, and at some point he shoved her. ", "When she fell, she hit her head on a rock. ", "She didn't get back up. ", "He had a shovel in his car. ", "The gardeners had been doing landscaping around the yard and the ground was soft, covered with a dense layer of pine mulch. ", "It was all too horribly easy, he said, to bury her and her little suitcase right there.\"", "\n\nAndy sighed. \"", "Right there—not ten feet away from where I watched Maggie stand and cry. ", "She knew. ", "She knew exactly what had happened to that girl. ", "There wasn't a sign to be seen, a clue to be found. ", "But she knew.\"", "\n\n\"You never told her what you'd seen?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "Figured if she wanted me to know, she'd tell me. ", "It seemed to me it was the sort of thing that would be difficult to live with, so I guessed she was used to coming up with . . . ", "other explanations for the things she knew.\" ", "Andy looked at the other man steadily. \"", "It was fine by me. ", "I'd learned to trust her by then, and to be perfectly honest I don't give a damn if she reads tea leaves or peers into a crystal ball. ", "In five years and hundreds of tough cases, I've never known her to be wrong.\"", "\n\n\"Never?\"", "\n\n\"Never. ", "Oh, there've been times when she was no closer to an answer than we were, but whenever Maggie got one of her _hunches_ I knew damned well the case was about to break.\"", "\n\nJohn shook his head slightly. \"", "I don't know what I believe, except that whatever Maggie experiences is obviously very real to her. ", "So why does she do it? ", "Why does she put herself through this kind of trauma, this kind of suffering?\"", "\n\n\"You asked me that last week, more or less. ", "I don't know the answer, John, but I'm willing to bet that if you ever find out what it is, you'll have the key to understanding Maggie Barnes.\"", "\nCHAPTER NINE\n\n **Despite what she'd told John, Maggie hadn't** intended to go back out on Monday evening, not after the day she'd had. ", "But a couple of hours' rest, a hot bath, and hot soup all combined to make her feel much more like herself. ", "And restless.", "\n\nShe was used to being alone, more or less. ", "Her father had died before she was born, and Beau's father had departed the scene not long after his birth; Alaina Barnes Rafferty had not been an easy woman to be married to. ", "Or to be the offspring of, come to that.", "\n\nNeither Maggie nor Beau bore her any malice; she had loved them both, something they had never doubted. ", "But her artistic gifts had caused her more pain than pleasure, demanding much of her time and energy and leaving little for her children. ", "Which was probably why they were so close as adults: growing up they had only had each other.", "\n\nStill, with differing careers, she and Beau sometimes went weeks without seeing each other, and since virtually all of Maggie's friends were cops who worked difficult hours, she found herself alone often enough to be accustomed to it. ", "Usually, anyway. ", "But not tonight.", "\n\nShe went into her studio, thinking it might help to work for a while, but since she didn't have a commission at the moment and didn't feel particularly inspired, instead found herself staring broodingly at the single canvas propped on her working easel—blank except for the vague outline of long hair and the indistinct shape of a face.", "\n\nUnidentifiable.", "\n\n\"I'm losing it, that's the problem,\" she muttered.", "\n\nThe image was a virtual duplicate of the one in her sketch pad, a few uncertain lines too tentative to provide any sense at all of an individual. ", "She didn't even know for sure that he had long hair, just guessed that he did because both Hollis and Ellen Randall had felt something like that brush against their skin.", "\n\nMaggie had felt it too.", "\n\nShe shivered and turned on the small stereo system she kept in the studio, filling the silence with quiet, pleasant music. ", "It was dark outside, but the lighting in the studio was excellent, and the music made the room feel warm and . . . ", "safe.", "\n\nAt least for now.", "\n\nFrowning, Maggie moved the canvas off the easel and put a clean blank one in its place. ", "She went to her worktable and chose brushes and tubes of color, mixing the latter on her palette without really thinking about what she was doing.", "\n\nWhen her tools were ready, she stood before the easel and gazed at the blank canvas for a moment, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. ", "Beau said she could do this if she tried, if she could trust in her own abilities enough to let go of her conscious control. ", "It wasn't an easy thing to do, and so far Maggie had resisted every attempt.", "\n\nBut as she stood there with her eyes closed, listening to the soft music and keeping her mind as blank as possible, a strange thing began to happen. ", "It was almost as if she drifted away, almost as if she fell asleep and began dreaming. ", "The dream was peaceful, with soft music in the background and the sound of her own steady breathing up close, and all she could see was blue sky stretching forever, the expanse broken only intermittently by fluffy white clouds. ", "She seemed to be far away, and getting farther away moment by moment, and yet she could still hear the music, hear herself breathing, smell the familiar scents of her studio.", "\n\nIt was a very peculiar feeling. ", "It seemed to last only a moment or two, yet she had the strong sense of the passage of time, and when she opened her eyes abruptly with an odd, jarring sensation of shock, it was to find herself standing at her worktable with her back to the easel. ", "Her palette lay before her, covered with gobs and blobs of paint she didn't remember selecting.", "\n\nWhen she looked at her hands, it was to see more paint, bright and dark flecks and smears of color on her skin from wrists to fingertips and, even more, heavily spattered on and completely ruining her sweater. ", "As if she'd been working hard, and for a long time. ", "When she touched the paint on her sweater hesitantly, most of it felt nearly dry to the touch. ", "She was using acrylic paints rather than oil, but still . . .", "\n\nHer fingers felt stiff, cramped, and there was an ache between her shoulder blades, the sort of ache she got only after hours working at her easel.", "\n\nThere was no clock in the studio. ", "Maggie fumbled to push up the paint-encrusted sleeve of her sweater to see her watch and was deeply disturbed to see it was after midnight.", "\n\nHours. ", "She'd been in here for hours.", "\n\nShe gripped the edge of the worktable, conscious now that her breathing was no longer steady, that she was acutely aware of the canvas on the easel behind her. ", "She could feel it there, whatever it was she had painted in a state of virtual unconsciousness, almost as if it leaned toward her, reached out for her . . .", "\n\nShe was terrified to turn around.", "\n\n\"Paint on canvas,\" she whispered. \"", "That's all it is. ", "Just paint on canvas. ", "Probably not even a recognizable image. ", "How could it be, when my eyes were closed, when I wasn't thinking of anything in particular?\" ", "Maggie drew a deep breath. \"", "There won't be anything there, except paint on canvas. ", "That's all.\"", "\n\nBut even with those reasonable words said aloud like a mantra, it took all the self-command Maggie could muster to force herself to turn around and look at what she had done.", "\n\n\"Jesus,\" she whispered, staring in horror at what was unquestionably the best work she'd ever done.", "\n\nThe painting, all too hideously complete, was done almost entirely in slashes of black and flesh tones and scarlet, yet for all the limited use of color the central image looked so lifelike that it might have breathed.", "\n\nIf it could have breathed.", "\n\nThe woman lay sprawled against a dim, indistinct background, her wispy dark hair fanned out around her head and visible only because of the blood streaking the strands. ", "Her head was slightly tilted and turned so that she seemed to gaze at the watcher in a mute plea for help that had never come.", "\n\nBetween her open, bruised, and puffy eyelids, more darkness peered out because her eyes were gone, the empty sockets seeping blood that trickled down her temples.", "\n\nHer sensitive mouth was slightly open, the delicate lines of her lips misshapen by swelling and bruising, and another thin line of blood trailed down over her chin and jaw. ", "On the other side of her face, an ugly bruise marred the high cheekbone.", "\n\nShe was naked, her body so petite it almost seemed childlike with its small, high breasts and gently rounded belly. ", "But there was nothing childlike about what had been done to her. ", "The breasts bore more horrible bruising and one nipple was missing, the ragged wound showing the unmistakable marks of teeth. ", "The rounded belly had also been sickeningly mutilated, laid open from the sternum to the pubic bone in a single deep slash agape in wet scarlet.", "\n\nHer legs were splayed wide, knees slightly raised, and more blood streaked her thighs and had pooled between them in a congealing puddle of crimson and maroon.", "\n\nAround one delicate ankle was a thin gold chain from which dangled a tiny gold heart.", "\n\nIt was that final poignant detail that shattered Maggie's frozen horror. ", "She dropped to her knees, fighting to keep from retching, unable to tear her eyes away from the painting, from the dreadful image of a dead woman she had never seen before in her life.", "\n\nTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6\n\nIt was something of a joke around the department that Luke Drummond was proud of the fancy conference room in his station, proud of the wide, polished table that could seat more than twelve in nicely comfortable chairs and provide them lots of elbow room in which to . . . ", "do whatever it was he pictured them doing in the room. ", "Nobody had ever been quite clear on what that might be.", "\n\nThe truth was, the room had never been used for anything more than an occasional hand of poker when the late shift got bored. ", "Until now, anyway.", "\n\nAndy decided it was high time the conference room was actually used for something remotely resembling police work, and since both the usual investigatory methods and Scott and Jennifer's work were beginning to pile up paper they needed to keep handy and in some kind of order, it seemed logical to use that space. ", "So Andy commandeered the room and within a couple of hours that morning had efficiently shifted the bulk of the files and other paperwork on the investigation from various desks in the bullpen to the conference room.", "\n\nThe room had at least been set up to facilitate such a move, so it was a simple task to have the switchboard reroute relevant calls to the multiline phones in there, and Andy pretty much rerouted himself to the room on a semipermanent basis.", "\n\n\"We also have a bit more privacy in here,\" he told Scott and Jennifer when they gathered there shortly before lunchtime. \"", "I won't declare this room off limits to those not actively involved in the investigation, but I will make it known that anything in here is to be considered confidential.\"", "\n\nJennifer shifted a cinnamon toothpick to the other side of her mouth and said, \"And by doing so we can hope that they won't think we're nuts or, if they do, that they won't talk about how nuts we are.\"", "\n\nAndy shook his head. \"", "I doubt anybody's going to think we're completely nuts, not with this.\" ", "He nodded toward the bulletin board they had just finished setting up. \"", "We have sketches, photos, or descriptions of four victims in 1934 closely matching four of our victims. ", "That has to be more than coincidence, and it has to mean something.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, but what?\" ", "Scott wondered.", "\n\n\"That's what we have to determine. ", "Which means we'll use every source we can until we figure it out.\"", "\n\n\"Does that mean you're telling Garrett about this?\" ", "Jennifer asked.", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Drummond insisted we keep some of the crime-scene and victim details confidential, but he didn't say a damned thing about our speculation and lines of research. ", "Garrett's smart, and he has sources we can use. ", "So I'm telling him. ", "Maggie too. ", "I'll try to get them both in here this afternoon.\"", "\n\nJennifer tapped the folded newspaper lying on the table before her. \"", "Well, since Garrett got his picture in the paper today and the reporters are hotly speculating that he's _assisting_ the police because of his sister being a victim, I imagine you'll be hearing from an unhappy Luke any time now.\"", "\n\nAndy sighed. \"", "Yeah, I know. ", "What the hell was I doing letting a civilian into the Mitchell house when our forensics team was still working there, for Christ's sake. ", "I know what he'll say. ", "And if he doesn't like the way I'm running this investigation, he can run it himself.\"", "\n\nJennifer grinned. \"", "Aw, he won't want to do that. ", "Might ruin his nice manicure or get blood on his shoes. ", "If you lean on your acting talents and make like you want to dump it all in his lap, he'll probably make himself scarce for at least the rest of the week.\"", "\n\n\"It's a thought,\" Andy said, brightening.", "\n\nScott laughed, but said, \"Well, we should have plenty to keep us busy. ", "Even running into dead ends takes time.\"", "\n\n\"No sign of the rest of the files from 1934?\" ", "Andy asked.", "\n\n\"Nope. ", "But I haven't stopped looking. ", "If the damned things exist, I'll find them.\"", "\n\n\"In the meantime,\" Jennifer said, looking at Andy, \"anything new in the search for Samantha Mitchell? ", "Since we've been in here trying to get organized this morning, I hadn't heard.\"", "\n\n\"No, nothing new. ", "I've got teams out canvassing the neighborhood and every patrol in the city keeping their eyes peeled for that lady. ", "It's like she dropped off the face of the earth.\"", "\n\n\"What about Maggie's hunch? ", "Did forensics get anything from the Mitchell's game room?\"", "\n\n\"A couple of things, yeah. ", "They picked up chemical traces of chloroform on one spot in the carpet not too far from the door, as well as a few strands of Mrs. Mitchell's hair. ", "And there are some very faint signs that he got into that room through a window. ", "There was a short in the security net that the system didn't pick up for some reason.\"", "\n\n\"A short he caused?\" ", "Scott wondered.", "\n\n\"Could be. ", "The really interesting thing is that Mitchell insists his wife never—but never—stayed alone in the house without having the system on. ", "So if the attacker knocked her out with chloroform—\"\n\n\"Then who deactivated the system at the front door?\" ", "Jennifer finished.", "\n\nAndy nodded. \"", "Exactly. ", "It _was_ deactivated at the control panel by the front door, so he either knew or was somehow able to obtain the security code. ", "And it wasn't one even a hacker could figure out just by using the predictable numbers—phone numbers, anniversaries or birthdays, and so on. ", "Our resident electronics wizard says our guy is either very, very good or very, very lucky.\"", "\n\nJennifer said, \"And since we already know he beat a top-notch system in order to snatch Laura Hughes, we can assume he's very, very good.\"", "\n\n\"That would probably be a safe assumption.\"", "\n\nScott said, \"How come Maggie tumbled to it being the game room Samantha Mitchell was abducted from? ", "I mean, how come our guys missed it the first time through?\"", "\n\n\"I asked them that,\" Andy said. \"", "They had lots of reasons, but what it all boiled down to is that they concentrated on the expected points of entry like the front and back doors. ", "Needless to say, they won't make that mistake again.\"", "\n\nJennifer smiled slightly. \"", "I'll bet. ", "You can tear the bark off a tree with that temper of yours when you're really pissed, Andy.\"", "\n\n\"I was really pissed.\"", "\n\n\"I'm not surprised.\"", "\n\nScott said plaintively, \"But how did Maggie know?\"", "\n\n\"Instinct,\" Andy answered promptly. \"", "And she's got enough sense to check the unexpected as well as the expected. ", "Just like you two. ", "Keep it up, will you?\"", "\n\nScott nodded, faint puzzlement still lingering on his face.", "\n\nAndy decided he'd make a lousy poker player.", "\n\nJennifer said, \"The other victims were found within forty-eight hours of being abducted, so if it is our guy, we should know something by tomorrow.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah,\" Andy said. \"", "Question is, will Samantha Mitchell be a living victim or a dead one?\"", "\n\nTo say Maggie hadn't slept well was an understatement, and she was feeling unusually raw and edgy when she went to Beau's house on Tuesday morning. ", "She let herself in and made her way to the studio, calling out hello as she went.", "\n\nBeau glanced up from the portrait he was working on and said immediately, \"Have some coffee.\"", "\n\nThe pot was already on the worktable, along with two cups and the milk Maggie preferred.", "\n\n\"So you knew I was coming,\" she muttered, pouring herself a cup and sitting down.", "\n\n\"I thought you might be, yeah.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Call it a hunch.\"", "\n\n\"Goddammit, Beau!\"", "\n\nHe smiled slightly. \"", "Okay, it was more than a hunch.\"", "\n\n\"I could really dislike you sometimes, you know that?\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "I'm sorry, Maggie.\"", "\n\nShe sat in silence for some minutes, drinking her coffee and watching him paint. ", "Then she sighed a bit raggedly. \"", "She's dead, Beau. ", "Samantha Mitchell is dead. ", "And her baby with her.\"", "\n\nHe paused to wipe off one of his brushes, gazing at her soberly. \"", "I'm sorry about that too. ", "Have they found her body yet?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "But they will.\"", "\n\n\"When?\"", "\n\n\"You tell me.\" ", "She stared at him challengingly.", "\n\nHe returned to his painting but after a moment said, \"Tomorrow, I think. ", "Early tomorrow. ", "Or maybe late tonight. ", "Hard to tell.\"", "\n\n\"Do you know where?\"", "\n\nBeau was silent.", "\n\n\"Maybe I was wrong. ", "Maybe she's not dead yet. ", "If we could find her as soon as possible—\"\n\n\"It wouldn't make any difference,\" he said softly. \"", "She's dead already, Maggie. ", "You know she's dead already.\"", "\n\nMaggie knew, but she'd been hoping . . . ", "After a long moment, she said, \"Yesterday at her house, while I was walking through, I felt her. ", "And when he grabbed her . . . ", "she was so scared. ", "So scared. ", "For herself. ", "For her baby. ", "She knew neither one of them would survive. ", "From the instant he grabbed her, she knew.\"", "\n\nBeau painted for a moment, then asked, \"Did she know who he was?\"", "\n\n\"The same way I know who he is. ", "Not a face, not a name. ", "Just evil. ", "Just evil alive and walking around pretending to be human. ", "I have to stop him. ", "I have to.\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\n\"And there isn't much time left. ", "I feel that too.", "\n\nMore and more with every day that passes. ", "If I don't stop him soon, it'll be too late. ", "It's my last chance, Beau.\"", "\n\n\"You don't know that.\"", "\n\n\"Do you?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\nShe laughed without humor. \"", "If you did know, would you tell me?\"", "\n\n\"Probably not.\"", "\n\n\"Free will again.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "Free will.\" ", "Leaving his painting finally, Beau cleaned his brushes and palette, then fixed himself a cup of coffee and joined her. \"", "You're doing the best you can, Maggie. ", "It's all you can ask of yourself.\"", "\n\n\"It isn't enough.\"", "\n\n\"It will be. ", "Trust yourself. ", "Trust your abilities and your instincts.\"", "\n\nShe looked at him steadily. \"", "Yesterday was a real . . . ", "bitch of a day. ", "First interviewing Hollis and then walking through the Mitchell house. ", "And it got worse. ", "It actually got worse. ", "I painted something last night. ", "I closed my eyes and cleared my mind the way you told me to, and I painted something horrible. ", "It was inside me, Beau. ", "That image, dark and bloody, was in my head, a part of my soul. ", "I could almost . . . ", "feel her die.\"", "\n\nHe didn't look surprised and merely nodded. \"", "I told you it would probably happen.\"", "\n\n\"Not like that. ", "You didn't tell me it would be like that.\"", "\n\n\"You're an artist, you think—and feel—in images. ", "It's natural.\"", "\n\n\" _Natural?_ ", "What's natural about painting the corpse of a tortured, mutilated woman? ", "A woman I've never met, never even seen?\"", "\n\nHis voice remained calm. \"", "You have to try to distance yourself, Maggie, or this is going to destroy you.\"", "\n\nShe drew a breath and struggled to keep her voice level. \"", "I told you once before that I was afraid. ", "It's . . . ", "blinding me, I think. ", "I don't know what to do next.\"", "\n\nBeau hesitated, then said, \"It isn't your fight alone, you have to remember that. ", "Stop trying to do it all yourself, Maggie. ", "Let them help you. ", "Let him help you.\"", "\n\nAfter a moment, Maggie nodded. \"", "I'll try.\" ", "She pushed her cup away and got to her feet.", "\n\nGazing into his coffee cup, Beau said almost absently, \"You might want to show Garrett the painting.\"", "\n\nJust the idea made Maggie feel even more raw. \"", "Why? ", "Why should I show him . . . ", "that . . . ", "in me?\"", "\n\n\"Call it a hunch,\" Beau said.", "\n\n\". . . ", "So that's what we have so far.\" ", "Quentin frowned at the stacks of papers and files spread out on the conference table in the parlor, then looked at Maggie again. \"", "Not a whole hell of a lot, but probably as much as the investigating officers.\"", "\n\nKendra said, \"He didn't mean that the way it sounded.\"", "\n\nQuentin lifted his brows. \"", "How did it sound?\"", "\n\n\"Arrogant,\" she explained. \"", "We've only been here a few days, and we're claiming to have as much info as the cops who've been on the case for months. ", "Use your head, Quentin.\"", "\n\n\"You're a lot more fun when you're typing something,\" he told her.", "\n\n\"And you wouldn't rattle on like this if you didn't have a dozen cups of coffee in your system. ", "I keep telling you, caffeine is not your friend.\"", "\n\n\"I am _not_ wired.\"", "\n\n\"Want me to point out how many times you paced the length of the table while you talked?\"", "\n\nJohn said, \"Ignore the byplay. ", "Apparently, it's their way of working together.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I got that,\" Maggie said. ", "She was sitting at the far end of the conference table near the windows, chin in hand. \"", "But could we call a truce, guys? ", "Andy wants John and me back at the station this afternoon, and it'd be nice if I got all this clear in my mind so I'll have my story straight just in case any awkward little questions come up.\"", "\n\nQuentin grinned at her. \"", "Walking both sides of the street beginning to bug you?\"", "\n\n\"Let's just say I'd feel a lot happier if Andy, at least, was in on this parallel investigation of ours. ", "For one thing—\" She broke off, wondering irritably if she had any hope at all of keeping things straight.", "\n\n\"For one thing,\" John finished calmly, \"he and his detectives do have—or think they have—something new. ", "Something he's told neither you nor me.\"", "\n\nMaggie looked at him. \"", "So you caught that?\"", "\n\n\"For a cop, Andy has a very readable face. ", "Either that, or he wanted both of us to guess there was something and press him to find out what it is.\"", "\n\nShe thought about it, then nodded slowly. \"", "Maybe. ", "Without Luke Drummond holding him on a leash, I think Andy would use just about any resource he could get his hands on to cage this animal.\"", "\n\nQuentin said, \"So given his druthers, he'd grant you two complete access?\"", "\n\n\"I think so, yeah. ", "As a matter of fact, I don't think he'd have too much of a problem with a couple of FBI agents working quietly behind the scenes to help.\"", "\n\n\"He wouldn't think we were stepping on his toes?\"", "\n\nMaggie shook her head immediately. \"", "Not Andy. ", "Unlike Drummond, Andy's not the least bit political, and he doesn't give a damn who breaks a case or gets the credit for it, just as long as the bad guys get put away. ", "He's a cop to his bones.\"", "\n\n\"The best kind,\" Quentin said.", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Which is why I don't think he'd protest too much if he found out about you two. ", "With Drummond breathing down his neck and hell-bent not to call in outside help, the fact that you guys are here unofficially is all to the good, as far as Andy's concerned.\"", "\n\nJohn said, \"And if Drummond does somehow find out, I'll take the flak. ", "He's already pissed at my interference, and today's newspapers won't make him any happier. ", "I might as well make him good and mad while I'm at it. ", "He can get royally pissed at me for acting without authority and he won't have to blame any of his people for going behind his back.\"", "\n\nQuentin glanced at his partner, then said to John, \"It's up to you two, of course, but if this detective is likely to be open to our involvement, we say let's tell him. ", "In all honesty we'd prefer at least one cop on the inside and in a position of authority to know we're involved. ", "It would certainly make sharing information easier and more profitable—and it'll undoubtedly make our little jaunt out here more palatable to Bishop.\"", "\n\nMaggie frowned slightly. \"", "Bishop?\"", "\n\n\"Our boss,\" Quentin explained. \"", "Bishop leads our unit at Quantico.\"", "\n\nIf anything, Maggie's frown deepened. ", "She studied Quentin for a moment, then turned her gaze to Kendra. ", "Abruptly, she asked, \"You wouldn't happen to be psychic too, would you?\"", "\n\nWithout a blink or a hesitation, Kendra said, \"What I am we usually term 'adept,' used more to mean skilled than expert. ", "I'm very mildly telepathic, but I tend to be able to pick up more from objects than people.\"", "\n\n\"And this unit of yours is entirely made up of . . . ", "adepts?\"", "\n\nQuentin also didn't hesitate. \"", "More or less. ", "We have some support people who barely qualify as adepts, but most of the field agents are. ", "Varying abilities and strengths. ", "We use our abilities as just another tool to investigate crimes. ", "Needless to say, it's something we generally keep quiet about, at least publicly.\"", "\n\nKendra murmured, \"You understand why, of course.\"", "\n\nMaggie smiled. \"", "Oh, of course. ", "It's not exactly something the Bureau would want to advertise, especially with its other public-relations nightmares of recent years.\"", "\n\n\"Exactly.\"", "\n\n\"And then there's the whole believability factor. ", "Telepathy? ", "Precognition? ", "Not what they usually teach in Criminal Investigation Techniques 101. ", "You're not just using unscientific methods, you're practically out in the ether.\"", "\n\nQuentin grinned. \"", "Sometimes even further out. ", "One day I'll have to introduce you to a young medium we know—who talks to the dead.\"", "\n\n\"I can hardly wait.\"", "\n\n\"She's convincing, believe me. ", "But for now, yes, traditional cops tend to frown on what they don't understand, even with a solid success record like ours. ", "So even though we're billed as using 'unconventional investigative methods,' we tend to stick to traditional police work as much as possible.\"", "\n\n\"Mmm. ", "So you generally pretend to be conventional agents with . . . ", "a few lucky breaks and a little intuition? ", "I'll bet you guys have a hell of a time coming up with reasonable explanations for how you know the things you know.\"", "\n\n\"It can be challenging,\" Quentin admitted.", "\n\n\"Yes, I imagine it can. ", "And you're letting me in on it because I am—presumably—psychic as well?\"", "\n\n\"We wanted all our cards on the table,\" Kendra said. \"", "In our experience, psychics outside our unit become much more comfortable working with us once they understand that _we_ understand what they've been going through.\"", "\n\nMaggie glanced at John, who was expressionless, then lifted a brow at Kendra. \"", "And do you understand?\"", "\n\n\"Frankly, you're a bit outside even our experience, Maggie. ", "We have an empath in the unit, but he's nothing like as strong as you seem to be.\"", "\n\n\"Or as . . . ", "uniquely focused,\" Quentin added. \"", "Is it only violent experiences you pick up on?\"", "\n\nUnlike the two of them, Maggie did hesitate before replying, but finally shrugged and said, \"That's strongest, maybe because that's where I've had to concentrate all these years. ", "Places where violent events have happened, people who've experienced trauma and violence. ", "I can usually sense other emotions when I try, but more dimly, and they don't . . . ", "affect me . . . ", "the way violence and pain do.\"", "\n\nMatter-of-fact but not without sympathy, Quentin said, \"Not only is there actual pain and all the traumatic emotions, but it drains you just the way it would if the event had actually happened to you.\"", "\n\nShe nodded. \"", "Sometimes I just get a little tired, but other times I seem to need to sleep ten or twelve hours before I feel normal again.\"", "\n\n\"And it's all the senses, isn't it? ", "You feel what they did, see what they did, smell what they did—everything.\"", "\n\nAgain, Maggie nodded, very conscious now of John's silent attention. ", "He'd told her that Andy had confirmed what she had picked up at the Mitchell house the previous day, but he hadn't said whether the confirmation made any difference to him. ", "And in the presence of the two agents she was guarding herself, so she had no idea what he was feeling.", "\n\nKendra said, \"It's the same when you bond with victims? ", "When they relive what happened to them?\"", "\n\n\"More or less. ", "Sometimes their own minds have . . . ", "dulled the sharp edges of the pain, and it isn't so intense. ", "Other times their emotions nearly overwhelm me, and I can barely concentrate to ask them questions or listen to their answers.\" ", "She drew a breath. \"", "Not a lot of fun.\"", "\n\nDeliberately, Quentin asked, \"So why do you do it? ", "Why do you put yourself through that kind of ordeal, Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Why do you?\" ", "she challenged.", "\n\nHe smiled faintly. \"", "My abilities don't hurt me, generally speaking. ", "I don't suffer. ", "But you do. ", "So why do you keep opening yourself up to that kind of suffering?\"", "\n\nBefore Maggie could even begin to answer, John's cell phone rang, and she felt his gaze on her as she muttered not quite under her breath, \"Saved by the bell.\"", "\n\nJohn said hello, then listened for a moment. ", "His face hardly changed expression, but something in his voice warned them when he said, \"All right. ", "We're on our way.\"", "\n\nIt was Quentin who asked, \"What's happened?\"", "\n\n\"Andy wants us at the station now.\" ", "John kept his gaze on Maggie. \"", "Thomas Mitchell just received what appears to be a ransom note from the man who kidnapped his wife.\"", "\nCHAPTER TEN\n\n **Andy greeted them at his desk but led the way** immediately to the conference room, where two more detectives rose to meet them. ", "Or, rather, to meet John; Maggie obviously knew both and murmured hello to Jennifer Seaton and Scott Cowan and then took a seat at the long table while they were being introduced to John.", "\n\nHe wasn't so preoccupied by meeting new people that he didn't notice Maggie had isolated herself, choosing a chair between two others that each held large file boxes. ", "When the introductions were over and everybody sat down, he deliberately moved one of the file boxes and sat beside Maggie.", "\n\nShe sent him a quick glance but otherwise kept her gaze fixed on the blank bulletin board placed several feet away from the other side of the table. ", "He didn't have a clue what she was thinking, but he knew stress when he saw it and he saw it in Maggie. ", "From the moment she'd shown up at the hotel this morning, he'd been absolutely certain that something else had happened, something that had shaken her badly.", "\n\nWas this it? ", "Had Maggie realized somehow that she'd been wrong in saying Samantha Mitchell was in the hands of the Blindfold Rapist? ", "Or was it something else?", "\n\n\"I have three more detectives on the case full-time,\" Andy told them, \"but right now they're out trying to find out if this note is legit. ", "Since the rest of us are here, I thought now would be the time to go over a few things.\" ", "He pushed the plastic-bagged piece of paper toward John. \"", "I want to know what you two think about this.\"", "\n\nThe note was block-printed on what looked like an ordinary sheet of notepaper torn from a pad, and the message was chillingly simple.", "\n\n **IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE** \nYOUR WIFE AGAIN IT'LL COST YOU 100K\n\nThere were three smears on the paper—two that looked like black fingerprint powder, and one that looked like blood.", "\n\n\"Prints?\" ", "John asked.", "\n\n\"Yeah, couple of real clear ones. ", "One of my guys was with Mitchell when he got the note, so it was handled properly. ", "The prints likely belong to whoever sent it. ", "We're checking the state and federal fingerprint databases. ", "So far, no matches, but we just got started looking.\"", "\n\nJohn slid the note over to Maggie. \"", "Is he stupid, or just an amateur?\"", "\n\n\"Well, that's part of the problem we're having with this whole kidnap thing. ", "Mitchell, he's all ready to pay the so-called ransom, but we've got quite a few questions. ", "I'm sure you can guess what they are.\"", "\n\n\"Why a kidnapper would have asked for such a ridiculously small sum from somebody like Mitchell,\" John said. \"", "Why he would carelessly put his own fingerprints on the note. ", "How somebody that seemingly incompetent could have beaten a first-class security system in order to snatch Samantha Mitchell out of her own house, leaving virtually no evidence behind. ", "How am I doing?\"", "\n\n\"Full marks,\" Andy said. \"", "That's pretty much what we thought.\"", "\n\nMaggie pushed the bag away from her and murmured, \"But?\"", "\n\nAndy nodded. \"", "But. ", "That is blood on the note, and the type matches Samantha Mitchell's. ", "We can try for a DNA match, but that'll take weeks. ", "My hunch is the situation's going to get resolved long before we'd get the results.\"", "\n\n\"How was the note delivered?\" ", "John asked.", "\n\n\"Just stuck in his mailbox on top of the regular mail. ", "Nobody saw anyone near the box except for the usual mail carrier, and she swears she didn't put it there. ", "I'm inclined to believe her, especially since she's been at her job for fifteen years without so much as an unauthorized sick day.\"", "\n\nJohn thought about that. \"", "Nobody saw anyone . . . ", "I assume we're talking about the press? ", "Don't they still have the house staked out?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "And tried to interview my guys instead of answering the questions, damn them. ", "But the bottom line is, they didn't see anything unusual. ", "Not especially surprising. ", "With a bunch of them milling around near the end of the driveway—and the mailbox—it wouldn't have been too hard for somebody with a camera around his neck to wander past the box and pause for a half a minute without being noticed.\"", "\n\nMaggie stirred slightly. \"", "Andy, do you believe Samantha Mitchell was kidnapped and is being held for ransom?\"", "\n\n\"Can't say that I do. ", "Everything we know about her disappearance matches the M.O. of our guy, and if I'm certain of anything, it's that he doesn't give a flying fuck about money.\"", "\n\nJennifer said, \"Scott and I agree with Andy. ", "We think the rapist snatched her, and he's not going to get all helpful and leave us his fingerprints at this late date. ", "So the question is, who sent the note?\"", "\n\n\"Somebody who knows the rapist?\" ", "John suggested. \"", "Or, hard as it is to believe, somebody who read all the news reports and decided to try to cash in on a disappearance?\"", "\n\nAndy grimaced. \"", "That last is the most likely, we think. ", "Helluva world we live in.\"", "\n\n\"What about the blood?\" ", "John asked.", "\n\nScott shrugged. \"", "The guy could have pricked his own finger and just got lucky with the blood type. ", "I mean, except for the way he left the note without being seen, he isn't coming across as too bright, is he?\"", "\n\n\"There's another possibility,\" Maggie said. ", "She wasn't looking at any of them but gazing at the bagged note. \"", "The blood could be hers. ", "Whoever sent the note . . . ", "could have found her body.\"", "\n\nAndy looked at her steadily. \"", "You think she's dead?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "I think she's dead.\"", "\n\nJohn was also watching her face, and as she spoke he felt a little chill of certainty. ", "Maggie didn't just think Samantha Mitchell was dead.", "\n\nShe knew it.", "\n\nKendra slipped back into the passenger side of the car and said, \"Let's go—before one of those guys back there decides to ask for a closer look at my I.D.\" She removed the camera strap from around her neck and returned the camera to its case.", "\n\nQuentin pulled the car smoothly away from the curb half a block up from the Mitchell house. \"", "That I.D. is designed to stand up to scrutiny, you know.\"", "\n\n\"Even so, no reason to push it.\"", "\n\n\"Okay. ", "So, did you get anything useful?\"", "\n\n\"The reporters all bought the kidnapping story—at first. ", "But whether because the Blindfold Rapist is better copy or somebody just reasoned it out, now they're pretty much agreed that it's probably just an attempt to cash in on the disappearance.\"", "\n\n\"Mmm. ", "Any ideas on who might be making that attempt?\"", "\n\n\"None they were willing to share with me.\"", "\n\n\"You mean your charm had no effect on them?\"", "\n\n\"Not so you'd notice.\"", "\n\n\"Or your big brown eyes?\"", "\n\n\"I suppose they all prefer blue.\"", "\n\n\"Or your uniquely flexible mind?\"", "\n\n\"That barely impresses you.\" ", "Kendra pulled a small black address book from her shoulder bag and began turning the pages. \"", "What we need is someone who knows the disreputable side of Seattle a lot better than we do.\"", "\n\n\"You forget—Seattle was my childhood home.\"", "\n\n\"I didn't forget. ", "But you've been away from here— what?—twenty years?\"", "\n\n\"About that, but I come back for regular visits.\"", "\n\n\"Still, I imagine things might have changed around here since your childhood.\"", "\n\n\"Sure, which is why I keep in touch with people who have a very firm finger on the pulse of this place. ", "Joey, for instance. ", "Joey is a living testament to the adage that only the good die young. ", "Because if the bad died young, Joey would have dropped in his crib.\"", "\n\n\"You think he might have sent that note?\"", "\n\n\"No, figuring out and executing a plan of any kind would take Joey longer than a few hours. ", "Give him a few weeks, and he might come up with something, but not a few hours. ", "I think he might know who did come up with the kidnapping idea, though. ", "If anybody would know, it would be Joey.\"", "\n\n\"And do you know where we can find him?\"", "\n\n\"Give me ten minutes,\" Quentin said.", "\n\nIt turned out to be an optimistic estimate, but knowing her partner, Kendra was ready for that. ", "In a distinctly seedy neighborhood, she waited patiently at the end of a long alley Quentin had disappeared into, keeping one eye on their car while standing ready to back him up if need be. ", "For the half hour or so he was gone, she politely refused three invitations for a \"date\" and not so politely warned off an interested pimp.", "\n\nWhen Quentin reappeared abruptly, she said, \"You picked this corner deliberately, didn't you?\"", "\n\nHe grinned. \"", "Still a busy place for the trade, huh?\"", "\n\n\"Bastard,\" she said without heat.", "\n\n\"Well, I knew you could take care of yourself. ", "Think of it as a compliment.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, right.\" ", "She eyed him and waited.", "\n\n\"Okay, I've got to know,\" he said. \"", "What was the top offer?\"", "\n\n\"You seriously expect me to tell you what several lonely men offered for my body?\"", "\n\n\"Several?\"", "\n\n\"Don't push it, Quentin.\"", "\n\nHe grinned again. \"", "Who knows when we might have to go undercover in the trade, and I'd need to know your street worth, that's all.\"", "\n\n\"Go to hell,\" she said politely. \"", "Did you or did you not find out where Joey is?\"", "\n\n\"I did.\"", "\n\n\"Then let's go.\"", "\n\nFive minutes later, sitting beside him in their car, Kendra said, \"Five hundred.\"", "\n\nAstonished, Quentin said, \"As much as that? ", "Jeez, either the streets around here have changed since my day, or inflation must be a real factor.\"", "\n\n\"Bastard!\" ", "she said, this time with considerable heat.", "\n\nJohn closed the folder containing the forensics report on the Mitchell house as well as case notes and a photograph of the missing woman, lifted a questioning brow at Maggie, and when she shook her head pushed the file back across the table to Andy. \"", "Thanks for letting me take a look,\" he said. \"", "Not that I see anything helpful.\"", "\n\n\"That's the way it always is with the disappearances. ", "Not a damned thing to go on. ", "And not much more when the women are found.\"", "\n\nShe knew it wasn't a pointed reference, but Maggie nevertheless said, \"I wish I could give you a sketch of this animal, Andy. ", "But he's been so careful, none of the victims have been able to remember any helpful details.\"", "\n\n\"I know that, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"I should try talking to Ellen Randall again. ", "I wanted to give her a few days to calm down after—\"\n\n\"After I intruded and messed things up,\" John finished. \"", "I really am sorry about that.\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded. \"", "I know. ", "She probably wasn't ready to talk to me then anyway. ", "And I doubt she'll be able to give me anything useful. ", "But I have to try. ", "I'll call her this afternoon, find out if she'll meet with me, maybe tomorrow.\"", "\n\n\"Here?\" ", "Andy asked.", "\n\n\"I think I'll leave it up to her. ", "She might be far more comfortable at home.\"", "\n\n\"Well, let me know if you'll need an interview room.\"", "\n\n\"Okay.\"", "\n\nAndy tapped the Mitchell file with one finger. \"", "So that's where we stand,\" he said. \"", "On the Mitchell investigation, at any rate. ", "I've got people out trying to find out what they can about this damned note, and I've got people looking for Samantha Mitchell—dead or alive. ", "Since there's not much more we can do in either case, at least for the time being, there's something else we wanted to discuss with you two.\"", "\n\nJohn glanced at the two younger detectives, then looked steadily at Andy. \"", "I had a feeling there was.\"", "\n\n\"I wasn't keeping anything back because of orders but because this is . . . ", "pretty far-fetched, John.\"", "\n\n\"In what way?\"", "\n\nAndy leaned back and gestured slightly toward the other cops, clearly inviting them to explain.", "\n\nJennifer said, \"We were sure this guy was picking particular women, but with all the varied descriptions of them and where he grabbed them, nothing pointed to how, to any sort of common denominator. ", "And even though we're pretty sure he's been active only for six months or so, we kept hearing from the shrink that his ritual was too well established to be so recent. ", "So Scott and I started wondering if maybe he was getting his ideas from somewhere specific. ", "Like maybe accounts of old, unsolved crimes.\"", "\n\n\"I wouldn't call that far-fetched,\" John commented. \"", "In fact, it sounds pretty reasonable.\"", "\n\n\"It is reasonable—except for what we found when we started digging through files.\"", "\n\n\"Which was?\" ", "Maggie asked.", "\n\nJohn glanced at her quickly, suddenly aware of another of those odd little certainties; this was something else she knew.", "\n\n\"Which was a little creepy,\" Jennifer said. \"", "What we found was a very similar string of rape–murders that took place here in Seattle in 1934. ", "Six women for certain, though possibly eight in all, killed within an eighteen-month period.\"", "\n\n\"So he is copying earlier crimes,\" John said.", "\n\n\"Here's the creepy part.\" ", "Jennifer rose from the table and went to flip one of the bulletin boards so that they could all see the other side. ", "Under the heading 2001, four photographs were pinned in a vertical row, pictures of Laura Hughes, Christina Walsh, Ellen Randall, and Hollis Templeton. ", "Beside that row and under the heading 1934 was another row, this one containing three sketches and two photos.", "\n\n\"You'll notice,\" Jennifer said, \"that the first sketch done in 1934 shows a woman virtually identical to Laura Hughes. ", "The second sketch is pretty amateur and didn't help them I.D. the victim, but it and the description of her taken together closely match Ellen Randall. ", "The third sketch is backed up by a photograph, and as you can see, this victim resembled Hollis Templeton. ", "We only have a crime-scene photo of the fourth victim, but the description matches Christina Walsh.\"", "\n\nMaggie said, \"He's picking look-alikes.\"", "\n\nAndy said, \"I doubt it's coincidence that these women just happened to be attacked in much the same way as their virtual doubles were almost seventy years ago.\"", "\n\nJohn said, \"So he has access to police files?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "But there've been books written about unsolved crimes here in the city, so we can't be sure he would have had to use police files.\"", "\n\nJennifer said, \"And there's something else.\" ", "She told them about the note found in her car, finishing, \"Needless to say, we don't know who wrote the note, how they got into my locked car, or why they picked me. ", "We also don't know if he, she, or it was trying to be helpful or is bent on leading us on a really big wild-goose chase.\"", "\n\n\"But,\" Andy said, \"we have to assume the 1894 date could be important, at least until we prove otherwise. ", "Problem is, we've had no luck running down any files at all from that year. ", "Not really surprising, since Seattle was only founded a few decades earlier.\"", "\n\nMaggie said, \"Maybe it's . . . ", "some other place. ", "Some other city.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe,\" Andy said. \"", "But if it is, I don't see how we have a hope in hell of figuring out where.\"", "\n\nKendra hadn't really pictured Joey in her mind, but she was definitely surprised when they ran him to ground in a crowded backstreet poolroom. ", "It was a disreputable place by and large, where the other patrons scrupulously minded their own business when Quentin strolled up behind a hulking redhead who was pocketing his winnings from a game and tapped him on one meaty shoulder.", "\n\n\"Hey, Joey.\"", "\n\nJoey swung around, his fierce expression a neon warning to any sane person.", "\n\nQuentin, of course, didn't so much as step back. ", "He just smiled that curiously sweet and wholly deceptive smile of his and added, \"How've you been?\"", "\n\nKendra didn't draw her gun, but she kept a hand near it; she had a lot of faith in her partner's abilities, but despite Quentin's height and undoubted strength, Joey was taller and looked as though he could have lifted an all-pro tackle over his head and heaved him across the room.", "\n\nBut it was Joey who backed up a step, a funny little grin twisting his lips. \"", "Oh. ", "Hey, Quentin. ", "Long time no see.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, it's just been a few months,\" Quentin said cheerfully. \"", "Still, we have so much to catch up on. ", "What say we step into your office and talk about old times, okay, Joey?\"", "\n\nWithout protest and with rather astonishing meekness, Joey turned and led the way to a back hall and an incredibly filthy men's room. ", "Kendra did her best not to touch anything and wondered vaguely if she could throw her shoes away the moment they got out of here; there was something crunching underfoot and she really didn't want to look down and see what it was.", "\n\nJoey didn't object to her presence, which was hardly surprising since he didn't take his eyes off Quentin.", "\n\n\"You back for good?\" ", "he asked, hoping transparently for a negative response.", "\n\n\"Nah, just visiting, as usual. ", "You keeping your nose clean, Joey?\"", "\n\n\"Sure I am, Quentin.\"", "\n\nQuentin lifted a disbelieving brow.", "\n\n\"Okay, I mighta been in a little trouble here and there, but nothing major.\"", "\n\n\"You haven't killed anybody else, have you, Joey?\"", "\n\n\"No, I swear.\"", "\n\n\"I can find out if you're lying to me. ", "You know I can.\"", "\n\nJoey's lips twisted again in that sick little grin. \"", "Yeah, yeah, I know. ", "Honest, Quentin, I been good. ", "Ask anybody.\"", "\n\n\"I'll do that, Joey. ", "In the meantime, I'm looking for a little information.\"", "\n\n\"Okay, sure. ", "Shoot.\"", "\n\n\"You know about the disappearance of Samantha Mitchell?\"", "\n\nJoey frowned for a moment, gears almost visibly turning, then nodded. \"", "Oh, yeah. ", "S'posed to be another one grabbed by that rapist.\"", "\n\n\"That's right. ", "But now somebody's claiming to have kidnapped her. ", "And that somebody wants her husband to cough up a ransom.\"", "\n\nJoey shifted uneasily. \"", "It ain't me, Quentin.\"", "\n\n\"Then who is it, Joey? ", "What sorry son of a bitch decided to take advantage of that poor lady's misfortune?\"", "\n\n\"I dunno, Quentin, honest.\"", "\n\nGently, Quentin said, \"I want you to find out for me, Joey. ", "And I want you to find out fast. ", "Understand?\"", "\n\nJoey nodded. \"", "Okay. ", "Okay, Quentin, I can ask around, sure. ", "Guys owe me some favors, somebody's bound to know what's going on.\"", "\n\nQuentin produced a card and handed it to Joey. \"", "The underlined number is my cell phone. ", "Use that to call me as soon as you find out what I want to know.\"", "\n\nJoey accepted the card gingerly. \"", "Right. ", "Gimme a couple hours, and I'll see what I can dig up.\"", "\n\n\"Don't make me wait any longer than that, okay?\"", "\n\n\"Sure, sure.\"", "\n\n\"Call me quick enough, and I might not have time to ask around and find out what you've been up to, Joey.\"", "\n\nOnce again, the gears turning behind Joey's round blue eyes were almost visible, and his hopeful understanding definitely was. \"", "Yeah. ", "Okay, yeah, I got it. ", "I'll call, Quentin. ", "Count on it.\"", "\n\nThey left him there, his back literally pressed up against the grimy wall between two disgusting sinks. ", "He showed no inclination to follow them out and, in fact, when Kendra glanced back as they were leaving the poolroom, he still hadn't come out of the bathroom.", "\n\n\"That is one very nervous incredible hulk,\" she commented as they got in the car. \"", "I'd swear he was terrified of you.\"", "\n\nQuentin smiled as he started the car but didn't respond to the comment.", "\n\nKendra eyed him, then said, \"So Joey's an old childhood pal, huh?\"", "\n\n\"More of a childhood acquaintance, you could say.\"", "\n\n\"Uh-huh. ", "I don't suppose you'd want to tell me about this interesting childhood of yours?\"", "\n\n\"Oh, it's not interesting. ", "Boring, really.\"", "\n\n\"Really?\"", "\n\n\"Sure.\"", "\n\n\"Mmm. ", "Somehow I doubt that. ", "But never mind— for now. ", "Who did Joey kill?\"", "\n\n\"I think that's 'whom,' \" he said thoughtfully.", "\n\n\"Stop correcting my grammar and answer the question.\"", "\n\n\"Yes, ma'am. ", "Joey killed his father. ", "Shotgun blast full in the face.\"", "\n\n\"Jesus. ", "And he's running around loose? ", "Our judicial system sucks.\"", "\n\n\"Not so much in this case. ", "Joey was eleven when it happened, and his old man had just beaten his mother into unconsciousness for about the hundredth time. ", "Joey walked in on it, took one look—and something snapped. ", "He very coolly went into the bedroom, found and loaded the old man's gun, then came back and blew him away.\"", "\n\nKendra turned slightly in her seat to study her partner. \"", "That was his story?\"", "\n\n\"Well, his story for the record was that he got the gun only to defend his mother and that when his father charged toward him with murderous rage in his evil face, Joey acted purely in self-defense.\"", "\n\n\"The evidence backed him up?\"", "\n\n\"It didn't contradict his version of events. ", "Especially with a witness testifying on his behalf.\"", "\n\n\"A witness?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "A classmate had come home with him to borrow a schoolbook. ", "That was back when Joey actually showed a glimmer of turning into something better than his old man. ", "Anyway, the witness backed him up, and Joey got probation and therapy.\"", "\n\n\"The therapy doesn't seem to have done him much good, if he's been in trouble since then.\"", "\n\n\"No, and he dropped out of school as soon as he could outrun the truant officer. ", "Given his genetic heritage and environment, not so surprising. ", "His father really was one of those pure evil bastards life sometimes produces, and I hear his grandfather was worse. ", "But Joey got enough of his mother's blood—and her influence—to make him a lot more manageable. ", "He'd con you six ways from Sunday and pick your pockets if he found you unconscious or dead, but he's terrified of his own strength and temper; he doesn't want to turn out like his old man. ", "To his credit, he usually manages not to turn violent.\"", "\n\nKendra nodded. \"", "So why is he wary of you? ", "Afraid you'll tell the truth after all these years?\"", "\n\nQuentin smiled faintly. \"", "I wouldn't. ", "But the possibility does help me keep Joey in line.\"", "\n\n\"Even from the other side of the country?\"", "\n\n\"Well, I try to come back here at least once a year or so. ", "And I always look him up, find out what he's been into.\" ", "He chuckled. \"", "Ever since I joined the Bureau, Joey's kept his nose pretty clean. ", "I think he's seen one too many Hollywood distortions of the power of the FBI.\"", "\n\n\"So your badge helps keep him in line as well.\"", "\n\n\"So far. ", "Joey's down as a one-time impulse killer, and I'd like to keep it that way. ", "It's the difference between being bad and crossing over into being evil.\"", "\n\n\"Mmm.\" ", "Kendra studied him a moment longer, then said, \"Why do I get the feeling your enigmatic past contains a number of stories like Joey's?\"", "\n\n\"Probably your vivid imagination.\"", "\n\nShe sighed, unsurprised. \"", "That was a filthy place you dragged me into.\"", "\n\n\"Sorry about that.\"", "\n\nKendra turned her gaze to the windshield. \"", "You owe me a new pair of shoes.\"", "\n\nWith their questions left hanging unanswered in the air but providing a definite spur, both John and Maggie volunteered to stick around for a few hours and help go through the file boxes in search of more information about the earlier crimes. ", "Within an hour, they had files stacked on every available chair but nothing else to show for their efforts.", "\n\nIt was nearly one when Scott and Jennifer left to bring back a late lunch for them, and John took the opportunity to tell Andy about Quentin and Kendra.", "\n\n\"Shit,\" Andy said, though clearly more startled than angry. \"", "FBI agents—and unofficial? ", "I didn't know the Bureau did anything unofficially.\"", "\n\n\"They belong to a fairly new unit of investigators and have a bit more autonomy than most. ", "They're very good, Andy, and completely trustworthy. ", "And they aren't interested in taking any credit no matter who breaks the case.\"", "\n\n\"It was damned officious of you, John.\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "And I'll apologize if you want me to—not for calling them in but for not telling you I was going to.\"", "\n\n\"Gee, that's big of you.\"", "\n\nJohn chuckled.", "\n\nUnwilling to relent just yet, Andy gave Maggie a hard stare. \"", "You knew about this too?\"", "\n\nShe met his gaze squarely. \"", "I don't much care who gets the credit either, Andy. ", "Or who helps. ", "Just as long as we get this animal in a cage where he belongs.\"", "\n\n\"Drummond's going to shit a brick.\" ", "Andy sighed. \"", "He's already blasted me once today, John, thanks to you. ", "Do me a favor and keep that famous profile of yours off the front page from now on, will you?\"", "\n\n\"I'll do my best. ", "And none of us wants Drummond to find out too soon, believe me. ", "If and when he does find out, it'll be me who called them in—not you or anyone under Drummond.\"", "\n\nAndy eyed him wryly. \"", "You got a death wish?\"", "\n\n\"I can handle Drummond.\" ", "John smiled. \"", "I've been handling men like him for fifteen years.\"", "\n\n\"He's got a lot of juice in this town, John.\"", "\n\n\"So have I. I just haven't used much of it yet.\"", "\n\n\"Okay, okay. ", "As long as you understand he will _not_ be happy. ", "And as long as none of my people gets the blame.\"", "\n\n\"They won't.\"", "\n\n\"In that case—when do I get to meet these agents of yours? ", "I like to know who I'm working with.\"", "\n\n\"We can meet up at the hotel whenever you like, but Quentin and Kendra are out now trying to find out all they can about this supposed kidnapping. ", "They didn't think it was any more likely than your people did, but like Maggie said—whoever sent that note might know something about Samantha Mitchell, and we need to find out what that might be.\"", "\n\n\"Think they can find out something before my people can?\" ", "It wasn't—quite—a challenge.", "\n\nJohn smiled. \"", "Well, let's just say I've learned never to bet against Quentin. ", "One way or another, he usually finds what he goes looking for.\"", "\nCHAPTER ELEVEN\n\n **Andy decided to strictly limit who in his department** would know of the FBI agents' involvement, choosing to tell Scott and Jennifer, but not the other detectives.", "\n\n\"All my people have busted their asses on this case,\" he told Maggie and John, \"but these two kids took some initiative _and_ thought outside the box. ", "Besides, I know for a fact they'll be happy about it—and not everybody would.\"", "\n\nScott and Jennifer were definitely pleased, especially when John told them of both the agents' profiling expertise, Kendra's computer skills, and the full range of databases available to them with federal authority.", "\n\n\"Maybe they'll be able to track down why the 1894 date is important. ", "If it is,\" Jennifer said. \"", "In the meantime—Andy, if it's okay with you, I'm heading over to the Central precinct. ", "Their file clerk isn't _absolutely_ sure, but there might be some really old file boxes in their storage room. ", "I want to check them out, see if I can find those missing 1934 files or possibly some from 1894.\"", "\n\nAndy looked at the stacks of files on the conference table and sighed. \"", "Yeah, go ahead. ", "Nothing in this mess is helping us.\"", "\n\nScott asked, \"Jenn, want me to come along?\"", "\n\nShe grinned at him. \"", "Oh, no, pal. ", "You get to put all these useless files back where they belong and then try to find out what happened to the ones the North precinct clerk _swears_ were lost in the move to their new building.\"", "\n\nWith a grimace, Scott said, \"It is not fun being the low man on the totem pole.\" ", "But he seemed cheerful enough as he picked up a file box and followed Jennifer from the room.", "\n\n\"They need to be busy,\" Andy told Maggie and John with a sigh. \"", "Neither one of them has been a detective long enough to be comfortable with the realization that seventy-five percent of police work is sitting around—either going through papers, trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle of facts, or just trying to talk through the problem until it starts to make sense.\"", "\n\n\"Sometimes I think most of life is like that,\" John offered wryly.", "\n\n\"I don't blame them for being restless,\" Maggie said, her brooding gaze fixed on the bulletin board. \"", "It's hell just sitting here waiting. ", "Wondering when the phone is going to ring.\"", "\n\nWhen it did at that moment, Andy lifted a brow at her and scooped it up. ", "He said, \"Brenner,\" and listened for several minutes, and didn't have to mutter, \"Oh, Christ,\" for everyone in the room to know the news was bad.", "\n\nAs soon as he hung up, John guessed, \"Samantha Mitchell?\"", "\n\n\"No,\" Andy said heavily. \"", "The bastard's having a busy week. ", "We've got another missing woman.\"", "\n\nIn the storage room of the Central precinct station, Jennifer found a lot of files. ", "A lot of old files, some going all the way back to the 1890s. ", "But she didn't find anything of interest for 1894; there had been relatively few murders reported in Seattle around then, and none that even came close to fitting their criteria.", "\n\nWorse, there was absolutely no sign of any more files for 1934. ", "For that entire decade, as a matter of fact.", "\n\nAfter more than an hour of fruitless search, she was dusty, irritable, and had three paper cuts and a headache. ", "She was also inclined to appreciate computers a lot more than she had before all this had started. ", "Those machines had their bad points, but at least they didn't get dust up her nose or slice up her fingers.", "\n\nShe made her way to the station's lounge and sat down with a soft drink, glumly considering her options. ", "They weren't promising. ", "Maybe Scott could track down those files lost in a move to a new building, but it didn't seem likely. ", "Unless she wanted to physically visit every storage room and basement of every station in the city—and she did not—then she had to accept that this particular trail might well have dead-ended.", "\n\nJennifer hated dead ends.", "\n\nShe had been so _sure_ that something useful would be found in the old files. ", "Oh, she'd been offhand about it with Scott, but from the moment she had seen that first sketch from 1934, the adrenaline rush had been intense. ", "All her instincts had been screaming at her. ", "Finally, after all these months, a break in the investigation.", "\n\nExcept that it wasn't, of course. ", "Dammit.", "\n\n\"Hey, Seaton, what're you doing in our neck of the woods?\"", "\n\nShe looked up and managed a faint smile for Terry Lynch as he joined her at the table. \"", "Slumming, of course.\"", "\n\nHe eyed her consideringly, his deceptively open face as friendly and guileless as always but his gaze sharp. \"", "There's a smear of gray dust on your nose.\"", "\n\n\"Because you have a filthy storage room,\" she told him, using a paper napkin to dab at her face.", "\n\n\"I wouldn't be at all surprised. ", "Looking for anything interesting?\"", "\n\nJennifer gave him an abbreviated version of the Drummond's-got-us-digging-through-old-files speech, perfectly aware that Terry wasn't buying it. ", "Not easy, she reflected silently, to lie to an old partner. ", "Or an old lover.", "\n\nBut he nodded gravely, only his wry blue eyes telling her he knew she was bullshitting him. ", "In a chatty tone, he said, \"You guys any closer to getting that rapist?\"", "\n\n\"Not so you'd notice.\"", "\n\n\"Just heard there's another woman missing.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, shit. ", "Do we know it's him?\"", "\n\nTerry shrugged. \"", "I think your boss is checking it out; any woman goes missing in the city, you guys get the call, you know that.\"", "\n\nJennifer frowned. \"", "If it is him—he's moving a hell of a lot faster.\"", "\n\n\"Looks like.\"", "\n\nShe barely hesitated. \"", "Are you hearing anything on the streets, Terry?\" ", "He was a patrolman, having failed the detective exam Jennifer had passed with flying colors; the blow to his ego hadn't ended their relationship, but her transfer to another precinct nearly a year ago had.", "\n\nHe wrapped both hands around his coffee cup and hunched his shoulders in the thinking posture she recognized with a pang. \"", "Not really.\"", "\n\n\"Not really? ", "So you did hear something—but aren't sure it means anything?\"", "\n\nHis smile twisted. \"", "Still reading me like a book. ", "Yeah, there was one thing. ", "I was going to call you, but . . . ", "hell, Jenn, it sounds so screwy.\"", "\n\n\"In this case,\" she told him dryly, \"screwy is beginning to be the order of the day, Terry. ", "What is it?\"", "\n\n\"Well, we picked up a transient day before yesterday, got him for creating a disturbance outside a store. ", "You know how it is. ", "Anyway, the guy was mostly drunk and not making a whole lot of sense, but he did say something that caught my attention.\"", "\n\n\"Which was?\"", "\n\n\"Said he'd seen a ghost.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, come on, Terry—he was drunk and babbling. ", "Probably had the DTs.\"", "\n\nTerry nodded. \"", "Yeah, I thought the same thing. ", "But, see, there were a couple of odd things. ", "For one, he didn't sound as crazy as he should have, somehow. ", "And it turns out this guy used to be some hotshot computer expert. ", "Apparently, he had too many problems being bipolar to hold on to his job and ended up on the streets.\"", "\n\n\"Sad,\" she commented. \"", "But sadly not so unusual.\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "But here's the other odd thing. ", "We found him about two blocks away from where that last rape victim was found—Hollis Templeton? ", "And he was staring toward that building while he was babbling about having seen a ghost a few weeks before. ", "So I wondered.\"", "\n\nJennifer wondered too. \"", "Terry . . . ", "is he back on the streets?\"", "\n\nHe grimaced. \"", "Afraid so. ", "But my guess is, he'll still be in the area. ", "There's a mission near where we picked him up where guys like him can get a bed and a meal. ", "You might try there. ", "I don't have much of a description to give you—he was so filthy it was hard to say what he looks like. ", "White male, maybe forty, six feet, not more than a hundred sixty, brown and brown.\" ", "He pulled out his notebook and jotted down the name and address of the mission as well as the man's name, then tore out the sheet and handed it to her.", "\n\nShe accepted it but didn't get up right away. ", "Instead, she said wryly, \"You told the file clerk to suggest I just might find what I was looking for here, didn't you, Terry?\"", "\n\nHe smiled. \"", "You know how fast word gets around, Jenn. ", "Especially with Scott Cowan calling every station, too innocently asking about old files. ", "So I figured one of you'd show up here sooner or later. ", "I just asked Danny to hint we might have the files you wanted here.\"", "\n\n\"And then let you know I was coming?\"", "\n\n\"Like I said—I was going to call you about it. ", "But I figured you might think I was just using it as an excuse and refuse to even take my call.\"", "\n\n\"You might have told me all this _before_ I spent so much time in your filthy storage room.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I might have.\"", "\n\nShe got to her feet, smiling. \"", "So you weren't using it as an excuse?\"", "\n\n\"Well, not entirely.\"", "\n\n\"I would have taken the call, Terry.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\" ", "She saluted him casually and left the lounge. ", "It wasn't until she was in her car and looking at the note he'd given her that her smile faded. ", "Another dead-end lead? ", "Would she discover only a poor, damaged man with a damaged mind playing tricks on him?", "\n\nOr something else?", "\n\nMaggie wasn't especially eager to walk through the home of the most recent missing woman, but she knew only too well that time mattered; the sooner they could determine with certainty whether Tara Jameson had been abducted by the Blindfold Rapist, the better. ", "So when Andy suggested she and John go along and check out the apartment while he talked to the fiancé who had reported her missing, she agreed.", "\n\n\"Another high-security place,\" John noted as they stood before the apartment building.", "\n\n\"The bastard seems to like them,\" Andy agreed sourly. \"", "Our department shrink says it's some kind of challenge, that maybe he goes out of his way to take the women from supposedly secure locations even though he could get them a lot more easily when they went out to grocery shop or something.\"", "\n\n\"A challenge,\" John mused.", "\n\n\"Yeah.\"", "\n\n\"This is an older building, isn't it? ", "I remember it being here twenty years ago.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, but it's been updated, at least as far as security goes.\"", "\n\nMaggie, who was silently marshaling her energy and trying to narrow her focus in order to retain at least some kind of detachment, only half listened until they entered the building, checked in at the security desk, and Andy asked her where she wanted to start.", "\n\n\"The fiancé is waiting in her apartment with one of my people,\" he added.", "\n\nMaggie looked around the bright lobby. \"", "This is awfully public. ", "Is there a service elevator?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, down that hallway there, and it's the only one goes to the basement. ", "It was checked out, even though the security videotapes for both here and the basement access door don't show anyone the guards didn't okay in the areas, and nothing at all suspicious.\" ", "He nodded toward the security desk and the two guards who were watching them warily.", "\n\n\"Still, it's the most likely way for him to get her out of the building, right?\"", "\n\n\"I'd say so.\"", "\n\n\"Then I want to start there. ", "Go up to her floor in that elevator.\"", "\n\n\"I'll go with you,\" John said.", "\n\nMaggie didn't object, just nodded.", "\n\n\"Eighth floor,\" Andy told them. \"", "Apartment 804. ", "I'll be there with her fiancé.\" ", "He headed off toward the regular elevators.", "\n\n\"Are you sure you're up to this?\" ", "John asked her abruptly.", "\n\n\"Why wouldn't I be?\"", "\n\n\"Maggie, you were upset when you got to the hotel this morning, and you're still upset. ", "When you went home last night, you were more tired than anything else. ", "So I can't help wondering what happened later.\"", "\n\nShe was only a little surprised; either his perception was sharpening where she was concerned, or else she wasn't hiding her tension very well. \"", "It was . . . ", "a nightmare, that's all. ", "I didn't sleep well.\"", "\n\nJohn had the feeling she had evaded the subject and yet hadn't really lied to him, which made him all the more curious to find out the whole truth. ", "But all he said was \"You don't have your sketch pad today. ", "It's the first time.\"", "\n\n\"So? ", "I don't always carry it.\"", "\n\n\"I think you usually do, especially during an ongoing investigation.\"", "\n\nMaggie shrugged. \"", "Usually—not always.\"", "\n\n\"So why not today?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe I forgot it.\"", "\n\n\"Did you?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\n\"Well, then?\"", "\n\nShe looked at him for a moment, then shook her head. \"", "Never mind. ", "The only thing I'm thinking about right now is whether Tara Jameson is or isn't the sixth victim.\"", "\n\nJohn followed as she moved toward the service elevator. \"", "You know, you could just try saying it's none of my business,\" he commented mildly.", "\n\n\"I guess I could,\" she murmured.", "\n\nHe decided to take a chance and push just a little bit. \"", "Unless maybe it is. ", "I think you're too honest to lie about that. ", "So is it my business, Maggie? ", "Is there something you're not quite sure you should tell me?\"", "\n\nShe glanced at him, then drew a breath and said calmly, \"Several things, actually. ", "But not here and not now. ", "Okay?\"", "\n\nBearing in mind Quentin's warning, John got a grip on his curiosity and nodded. \"", "Okay.\"", "\n\nA flicker of gratitude crossed her face, which made him glad he'd agreed. ", "It also made him wonder even more what could have upset her so much; clearly, she wasn't looking forward to telling him about it.", "\n\nMaggie paused in the hallway a few feet from the service elevator and visibly braced herself.", "\n\nJohn was hardly given to premonitions, but a sudden uneasy impulse made him say, \"Maybe this isn't a good idea.\"", "\n\nShe looked at him gravely. \"", "Why not? ", "Because I might _imagine_ something terrible? ", "But my own imagination can't hurt me, can it, John?\"", "\n\nHe chose his words carefully. \"", "After what I saw in the Mitchell house, I know it's more than imagination, Maggie. ", "I just . . . ", "I don't want to see you hurt like that again.\"", "\n\nMaggie almost reached out and touched him, wanting to reassure him, needing to, but stopped herself with an effort she hoped didn't show. ", "Steadily, she said, \"If Tara Jameson is the sixth victim, she's the one hurting right now. ", "Whatever I feel is . . . ", "temporary.\"", "\n\n\"That doesn't mean it hurts any less.\"", "\n\nInstead of denying that, she merely said, \"I'll be fine.\" ", "She didn't give him a chance to protest again but went to the service elevator and pushed the button.", "\n\nThe doors opened almost immediately, and before she stepped inside, Maggie cautiously allowed her inner senses to reach in and probe the innocent-looking cubicle.", "\n\nThe elevator was well used, and at first all she got was a jumble of images and flashes of emotion, mostly irritation and low-level anxiety. ", "Not unusual, she knew, for a building in which often harried, stressed people lived and visited.", "\n\nThen, on the extreme edges of her awareness, she felt something . . . ", "alien.", "\n\nDark. ", "Hungry. ", "Cold. ", "So cold . . .", "\n\nIt grew stronger, pressing in on Maggie until she found it difficult to breathe. ", "The darkness was black, viscous, slimy like an oil slick, and it wrapped around the hunger that was cold and grotesque in its twisted urgency.", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\nShe blinked and looked at John, at his hand gripping her arm, and wondered vaguely what her face looked like to make him feel so much concern. ", "As if a door had closed—or opened—all she could sense right now was him, his worry about her, and other, less defined but no less powerful emotions. \"", "I'm fine,\" she murmured.", "\n\n\"Are you? ", "Then why did you say that?\"", "\n\n\"Say what?\" ", "She didn't remember saying anything aloud.", "\n\n\"You said, 'deliver us from evil.' ", "Almost as if you were reciting the prayer.\"", "\n\nAfter a moment, Maggie pulled her arm gently from his grasp. \"", "Funny. ", "I'm not even religious.\" ", "She tried to focus again, recapture that cold, dark presence, but all she could feel right now was John, even without the physical contact. ", "As if that door that had opened refused now to be closed. ", "And a very large part of her wanted to burrow in and surround herself with him, luxuriate in the warmth and strength that was more familiar and yet more tantalizing than anything she could remember feeling before.", "\n\n\"Maggie, what is it? ", "What did you sense?\"", "\n\nShe wondered if he was even aware of the term he had used, but didn't ask. ", "She stepped into the elevator and watched him follow, watched her own finger push the button for the eighth floor. ", "Only when the doors closed did she ask a question of her own. \"", "Have you ever wondered about the nature of evil?\"", "\n\nHe was frowning at her, still disturbed. \"", "I don't know that I have. ", "Why? ", "Is that what you felt—evil?\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded. \"", "Evil. ", "Him. ", "He was here. ", "In the elevator. ", "It's . . . ", "the first time I've been able to feel him like that.\" ", "And she didn't even try to explain how horribly unnerving that was.", "\n\n\"How can you be sure it was him?\"", "\n\n\"His . . . ", "desire . . . ", "wasn't normal. ", "The hunger he was feeling.\"", "\n\n\"Christ,\" John muttered.", "\n\n\"I'm sorry, but you asked.\"", "\n\nHis mouth tightened. \"", "What do you sense now?\"", "\n\n\"Nothing, really.\" _", "You_. \"", "It was just a flash, maybe what he was feeling right before he left the elevator.\"", "\n\n\"Did he have her with him?\"", "\n\nMaggie frowned, only then realizing. \"", "I don't think so. ", "I mean, I don't think he had her here in the elevator. ", "But I'm certain he'd taken her, because he was . . . ", "anticipating . . . ", "what he would do with her.\"", "\n\n\"But he didn't take her down in the elevator?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\nAs the elevator doors opened on the eighth floor, John was saying, \"Then how the hell did he get her out of the building?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know.\"", "\n\nThey both looked around as they moved down the hall toward Apartment 804, John silently gesturing toward the security camera positioned to get a clear view of the entire hallway. ", "It didn't seem possible that anyone could have carried an unconscious woman from any of the apartments without being observed— and taped—by security.", "\n\n\"Somehow, he must have tampered with the system,\" John said. \"", "But that still doesn't explain how he got her out of the building.\"", "\n\nMaggie stopped suddenly, getting another flash of that darkness, as well as a sense of determination, of effort. \"", "It was . . . ", "difficult,\" she murmured. \"", "It took more strength than he expected.\"", "\n\n\"What did?\" ", "John asked quietly.", "\n\n\"Getting her out of here.\"", "\n\n\"How did he do that, Maggie?\"", "\n\nHer head turned slowly as she scanned the hallway. ", "Other apartment doors. ", "A few tall green plants and occasional tables and framed prints and mirrors providing pleasant decoration. ", "Fire extinguishers and glassed-in fire hoses placed strategically here and there.", "\n\n. . . _", "nearly rusted shut . . ._", "\n\nHer gaze fixed on a large, gilded mirror halfway between the elevator and Tara Jameson's apartment, and she walked toward it slowly. ", "She was disconcerted when she saw her own reflection, wondering idly why she was so pale and why her eyes looked so peculiar, the pupils enormous. ", "Then John came up behind her, and she stared at his reflection, briefly confused by what she saw.", "\n\nNo, that wasn't right. ", "He was—\n\n. . . _", "nearly rusted shut_. . .", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"It's behind the mirror,\" she said.", "\n\nHe moved her gently aside and used his handkerchief to avoid leaving fingerprints as he carefully pulled the heavy mirror far enough away from the wall so he could look behind it.", "\n\n\"Son of a bitch. ", "An old laundry chute. ", "A big one.\"", "\n\n\"It was almost rusted shut,\" Maggie said. \"", "But he got it open.\"", "\n\nJohn eased the mirror back into place, his face grim. \"", "So that's how he did it. ", "Dropped her in this, probably with some kind of cart waiting underneath the chute opening in the basement to catch her.", "Then took her out.\"", "\n\n\"That's how he did it. ", "Though I still don't know how the cameras missed him.\" ", "She swayed slightly and felt John's hand grip her arm.", "\"Sorry. ", "I seem to be a little tired.\"", "\n\n\"I'm taking you home,\" he said.", "\n\n\"But I should—\"\n\n\"Maggie, do you have any doubt that Tara Jameson is the sixth victim?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\n\"Then you don't need to go into that apartment.\"", "\n\n\"Yes, I do. ", "John, what if I can sense more of him in there? ", "What if I can get something that could tell us who he is?\"", "\n\n\"You haven't been able to before.\"", "\n\n\"No—not until the elevator. ", "Not until now. ", "So I have to try.\"", "\n\nJohn muttered a curse under his breath but didn't try to stop her when she moved toward the apartment. ", "He also didn't let go of her arm.", "\n\nExpecting them, Andy had left the apartment door ajar, and as soon as they crossed the threshold they could hear him just beyond the foyer, talking to Tara Jameson's fiancé.", "\n\nMaggie eased her arm free of John's grasp and took a step away from him, trying to concentrate, to focus. ", "And this time it was with an almost brutal suddenness that knocked the breath out of her that she felt the wave of terror, the iron arms holding her from behind, the bite of chloroform. ", "And something else.", "\n\nThat cold, dark, twisted hunger. ", "And . . . ", "familiarity.", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\nShe found herself once more supported by John, his touch bringing her out of it and wrapping her in warmth and worry. ", "Through a throat that felt strangely constricted, Maggie said, \"He knows her, John. ", "He knows her.\"", "\n\n _Hollis?_", "\n\nShe came awake abruptly, riding out the usual first moment of panic, of wondering why it was dark and what the weight across her eyes was. ", "Then she was awake, aware. ", "Napping in her chair in front of the window.", "\n\n _Hollis._", "\n\n\"Yes, I'm awake. ", "Why am I awake?\"", "\n\n _Hollis, we're running out of time. ", "I've tried, but I_ _can't—she won't let me in._", "\n\n\"Who? ", "Who're you talking about?\"", "\n\n _Hollis, listen to me. ", "And trust me, you have to trust me._", "\n\n\"I don't even know your name.\"", "\n\n _Is that important?_", "\n\n\"Well, yes, I think so. ", "If I keep on calling you figment, somebody's going to hear me talking to you and lock me away. ", "At least with a proper name, I can claim you're my imaginary friend. ", "That's probably what you are anyway.\"", "\n\n _All right, Hollis. ", "I'm—my name is Annie._", "\n\n\"Annie. ", "That's a nice name. ", "Okay, Annie—now, why should I trust you?\"", "\n\n _Because you're the only one I've been able to clearly_ _reach. ", "And because you have to help me._", "\n\n\"Help you do what?\"", "\n\n _Help me to save her. ", "And there isn't much time. ", "He's_ _seen her now. ", "He's seen her, and he wants her too._", "\n\nHollis felt a chill crawl up her spine. \"", "Do you—do you mean the man who attacked me?\"", "\n\n _Yes. ", "We have to try to save her, Hollis. ", "I can't reach her._ _", "But you can. ", "You have to warn her._", "\n\nHollis sat there for a moment longer, her fingers gripping the arms of her chair tightly. ", "But then she swallowed and said, \"I'm a blind woman, Annie. ", "What can I do?\"", "\n\n _Will you help me?_", "\n\n\"Just . . . ", "tell me what you want me to do.\"", "\n\nIt took hardly more than fifteen minutes to drive to Maggie's small house in a quiet suburb of the city. ", "Since it was dark by the time they arrived, John didn't bother trying to form an impression of the house, just followed her inside.", "\n\nAlmost as soon as they crossed the threshold, he saw her shoulders shift slightly, as though throwing off a burden, and he thought, _Quentin was right again._ _", "This place is her sanctuary._", "\n\nThe living room they stepped into was very much Maggie, he thought. ", "Nothing fancy but obviously good quality, the furniture was comfortable and casual, and the slight clutter of books and magazines combined with the riotous growth of numerous green plants gave the room a cozy, lived-in feeling. ", "There were several framed paintings on the walls and one impressionist-style work propped on the fireplace mantel that struck a vague cord of familiarity in him.", "\n\n\"Nice place,\" he commented.", "\n\n\"Thanks.\" ", "Maggie shrugged out of her flannel shirt and tossed it over a chair, and the close-fitting black sweater she wore underneath was a startling reminder to him of just how slender she was.", "\n\nAll that hair and the layers of clothing she invariably wore were both deceptive, he decided. ", "And he had a shrewd hunch she used the camouflage quite deliberately.", "\n\n\"I could use some coffee,\" she said, pushing her hair back away from her face with both hands in an absent gesture. ", "She was still too pale and obviously tired. \"", "You? ", "I'd offer something stronger, but since I don't drink I usually don't have anything on hand.\"", "\n\n\"Coffee's fine.\" ", "John knew he should leave her alone to rest, but he was reluctant to leave her at all.", "\n\n\"Coming up. ", "Make yourself at home.\" ", "She headed off toward the kitchen.", "\n\nJohn followed, saying, \"Mind if I keep you company?\"", "\n\n\"No, not at all.\" ", "She gestured toward the three comfortably wide and strong-looking stools on one side of the big center work island and moved toward the sink on the other side. \"", "Have a seat. ", "When I moved in here, I remodeled and commandeered what used to be the dining room for part of my studio. ", "A studio I needed; a dining room was wasted space.\"", "\n\n\"Your guests probably end up in here anyway,\" he said, shrugging out of his leather jacket and hanging it over the back of one of the stools as he looked around at the bright, spacious French Country kitchen.", "\n\n\"Usually,\" she agreed.", "\n\nHe sat down. \"", "I'm not surprised. ", "This is a wonderful room.\"", "\n\nShe eyed him while measuring what looked like freshly ground coffee into an honest-to-God percolator. \"", "I would have figured you for a different style. ", "More classical, maybe.\"", "\n\nHe was only a little surprised; she was an artist, after all, and undoubtedly given to summing up personal style fairly quickly. \"", "Generally speaking, that is more my style. ", "But I like a lot of what's popular now. ", "Like this room—French Country, but more French than Country.\"", "\n\nMaggie smiled. \"", "I'm not overly fond of roosters or sunflowers, to say nothing of chintz. ", "This works for me.\"", "\n\nJohn watched her more intently than he realized, wanting to take advantage of this time to gain a better understanding of Maggie. ", "It was becoming more important to him, and he didn't bother to ask himself why.", "\n\nWith the coffee started, she got milk from the refrigerator and put it on the work island, then went to get two cups from the cabinet, saying abruptly, \"Back at the station, when you were singing the praises of Quentin and Kendra, I notice you didn't mention their psychic abilities.\"", "\n\n\"No, I didn't.\"", "\n\n\"Still an unbeliever?\" ", "she asked, half mocking and half not.", "\n\n\"I don't even think that was it. ", "Maybe I just wanted to keep everything . . . ", "grounded.\"", "\n\n\"Grounded in reality?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "Just grounded in the ordinary. ", "The expected. ", "Andy is pretty open-minded, didn't even blink when he found out about you, but I wasn't sure about Scott and Jennifer.\"", "\n\nMaggie did understand. ", "Despite his desire to keep \"things\" grounded, what she sensed in him was doubt and uncertainty . . . ", "and the dawning, reluctant seeds of belief. ", "She had caught a bit of that earlier, which was why she'd decided to talk to him, at least about some of it. ", "Maybe show him the painting . . .", "\n\nSlowly, she said, \"But that's the point, isn't it?\" \"", "What do you mean?\"", "\n\n\"You say you want this investigation to be . . . ", "grounded. ", "Grounded in the ordinary, the expected. ", "Only that isn't where it is. ", "That isn't where it is at all.\"", "\nCHAPTER TWELVE\n\n **Maggie—\"**\n\n\"Think about it. ", "An ordinary investigation? ", "The best lead we have to date as to how this animal is choosing his victims is found in police files nearly seventy years old. ", "Is that the ordinary, the expected?\"", "\n\n\"No,\" he admitted.", "\n\n\"You yourself brought in an avowed psychic—two, actually—because you knew they could help. ", "And even before that, you wanted my help. ", "Not the help of a police sketch artist. ", "The help of someone with a . . . ", "knack. ", "A paranormal knack.\" ", "Again, her smile was wry. \"", "Hell, John, you've known from the beginning there was nothing in the least ordinary or expected about any of this.\"", "\n\nHe thought about that while she stepped away to pour the coffee and had to admit, somewhat ruefully, that she was right. ", "He himself had always had an instinctive knack for choosing the right people for the right task; it was one of the reasons he'd gone so far and achieved so much in business. ", "Why wouldn't it apply to this situation as much as any other?", "\n\n\"Okay, point taken,\" he said as she pushed his coffee cup across the island to him.", "\n\n\"But are you willing to go beyond the point? ", "To accept the extraordinary and look for the unexpected?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know,\" he admitted honestly. \"", "I'm ready to try, if that means anything.\"", "\n\nMaggie had already made up her mind to do this, but she still had to be careful, very careful. ", "She sipped her coffee, watching as he added milk to his, then said, \"I guess it'll have to be enough, won't it?\"", "\n\n\"I hope so.\"", "\n\nShe nodded, then drew a breath. \"", "I have a brother. ", "Half brother, really; we had the same mother. ", "But he's a seer, like Quentin, and he's helped me to make sense of some things in my life. ", "Certain . . . ", "instincts. ", "Dreams. ", "The things I feel, and the images burned into my soul.\"", "\n\n\"What kind of images?\"", "\n\nShe hesitated, then shook her head. \"", "That's—I'll get to that later. ", "Anyway, my brother and I both inherited Mother's artistic tendencies, to differing degrees. ", "Beau got the genius; I got . . . ", "just enough for what I needed to be able to do.\"", "\n\n\"Which is?\"", "\n\n\"Draw the face of evil.\"", "\n\nJohn looked at her searchingly. \"", "Andy says you could be any kind of artist you wanted to be, that you have talent to spare. ", "Judging from the sketch of Christina, I agree.\"", "\n\n\"I probably could have been pretty good if I'd worked at it.\" ", "She shrugged, dismissing something obviously unimportant to her. \"", "But what I needed to do required less skill than . . . ", "intuition.\"", "\n\n\"You mean your empathic ability?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\nJohn frowned, remembering the terror, pain, and shock he had seen her endure. \"", "You had to suffer to draw the face of evil?\"", "\n\nShe hesitated, then said, \"I don't think I could draw it otherwise. ", "I don't think anyone could. ", "For some things, knowledge isn't enough. ", "Imagination isn't enough. ", "You have to feel to understand.\"", "\n\n\"Only evil?\"", "\n\n\"Particularly evil.\"", "\n\n\"Then . . . ", "you've drawn the face of evil?\"", "\n\nMaggie laughed without humor. \"", "Again and again. ", "But there are degrees of evil, just like anything else. ", "The lesser face of evil is . . . ", "the man who kills a bank guard in cold blood to get the money. ", "The man who rapes his own wife every single night because he thinks he has the right to. ", "The woman who poisons her child because she craves the sympathy and attention it brings to her. ", "The minister who molests the boys who come trustingly to him. ", "The nurse who murders her patients because she thinks the resources being used to care for them could better be used somewhere else.\"", "\n\n\"Christ,\" John muttered. \"", "Lesser evil? ", "Maggie, are all those examples of past investigations?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\n\"Investigations you were involved in?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\"", "\n\nHe couldn't even imagine what she must have gone through, and even as that realization crossed his mind, he suddenly understood what she meant about experiencing evil. ", "Even with the skills of an artist, he couldn't have drawn it. ", "Not even a knowledgeable and imaginative mind could wrap itself around some things enough to understand them, simply because they were beyond all knowledge and comprehension, beyond even the imagination's ability to transcend understanding.", "\n\nSome things literally did have to be felt to be understood.", "\n\nHe gazed across the width of the island at her calm face with its haunting eyes and finally understood why compassion and perception were literally stamped into her regular, not quite beautiful features. ", "Because she suffered. ", "Because she understood the worst men and women could do to themselves and each other and their children in a way that he would never, could never, comprehend.", "\n\nIt was a long moment before he could speak, but finally he said, \"If all that is . . . ", "lesser evil, then what in God's name is greater evil?\"", "\n\n\"Evil that doesn't die.\"", "\n\nJohn shook his head. \"", "I don't understand. ", "Everything dies, eventually.\"", "\n\nMaggie hesitated for a minute, obviously struggling, though whether for words or the decision to go into this with him he couldn't have said. \"", "If the universe is . . . ", "balance . . . ", "then evil is the negative force, always opposed by a positive force, always kept in check, at least to some extent. ", "But what if a particular positive force in a particular place and a particular moment doesn't do what it's supposed to do, what it's intended, designed to do. ", "There's a . . . ", "glitch somewhere, a hesitation, a mistake. ", "And that evil isn't balanced, isn't negated by anything positive. ", "Nothing stops it from growing, and growing more powerful, more sure of itself.\"", "\n\n\"Until?\"", "\n\n\"Until not even the death of the flesh can destroy it.\"", "\n\n\"The body dies—but the negative force within it survives? ", "Is that what you're saying?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "It survives. ", "Finds itself another vessel so that it's reborn in the flesh. ", "And destroys again. ", "It becomes an eternal evil. ", "So the universe fights to restore the balance, because balance is its natural state. ", "The positive force meant to negate that evil is reborn as well, sent once again to do what it was meant to do the first time around.\"", "\n\n\"You're talking about reincarnation.\"", "\n\nShe shrugged very slightly, her eyes never leaving his. \"", "I'm talking about balance. ", "A negative force has to be opposed by a positive force in order to maintain— or restore—that balance. ", "We see it in science all the time. ", "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.\"", "\n\nJohn nodded. \"", "I remember that much. ", "And it makes sense. ", "But we were talking about evil.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "We were.\"", "\n\n\"Eternal evil. ", "That's the greater evil you have to draw? ", "An evil that won't die?\" ", "John really hoped disbelief didn't echo in his voice, but he was very much afraid it did. ", "This was just a bit more than he had bargained for.", "\n\nHell, who was he kidding? ", "It was a _lot_ more than he had bargained for.", "\n\nMaggie looked at him for a long moment, then set her cup down on the island. \"", "I can't show you the face of that evil, because I can't see it yet. ", "But I can show you . . . ", "what it sees. ", "What it does.\"", "\n\nThis, he realized, was what Maggie had brought him here to see. \"", "Okay.\"", "\n\nShe came around the island and gestured for him to follow as she led the way to her studio. ", "It was a very large room, obviously though skillfully added to the original house, and it looked the way most artists' studios looked, with a big worktable holding supplies, and shelves on one wall containing various props and bolts of material. ", "There were bins holding canvases of various sizes, a number of completed paintings leaning against the walls but angled so that they weren't clearly visible to him—and one on an easel in the center of the room.", "\n\nShe didn't warn him. ", "And the shock he felt when he looked at that painting was cold, overwhelming, visceral.", "\n\n\"Jesus Christ,\" he heard himself say hoarsely.", "\n\n\"I wish I could destroy it.\" ", "Leaning back against the worktable, arms folded tightly as if she were cold, Maggie stared at the painting with a fixed intensity that was almost painful. \"", "I want to destroy it. ", "But the ironic thing is, it's the best work I've ever done. ", "I seem to be too much an artist to destroy my best work. ", "No matter how horrible it is.\"", "\n\nHe tore his gaze from the painting to look at her for a moment, then moved closer to the easel and forced himself to study it as calmly as possible.", "\n\nMaggie was right, it was horrible. ", "But she was also right in saying the work was technically superb, with an extraordinary, savage power he'd never seen equaled. ", "It was almost impossible to believe such force had come from Maggie, had emerged from that slender body, from a spirit so sensitive it could literally feel the pain of others.", "\n\nTrying to get past that, he concentrated on studying the dead woman, barely able to ignore his nausea at what had been done to her.", "\n\nMaggie said, \"This is how I knew she was dead, John. ", "You wondered about that, didn't you? ", "This is how I knew. ", "Because I painted this. ", "Last night, I painted this.\"", "\n\nHe looked at her quickly. \"", "Who is this, Maggie?\" \"", "Samantha Mitchell. ", "And I've never seen her, so how could I have painted her if this wasn't real?\"", "\n\nJohn studied the painting again, this time more carefully, then turned and went to Maggie. \"", "It isn't her.\"", "\n\n\"What?\"", "\n\n\"I saw the photograph of Samantha Mitchell, remember? ", "In the case file. ", "Maggie, she looks completely different from this woman. ", "She has short reddish hair and freckles, an upturned nose.\"", "\n\nMaggie stared at him. \"", "Not— Then who is she?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know. ", "But I think we'd better find out.\"", "\n\nIt was already dark by the time Jennifer got to the Fellowship Rescue Mission, and since the night promised to be a wet and chilly one, half the available beds had already been claimed by people in need. ", "She only glanced into the two large dormitory-style rooms downstairs, one for men and one for women, where cots were lined in neat rows literally wall-to-wall; with the poor description of the man she was looking for, she doubted her ability to recognize him by sight and so went in search of somebody in charge.", "\n\nShe found Nancy Frasier, the surprisingly young and extremely placid director of the mission, just coming out of an upstairs room with an armful of blankets.", "\n\nAfter peering shortsightedly at Jennifer's badge, the director listened to what she had to say and frowned. \"", "David Robson? ", "It's not a name I know, but then most of them don't offer names, especially if they're just passing through. ", "You say he was arrested the other day?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, for causing a disturbance, but nothing serious. ", "He was out within twenty-four hours.\" ", "She offered the brief description that was all she had.", "\n\n\"And you're trying to find him—\"\n\n\"Because he may have witnessed a crime or seen something that could help us solve one.\"", "\n\n\"I'd like to help, Detective, but I couldn't say if he'd even been here before, not by the name or description. ", "You're welcome to ask other staff members, or even some of our regulars—though I will request that you not disturb those already resting for the night.\"", "\n\n\"I understand.\"", "\n\nFrasier nodded, then added, \"Oh—and I should tell you that we tend to have at least a few new people here most days of the week, so if you don't find him tonight you might try again in a day or two.\"", "\n\n\"I'll do that,\" Jennifer said, hoping she wouldn't have to.", "\n\nBut by the time she had talked to nearly a dozen men who had no clue who David Robson was, and another three who weren't sure of their own names, she was more or less resigned to not finding him tonight.", "\n\nShe left her card with Nancy Frasier, saying, \"It's a long shot, but if you should hear his name, I'd appreciate a call.\"", "\n\nThe director accepted the card and frowned, asking abruptly, \"Is it about that rapist? ", "I know they found one of the women only a few blocks from here.\"", "\n\nJennifer nodded. \"", "Yeah. ", "This David Robson may have seen something. ", "Probably not, but we're pursuing every lead.\"", "\n\nWith a nod back toward the women's dormitory, Frasier said, \"Our female population has more than doubled in the last few weeks. ", "Lot of scared women out there. ", "And even the men are nervous, I'd say. ", "Look, I'll ask around, okay? ", "Some of them may talk to me when they wouldn't say squat to you. ", "If I find out anything, anything at all about this man, I'll call you.\"", "\n\n\"Thank you.\" ", "Jennifer made her way back out to her car, depressed as always by the homeless, rootless, or just plain mindless people, most of whom certainly deserved more out of life than a narrow cot in a room full of strangers.", "\n\nShe unlocked her car, gazing absently toward the mission as she watched a couple of bearded men dressed in ancient army jackets standing outside, smoking. ", "She grimaced when one of the men stooped to pick up a discarded cigarette from the sidewalk and then put the filter end between his lips without hesitation.", "\n\nIt was only then that she realized she was rubbing the nape of her neck. ", "She stopped, aware now of the tingling, uneasy sensation. ", "Moving her head no more than necessary, she shifted her gaze to sweep the area, trying to see whatever it was that had put her instincts on alert.", "\n\nThere weren't many people about, and those were grouped near the mission, unthreatening as far as she could tell. ", "A damp, chilly breeze had sprung up, and she could hear it stirring trash in the gutter on the other side of the street and rattling a loose street sign nearby.", "\n\nBut as far as she could determine, there was nothing else. ", "Nothing to make her feel so uneasy.", "\n\n\"Jumping at shadows, Seaton,\" she muttered.", "\n\nShe got into her car, locking the doors immediately, and sat there for a moment. ", "She was tired and more than a little bit unnerved to find her thoughts drifting toward Terry. ", "She glanced at her watch, wavered for just a bit, then swore under her breath and started the car to head back to the station.", "\n\nLater, she thought. ", "There'd be time later for Terry.", "\n\n\"It sounds like Tara Jameson,\" Andy reported. \"", "According to descriptions and the photo we have, she's very delicate, almost childlike. ", "Dark hair, long and straight; almond-shaped dark eyes; high cheekbones; sensitive mouth.\"", "\n\n\"You're still at the apartment?\" ", "John had called Andy on his cell phone.", "\n\n\"Yeah.\"", "\n\n\"And?\"", "\n\n\"Forensics turned up a few human hairs in the laundry chute, so you two were probably right about that being the way he got her down to the basement. ", "From there, it looks like he took her out of the building through a service door that was _supposed_ to be securely locked; it wasn't forced but picked by somebody who knew what he was doing. ", "We still don't know how the bastard managed to avoid getting his picture taken by the security cameras, but I've got my people looking at all the tapes and checking out the computer that runs this place's electronics system. ", "Her door wasn't forced, the apartment's security system was deactivated with her own code—all par for the course for this guy.\"", "\n\n\"Have you had any luck trying to find whoever sent the ransom note to Mitchell?\"", "\n\n\"Not so far.\" ", "Andy lowered his voice. \"", "So if your FBI buddy finds anything, let me know pronto.\"", "\n\n\"I will.\"", "\n\nWhen he closed his phone and dropped it into a pocket, Maggie said steadily, \"It's her, isn't it? ", "The painting is of Tara Jameson?\"", "\n\nJohn half turned on the couch to look at her where she sat curled up at the opposite end. \"", "From the description Andy gave me, yes.\"", "\n\nShe drew a breath and leaned her head back against the couch, looking at him. \"", "I thought it was Samantha.\"", "\n\n\"No, it definitely isn't her. ", "And knowing that, do you still believe Samantha's dead?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\" ", "Maggie didn't hesitate.", "\n\nJohn was trying his best to understand this but couldn't help wondering if at least some of what he was hearing now was nothing more than symptoms of a mental deterioration Quentin and Kendra had hinted was possible. ", "What if Maggie had simply suffered too much?", "\n\n\"I'm not losing it, John.\" ", "Her voice was very quiet, and she smiled faintly when he gave her a startled look. \"", "No, I can't read your mind. ", "But I do have a sense of how you're feeling, and I know you're worried about me. ", "Don't be, at least not about this. ", "I'm okay.\"", "\n\n\"Are you?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Tired and unnerved, I won't deny that, but otherwise okay.\"", "\n\n\"And the painting? ", "How were you able to paint something that didn't yet exist?\"", "\n\nShe drew a breath and let it out slowly. \"", "I don't know. ", "I mean, I don't understand it myself. ", "All I know is that if he hasn't done that to her yet—he will. ", "Unless we stop him.\"", "\n\n\"But you can't see the future?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "I can't see the future.\" ", "She managed a faint smile. \"", "I did ask if you were ready to accept the extraordinary and look for the unexpected.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, but . . . ", "this? ", "You talk about an evil that won't die, about balance that has to be restored, and then show me a painting of a tortured dead woman you say you painted even before she was abducted? ", "I don't know, Maggie. ", "I just don't know how to make sense of this.\"", "\n\nMaggie couldn't really blame him.", "\n\n\"And what about your connection to it all? ", "If you can't see the future, and your psychic ability is . . . ", "limited . . . ", "to feelings, then how can you be so certain this bastard we're after is some kind of eternal evil? ", "Because you feel it?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "And because I've felt it before.\"", "\n\n\"When?\"", "\n\nShe hesitated, wondering if there was any chance at all he could accept this. \"", "In 1934.\"", "\n\nAfter a long moment of silence, John said, \"I really wish you had something stronger than coffee in the house.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Me too.\"", "\n\nHe drew a breath and let it out slowly. \"", "You're saying you lived then? ", "That you were another person— living another life?\"", "\n\n\"That's what I'm saying.\"", "\n\n\"And you knew this . . . ", "eternal evil then?\"", "\n\n\"He was attacking women then the way he is now, I know that. ", "When Andy and the others showed us those pictures of women killed back then, I knew it was him. ", "Not a copycat killer borrowing somebody else's rituals, but him.\"", "\n\n\"Because you felt it.\"", "\n\nShe nodded. \"", "I don't know anything that could help the investigation, nothing that could help us find him, catch him. ", "I don't know what he looks like, what his name is. ", "I don't even know why he's picking women who look like the ones he killed back then. ", "All I know is that the evil inside him has been alive a long, long time. ", "And I know it's my fault.\"", "\n\n\"What?\"", "\n\n\"Balance, remember? ", "A positive force intended to oppose a negative one? ", "Somehow, I was supposed to stop him. ", "Back in the beginning, before his evil grew too strong, I was somehow in a position to change whatever happened then. ", "To stop him, destroy him. ", "Or maybe just turn him in a different direction. ", "I don't know for sure. ", "I don't remember. ", "I just feel.\"", "\n\n\"And if what you feel is wrong?\"", "\n\n\"It isn't.\"", "\n\n\"How can you be so damned sure? ", "Maggie, what you're talking about is . . . ", "incredible. ", "To say the least. ", "You failed to stop a killer a lifetime ago, and because of that he became some kind of unstoppable evil?\"", "\n\n\"He isn't unstoppable. ", "He just hasn't been stopped—up to now.\"", "\n\n\"And you have to stop him—now?\"", "\n\nShe nodded. \"", "I have to stop him. ", "Because I didn't before. ", "I can't . . . ", "move on until I do what I'm supposed to do. ", "And I have a very strong feeling this is my last chance to correct that mistake. ", "Maybe we only get so many chances, I don't know. ", "Maybe if I fail this time, someone else gets a shot at restoring the balance and I get sent back to learn the lesson a different way. ", "I just . . . ", "I just know that it's my responsibility this time around. ", "I have to stop him.\"", "\n\n\"Karma.\"", "\n\n\"If it makes more sense to you to put it that way. ", "Fate. ", "Destiny. ", "We're connected, he and I. Tied together by a mistake. ", "If there's anything I know, anything I'm absolutely certain of, it's that once you've touched evil— I mean really touched it—you're forever changed. ", "In a way, you are bound to it, tied to it, so that it becomes a part of you.\"", "\n\n\"There's nothing evil in you,\" he said immediately.", "\n\n\"Oh, but there is. ", "It's not my evil, but I carry it inside me. ", "That painting proves it. ", "His evil. ", "I carry his evil in my own soul . . . ", "and I have for a long, long time.\"", "\n\nSuddenly, John understood. \"", "That's why you do it. ", "That's why you surround yourself with victims, suffer right along with them. ", "It's atonement, isn't it, Maggie?\"", "\n\nFor the first time, she avoided his steady gaze. \"", "Consciously? ", "No. ", "Not at first. ", "But I've always been drawn to people in pain. ", "Always felt a kind of relief if I could help them in some way. ", "Gradually, over the years, I realized there was . . . ", "something I was trying to fix, some mistake I wanted to correct. ", "I didn't know what it was, not then. ", "It wasn't until Laura Hughes was attacked that I began to understand the truth.\"", "\n\n\"Truth?\" ", "Unable to be still any longer, John rose and began wandering around the room, not quite pacing. \"", "Christ.\"", "\n\n\"I know it all sounds unbelievable.\"", "\n\n\"You could say that, yeah.\"", "\n\n\"It is the truth, John. ", "I wish it wasn't. ", "I wish this was all about one evil man doing evil things in a single lifetime, something we could both accept, even if not understand. ", "But that isn't what it's about. ", "That's never been what it's about.\"", "\n\n\"Jesus, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"I'm sorry. ", "But you had to know the truth about it.\"", "\n\nHe swung around to stare at her. \"", "So is this where you also tell me the truth about Christina?\"", "\n\nMaggie was honestly startled. \"", "How did you—\"\n\n\"I don't have to be psychic to know there's more to her death than what you've told me. ", "Why do you think I kept after you about it? ", "What do you know about her death, Maggie?\"", "\n\nHis cell phone rang before she could formulate an answer, but Maggie didn't feel much of a sense of reprieve; from the determination on his face, she doubted he would accept anything less than the truth this time.", "\n\n\"Yeah, hello.\" ", "He listened for a moment, then went to a notepad Maggie kept by her living-room phone and quickly jotted something down. \"", "Okay. ", "Yeah, I've got it. ", "I'll call Andy and tell him. ", "You won't do anything stupid, will you?\" ", "He listened a minute longer, then said, \"Well, listen to Kendra and stay put, okay? ", "Let Andy and his people take care of it. ", "Yeah, I will.\"", "\n\nWhen he ended the call, Maggie said, \"I take it Quentin and Kendra found whoever sent that ransom note?\"", "\n\n\"They have a name and an address.\" ", "He called Andy's cell phone and repeated the information, adding, \"Quentin says the information is solid, and he's pretty sure this Brady Oliver either knows where Samantha Mitchell is or knows someone who does. ", "No information on whether she's alive or dead. ", "Yeah. ", "No, I'm at Maggie's. ", "For a while probably; call me on my cell in case I'm in transit, okay?\" ", "He listened a moment longer, then said, \"Yeah, I'll tell her.\" ", "He closed the phone.", "\n\n\"Tell me what?\"", "\n\n\"He said he just called in to check for messages and found one from Hollis Templeton. ", "She wants to see you as soon as possible.\"", "\n\n\"He doesn't know why?\"", "\n\n\"No, just that she needs to talk to you.\"", "\n\nMaggie looked at her watch. \"", "Visiting hours will be over for the night by the time I can get there.\"", "\n\n\"Andy said he's cleared it with the hospital if you want to go tonight. ", "But if you're too tired, tomorrow is probably soon enough.\"", "\n\nMaggie wasn't so sure. \"", "Hollis wouldn't have called if it wasn't important. ", "I'd better go now.\"", "\n\n\"I'll drive,\" he said.", "\nCHAPTER THIRTEEN\n\n **It didn't take Scott and Jennifer more than half an** hour to find Brady Oliver at the address provided and bring him in for questioning. ", "He turned out to be a small-time crook with delusions of grandeur and crumbled almost before Andy could even begin to get hard-nosed about the probable legal consequences of passing oneself off as a kidnapper.", "\n\n\"I never took her, I swear! ", "I just found her is all, and why shouldn't I try to make a few bucks on a lucky chance? ", "Her old man would never miss it, and she don't care no more, right?\"", "\n\nAndy stared at him, thinking once again that it was a helluva world they lived in. ", "And feeling a chill. ", "From the sound of it, Samantha Mitchell was already dead. \"", "Where is she, Brady?\"", "\n\nBloodshot eyes shifted nervously. \"", "First, we gotta talk about this kidnapping rap. ", "'Cause I never took her, I just found her.\"", "\n\nAndy leaned toward him and said gently, \"Well, I'll tell you what, Brady. ", "What say I invite Samantha Mitchell's husband in here to meet you? ", "And you can explain it all to him.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, hell, no, don't do that!\"", "\n\n\"Where is she?\"", "\n\n\"I just wanted to—\"\n\n\"Where is she?\"", "\n\n\"Alls I'm asking is—\"\n\nAndy rose to his feet.", "\n\n\"Okay, okay! ", "There's a dump not too far from my place, an old abandoned building. ", "City wants to tear it down, but there's no money to rebuild, something like that. ", "I go there sometimes and look for stuff I can sell.\" ", "He rattled off the address, looking acutely unhappy. \"", "First floor, back room.\"", "\n\n\"She's dead, isn't she, Brady?\"", "\n\n\"I didn't do her, I swear!\"", "\n\nAndy felt very tired. ", "He said, \"My people are going to go check out the address. ", "You'll wait right here.\"", "\n\n\"I want a lawyer,\" Brady whined.", "\n\n\"You haven't been charged with anything. ", "Yet.\"", "\n\n\"Oh. ", "Well, then, I want a Coke.\"", "\n\nAndy left the interview room without responding and before he gave in to the temptation to rid the human gene pool of one extremely stupid and vicious little possible breeder.", "\n\nAs soon as he shut the door behind him, Jennifer came out of the observation room and said, \"We heard, Andy. ", "Scott's rounding up the rest and putting forensics on alert. ", "Do you think that piece of scum in there really just found her?\"", "\n\nNodding, Andy said, \"If Brady had killed her, he would have been hiding in the deepest hole he could find and wouldn't have opened his trap, except to ask for a lawyer. ", "Since he just found her, he figures he's safe. ", "Stupid bastard.\"", "\n\n\"So she's dead?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, she's dead. ", "Come on—let's go. ", "You and Scott can ride with me.\"", "\n\nThey collected the others from the bullpen and went out to their cars. ", "On the point of getting into his own car, Andy noticed Jennifer still on the sidewalk; she was looking around with a frown, obviously disturbed.", "\n\n\"What?\" ", "he asked.", "\n\n\"Did you hear something?\"", "\n\n\"I heard a lot. ", "Traffic, voices, a horn blowing a couple of blocks away.\"", "\n\nShe shook her head, moving toward the passenger side finally but still frowning. \"", "No, something else.\"", "\n\nScott said, \"I didn't hear anything weird, Jenn. ", "What'd it sound like?\"", "\n\n\"Just . . . ", "I could have sworn somebody said my name, that's all. ", "My imagination, I guess.\" ", "She shivered visibly and got into the car.", "\n\nAndy paused a moment to look around carefully, but he didn't see or hear anything unusual. ", "Even so, he didn't dismiss Jennifer's uneasiness, especially added to the fact that someone had apparently gotten into her locked car not so long ago.", "\n\nHe looked around a final time, then got into the car, making a mental note to do something about security around the station. ", "But that resolution was pushed to the back of his mind by the time they reached the address Brady Oliver had given them.", "\n\nLoath to disturb any evidence, Andy stationed most of his people around the building with instructions to tape off the entire thing for forensics, while he went in with only Scott and Jennifer as backup.", "\n\nTheir flashlights showed them a dirty, ramshackle place that had long ago been stripped to its bare bones. ", "The floor creaked underfoot, and as they entered they could all hear faint scratchy whisperings and scurryings.", "\n\n\"What the hell's that?\" ", "Scott demanded, jumpy and not apologetic about it.", "\n\n\"Rats,\" Andy told him. \"", "You two stay behind me. ", "We'll check out the room Brady said he found her in first.\"", "\n\nWith sudden realization, Scott said, \"Rats . . . ", "If the lady's here and she's been dead very long—\"\n\n\"Don't think about it,\" Jennifer urged him, her own voice a bit thickened.", "\n\nAndy hesitated, wondering if he should have left the two of them outside. ", "Both had witnessed scenes of homicide before, but he knew they were very involved in this case and that their emotions were heightened because of that. ", "Still, even that was part of being a cop. ", "He moved on, slow and careful.", "\n\nThe long hallway led to the back of the building, where there were half a dozen rooms, their doors long gone, and empty doorways with broken casings leaned drunkenly open. ", "Andy wondered why the whole building hadn't collapsed long ago. ", "He paused, shining his light around, then moved suddenly toward the doorway to the room on the far left corner.", "\n\nHe could smell the blood.", "\n\nThere was no need to go more than a step into the room. ", "His flashlight found her immediately.", "\n\n\"Oh, Christ,\" Scott muttered.", "\n\nAndy said nothing, but he heard Jennifer give a little sigh and didn't have to ask to know what both of them were feeling. ", "Because he felt the same. ", "Horror. ", "Revulsion. ", "Pain. ", "And an overwhelming sadness.", "\n\nSamantha Mitchell lay spread-eagled on a blood-stained mattress in the far corner. ", "Her naked body was bruised and battered. ", "Her eyes were gone, and her throat was cut almost ear to ear. ", "The rats had indeed gotten to her body.", "\n\nEven more horribly, a deep slash opened the lower curve of her rounded belly.", "\n\nAnd between her thighs lay the pitifully small, curled body of her dead child.", "\n\nStill connected to her body by the umbilical cord.", "\n\n\"From the moment we met, there was an unusual bond between Christina and me,\" Maggie said. \"", "Maybe it was because she was the first of his victims to survive the attack, I don't know. ", "Whatever the reason, we both felt it, that closeness.\"", "\n\n\"She mentioned your name a couple of times when I flew up to visit her,\" John said, keeping his eyes on the road as he drove. \"", "Didn't say much, just that you were the police sketch artist and that you'd been kind to her. ", "That's one reason I asked Andy about you after she died. ", "And I saw you at the funeral.\"", "\n\nMaggie was a little surprised by that; she had made a point of keeping back and being unobtrusive. \"", "I didn't know you saw me then.\"", "\n\n\"I just caught a glimpse near the end. ", "Didn't know who you were until I recognized you last week in that interview room.\" ", "He didn't add that something about her had stuck in his mind so that all these weeks later he had remembered her the instant he had seen her at the police station.", "\n\n\"I didn't get to spend much time with Christina,\" she said. \"", "Just a couple of visits in the hospital, then three or four more after she went home. ", "So much of her energy was just taken up with healing and with getting ready for all the surgeries she knew would follow.\"", "\n\nJohn glanced at Maggie quickly, but he couldn't see her face clearly in the now-and-then glare of passing streetlights. \"", "She talked about the plastic surgery?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "She was realistic about it; she knew nothing would make her look the way she did before. ", "But the acid had done so much damage, and she just wanted to look as normal as possible. ", "She said . . . ", "she didn't want to frighten children when she went out in public.\"", "\n\nJohn was silent for a moment, then said, \"That's one of the reasons I've been so sure she didn't kill herself. ", "She wanted to live, Maggie, I know she did. ", "She wanted to heal and go on with her life. ", "She was strong.\"", "\n\n\"Yes, she was. ", "Stronger than you know.\"", "\n\n\"What do you mean?\"", "\n\nMaggie drew a breath. \"", "Once she got home, she had that elaborate computer system her husband had set up, and that new voice-recognition and reading program you arranged since she couldn't see the screen.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "I didn't want her to feel cut off from everything even if she wasn't ready to go out in public yet. ", "Are you saying she used it for something else?\"", "\n\n\"It probably shouldn't surprise you,\" Maggie said. \"", "She was your sister, after all. ", "She wanted answers, John.\"", "\n\n\"Answers? ", "Are you saying she tried to find the man who attacked her?\"", "\n\n\"She had all the information she'd been able to find on Laura Hughes, and of course she knew her own situation and background better than anyone else. ", "She was convinced there was a connection somewhere, that the rest of us had been—blinded—by so many of the details that we couldn't see what was actually there.\"", "\n\n\"And she believed she could? ", "Blind and virtually alone in that apartment, she believed she could find something everyone else had missed?\"", "\n\n\"She did have a unique perspective. ", "And she'd spent hours on end thinking about it. ", "There really wasn't much else she could think about.\" ", "Maggie sighed. \"", "Please believe me, if I'd had even the slightest suspicion that what she was doing could have put her in danger—\"\n\nJohn abruptly pulled the car to the curb and stopped. ", "He turned in the seat to stare at her. \"", "Are you saying it did? ", "Maggie—did Christina kill herself ?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\n\"No? ", "Why the hell didn't you tell me this before? ", "Christ, tell somebody—\"\n\n\"Because I can't prove it, John.\" ", "She kept her voice level. \"", "Every speck of evidence in that apartment proves that she did kill herself. ", "Andy and his people went over it with a fine-tooth comb, you know that. ", "They even went over it twice, because you asked them to. ", "You yourself went through her computer files, according to Andy; did you find anything?\"", "\n\n\"No,\" he replied slowly. \"", "At least, nothing out of the ordinary. ", "Nothing unexpected. ", "There was nothing about the investigation, the other victim. ", "No hint at all that she was trying to investigate on her own.\"", "\n\n\"That's what Andy said. ", "He even had the department computer expert check it out when I asked him to, but there was nothing. ", "If there was any evidence before she died, it was certainly gone afterward. ", "Nobody found anything to point to an intruder or even a visitor. ", "Security records for that night show no one entering the apartment, and even the fact that she'd given the nurse the day and night off seems to point toward suicide. ", "The medical examiner was absolutely positive it was suicide, no reservations at all. ", "I read his report. ", "You read his report. ", "According to everything they found, Christina wrote that suicide note on her computer, then put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger.\"", "\n\nJohn drew a breath. \"", "I hadn't even known she had that gun until afterward.\"", "\n\n\"Not surprising, since according to the registration, she'd bought it years ago, when she first lived alone in L.A., for protection. ", "And since it hadn't been registered here in Seattle, none of us knew about it beforehand. ", "But if you've been blaming yourself for not knowing, don't. ", "If there hadn't been a gun, he would have done it another way.\"", "\n\n\"How the hell do you know that, Maggie? ", "With all the evidence pointing the other way, how do you _know_ Christina didn't kill herself ?\"", "\n\n\"I told you we had a connection, a bond.\" ", "Maggie turned her gaze to the windshield, still working on holding her voice level and calm. \"", "The night she died, I woke up . . . ", "hearing her scream in my mind. ", "Feeling her pain. ", "It was just a flashing instant, but clear. ", "So clear I'll never forget it. ", "And what she was screaming was terror—and protest. ", "She didn't want to die. ", "The gun in her hand, pressed to her temple, wasn't under her control.\"", "\n\nJennifer was alone in the conference room, looking over the arrest report she'd requested from the Central precinct on David Robson, when Andy came in, looking harried and tired.", "\n\n\"Sanctuary,\" he muttered. \"", "My kingdom for an hour or two of sanctuary.\"", "\n\n\"I'd grant it if I could,\" she said sympathetically. \"", "But you know the minute the switchboard doesn't find you at your desk, the phones in here will start ringing.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I know.\" ", "He sat down with a sigh. \"", "You should be gone. ", "How many hours have you put in today?\"", "\n\n\"I'm off the clock.\"", "\n\n\"That's not what I asked you.\"", "\n\nJennifer shrugged. \"", "Look, I didn't want to go home and figured I might as well be busy.\"", "\n\n\"Doing what?\"", "\n\nShe tapped the report with a finger. \"", "Following a very unlikely lead, trying to track down a transient who might have seen something helpful.\"", "\n\nAndy grunted. \"", "Where's Scott?\"", "\n\n\"Gone for a pizza. ", "We were hungry and he wanted some fresh air.\" ", "She watched him, worried by the circles under his eyes and the tense line of his jaw. \"", "I guess you haven't heard anything from Maggie? ", "I mean, about her talking to Hollis Templeton?\"", "\n\n\"No, nothing yet. ", "And whatever she's got to say might not be relevant anyway.\"", "\n\n\"Do you really believe that?\"", "\n\n\"Hell, no.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Our entire world does seem to have narrowed down just to this investigation, doesn't it?\"", "\n\n\"You'd think.\" ", "He sighed again. \"", "The M.E. has promised to work on Samantha Mitchell ASAP, but neither one of us thinks he'll find anything new. ", "One glance told him what it told the rest of us: She was alive when her throat was cut, and died from blood loss.\"", "\n\n\"Then that with the baby was done . . . ", "after?\"", "\n\nAndy's jaw tightened even more. \"", "A minute or two after, the M.E. thinks. ", "The baby was probably still alive.\"", "\n\nJennifer hadn't expected that—or the jolt she felt hearing it. \"", "Christ.\"", "\n\n\"Needless to say, we're going to try to keep that fact out of the media's hands.\"", "\n\n\"Does Mitchell know?\"", "\n\n\"No, and if I have my way he never will.\"", "\n\nShe stared down at the arrest report. \"", "Andy, is there something we're missing? ", "Something we should have done and didn't?\"", "\n\n\"Nothing I can think of. ", "Don't beat yourself up about it, Jenn. ", "We've had virtually no evidence, no witnesses able to give us a description, and no predictable pattern to the attacks—so far, at least. ", "The closest we've come to a lead of any kind is thanks to you and Scott.\"", "\n\n\"Some lead,\" she said, sounding as discouraged as she felt. \"", "We have a few sketches and photos of victims from a string of murders in 1934, and _maybe_ our guy somehow got access to them, but so far the only thing we can be reasonably sure of is that he's going after look-alikes.\"", "\n\nBefore Andy could respond, the phone rang, and he picked up the receiver with a resigned grimace.", "\n\n\"Yeah?\" ", "He listened for a minute, absently watching Jennifer continue going through the file in front of her, then said, \"Okay. ", "Tell him I'm on my way.\"", "\n\nWhen he hung up the phone, Jennifer said, \"Our Luke again?\"", "\n\nAndy used the table for leverage to push himself to his feet. \"", "Yeah, dammit.\"", "\n\n\"He's still refusing to ask the FBI for help?\"", "\n\n\"He'd refuse to yell help if his pants were on fire, Jenn, you know that.\" ", "He sighed. \"", "But I think we need to bring John's friends in, and I mean officially. ", "I'm about a breath away from calling the chief directly myself.\"", "\n\nShe shook her head. \"", "Don't do that. ", "We both know Drummond would never forgive or forget, and he could do your career a lot of damage.\"", "\n\n\"And maybe I don't give a shit.\"", "\n\nThis time, Jennifer smiled. \"", "Yes, you do. ", "And so do the rest of us, in case you didn't know that. ", "We need you right where you are, Andy. ", "But I agree it's time something drastic was done. ", "I don't have to hear a shrink explain it to know that now that he's started killing his victims outright, this bastard is only going to get more vicious with every day that passes. ", "We have to stop him, and we have to stop him soon. ", "Is there another way around Drummond? ", "A way to bring pressure to bear on him without any of us sticking our necks out?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "I hate not being able to handle this ourselves, though.\"", "\n\n\"Um . . . ", "isn't that sort of the way our Luke is thinking?\"", "\n\nHe stared at her. \"", "Christ, you're right. ", "You'd think I'd have learned by now to yell for help when I need it.\"", "\n\n\"John could help, I'll bet,\" she suggested. \"", "I think Maggie could as well, the way the chief feels about her. ", "And you know both of them would in a heartbeat if it means we'd have a better chance of stopping this monster. ", "I'll bet neither one has yet only because they don't want to step on your toes.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, probably.\"", "\n\n\"I don't know if these agents can help us,\" Jennifer said steadily. \"", "But from all John said, they have a hell of a lot of experience in tracking monsters, and both of them are profilers. ", "They may be able to tell us something we'd never come up with ourselves. ", "I think we need to hear whatever they've got to say.\"", "\n\n\"I think you're right.\" ", "Andy nodded and turned away from the conference table, adding, \"I might try Maggie first, mostly because I think both the chief and Drummond would take that a bit better. ", "But we'll see.\"", "\n\nJennifer didn't want to admit either to him or to herself how relieved she felt. ", "It wasn't that she didn't feel herself or her coworkers capable of solving a string of brutal attacks, it was just that she was afraid that without help the solution might well come at a very high price.", "\n\nAnd with six women attacked so far, three of them dead, the price was already too high.", "\n\nMaggie knew she had no business talking to Hollis, not tonight. ", "The previous day had been an emotional ordeal, and today had not been much better; discussing the unbelievable, even the unthinkable, with John had demanded such absolute mastery of her own emotions that the aftermath left her feeling drained and incredibly weary.", "\n\nSo she was feeling more than a little vulnerable when she knocked, pushed open Hollis's door, and went into the hospital room where the other woman was sitting as usual in one of the two chairs near the window.", "\n\nAs soon as Maggie came in, Hollis said, \"The nurses are pissed at me. ", "They want me in bed, or at least ready to be there. ", "Can't understand why I won't at least get undressed.\"", "\n\n\"Why won't you?\" ", "Maggie asked, sitting down and absently opening her sketch pad to a clean page.", "\n\n\"Because I don't feel so defenseless, I suppose.\" ", "Her hands were gripping the arms of her chair, knuckles whitened tensely. \"", "Or maybe just because I'm sick of that damned bed.\"", "\n\n\"I can't say I blame you for that. ", "You must be sick of being here at all. ", "Will your doctors let you go home after the bandages come off on Thursday?\"", "\n\n\"They aren't saying, but I gather it depends on how the operation turned out. ", "If I can see, I'll be ready to go home. ", "If I can't . . .\"", "\n\nMaggie didn't need to hear the rest. ", "If she remained blind, then Hollis would need further medical help to adjust to that fact, especially after having her hopes raised by the operation. ", "She hesitated, then said, \"I don't know how you feel about the so-called paranormal—\"\n\nHollis gave a peculiar little laugh. \"", "Funny you should say that.\"", "\n\n\"Why?\"", "\n\n\"I'll . . . ", "explain later. ", "I feel fairly open-minded about it, all things considered. ", "Why?\"", "\n\n\"Because someone I trust, someone who happens to have the ability to see the future, told me that whether you see again is entirely up to you.\"", "\n\n\"That sounds fairly enigmatic.\" ", "Hollis didn't sound either convinced or unconvinced, merely neutral.", "\n\n\"I know. ", "I didn't understand it myself, but the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced he meant that while the operation could be an unqualified success, there's a lot the mind has to accept before everything works as it should.\"", "\n\n\"These borrowed eyes in my head, you mean?\"", "\n\n\"Not borrowed. ", "Gifted.\"", "\n\n\"The eyes of a dead woman.\"", "\n\n\"The eyes of a woman who wanted someone else to see if she couldn't.\"", "\n\nHollis drew a breath and let it out slowly. \"", "Yeah, I keep telling myself that. ", "But I wonder what it'll feel like if the eyes do work—and when I look into a mirror a stranger looks back at me.\"", "\n\n\"Still your face. ", "Still you.\"", "\n\n\"But I'm not who I was the last time I looked into a mirror. ", "I've changed—so much. ", "With all that and someone else's eyes as well, how will I even know me?\"", "\n\nHearing and responding to the lost note of pain in the other woman's voice, Maggie leaned forward and put her hand over Hollis's tense one. \"", "You'll know who you are, Hollis. ", "Your mind will look through those eyes.\"", "\n\n\"Will it?\"", "\n\n\"Yes.\" ", "Maggie almost withdrew her hand, but then something flashed into her own mind, a quick, sharp image that caused a strange jolt of pain and even an aching sadness. ", "The image was gone before Maggie could identify it, but she was left with the odd and inexplicable feeling that there was someone else here in the room.", "\n\n\"I hope you're right,\" Hollis murmured.", "\n\nMaggie looked around quickly, uneasy, then said, \"Hollis, why did you want me to come here tonight?\" ", "She felt the hand beneath hers tense even more.", "\n\n\"What you said about the paranormal sort of touched a nerve,\" Hollis said slowly. \"", "I've been more open-minded about it lately because of something that's been happening to me ever since the attack.\"", "\n\n\"What?\" ", "Again, Maggie felt that flash of something, so vivid that it was almost as though for a split second she caught a glimpse of someone standing just behind Hollis. ", "It was eerie and definitely not anything she had experienced before, yet somehow not really frightening.", "\n\n\"I thought it was my imagination at first.\" ", "Hollis laughed under her breath. \"", "Hell, maybe it is. ", "It started when I was—it started right after the attack. ", "A voice in my mind urging me to keep trying to pull myself out of that building where he'd left me. ", "It knew my name, that voice. ", "It helped give me the will to live, might even have saved my life. ", "They told me afterward that if I hadn't pulled myself out of the building just then, it probably would have been hours before anyone found me. ", "And I would have been dead.\"", "\n\n\"That doesn't sound like your imagination.\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "I don't think I ever believed that, not really. ", "She has such a distinctive voice, it's easy to feel she's a separate and distinct personality.\"", "\n\n\"Does she have a name?\"", "\n\n\"Her name is Annie. ", "Annie Graham.\"", "\n\nIt didn't sound familiar to Maggie—and yet it did somehow. ", "Again, she caught that flash of an image, a slight figure standing behind Hollis, and this time thought to herself, _Dark hair, sad face_. ", "But then it was gone.", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Sorry. ", "I was . . . ", "thinking.\"", "\n\n\"Thinking I'm out of my mind?\"", "\n\n\"No—far from it. ", "Do you know who she is, Hollis? ", "Or—who she was?\"", "\n\nAfter a moment, Hollis said, \"You figured it out more quickly than I did. ", "I guess it's not easy to accept the fact that a ghost is talking to you.\"", "\n\n\"I would imagine not. ", "I've never had any mediumistic abilities, so I don't know how it feels.\" ", "Except that she could feel it now. ", "She could feel Hollis's uneasiness and doubt, feel the slight chill of being touched by something inexplicable, the peculiar sensation of gazing into an open corridor linking the living and the dead.", "\n\n\"Mediumistic? ", "The ability to talk to the dead, I suppose. ", "Odd, somehow, that it has a name.\" ", "She barely paused before saying, \"But you do have paranormal abilities, don't you, Maggie?\"", "\n\nMaggie hesitated, then said, \"They call what I can do an empathic sense.\"", "\n\n\"Empathy. ", "You feel the pain of others. ", "And, sometimes, you blunt the edges of the hurt or even take some of it away, don't you?\"", "\n\n\"If I can.\"", "\n\nHollis's hand turned suddenly and gripped Maggie's. \"", "If I'd known that, I never would have talked to you. ", "Never would have forced you to feel so much of what I felt.\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "That's why I didn't tell you.\"", "\n\n\"I'm sorry, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"Don't be. ", "You didn't _force_ me to feel anything. ", "It's what I do, Hollis. ", "What I'm . . . ", "meant to do.\"", "\n\n\"Suffer?\"", "\n\n\"Understand suffering.\" ", "Maggie sighed. \"", "It's all right, really. ", "Right now I'm more interested in Annie and what she said to you. ", "Is that why I'm here?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "There are . . . ", "things she wants me to tell you. ", "She was the one who told me to ask for you in the first place. ", "She didn't say why, just that I needed to talk to you.\"", "\n\n\"I had wondered how you knew my name. ", "The police usually keep that quiet.\"", "\n\n\"Annie told me. ", "And a few hours ago she . . . ", "she pleaded with me to help her.\"", "\n\n\"Help her do what? ", "Contact me?\"", "\n\n\"Bring you here. ", "Tell you.\"", "\n\n\"Tell me what?\"", "\n\n\"Tell you about the next victim.\"", "\nCHAPTER FOURTEEN\n\n **John waited for Maggie where he had before, at the** doorway of the waiting room on the floor where Hollis Templeton's room was. ", "The area was as quiet as it always seemed to be, and no one disturbed his thoughts.", "\n\nHe almost wished someone would.", "\n\nIt should have been a relief to be told that his sister had not killed herself after all, that he'd been right about that much. ", "It had been one thing he'd been determined to prove. ", "But he still couldn't prove it. ", "And even if he believed Maggie—\n\nDid he believe Maggie?", "\n\nIt all seemed so . . . ", "incredible. ", "And yet he had seen with his own eyes her intense physical and emotional reaction to places where violence had occurred. ", "Had seen how she suffered right along with the victims she tried to help.", "\n\nAnd he had seen a painting of a brutally murdered woman, a woman he was certain was Tara Jameson. ", "Yet the missing woman had not yet been abducted when Maggie had painted her horribly mutilated image while in the grip of some frightening virtually unconscious nightmare state that chilled him to even imagine.", "\n\nMaggie had not been pretending or performing, he was certain of that. ", "Even if there had been a reason for her to feign such an incredible ability—and he couldn't think of a single one—why would anyone go to the extremes Maggie so obviously suffered just to maintain an inexplicable pretense?", "\n\nNo, he was sure Maggie and her abilities were genuine. ", "With every minute he spent with her, he was more and more convinced of her basic honesty and apparently karmic need to help people. ", "And if she was telling the truth about everything else, why would she lie about Christina's death?", "\n\nHe realized, after considering it carefully, that he believed she was telling the truth about that as well. ", "Something in her voice, in her face, even in her reluctance to tell him all this time what she felt, what she knew, had convinced him. ", "He believed she had on some level shared, even felt, the moment of his sister's death.", "\n\nAnd because he believed that, believed in Maggie's abilities, he had to also finally admit to himself that he believed several other distinctly disturbing . . . ", "facts:\n\nSomeone else, possibly the man who had attacked her, was responsible for Christina's death and had, in fact, murdered her in cold blood.", "\n\nQuentin really could \"see\" the future.", "\n\nAnd this bastard they all wanted caught and caged, this man who preyed on women out of some obscene need no sane mind could understand, this evil beast with a human face—had lived before. ", "And killed before.", "\n\nChrist . . . ", "what could a man do with that kind of knowledge?", "\n\nHis entire life, John had believed only in what he could see or touch or feel with his hands, what he absolutely knew to be real. ", "Never a religious man, he had viewed faith as superstition and the so-called paranormal as nothing more than mysticism dressed up by wishful thinking and pseudoscience to look rational.", "\n\nBut faced with this—all this—he was beginning to appreciate just how little he genuinely understood the very nature of reality. ", "Because if the world he lived in could produce seers and empaths and human monsters reborn to torment victims in life after life only because someone had failed to stop them when fate decreed, then all the certainties of his own life had been built upon shifting sands.", "\n\nIt was a sobering realization and yet . . . ", "surprisingly exhilarating as well. ", "He honestly hadn't thought there were any mysteries left to be explored, not for him. ", "With his business empire virtually running itself these days, his goals and ambitions long ago reached and even surpassed, his life had taken on a predictable and unexciting routine he had not quite defined as boring. ", "But boring it undoubtedly was.", "\n\nHe couldn't remember the last time he had felt so alive, so caught up in a unique and challenging situation.", "\n\nHe also understood for the first time why Quentin had joined the FBI when he had. ", "Not because he considered himself a traditional cop, a notion John had always found unbelievable given his friend's brash, thoroughly independent, and often reckless nature—to say nothing of his occasionally cockeyed sense of humor. ", "And not because he had a law degree he didn't quite know what to do with.", "\n\nNo, he had joined because Noah Bishop had been quietly recruiting qualified people with paranormal abilities for a very specialized unit of investigators, and that had appealed both to Quentin's innate curiosity and sense of justice and his need to make use of a unique talent the rest of the world found incomprehensible—and even frightening. ", "If they believed in it at all.", "\n\n\"Some friend I've been,\" John muttered beneath his breath.", "\n\nIt said a lot for Quentin's nature that he had remained a loyal friend, both humorous and unoffended all these years despite John's patent disbelief. ", "John wasn't so sure what it said about his own nature. ", "That he was incredibly stubborn, perhaps?", "\n\nPerhaps.", "\n\n\"John.\"", "\n\nHe straightened away from the doorjamb, surprised that he'd been so preoccupied he hadn't heard Maggie approach. ", "As soon as he saw her face, he took a quick step toward her almost instinctively.", "\n\n\"What is it? ", "What's happened?\"", "\n\nShe tucked her sketch pad under one arm and reached for her phone, her smile a little strained. \"", "Hollis thought she might have remembered something, but it's nothing we didn't already know.\" ", "The lie came easily to her lips, but she went on immediately just in case John's acute perception where she was concerned told him more than she wanted him to know. \"", "I'm worried about her, though. ", "She and Ellen Randall are the only surviving victims so far; Ellen's still blind and no threat to this animal, but Hollis might be able to see again, and I'm afraid that would disturb him enough that he might try to come after her again. ", "Even though the surgeon and the staff here have agreed not to publicize the operation, the news is bound to get out sooner rather than later. ", "I think she should be guarded, just in case he finds out about it.\"", "\n\n\"Sounds like a good idea.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Andy? ", "It's Maggie. ", "Are you guys making a night of it? ", "I know, I'd just as soon work as try to sleep too. ", "Listen, do you have somebody you can post here at the hospital, outside Hollis's room? ", "I don't want to scare her, but I think she should be protected. ", "No, but if this bastard finds out she might be able to see again—yeah, she could be a threat to him. ", "Clear it with the hospital, okay? ", "Thanks.\"", "\n\nShe listened for a moment, then closed her eyes briefly, and they were bleak when she opened them again. \"", "I see. ", "So he's not giving them even a chance to survive now. ", "And not wasting much time between victims. ", "He must have grabbed Tara Jameson within hours of killing Samantha Mitchell. ", "Yeah . . . ", "a whole new ball game. ", "No, John's still with me, so we'll come together. ", "Right.\"", "\n\nShe listened a moment longer, then frowned and said, \"Is that Luke I hear?\" ", "Her face tightened, and she said in a voice John remembered from their first meeting, \"Do me a favor, and tell him I'd appreciate it if he hung around until I got there. ", "I want to talk to him. ", "Yeah. ", "Thanks, Andy.\"", "\n\nWatching her drop the phone back into her pocket, John said, \"Do you think Drummond will listen to you?\"", "\n\nIt didn't even occur to Maggie that John hadn't needed to ask what she had in mind. \"", "I think he'd damned well better. ", "Stubborn is one thing, but this has gone way too far to keep bumping up against Luke's pride.\"", "\n\n\"Even he has to see that much now. ", "I gather they found Samantha Mitchell's body?\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "He'd killed her outright.\" ", "She drew a breath. \"", "Cut her throat.\"", "\n\nJohn watched her steadily. \"", "Then I'd say it's way past time to pool our resources and manpower and work together.\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded. \"", "Definitely. ", "Whether Luke Drummond likes it or not.\"", "\n\n\"You've got my vote. ", "And I have a hunch Andy is going to agree with you too.\"", "\n\nShe nodded. \"", "I'll make sure first, okay it with Andy, and then I've got a few home truths for Luke. ", "If I have to, I'll go to the chief—and I'll make sure Luke knows it.\"", "\n\n\"Blame me for the fact that Quentin and Kendra are already in town,\" he told her. \"", "He can bitch at me all he wants without hurting any of the rest of you.\"", "\n\n\"Are you sure?\"", "\n\n\"Positive. ", "And if you need any extra ammo, you might try telling him the governor owes me a favor that I've been very hesitant to call in. ", "So far.\"", "\n\n\"Is that true?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "I was saving it in case Drummond got nasty and tried to shut me out of the investigation entirely, but we might as well play every card we've got.\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded again. \"", "Okay. ", "I'll use it if I have to.\"", "\n\nJohn put an arm around her, partly because she looked exhausted and partly because he needed to touch her, and said, \"Let's go.\"", "\n\nScott came into the conference room and sat down in a chair across from Jennifer. \"", "Beats me what's going on, but it looks serious. ", "Andy's in a huddle with John at his desk, and Maggie is in Drummond's office. ", "The door is closed—but you can still hear Drummond.\"", "\n\nJennifer grimaced. \"", "If he's pissed enough to be yelling at Maggie, it must really be serious. ", "He's more careful with her than he is with any of us.\"", "\n\n\"Because the chief is so high on her.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\" ", "Jennifer looked at her watch. \"", "Nearly eleven. ", "Andy said we should put ourselves back on the clock if we're planning to hang around.\"", "\n\n\"Suits me,\" Scott said. \"", "All I do at home is stare at the walls trying to figure this thing out.\"", "\n\n\"I know what you mean.\"", "\n\n\"Any luck finding that transient?\"", "\n\n\"Not so far. ", "I called some of the other shelters in the area, but they don't have anybody matching his description or claiming the name David Robson.\"", "\n\n\"You don't really think this guy saw a ghost, do you, Jenn?\"", "\n\n\"I think he might have seen something. ", "At the very least, something that shook him up.\"", "\n\n\"Because Terry Lynch says so?\"", "\n\n\"He's a good cop, Scott.\"", "\n\n\"Sure he is. ", "I'm just wondering what a drunken transient could possibly have seen to make him believe he'd seen a ghost. ", "Smoke? ", "Light hitting a patch of mist just right? ", "Somebody dressed all in white?\"", "\n\n\"All good possibilities,\" she admitted. \"", "But maybe he saw something else, Scott. ", "From what little we do know, this bastard may be wearing a mask at least while he's with the victims—one of those hard plastic masks. ", "I'd think that would look plenty creepy even if you were cold sober.\"", "\n\n\"I guess.\"", "\n\nJennifer sighed. \"", "I know it's a long shot, but what have we got to lose checking it out?\"", "\n\nScott sighed as well. \"", "Nothing.\"", "\n\n\"Exactly.\" ", "Jennifer reached for the phone. \"", "I have a couple more shelters on my list that should be taking calls even this late. ", "Besides—even long shots finish first every once in a while.\"", "\n\n\"Not when you bet on them,\" Scott replied in a voice of wry experience.", "\n\n\"I don't like being threatened, Maggie.\" ", "Drummond's voice was level, a distinct change from his roaring of only moments before.", "\n\nOn her feet in front of his desk, she leaned forward and planted her hands squarely on his blotter. \"", "No? ", "Then stop making it necessary, Luke. ", "This thing has gotten way out of hand, and if you were honest with yourself instead of so bullheaded you refuse to see reason, you'd admit it.\"", "\n\n\"My people can—\"\n\n\"Your people are out of their league. ", "They're damned good cops, every one of them, but they've never had to deal with this kind of monster before. ", "Nothing in their training or experience has prepared them for it.\"", "\n\n\"If you'd just produce a sketch—\"\n\nShe straightened and half laughed. \"", "Fine, blame it on me. ", "I don't give a shit. ", "Say your sketch artist just couldn't do her job, and that's why you can't catch this animal.\"", "\n\nHe had the grace to flush, but his eyes remained angry. \"", "We're doing everything in our power, everything that can possibly be done. ", "And the chief agrees with me; why call in the FBI when we don't have so much as a piece of conclusive evidence for them to fucking investigate?\"", "\n\n\"Listen to me. ", "You're a hunter—think about it. ", "What's the logical thing to do when you're after a particular kind of animal? ", "You look for experienced hunters. ", "When you have a bear problem, you damned well find somebody who knows how to hunt bears.\"", "\n\n\"Cops hunt criminals. ", "And—hey, surprise!—we catch them too.\"", "\n\nMaggie deliberately dropped her voice to a conversational tone, unthreatening, even unemotional. \"", "Yes, you do. ", "But this isn't just another criminal, Luke— that's where you're misjudging the situation. ", "This is an animal, a human monster going to inhuman extremes to hide his evil face even from his dying victims. ", "And when you go after a monster, you need somebody who knows how to hunt them.\"", "\n\n\"Like the FBI.\"", "\n\n\"No, like a very specialized unit _within_ the FBI.\" ", "She allowed her voice to sharpen. \"", "A group of highly skilled, trained, and dedicated people who don't care what the headlines read after they've done their job and gone. ", "They don't care who gets the political points. ", "All they care about is putting monsters in cages where they belong.\"", "\n\nAgain, Drummond flushed slightly, this time at the biting comment about his political aspirations, but all he said was \"I've never heard of this specialized unit.\"", "\n\n\"No, you probably haven't. ", "Like I said, they don't seek publicity—the opposite, if anything.\" ", "She watched that sink in, and added, \"But if you'll check back through the law-enforcement agency bulletins the Bureau sends out, I'm sure you'll find them mentioned a few times. ", "They're the Special Crimes Unit— SCU. ", "Formed to assist local law enforcement to handle unusually challenging violent crimes. ", "Their success record is quite impressive. ", "They have a mandate never to interfere with local law enforcement, only to advise and provide support and assistance— when requested to do so.\"", "\n\n\"How come you know so much about them?\"", "\n\n\"Someone I know nearly joined that unit a couple of years ago.\" ", "She shrugged. \"", "What I can tell you is that they're good, Luke. ", "They're very, very good.\"", "\n\n\"I still don't see what they could do that we can't,\" Drummond muttered.", "\n\nMaggie knew he was going to give in—however grudgingly—so she kept her response matter-of-fact. \"", "Like I said, they've hunted monsters before; maybe they'll have a take on this the rest of us would never think of. ", "But even if they don't, the murder of Samantha Mitchell raises the stakes, doesn't it, Luke? ", "People are going to be asking what _more_ you're doing to stop a sadistic rapist who has now become a brutal murderer. ", "Call these expert monster hunters in, and you've got an answer for them.\"", "\n\n\"Shit.\" ", "He leaned back in his chair until it creaked, scowling.", "\n\n\"You know it's the right thing to do. ", "Even more, it's the smart thing to do. ", "Luke, a few days ago you asked me to try harder to give you a picture of this monster. ", "Now I'm telling you that I can't do it alone. ", "I can't do it just by talking to blinded victims. ", "I need help. ", "I need people who can help me to understand the way he thinks.\"", "\n\n\"Is that why you're so cozy with Garrett these days?\" ", "he asked sourly.", "\n\nIgnoring the implication, she said, \"As a matter of fact, John decided a few days ago that if you couldn't use the resources of this FBI unit, then maybe he could. ", "You know how determined he is to find the man who attacked his sister, whatever it takes. ", "He happens to have a friend in the unit, and the friend is here in Seattle along with his partner, on their own time and off the books. ", "We have them to thank for how quickly Samantha Mitchell's body was found.\"", "\n\nShe had been reasonably sure that last would keep him from exploding, and she was right. ", "But she nevertheless didn't give him time to start sputtering.", "\n\n\"Nobody's stepping on your authority, Luke, and all of us have only one goal in mind. ", "We just want to stop this monster before he kills again. ", "Give us all the tools we need to do that. ", "Be a smart politician as well as a smart cop and call the unit in officially. ", "Give Andy the okay to open up the investigation to them. ", "I promise you won't regret it.\"", "\n\n\"I'd better not,\" he growled. \"", "Send him in.\"", "\n\nMaggie didn't allow a shadow of triumph to show and didn't waste time leaving the office. ", "The bullpen was less busy than usual at this late hour, but she was still aware of considerable covert attention as she made her way to Andy's desk, where he and John waited. ", "Not that she was surprised by the interest—Drummond's voice had rattled the windows, so it had undoubtedly been heard out here.", "\n\n\"He wants you,\" she told Andy. \"", "He'll probably bluster a bit, but bottom line you'll get the okay to bring Quentin and Kendra in officially.\"", "\n\n\"Did you have to promise your first child?\" ", "Andy asked dryly as he rose.", "\n\n\"No. ", "But I may be pouring brimstone out of my shoes tonight.\"", "\n\nHe grinned at her, then headed for Drummond's office.", "\n\n\"Well done,\" John said. \"", "Here—sit down.\" ", "He decided not to add that she looked very tired and he was worried about her.", "\n\nShe did, taking the other visitor's chair. \"", "I think I'd almost rather interview a dozen witnesses than argue with Luke. ", "He's about as bullheaded as they come.\"", "\n\nJohn smiled faintly. \"", "You convinced him. ", "That's the important thing.\"", "\n\n\"Let's hope so.\" ", "She smiled in return. \"", "Are Quentin and Kendra likely to be up?\"", "\n\n\"Oh, yeah, they're both night owls, especially during an ongoing investigation. ", "Are you sure enough of Drummond to call them in right now?\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded. \"", "I don't think we have any time to lose, do you?\"", "\n\nJohn reached for the phone.", "\n\nWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7\n\nBy the time they were all assembled in the conference room, it was after midnight. ", "Drummond had left for home some time before, saying he'd meet \"those agents\" the following day, and many of the detectives who had been working on the investigation were also absent, either off duty and home or else out doing what they could to find the latest missing woman, Tara Jameson.", "\n\nSo it was what had become the core of the police investigative team—Andy, Scott, and Jennifer—who were introduced to Quentin and Kendra. ", "And they wasted no time in getting to work.", "\n\nQuentin prowled around studying the photos, sketches, and descriptions pinned to the bulletin board, while Kendra reported that their search of every available database for similar crimes going back more than six months had turned up nothing even remotely close anywhere in the country, indicating that he had indeed begun attacking women only six months ago.", "\n\n\"But there's this,\" Quentin said, tapping one of the bulletin boards. \"", "Absolutely amazing. ", "Who took the intuitive leap and dug these up?\"", "\n\nAndy nodded to Scott and Jennifer. \"", "They did.\"", "\n\nScott explained their thinking about a rapist with a too-developed ritual.", "\n\nWhen he was finished, Quentin was the first to speak, saying thoughtfully, \"You colored outside the lines when you were a kid, didn't you?\"", "\n\nScott stared at him for a moment, then caught the twinkle in the agent's eyes and grinned reluctantly. \"", "Well, yeah.\"", "\n\n\"I'm not surprised. ", "Very creative and intuitive thinking. ", "And it is a perfectly rational explanation given the facts as we know them. ", "Copycats are getting depressingly common these days. ", "So maybe the guy did decide to borrow someone else's ritual and used a series of old, unsolved crimes to learn from.\"", "\n\nJohn glanced at Maggie, but she was listening gravely and showed no inclination to interrupt. ", "And he wasn't about to. ", "Even if she was right in her incredible claim that they were dealing with an evil mind reborn, John didn't see how that knowledge could do anything except confuse the investigation. ", "Assuming it was even believed.", "\n\nNo, they were after a flesh-and-blood killer now, whatever else he was, and that was the quarry they had to hunt down.", "\n\nAndy said, \"Jenn's trying to run down a witness who might have seen something in the area where Hollis Templeton was found, but he's a transient, so finding him won't be easy. ", "The only other new point we have is Maggie's belief that this bastard knows the latest victim, Tara Jameson.\"", "\n\nJennifer frowned at her. \"", "What makes you think that?\"", "\n\nMaggie glanced at Andy, hesitated, then shrugged. \"", "Sometimes I feel things. ", "A sixth sense, if you will. ", "They call it an empathic sense.\"", "\n\n\"Which explains a lot,\" Andy said to the other two detectives after a moment. \"", "That's how she gets those incredibly accurate sketches, how she . . . ", "communicates . . . ", "so well with victims. ", "Isn't it, Maggie? ", "When you tell them you know how they feel, you mean it literally.\"", "\n\n\"Usually. ", "It's stronger with some people than others. ", "But most victims of violent crime are . . . ", "they're traumatized, their emotions much more powerful than normal. ", "I pick that up pretty easily.\"", "\n\n\"Do you know what we're feeling right now?\" ", "Jennifer demanded.", "\n\nMaggie shrugged. \"", "In a general sense, yes. ", "That's all I get without physical contact, just a faint impression— not much more than I'd get anyway from watching your expressions or listening to your voices.\"", "\n\n\"Tell them the rest,\" Quentin murmured.", "\n\nShe looked at him, then at the others. \"", "Violent emotion is just another kind of energy. ", "And it . . . ", "lingers in some places, almost as if it soaks into the walls and floors, at least for a while. ", "Sometimes, if I walk through a place where something violent has happened, I . . . ", "connect with the victim or attacker. ", "Feel a lot of what they felt at the time.\"", "\n\n\"Which is why you picked up on the arguments and stuff at the Mitchell house,\" Andy said and, when she nodded, quickly listed the impressions Maggie had gained from walking through that house, so that his detectives understood what they were talking about.", "\n\nMaggie said, \"In each case, one or both of the Mitchells were experiencing emotions more intensely than usual. ", "The argument about the parrot was pretty fierce, as was the one Thomas Mitchell had with his father-in-law. ", "And the broken mirror cut Samantha's hand, which caused her a lot of pain.\"", "\n\nJennifer said, \"There've been a lot of violent emotions in this building; do you feel that?\"", "\n\nGrimacing slightly, Maggie said, \"Until recently, all I felt was a kind of . . . ", "skin-tingling sensation, like the way you feel when there's too much static electricity in the air. ", "But it's getting more intense as time passes. ", "At the hospital too.\"", "\n\n\"You didn't say anything,\" John said, not quite accusingly.", "\n\n\"What could I say?\" ", "She shrugged. \"", "It's almost like background noise now, a low hum of energy just beneath the level of consciousness. ", "Usually, anyway. ", "Sometimes a particular impression gets through more strongly.\"", "\n\n\"For instance?\" ", "There was a challenging note to Jennifer's question.", "\n\nMaggie glanced at Quentin, who said wryly, \"Gotta jump through a hoop or two. ", "It never fails.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\" ", "Maggie saw a bit of color creep into Jennifer's cheeks, but she answered the other woman's question as if she didn't see the gauntlet thrown at her feet. \"", "For instance . . . ", "you had someone you suspect of burglary in here really early today—I mean Tuesday. ", "The detective working the case—Harrison?—is convinced this guy has been breaking into some pretty high-class homes in the city. ", "Problem is, you've searched his place, and you've staked out the known fences, and so far found nothing.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah,\" Andy said. \"", "So?\"", "\n\n\"So when he was in here today, your suspect was really worried you'd find out about the storage building he rents under his brother's name.\"", "\n\nScott said, \"Jesus. ", "I want to run tell Mike Harrison, but I'm afraid I'll miss something.\"", "\n\n\"Tell him later,\" Andy ordered. ", "He eyed Maggie. \"", "Any other little tidbits you want to pass on?\"", "\n\n\"Well, that elderly woman you suspect of killing her husband didn't.\"", "\n\n\"No?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "But she did dispose of his body. ", "Buried him in the woods behind her house.\"", "\n\n\"Christ,\" Andy said. \"", "Why, if she didn't kill him?\"", "\n\n\"He wasn't insured, and she needs the Social Security checks to keep coming. ", "So she tried to pretend he was still alive.\"", "\n\nInto the silence, Quentin said, \"Sometimes I really hate working for the government.\"", "\n\nScott drew a breath and said, \"Well, I say we hire Maggie to sit by the front door all day.\"", "\n\nShe smiled at him. \"", "So I can get bits of info you guys would have found out on your own anyway?\"", "\n\n\"I'm not so sure about that,\" Andy said. \"", "But even assuming you were willing, we'd have to figure out some way of making your . . . ", "impressions . . . ", "sound like legitimate leads, and I have a hunch that wouldn't be easy.\"", "\n\n\"Take it from me,\" Quentin said, \"it wouldn't be. ", "And if what you were doing became public knowledge—\"\n\n\"There'd be privacy issues,\" Maggie finished. \"", "At the very least. ", "With the possible exception of cops with difficult cases to crack, nobody would be at all happy to think there was someone reading them like a book every time they walked through the door and so invading their privacy without permission or legal justification.\"", "\n\nShe shrugged. \"", "Anyway, that's how I know that the rapist knows Tara Jameson. ", "There was a strong sense of familiarity when he grabbed her, much more than there would have been if his only knowledge of her came from watching her.\"", "\n\nAndy looked at the others, then nodded. \"", "That's good enough for me. ", "I know it's late, but I say we start pulling together everything we know about Tara Jameson's life. ", "Family, friends, neighbors, coworkers. ", "We all know the drill. ", "Wake people up if you have to. ", "If there's any chance at all we might be able to find her before this bastard can play his twisted games, I say we pull out all the stops and go for it.\"", "\n\nNobody disagreed.", "\nCHAPTER FIFTEEN\n\n **It wasn't at all unusual for Beau to be working in his** studio after midnight, but it was rare for him to be working with his eyes closed.", "\n\nIt was also something he wasn't happy about and wouldn't have willingly been doing except by urgent request. ", "The last time he'd tried it, the resulting painting had given him nightmares for weeks. ", "And it was the only example of his work he had ever destroyed.", "\n\n\"It's not just spatters, is it?\" ", "he asked, less hopeful than resigned.", "\n\n\"No. ", "Not just spatters.\"", "\n\n\"I wish it was.\"", "\n\n\"I know.\"", "\n\n\"You know too damned much.\"", "\n\n\"One thing I _don't_ know is how you're able to use the artistic version of automatic writing and talk coherently at the same time.\"", "\n\n\"I don't know that either, and it freaks me out to think too much about it. ", "Reminds me of that old horror movie about the pianist who got himself a new pair of hands. ", "Someone else's.\"", "\n\n\"Now you're freaking me out.\"", "\n\n\"I'd like to think I could. ", "But you've seen too much to be bothered by anything I can do.\"", "\n\n\"Don't be so sure of that.\"", "\n\nBeau half turned his head, eyes still closed and paintbrush still moving skillfully, and frowned. \"", "Am I going to want to look at this thing when I'm done?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, Christ. ", "Can I stop now?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know. ", "Can you?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "Dammit. ", "There's still something . . .\" ", "Beau gritted his teeth and kept painting. ", "He hated this. ", "It was infinitely preferable to have a vision, even if it made his head ache for an hour afterward. ", "Preferable to have bits and pieces of knowledge or information just pop into his head, unbidden. ", "Either of those he could deal with.", "\n\nBut this . . . ", "this was major-league creepy. ", "He'd wondered more than once if it was really his own mind, his own skills, guiding his hands when he painted this way. ", "Considering the finished products, that was a scary thought. ", "But even scarier was the possibility he wasn't in control in any sense, that someone else was \"speaking\" through his skills, using them to get a message out.", "\n\nOut of hell, he sometimes thought.", "\n\n\"Am I the only one you know who can do this?\" ", "he demanded. \"", "Is that why you come to me?\"", "\n\n\"You're the best I've found. ", "Artistic expertise matched by psychic ability. ", "But in this case, it wasn't either skill that brought me here, you know that.\"", "\n\n\"Then why ask me to do this?\"", "\n\n\"I use every tool I can get my hands on, you also know that.\"", "\n\n\"And to hell with the cost to me, huh?\"", "\n\n\"You can pay the bill.\"", "\n\n\"You're a bastard, Galen—do _you_ know that?\"", "\n\n\"As a matter of fact, I do.\"", "\n\nBeau was silent for several minutes, then said, \"Maggie's just beginning to find out what she can do.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "I saw the painting.\"", "\n\n\"So you've been breaking into her house too, huh?\"", "\n\n\"You should both invest in a little security.\"", "\n\n\"Obviously.\" ", "Beau painted for several more minutes before the brush finally wavered and his hand fell. ", "He turned his back to the easel before opening his eyes and walking to the worktable where Galen leaned to clean the brush and his palette.", "\n\n\"It's almost over, Beau.\"", "\n\n\"If you're trying to make me feel better, that won't do it.\"", "\n\n\"Sorry. ", "Best I can do.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, right.\" ", "Beau cleaned his hands on a rag, paying close attention to the task, then said, \"I'm going to put the coffee on.\"", "\n\n\"Late for caffeine.\"", "\n\n\"Well, if you think I want to sleep tonight, you're crazy. ", "Cover that thing when you're done looking at it, all right?\" ", "Without waiting for a response, and without so much as a glance at the painting, Beau left the studio.", "\n\nGalen looked after him for a moment, then straightened and approached the easel almost warily. ", "He stood back some distance from it, powerful arms crossed over his chest as he studied a painting so complex and skillfully done it was almost impossible to believe the artist's eyes had been closed the entire time.", "\n\nAlmost impossible to believe.", "\n\nFar from Beau's usual and rather famous impressionist work, this painting didn't shimmer with light but rather with darkness. ", "Bold strokes of black, deep shades of maroon and slate gray and brown made up an indistinct yet oddly unnerving background lightened only by the amorphous flesh-toned faces and forms in the foreground.", "\n\nGalen considered one face in particular, one of the few that was clearly recognizable. ", "It wore a twisted expression of pain, wide eyes already going empty as life left them. ", "His own rather hard mouth twisted.", "\n\n\"Shit,\" he said very softly.", "\n\nMaggie had never been a nervous woman, but by the time John dropped her off at her home very early in the morning, it took all her resolution not to ask him to come inside with her. ", "She told herself it was lack of sleep, but that didn't help much except to remind her he needed rest as well—and did not need to be worrying about her safety.", "\n\nWorrying never did any good, she knew that.", "\n\nBesides, if he knew the truth, he'd want to be with her every moment, watching over her—she knew that too. ", "And as comforting as his presence was, she had to be able to spend at least some time alone and without the distraction he presented, recharging her energies while she tried to think this thing through.", "\n\nAt least that was what she told herself when she went into her silent house and cautiously checked all the doors and windows before taking a long, hot shower and trying to get some sleep. ", "But sleep didn't come easily. ", "She dozed, waking several times with a start to find herself tense, listening for some alien sound. ", "But there was nothing, of course.", "\n\nOf course.", "\n\nAfter only a few hours, she finally got up and got dressed, not much rested. ", "She ate only because she knew she should, then checked her garage and car as warily as she had checked her house hours before. ", "Even when she was in the car and moving, doors locked, she didn't relax.", "\n\nShe wondered if she ever would again.", "\n\nWhen she walked into Beau's studio a few minutes later, she was a little surprised to find him lounged back with his feet up on the table rather than working. ", "The commissioned portrait of a Seattle businessman's wife that he'd been working on for days reposed on his easel, but from all appearances he hadn't picked up brush or palette today.", "\n\n\"I'm taking the day off,\" he announced before she could ask him. \"", "Have some coffee—it's a fresh pot.\"", "\n\nMaggie fixed herself a cup and sat down across from him, studying his angelic face with a frown. \"", "Not that it really shows, but I could swear you'd been up all night too.\"", "\n\n\"I didn't sleep,\" he admitted. \"", "Called your house pretty late and figured you were at the station.\"", "\n\n\"I was. ", "We had a sort of war council just before midnight and ended up staying there until dawn.\" ", "Briskly, she filled him in on everything that had happened since they had last talked, as usual not sure just how much he knew without being told, and finished up, \"I went home a few hours ago for a nap and a shower, like most of the others.\"", "\n\n\"Most?\"", "\n\n\"Andy's up for the duration, I think. ", "And Quentin and Kendra seemed wide-eyed and energetic when I left.\"", "\n\nBeau, who knew most of the detectives Maggie worked with at least by name, since she talked about them, nodded and said, \"From what you've said about Andy, that isn't surprising. ", "As for the two feds, unusual endurance is probably the rule rather than the exception for that unit.\"", "\n\nEyeing him thoughtfully, Maggie said, \"You never really told me why you turned Bishop down when he asked you to join up a couple of years ago.\"", "\n\n\"Didn't I?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "And don't try to sidestep now. ", "Quentin and Kendra haven't said anything, but I'm willing to bet they've known about the connection between you and me for days. ", "You said yourself Bishop more or less told you that the plan was for him and his agents to keep track of the psychics they're aware of outside the unit, just in case of need.\"", "\n\n\"That's what he said.\"", "\n\n\"So they've probably known about you since they got here.\" ", "She shook her head. \"", "I'll give them full marks for discretion; far as I can tell, they haven't said a word to anybody, even John.\"", "\n\n\"Knowing Bishop, he'd see discretion as necessary. ", "One of his goals was always to build the unit and earn a solid success record long before the public found out anything.\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded. \"", "Makes sense. ", "So—why did you decide not to join up?\"", "\n\n\"I don't have a law degree.\"", "\n\n\"Which wouldn't be necessary, if you went on the books as technical support for the field agents. ", "That was another of Bishop's goals, wasn't it, to build a support team made up of people with psychic abilities _and_ other talents that could prove useful in investigations? ", "I'd say an artist might come in handy, especially one with a name so well known it would provide excellent cover for any federal snooping he was doing.\"", "\n\n\"You've been around cops too much. ", "You're beginning to think like them.\"", "\n\n\"Don't try to distract me. ", "Why'd you say no? ", "It's certainly the kind of thing you'd enjoy doing.\"", "\n\nBeau shrugged. \"", "Let's just say the timing wasn't right.\"", "\n\nMaggie frowned at him. \"", "It wasn't because of me, was it?\"", "\n\nHonest as always—at least when pressed—Beau said, \"Not entirely. ", "Anyway, you're the one Bishop would have loved to have on his team. ", "An empathic sketch artist already accustomed to working with the police? ", "Perfect. ", "But I knew you had a pretty big job to finish here, and because I knew, so did he.\"", "\n\n\"He must be a powerful telepath.\"", "\n\n\"Oh, he is. ", "Even more so these days, I hear, since he teamed up with and married another equally powerful psychic.\"", "\n\n\"And how did you hear? ", "The psychic newsletter? ", "Because I don't get that.\"", "\n\nBeau grinned at her disgruntled tone. \"", "I keep trying to tell you there are lots of connections in life.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, right. ", "That degrees-of-separation stuff ?\"", "\n\n\"Sure. ", "So I know you—and by extension everybody you know as well. ", "It adds up.\"", "\n\nMaggie was never entirely certain if these interesting theories of Beau's were theories—or universal facts he understood simply because he was unusually plugged into the universe.", "\n\n\"Um . . . ", "okay.\"", "\n\nHe grinned again. \"", "Never mind. ", "So what's the plan for the day?\"", "\n\n\"I'm going to interview Ellen Randall again in about an hour. ", "I want to check on Hollis, make sure she's all right. ", "Then back to the station and meet up with the others, see what if anything they've managed to find out about a possible connection in Tara Jameson's life to the man who abducted her.\"", "\n\n\"You shouldn't be out alone.\"", "\n\n\"I work best alone, you know that.\"", "\n\n\"Not this time, Maggie. ", "This time, working alone is dangerous for you.\"", "\n\n\"I'm being careful.\"", "\n\n\"Are you?\"", "\n\nShe conjured a smile and hoped it was reassuring. \"", "Of course I am. ", "Besides, you know only too well that hiding won't do me any good. ", "I have to do what I can to stop this animal. ", "I have to.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "But not alone. ", "You have to use all the tools you've been given this time.\"", "\n\n\"Some of them are no help at all.\" ", "Broodingly, she looked down at her closed sketch pad. \"", "The irony is that this is the monster I'm supposed to stop, the reason I'm here—at least this time around— and even though I've been given an ability that's helped me stop others, it isn't helping me the least bit with him. ", "I can't see him. ", "I'm as blind as his victims are.\"", "\n\n\"And there must be a reason for that.\"", "\n\n\"The universe wants to piss me off?\"", "\n\nHe smiled. \"", "Maybe. ", "I've always suspected there's a real cosmic sense of humor out there.\"", "\n\n\"If so, it's a twisted humor, Beau. ", "This is not funny.\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "But there's something you have to keep in mind, Maggie. ", "As much as you're focused on stopping this man, the universe is a huge and complicated place. ", "The patterns all around us are made up of uncounted threads, woven in complex designs, and every thread is important to the whole. ", "It isn't just about him. ", "It isn't just about his victims, or the cops.\"", "\n\n\"Or me.\"", "\n\nHe nodded. \"", "Or you.\"", "\n\nShe drew a breath, then said dryly, \"Thanks, Master.\"", "\n\n\"You're welcome, Grasshopper.\"", "\n\nMaggie had to smile. \"", "Well, while I keep the immensity of the universe firmly in mind, I have to go on working in my little corner of it. ", "Any advice—this time?\"", "\n\n\"Brush after every meal.\"", "\n\n\"You know, you're not nearly as funny as you think you are.\"", "\n\n\"No? ", "Ah, well. ", "One tries.\"", "\n\n\"One fails.\"", "\n\n\"You're just grumpy because you don't get the psychic newsletter.\" ", "His smile faded slightly. \"", "Maggie? ", "I was right about John Garrett, wasn't I?\"", "\n\nShe got up and for a moment just looked at him. ", "Then her mouth twisted, and she said, \"Yeah. ", "You were right.\"", "\n\n\"Fate.\"", "\n\n\"Fate. ", "See you later, Beau.\"", "\n\nFor a long time after she left, Beau sat there staring into space. ", "Then, so reluctant that every movement was slow and careful, he got up and went to the big painting leaning against the wall, covered with a piece of heavy material so that Maggie hadn't even noticed it.", "\n\nBeau propped the still-covered painting on a secondary easel and stepped away for a moment, trying to prepare himself. ", "Then he drew a deep breath and flipped back the material.", "\n\nA detached part of his mind noted the technique and skill displayed, seeing and accepting the unsettling fact that this was arguably the best work of his life. ", "But that wasn't all he saw. ", "He saw the vague yet identifiable faces and forms of what he recognized as tormented women trapped in a dark hell of suffering, their arms reaching out desperately for help, most of them with empty eye sockets wide, open mouths pleading.", "\n\nHe saw the hands that had destroyed the women, hands clenched into fists, hands wielding knives and holding ropes, and hands reaching out for the women, as though to pull them back down into hell.", "\n\nFor a long, long time, Beau didn't move. ", "He stared at the painting, absorbing every brush stroke, every nuance. ", "Ignoring the nausea churning in his gut, he stared until he was certain every dreadful detail was burned into his mind.", "\n\nThen he went and got a tool designed to cut canvas and very methodically shredded the best work he'd ever done.", "\n\n\"Not this time,\" he muttered into the silence of the studio. \"", "Goddammit, not this time.\"", "\n\n\"I always end up working in boring police conference rooms,\" Quentin said somewhat sadly to the room at large. \"", "And with a great hotel this time too.\"", "\n\n\"It'll keep you humble,\" Kendra told him.", "\n\n\"Yeah, right.\"", "\n\nJohn came in then and immediately asked, \"Anybody heard from Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Not since you have,\" Quentin told him. \"", "She was going to interview Ellen Randall and then stop off at the hospital to see Hollis Templeton, right?\"", "\n\n\"So she said.\"", "\n\n\"Hasn't had time to do both, I'd say. ", "And where have you been?\"", "\n\n\"Letting Drummond vent some of his spleen.\"", "\n\nQuentin grimaced. \"", "Yeah, I thought when he was so painfully polite to us this morning that he was itching to explode.\"", "\n\nJohn shrugged. \"", "I thought it'd be better for all of us if he got it out of his system.\"", "\n\n\"We appreciate that,\" Jennifer said dryly.", "\n\n\"I won't say it was a pleasure—but you're welcome.\" ", "Obviously restless, John looked at his watch, then sat down at the conference table. \"", "Andy's still trying to hurry the medical examiner, but it'll probably be late this afternoon before we have the results of the postmortem on Samantha Mitchell.\"", "\n\n\"I'm not surprised,\" Quentin said absently, prowling back and forth in front of the bulletin boards. \"", "According to the police scanner we were listening to yesterday, there were a couple of really bad fires in the city, with fatalities. ", "The M.E.'s probably got more than he can handle.\"", "\n\n\"Still,\" John said.", "\n\n\"Still,\" Quentin agreed. ", "He prowled a while longer, but when Kendra gave him a very direct look, he finally sat down across from John. ", "Half under his breath, he said, \"For somebody with a uniquely flexible mind, she gets very irritated by the smallest things.\"", "\n\n\"Even I was getting irritated,\" John told him dryly.", "\n\nJennifer added, \"Me too, but I wasn't going to mention it.\"", "\n\n\"Then why did you?\" ", "Quentin demanded.", "\n\n\"Everybody else did.\"", "\n\nQuentin sighed. \"", "All right, all right. ", "Can I help it if I'm restless? ", "I hate this part of the job. ", "Basically just sitting around going through papers and scratching our heads while we wait for the bastard to make another move.\" ", "He watched John look at his watch again and added, \"And I'm not the only one who hates it.\"", "\n\nIgnoring that, John said, \"Scott's out talking to Tara Jameson's coworkers, right?\"", "\n\nQuentin nodded. \"", "Kendra's been running background checks on every name we've got, but so far everyone in her life looks clean. ", "The fiancé definitely is, with a strong alibi to boot. ", "No family here in the city. ", "Andy has a couple of detectives canvassing the building again, and I just spent the past two hours going over the security videotapes.\"", "\n\n\"And found nothing, I gather?\"", "\n\n\"Nada. ", "I have a hunch the tapes don't show anything because he monkeyed with the cameras, but I'm no expert.\"", "\n\n\"Then we need to send them to someone who is.\"", "\n\n\"That's my thinking.\"", "\n\nJennifer said, \"The security company will raise hell, most likely. ", "They swear their cameras have not been altered in any way, that it would have been impossible for any unauthorized person to do that. ", "Of course, they also can't explain how Tara Jameson vanished from her supposedly secure building. ", "The egg on their faces isn't pretty.\"", "\n\n\"Has Andy made an official request for the cameras?\" ", "John asked.", "\n\nShe nodded. \"", "He's doing that as we speak. ", "And we have technicians standing by to take the things apart as soon as we get our hands on them.\"", "\n\n\"So we wait,\" Quentin said with a sigh. \"", "I hate waiting.\" ", "He stared at the bulletin board. \"", "Kendra, any luck from the databases on that 1894 date?\"", "\n\nShe shook her head without a glance at the humming laptop before her. \"", "Not so far. ", "Hardly surprising, considering we're going back more than a hundred years. ", "Most records that old haven't been digitized yet.\"", "\n\n\"If it comes to that,\" Jennifer said, \"we aren't even sure the 1894 date is part of this. ", "Even if it _was_ on the note, it doesn't have to mean anything. ", "Maybe our mysterious tipster just wants to make us waste time looking.\"", "\n\nQuentin looked at her for a long moment, then said matter-of-factly, \"You wrote the note, Jenn.\"", "\n\nShe stared at him. \"", "What? ", "No, I didn't.\"", "\n\n\"Look in your notebook.\" ", "His voice remained steady, even gentle. \"", "You'll find a page torn out. ", "The page you found in your car will match it.\"", "\n\nAt first it seemed she wouldn't do it, but finally she opened her small black notebook on the table and slowly flipped through the pages covered by her neat shorthand notes. ", "They all saw her pause. ", "And they all saw her rub her finger gently across the ragged remains of a torn-out page.", "\n\nBy the time Maggie left Ellen Randall's house just after noon, she felt drained. ", "She drove only as far as the nearest recreation area and stopped there, carefully parking her car in an open space where she could see anyone approach her, and warily leaving the engine running even as she double-checked to make certain all the doors were locked.", "\n\nFor several minutes, she sat there studying her surroundings, senses probing. ", "Nothing. ", "The place was virtually deserted on this dreary weekday. ", "Still, Maggie couldn't quite relax and kept glancing up from time to time even as she opened her sketchbook and looked at the still-incomplete sketch of the rapist/killer.", "\n\nEllen hadn't been able to add anything to what Maggie already knew, and her continuing pain and anguish were still so intense it was difficult for Maggie to feel anything else right now, but she tried to concentrate.", "\n\nLongish hair. ", "Roughly oval face—maybe. ", "Difficult to be sure, since he always seemed to wear a plastic mask of some kind. ", "Eyes? ", "Who knew what shape or color. ", "Who knew if his nose was straight, or his mouth thin-lipped or full. ", "Who knew if his ears were set high or low.", "\n\nNone of the women had seen him. ", "Not so much as a glance. ", "They had only felt what he did to them. ", "Felt his body against theirs, felt his hands touching them.", "\n\nHis hands.", "\n\nHardly aware of what she was doing, Maggie turned to a fresh page and began slowly, tentatively drawing. ", "Her eyes were half closed, remembered voices soft in her mind while remembered suffering made her ache.", "\n\n _. . . ", "felt his hands holding my wrists . . ._", "\n\n _. . . ", "he pushed my chin up, as if he wanted to look at_ _my throat, and then he touched it . . ._", "\n\n _. . . ", "he was holding my legs apart . . ._", "\n\n _. . . ", "strong, so strong. ", "The grip of his fingers was so_ _strong, his nails bit into my skin even through the gloves I_ _know he was wearing, dug into my very bones . . ._", "\n\n _. . . ", "he cupped my cheek with this obscene gentleness,_ _and then I felt his teeth . . ._", "\n\n _. . . ", "he was squeezing my breasts and I could hear_ _him breathing, panting . . ._", "\n\n _. . . ", "his nails dug into me . . ._", "\n\n _. . . ", "he slapped me, and I felt—_\n\n _—the ring he wore tore her flesh, laid it open along her_ _jawline. ", "She could feel the warm wetness of her own blood_ _trickling down over her throat, feel him hanging over her_ _like some monstrous creature out of her nightmares. ", "Part of_ _her was glad he'd wrapped the nightgown around her_ _head in a blindfold, because she was terrified to see his_ _face, to see the animal he'd become. ", "But she was even more_ _terrified of what he was going to do to her now that he had_ _her helpless. ", "She felt his hands roughly tying her wrist to_ _the bedpost just as he'd tied the other one, and a low moan_ _of protest and anguish throbbed in her bruised throat._", "\n\n _Bobby . . . ", "don't, please . . . ", "Bobby, I'm sorry, I'm_ _sorry, I didn't mean—_\n\nMaggie came out of it with a start, hearing an odd little whimper that at first she didn't even recognize as coming from her own throat. ", "With shaking hands, she wiped at the tears on her face, looking around her to make certain there was no one near as well as to ground herself once more in the here and now.", "\n\nA peaceful scene. ", "A park mostly deserted on this Wednesday afternoon in November, a bit damp and chilly, but unthreatening. ", "Quiet.", "\n\nSafe? ", "Probably not, but for the moment she was safe, surely. ", "For the moment.", "\n\nBut it was nevertheless several long and unsettling minutes before the overwhelming terror and strange sense of guilt finally left her, before her breathing steadied and the hot pressure of tears eased.", "\n\nBefore she could nerve herself to look down at what she'd drawn.", "\n\nHands. ", "A man's hands reaching out for something or someone, raw-boned in their brutal strength. ", "Awful in their sick, grasping hunger. ", "Large, sinewy, ugly. ", "With sparse black hairs sprinkled across the backs and even onto the fingers. ", "Nails that were surprisingly long but ragged because he bit them.", "\n\n _Because he bit them . . ._", "\n\nThe fleeting memory, wispy as smoke, drifted away, and Maggie was left staring down at the hands she'd drawn. ", "So unique she knew she'd recognize them instantly if she saw them in the flesh. ", "But otherwise there was nothing to identify them—except the rings.", "\n\nOn the right hand was a big gold ring, inset with some kind of stone.", "\n\nOn the left hand was a wedding band.", "\n\nMaggie stared down at the sketch for a long time, her gaze locked on the hands that had tortured and maimed and murdered so many women.", "\n\n\"Bobby,\" she whispered.", "\nCHAPTER SIXTEEN\n\n **But how could I have written it without knowing I** had?\" ", "Jennifer protested. \"", "I swear to you, I don't remember anything except finding the note in my car.\"", "\n\n\"Of course you don't remember,\" Quentin said soothingly. \"", "I'm not saying you did it consciously, Jenn.\"", "\n\nShe scowled at him. \"", "How else could I have done it?\"", "\n\n\"It's called automatic writing. ", "It's a way to free the unconscious mind, to tap into our own memories or abilities.\"", "\n\n\"You're saying I _remembered_ those dates?\"", "\n\n\"No, in your case I'm saying it was a latent ability you tapped into.\" ", "He traded glances with Kendra. \"", "We're not entirely sure where it comes from, but automatic writing sometimes shows up during stressful situations, especially in cases of extreme need. ", "You tend to be intuitive, don't you?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, sometimes.\"", "\n\n\"That's usually the case. ", "Someone with good intuition can often tap into unsuspected, latent abilities.\"", "\n\n\"Are you saying I'm psychic?\"", "\n\n\"No, I'm saying that with the right trigger some time during the early years of your life, you might have been. ", "There's a theory that most humans have some sort of extrasensory ability if we only know how to tap into it. ", "Maybe left over from more primitive times, when we needed an edge just to survive one day to the next.\"", "\n\n\"I've heard that,\" Jennifer admitted.", "\n\nQuentin nodded. \"", "In this case, you badly wanted an answer, or at least something to point you in the right direction, so your subconscious tried to help, opening itself up—sort of like an antenna. ", "Thoughts are just energy, after all, the electrical impulses of the brain.\"", "\n\nShe was still frowning. \"", "My mind picked up somebody else's thoughts?\"", "\n\n\"Caught the gist of them, let's say.\" ", "He frowned as he thought of those two dates. \"", "The bare gist.\"", "\n\n\"And those thoughts just happened to come from the rapist?\"", "\n\n\"There are few coincidences in life, I've found. ", "You're looking for him, and have been for months. ", "He's . . . ", "embedded in your consciousness. ", "Science is only beginning to understand the way our brains work, but suppose the electrical energy of our individual minds has a signature as distinctive as a fingerprint. ", "That's entirely possible. ", "And maybe there's a part of our brains that can recognize those signatures, even if we can't do it consciously.\"", "\n\n\"So my subconscious sort of tracked his?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "It's certainly a possibility. ", "In any case, we've found that the source automatic writing taps into tends to be surprisingly both specific and accurate.\"", "\n\nShe eyed him. \"", "Has anybody ever told you that you are a very weird FBI agent?\"", "\n\n\"Frequently.\"", "\n\n\"I'm not surprised.\"", "\n\nJohn said, \"But he is making sense. ", "At least, I think he is. ", "And none of us has been able to come up with any other explanation for how that note got into your car.\"", "\n\nJennifer sighed. \"", "Great, that's just great. ", "Now I not only talk to myself, but my subconscious mind is listening in on other minds.\"", "\n\n\"Only under extreme stress,\" Quentin reminded her gravely.", "\n\nShe got up. \"", "I'm leaving now. ", "I'm going out on the streets to talk—out loud—to some of the uniforms who patrol the area where Hollis Templeton was found.\"", "\n\n\"Still looking for your transient?\"", "\n\n\"I'm going to find him, dammit. ", "With absolutely no help from my subconscious.\"", "\n\nKendra asked, \"Mind if I come along? ", "I don't know if I'll be any help, since this is your territory rather than mine, but God knows I could use the fresh air and exercise. ", "If I stare at this laptop much longer, I'll either go to sleep or go nuts.\"", "\n\nJennifer barely hesitated. \"", "Sure. ", "I'd welcome the company.\"", "\n\n\"Don't get into trouble,\" Quentin told his partner.", "\n\n\"Without you along,\" she responded politely, \"how on earth would I?\"", "\n\n\"Ouch,\" John murmured.", "\n\n\"She's mean when she loses sleep,\" Quentin told him.", "\n\nKendra wiggled her fingers gently at her partner and followed a grinning Jennifer from the room.", "\n\nQuentin sighed. \"", "I don't think Jennifer quite bought the automatic-writing explanation. ", "Sometimes I forget how hard this sort of thing is for most people to accept.\"", "\n\n\"But you do believe that's where the note came from?\"", "\n\n\"Oh, yeah.\"", "\n\n\"Then am I wrong in thinking the chances are the rapist was somewhere close by when Jennifer . . . ", "tuned in on him?\"", "\n\n\"You caught that, huh?\" ", "Quentin smiled. \"", "Yeah, probably. ", "Distance is usually a factor, so it's likely he was nearby. ", "That's why Kendra's tagging along with Jenn. ", "We don't figure this is the sort of guy who hangs around police stations because cops fascinate him; if he was here, it was because he was watching someone.\"", "\n\n\"Jennifer?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe. ", "He might well consider grabbing a cop to be the ultimate challenge.\"", "\n\n\"But it could have been any woman entering or leaving this building?\"", "\n\n\"Of course. ", "Or any woman in the general area, for that matter. ", "There's no way to know for sure.\"", "\n\n\"Figures.\" ", "John looked at his watch again and said restlessly, \"I know there hasn't been a lot of time and virtually no new information, but are you two profilers getting a handle on the way this animal's mind works?\"", "\n\nQuentin tapped a finger on the legal pad in front of him, where his neat printing filled most of the top page. \"", "Maybe.\"", "\n\n\"And?\"", "\n\n\"And the bastard likes his work. ", "A lot.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I got that. ", "Answer me this. ", "Why have victims of his attacks survived when those in 1934 didn't? ", "I mean, if he's copying the crimes.\"", "\n\n\"Good question. ", "I'd guess he expected them to die; he took care always to leave them in out-of-the-way locations where they were more than likely to remain undiscovered, certainly long enough to bleed to death or die of exposure, especially this time of year. ", "The fact is, those women fought to stay alive, maybe harder than he expected. ", "And after three straight victims survived, he made damned sure Samantha Mitchell wouldn't, by cutting her throat.\"", "\n\n\"If he expected them to die, why bother to blind them?\"", "\n\n\"To keep them from seeing. ", "Maybe his face, or maybe something else. ", "He didn't want them watching him, didn't want them to see what he did to them. ", "Maybe didn't want them to know he enjoyed it.\"", "\n\nJohn's mouth twisted. \"", "Christ.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Not a nice boy.\"", "\n\n\"Massive understatement.\" ", "John was silent for a long time, his gaze moving over the photos and sketches on the bulletin boards. ", "Then, slowly, he said, \"Quentin, do you believe in fate?\"", "\n\n\"Yep.\"", "\n\n\"That was quick.\"", "\n\nQuentin chuckled. \"", "John, when you do the sort of work I do, you get most of your own philosophies and beliefs figured out early on. ", "You bet I believe in fate. ", "I also believe in reincarnation—and the two are definitely connected. ", "Is there a karmic pattern to our lives? ", "You'd better believe it.\"", "\n\n\"What about free will?\"", "\n\n\"Oh, there's that too. ", "I never understood why people think they're mutually exclusive. ", "Ask me, our entire lives aren't planned out for us—just some things. ", "Specific events along the way, crossroads we're meant to come to. ", "Tests, maybe, to measure our progress. ", "But we always have choices, and those choices can send us along an unplanned path.\"", "\n\n\"And change our fates?\"", "\n\n\"I believe so. ", "Still, if you listen to Bishop and Miranda—and I certainly do, though don't tell them I admitted that—there are some things that are meant to happen at a certain moment and in a certain way. ", "No matter which path you choose, which decisions you make along your own particular journey, those pivotal moments appear to be set in stone. ", "Maybe they represent the specific lessons we're meant to learn.\"", "\n\n\"Set in stone. ", "Things we have to face. ", "Things we have to learn. ", "Responsibilities we have to fulfill. ", "And mistakes we have to correct.\" ", "John continued to stare broodingly at the bulletin board.", "\n\nQuentin watched his friend for a moment, then said quietly, \"So that's it. ", "That's why Maggie does what she does. ", "Atonement?\"", "\n\n\"She says . . . ", "she's responsible for the continued existence of this bastard. ", "Because she didn't stop him once before, as she was meant to.\"", "\n\n\"I see. ", "No copycat at all, just the same twisted, evil soul reborn to do his thing one more time.\"", "\n\nJohn looked at him. \"", "You don't seem surprised.\"", "\n\n\"This isn't the first time we've encountered something along these lines.\"", "\n\n\"A reincarnated killer?\"", "\n\n\"That's right.\" ", "Quentin's smile was a bit wry. \"", "Reincarnated, resurrected—or just plain dead and still kicking. ", "An amazingly resilient thing, evil.\"", "\n\n\"You're saying Maggie really is responsible for this?\"", "\n\n\"I'm saying the universe might be holding her accountable for it, or for some part of it. ", "Maybe that's why she was put in this particular place at this particular time and given the abilities she was born with.\"", "\n\n\"To suffer? ", "To pay in agony for a mistake she might have made a long time ago?\" ", "John was dimly surprised by the harsh sound of his own voice.", "\n\n\"We all pay for our mistakes, John. ", "In this life—or the next. ", "But if you believe that, you also have to believe we're rewarded when we get it right. ", "Yeah, Maggie's suffering in this life. ", "She's also helping other people, easing their suffering. ", "Whether she's here to correct a mistake or just living another stage in her own spiritual development, I'd say Maggie is earning major bonus points this time around.\"", "\n\nJohn had to smile, albeit reluctantly. \"", "So she'll be rewarded in the next life?\"", "\n\n\"Hey, maybe she'll be rewarded later on in this one.\"", "\n\n\"If she corrects her past mistake?\"", "\n\nQuentin shrugged. \"", "Maybe. ", "Then again, Maggie might already have balanced her books with the universe, John, despite the sense of responsibility she still feels. ", "We have no way of knowing what's expected of us.\"", "\n\n\"Not even seers?\"", "\n\n\"Not even seers.\"", "\n\nAfter a moment, John said, \"That really sucks.\"", "\n\n\"Tell me about it.\"", "\n\nLong after Maggie left her, Hollis sat as she usually did, her face turned toward the window. ", "She wondered idly if, after tomorrow, she'd still be able to hear as acutely as she did now. ", "She could hear the cop out in the hall shift in the chair where he sat. ", "She could hear the elevators at the end of the hall as the cars passed this floor on their journeys up and down. ", "She could hear the murmur of somebody's television. ", "Outside and several floors down, she could hear the busy _swish_ of traffic.", "\n\nWould she be able to hear so well if, tomorrow, she could see again? ", "Probably not. ", "But that wasn't what bothered her. ", "She would happily trade the sharper hearing for the return of her sight. ", "But would she, alone of all the victims so far, survive his attack still able to see? ", "And if so—why? ", "If Maggie was right about fate and destiny, there had to be a reason. ", "What had she done to earn that?", "\n\nOr . . . ", "what was she supposed to do?", "\n\nQuietly, she murmured, \"Annie? ", "Are you there?\"", "\n\n _I'm here._", "\n\nThe voice was faint, hardly louder than a whisper, but at least it was a reply after many hours of silence.", "\n\n\"There's a lot you haven't told me, isn't there?\"", "\n\n _Yes._", "\n\n\"Why? ", "Don't you trust me?\"", "\n\n _I had to be so careful, especially at first. ", "Other_ _times . . . ", "other times, those I tried to warn could never accept me. ", "I . . . ", "frightened them. ", "I didn't want to frighten_ _you._", "\n\n\"I'm not frightened.\"", "\n\n _I know. ", "Now._", "\n\n\"Then tell me what I can do to help Maggie. ", "She helped me, more than she knows. ", "She took away so much of the pain and fear. ", "And . . . ", "she's fighting for all of us. ", "I have to help her. ", "Tell me how, Annie.\" ", "At first, she didn't think there'd be any sort of answer. ", "But finally, even more distantly and fading into silence, the answer came.", "\n\n _Soon. ", "Soon, Hollis. . . ._", "\n\nWhen John finally reached Maggie on her cell phone, he had to force himself to speak calmly. \"", "Where are you?\"", "\n\n\"I'm leaving the hospital after checking on Hollis.\" ", "She sounded as calm as always, though John fancied he could detect a note of strain. \"", "I just turned the phone back on.\"", "\n\n\"Then you're on your way back here?\"", "\n\n\"I was. ", "But there's one more thing I think I should go ahead and do today.\"", "\n\n\"What?\"", "\n\n\"A walk-through of the building where they found Samantha Mitchell. ", "Maybe I can get something useful. ", "Can you give me the address?\"", "\n\nImmediately, John said, \"You don't need to do that alone, Maggie. ", "I'll meet you there.\"", "\n\nShe barely hesitated. \"", "Okay, fine. ", "What's the address?\"", "\n\nHe found the Mitchell file on the cluttered conference table and read off the address to her, finishing with, \"If you get there first, wait outside for me. ", "All right?\"", "\n\n\"I will. ", "See you there.\"", "\n\nJohn closed his cell phone and said to Quentin, \"She shouldn't do it alone.\"", "\n\n\"Did I say anything?\"", "\n\n\"You wanted to.\"", "\n\nQuentin smiled slightly, but said very quietly, \"She has to do this her way, just like I warned you days ago. ", "But you already knew that, didn't you, John?\"", "\n\n\"Let's just say I figured it out. ", "I've gotten to know Maggie, to understand what makes her tick, or at least I think I have. ", "You said all along that her motivation for feeling the pain of all those victims had to be deep, powerful. ", "Maybe even . . . ", "set in stone. ", "Atonement. ", "Whatever the . . . ", "judgment . . . ", "of the universe, in Maggie's mind there's only one way to truly correct the mistake she believes she made. ", "Stop this bastard, here and now. ", "And she means to do everything in her power to make sure that happens, no matter what the cost to herself.\"", "\n\n\"I'd say so. ", "I'd also say you won't do her any favors by trying to protect her, and you won't stop her from doing what she feels she has to do.\"", "\n\n\"Are you sure about that? ", "Can you be?\"", "\n\n\"Are you asking me if I know what the future will bring?\"", "\n\nVisibly bracing himself, John replied, \"I guess that is what I'm asking you. ", "Can I protect her?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\nAfter a long moment, John drew a breath and said lightly, \"You won't mind if I try?\"", "\n\n\"I wouldn't expect anything else.\"", "\n\nJohn nodded, then turned without another word and left.", "\n\nAlone again in the conference room, Quentin murmured into the silence, \"Fate doesn't expect anything else of you either, John. ", "I wonder when you'll realize that.\"", "\n\nWhen Andy came into the conference room a few minutes later, he found Quentin slumped in his chair, feet propped on a closed file on the conference table and fingers laced together across his middle. ", "He was frowning.", "\n\nAndy didn't know the agent well, but he knew preoccupation when he saw it. \"", "Worried about John?\"", "\n\n\"Hmm?\" ", "He looked at Andy and blinked.", "\n\n\"I asked if you were worried about John. ", "I saw him leave a little while ago, and he looked a bit . . . ", "upset.\"", "\n\nAbsently, Quentin said, \"Yeah, he isn't hiding his feelings too well right now, is he?\"", "\n\n\"He's going after Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\"", "\n\nPatient, Andy said, \"And you're worried?\"", "\n\nQuentin blinked again, then shook his head. \"", "No, not about that. ", "No sense worrying about something set in stone a long time ago.\"", "\n\nAndy started to ask what he meant by that, then decided he really didn't want to know. \"", "Then what?\"", "\n\n\"Did you ever get the nagging feeling there was something you'd overlooked?\"", "\n\n\"Occasionally.\"", "\n\n\"And?\"", "\n\n\"And I usually find I've overlooked something.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Me too.\" ", "Quentin stared at the cluttered table. \"", "Somewhere among all this stuff is a detail I should have paid closer attention to.\"", "\n\n\"Can't narrow it down any more than that?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "Dammit.\" ", "He took his feet off the table and sat up, opening the closed file rather grimly. \"", "But I intend to, because it's bugging the hell out of me.\"", "\n\nAndy shrugged philosophically. \"", "Let me know when you find it.\"", "\n\nWhen he reached the abandoned and deserted building where Samantha Mitchell's body had been found, John wasn't surprised to find the entire area all but deserted. ", "It wasn't an especially inviting day—cold, cloudy, and dreary, and misting rain from time to time— and the neighborhood wasn't what anyone would have called appealing. ", "Far from it. ", "What few buildings within view hadn't already been condemned or scheduled for demolition wore the barred-window, iron-grated-door look of desperate fortresses holding danger at bay.", "\n\nMaggie's car was parked in front of the building where Samantha had been found, and she got out as he parked his car, waiting for him on the sidewalk.", "\n\n\"This is not what I'd call a cheerful place,\" he noted as he joined her.", "\n\n\"Hardly,\" Maggie agreed. ", "She was hugging the sketch pad to her breast as she often did, as though it were a shield. ", "The chill breeze made the tip of her nose pink and stirred her long hair so that it seemed to have an independent life all its own. \"", "It's almost as if he chooses the places where he leaves his victims partly for their desolation. ", "As if he wants the women to feel . . . ", "abandoned. ", "Alone.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe he does. ", "Maybe it's all part of his twisted game to isolate his victims in every sense of the word.\"", "\n\nShe shivered visibly. \"", "Yeah.\"", "\n\n\"Maggie, maybe you should wait to do this.\"", "\n\n\"We need all the information we can get, you know that.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, but it's hardly fair—even of a demanding universe—to expect you to keep putting yourself through this.\"", "\n\n\"Didn't anybody ever teach you that life isn't especially fair?\"", "\n\nHe looked at her for a moment, then said lightly, \"I'm learning that all the time.\"", "\n\nSuddenly a bit self-conscious, Maggie went to put the sketch pad inside her car. \"", "No reason to take this in with me,\" she said. \"", "I never can sketch anything while I'm walking through anyway.\"", "\n\nWhen she rejoined him, John touched her arm. \"", "Are you sure you're up to this? ", "After our all-nighter at the station, you can't have gotten much rest.\"", "\n\n\"I doubt anybody got much rest. ", "Did you?\"", "\n\n\"No—but I'm not an empath carrying around the weight of other people's pain.\"", "\n\nMaggie smiled suddenly. \"", "Can you imagine yourself even saying that a week ago?\"", "\n\nHe had to laugh, however briefly. \"", "No. ", "In fact— hell, no.\"", "\n\n\"We live and learn.\" ", "She started up the uneven walkway to the front doorway of the building.", "\n\nJohn followed. \"", "And you didn't answer me. ", "Should you be doing this today?\"", "\n\n\"We don't have a lot of time left.\"", "\n\nHe caught her arm just short of the front steps and stopped her. \"", "Something you feel? ", "Or something you know?\"", "\n\n\"Both.\" ", "She met his intent gaze as steadily as she could. \"", "Tara Jameson could already be dead, but even if she isn't, she's suffering right now.\"", "\n\n\"That isn't your fault, Maggie.\"", "\n\nShe didn't try to argue with him. \"", "If I don't do everything within my power to try to find her, to stop him, I'll blame myself for the rest of my life. ", "Do you understand that?\"", "\n\nHe hesitated, then with an oddly tentative movement as if he couldn't really help himself, he reached up and brushed back a strand of her hair that had blown across her cheek, his fingers lingering only a moment against her skin. \"", "If I don't understand anything else, I do understand that,\" he said. \"", "But there's something you have to understand, Maggie. ", "I lost my sister to this bastard. ", "Andy and his detectives have lived with the investigation for months. ", "Quentin and Kendra put their lives on the line every day trying to put monsters of every kind in cages where they belong. ", "Maybe we don't feel the pain of the victims as intensely as you do—but we feel it.\"", "\n\nMaggie drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. \"", "You're right. ", "I'm sorry. ", "I'm just not used to . . .\"", "\n\n\"Being a team player?\"", "\n\n\"Don't tell me you're used to it.\"", "\n\nHe smiled. \"", "Usually a team leader. ", "So this isn't so easy for me either. ", "But as long as I can feel I'm contributing, I can handle not being the one in charge.\"", "\n\nDryly, Maggie said, \"I have a feeling you've been in charge since you got here. ", "One way or another.\"", "\n\n\"Don't tell Andy that. ", "Or Quentin, for that matter.\"", "\n\n\"If you think they don't know, you're wrong.\"", "\n\nRealizing he was still holding her arm, John forced himself to let go of her. \"", "Then they've been very gracious about it. ", "So—we're going in there, huh?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know if it'll help. ", "Maybe he spent as little time here as he did all the other places he left his victims. ", "Maybe I won't find anything new. ", "But I have to try.\"", "\n\n\"Okay. ", "Hang on a minute—it's so overcast out here, we're bound to need flashlights inside.\"", "\n\nMaggie waited while he returned to his car for a couple of flashlights, and then they entered the building.", "\n\nThe flashlights helped them see a place very like the one where Hollis Templeton had been left—a dirty, ramshackle building that had long ago been stripped to its bare bones. ", "The floor creaked underfoot, and they could both hear the whispering scurry of rats.", "\n\n\"Yuck,\" Maggie said. \"", "I hate rats.\"", "\n\n\"I'm not crazy about them either. ", "And there's no blood trail to follow this time; according to the report, she was found down that hallway, a room at the rear, on the left side of the building.\" ", "John kept his voice matter-of-fact.", "\n\nMaggie stood there for a moment, collecting herself, slowly opening the door to those inner senses. ", "Almost immediately she could smell the blood, and it was no easier to bear than before, thick and cloying in her nostrils. ", "But this time, she forced herself to push past that, to let her senses probe beyond the sickly sweet odor.", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"I'm okay. ", "It . . . ", "feels different somehow.\"", "\n\n\"In what way?\"", "\n\n\"I'm not sure.\" ", "She began moving slowly down the long hallway toward the back of the building, where there were half a dozen rooms, their doors long gone and broken casings leaning drunkenly like a child's drawing of doorways.", "\n\n\"Creepy place, even with only five senses,\" John muttered.", "\n\nMaggie wanted to tell him it was infinitely creepier with extra senses, but her attention was tunneling, fixing on the particular slanted doorway to the left that was drawing her toward it. ", "The blood smell was growing stronger, and with it came flashes of darkness, much as she had sensed where Hollis had been left. ", "Flashes of darkness, and pain, and terror, and—Why was it getting harder to breathe? ", "Why did she feel an odd sensation, as if some great weight or . . . ", "presence . . . ", "hung over her, bent toward her—\n\nShe didn't even hear John's cell phone begin to ring.", "\nCHAPTER SEVENTEEN\n\n **Scott joined Quentin in the conference room, tired** and dusty but triumphant, to add to the bulletin board two more photos of victims killed in 1934. \"", "Dug these out of a file box over at the North station,\" he reported. \"", "Victims number three and seven in that year.\"", "\n\nQuentin stopped frowning over files on the conference table long enough to study the photos. \"", "Resembling Samantha Mitchell and Tara Jameson, respectively.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "That's six victims so far, and they match up with our six. ", "Call me crazy, but I'd say that was fairly conclusive evidence that our guy is a copycat.\"", "\n\nAndy, who had come in virtually on Scott's heels, nodded. \"", "I'd say so.\"", "\n\nQuentin said, \"We're reasonably certain there were eight victims that year, right?\"", "\n\nScott nodded. \"", "According to that book Jenn found, yeah. ", "But so far there's no sign of the police files for the remaining two victims. ", "I've got two more possibles to check, including a hell of a big box of old miscellaneous files that somehow ended up at City Hall.\"", "\n\n\"Our tax dollars at work,\" Andy muttered. \"", "Well, we don't know that finding photos of the last two victims will help us—but we don't know that it won't, either. ", "Keep at it, Scott.\"", "\n\n\"You bet.\" ", "Energy renewed by success, Scott hurried back out of the conference room.", "\n\nAndy sat down at the table and rubbed his face with both hands. \"", "I'm barely ten years older than he is, and it feels more like twenty. ", "Jeez—what happens to stamina after thirty-five?\"", "\n\n\"It's still there,\" Quentin told him. \"", "It just has to be tended a bit more carefully. ", "I like catnaps, myself.\"", "\n\nAndy eyed him. \"", "How many of those have you had today?\"", "\n\n\"I'll get one later.\" ", "Quentin frowned at the cluttered table. \"", "I'm still in search of whatever it is that's bugging me.\"", "\n\n\"Still no idea what it is?\"", "\n\n\"Not yet. ", "But I know it's here somewhere.\" ", "He reached for another file. \"", "Something a friend or family member of a victim said in an interview? ", "Something in an autopsy report or crime-scene photo? ", "I just don't know.\"", "\n\nBefore Andy could respond, Quentin's cell phone rang, and as the agent answered, Andy could hear the excited, booming voice distinctly even across the table. ", "It sounded like a big bear in a very small cave.", "\n\n\"Quentin? ", "Hey, Quentin!\"", "\n\n\"I hear you, Joey.\" ", "Wincing, Quentin put a prudent\n\nfew inches between the phone and his ear. \"", "What's up?\"", "\n\n\"Listen, Quentin, I got to thinking maybe I could help you find that rapist you cops are after, so I been asking around, and I think maybe I got a lead.\"", "\n\n\"Joey—\"\n\n\"Guy I know swears he seen an old black Caddie like my dad used to drive parked weeks ago near where they found one of the ladies after he got done with her, and he thinks he seen it more than once since then. ", "In the neighborhood, you know, around, 'specially at night.\"", "\n\nQuentin untangled that as best he could. \"", "All right, Joey, but, listen, don't—\"\n\n\"The guy I know, he thinks he seen the car again just the other night, you know, where that poor Mitchell lady was found? ", "So maybe it's the bastard you're looking for. ", "I'm gonna check it out, Quentin, see if maybe I can find that Caddie for you.\"", "\n\n\"Joey, we can—\"\n\n\"I'll let you know soon's I find something, Quentin— and I'll be careful, I promise.\"", "\n\n\"Joey? _", "Joey?_ \" ", "Slowly, Quentin turned the phone off. \"", "Shit,\" he muttered.", "\n\nAndy said, \"I gather that was the source who gave us Samantha Mitchell's fake kidnapper?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\"", "\n\n\"You think he might be on to something?\"", "\n\nQuentin rose and went to a large city map on one wall, where several small red flags marked the locations where victims had been found. \"", "Weeks ago, he said. ", "Probably around the time Hollis Templeton was found. ", "And if the car was seen again the other night near where Samantha Mitchell was found . . .\" ", "He indicated the two flags closest together. \"", "Not more than three miles apart. ", "Definitely what Joey would consider in the neighborhood. ", "Yeah, he might be on to something.\"", "\n\nAndy rose. \"", "Then I say we check DMV records for a black Caddie. ", "What model, do you think? _", "Old_ covers a lot of territory.\"", "\n\nQuentin came back to the conference table, still frowning. \"", "Joey's dad was killed twenty-five years ago. ", "As I recall, he drove a 1972 Caddie. ", "To be on the safe side, I'd cover 1970 to at least '76.\"", "\n\n\"Right.\" ", "Andy grimaced slightly. \"", "There can't be too many thirty-year-old black Caddies still on the road, surely, at least not in Seattle.\"", "\n\n\"Let's hope not.\"", "\n\nOn the point of turning away, Andy said, \"You look worried again.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Let's just say that Joey has all the subtlety and caution of the proverbial bull in a china shop.\"", "\n\n\"So if he finds that Caddie—\"\n\n\"He's apt to find a hell of a lot more than he can handle,\" Quentin finished grimly.", "\n\n\"Then we'd better find it first.\" ", "Andy left the room.", "\n\nQuentin was left alone with his thoughts, and none of them was pleasant. ", "He had no idea where Joey had been calling from and knew he had little chance of finding him before Joey quite possibly found trouble. ", "Bad trouble. ", "As much as Quentin wanted to find and catch the rapist, he really hoped Joey's lead at the very least failed to point Joey in the right direction.", "\n\nAll Quentin's training and experience told him that Joey's simple cunning and brute strength would be no match for the evil he was trying to find. ", "Bad as he was, Joey wasn't nearly bad enough to successfully fight something he could never understand. ", "Unless he was very, very lucky, he would lose that fight. ", "Problem was, Joey had never been lucky.", "\n\nAnd there were too many deaths on Quentin's conscience as it was.", "\n\n\"Shit,\" he said again, softly this time. ", "He sent a restless glance toward his phone, wishing Joey would call again but certain he wouldn't, not because of any premonition but because he knew Joey was hell-bent to find the rapist and so do something to help Quentin and repay an old debt. ", "A debt Quentin had not hesitated to use in the ensuing years to keep Joey in line and out of trouble.", "\n\nHe was really beginning to wish he hadn't done that.", "\n\nTrying not to worry about what he couldn't change, Quentin drew another file toward him and tried once again to figure out what was bugging him. ", "But before he could get too deep into that, Andy returned to the room.", "\n\n\"The M.E.'s report on Samantha Mitchell,\" he told Quentin, not without satisfaction. \"", "A few hours earlier than expected.\"", "\n\n\"Anything we didn't know?\" ", "Quentin asked, accepting the folder and opening it.", "\n\n\"Nah, not really. ", "At least, not that I can see.\"", "\n\nQuentin began reading the report, and almost immediately stiffened. _\"", "Shit.\"_", "\n\nAlarmed by the tone, Andy said, \"What?\"", "\n\n\"She died there? ", "Samantha Mitchell died where her body was found?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "But we knew that.\"", "\n\nQuentin grabbed his cell phone and began punching in a number, saying grimly, \"Not all of us knew it.\"", "\n\nJohn couldn't have said why he felt uneasy. ", "Maybe it was simply because he still had trouble even imagining what Maggie was doing, what it was like to literally feel the sensations and emotions experienced by another person days and even weeks before, simply by walking through a place where they had occurred. ", "Maybe it was this dark, chilled, and definitely eerie building. ", "Or maybe it was just his own increasing sensitivity to emotions. ", "His.", "\n\nAnd hers.", "\n\n\"Creepy place, even with only five senses,\" he offered, more to maintain contact with Maggie than anything else.", "\n\nHe saw her turn her head toward him for a brief instant, but then she was gazing toward that dark doorway at the end of the hall, moving toward it.", "\n\nJohn had the strongest impulse to stop her, to get his hands on her so that he could—could what?", "\n\nHis cell phone rang, and he jumped as the strident sound broke the silence. ", "Maggie didn't even seem to hear it, still walking toward the room, going through the doorway. ", "He followed, though he was still behind her as he dug his phone out and opened it. ", "And he heard even before he could get the phone to his ear.", "\n\n\"John? ", "Get out of there.\" ", "Quentin's voice was sharp, imperative.", "\n\n\"What? ", "What're you—\"\n\n\"Listen to me. ", "Get out of there. ", "Get Maggie out. ", "Now. ", "She died there, John. ", "Samantha Mitchell died there, in that room. ", "And if Maggie gets too close—\"\n\nJohn heard a thud, saw Maggie's flashlight hit the floor, and quickly pointed his own at her. ", "He was still behind her and at first saw only the cloud of her hair, long and a little wild. ", "But then she turned slowly, making an odd choking sound.", "\n\nHer hands were at her throat, the face above them very pale, and her mouth was open as though she wanted to say something to him.", "\n\nFor an eternal instant, John was frozen, just staring at her. ", "Then she took her hands from her throat, looking at them as though they belonged to someone else.", "\n\nHer hands were covered with blood.", "\n\nSo was her throat.", "\n\nJennifer rejoined Kendra beside the car and shrugged wearily. \"", "There are an awful lot of transients in this area, so I guess I can't blame the uniforms for not noticing one in particular. ", "Dammit.\"", "\n\n\"We can check the shelters again.\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "But they won't start filling up until tonight.\"", "\n\nKendra nodded. \"", "And I noticed that a few likely people to question sort of melted away when we got here.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "The uniforms say everybody's jumpy as hell around here. ", "And, of course, some of the transients figure if we can't find the actual rapist we'll make do with one of them.\" ", "She sighed. \"", "Really can't blame them for the distrust, but it doesn't make the job any easier.\"", "\n\n\"No.\" ", "Slowly, Kendra added, \"Didn't your patrolman friend say Robson was picked up for creating a disturbance?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "According to the arrest report, he was accosting people coming out of that liquor store just down the block, babbling something about how the ghost of his old enemy was coming after him. ", "And he kept looking toward the building over there where Hollis Templeton was found.\" ", "Jennifer shook her head, suddenly uncomfortable under the other woman's steady, clear-eyed gaze. \"", "At the very least, this is turning into a real wild-goose chase. ", "I don't know why I thought it could be a legitimate lead. ", "Just a drunk rambling, probably.\"", "\n\n\"There must have been something that drew your attention. ", "Something that alerted your instincts.\"", "\n\nJennifer fumbled for a toothpick and made herself say, \"Maybe it was just desperation. ", "Maybe I'm imagining leads where none exist.\"", "\n\nKendra smiled faintly. \"", "I doubt that. ", "You're too good a cop to imagine something like that. ", "You trust the friend who gave you the tip, right? ", "That was why you followed up on it initially.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\"", "\n\n\"But there was something else, wasn't there? ", "Maybe something you read in the arrest report?\"", "\n\nJennifer almost denied it, but then as she recalled details of the report one by one, she realized what had caught her attention. ", "And felt the rush of adrenaline she always felt when a puzzle piece fell into place. \"", "Yeah, there was something. ", "Most of his ramblings didn't make sense—he's more schizophrenic than bipolar, if you ask me—but Robson did say something that struck me.\"", "\n\n\"What?\"", "\n\n\"He said the ghost of his old enemy was carrying a sack over one shoulder—a sack with puppies in it. ", "Robson was certain the ghost was going to drown the puppies, then come back for him.\"", "\n\nKendra nodded slowly. \"", "There was something alive in the sack, that's what he saw. ", "Something moving.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "That, plus the fact that this ghost of his was carrying anything at all, seemed to me just a bit too detailed to be completely delusional.\"", "\n\nTurning to study the building in the distance where Hollis had been found, Kendra said, \"I'd guess at least a few transients use that half-demolished warehouse there on the corner for shelter when the weather's bad. ", "It was cold when Hollis was found, wasn't it?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, very.\"", "\n\n\"Am I wrong, or can the rear of that building be seen from at least one side of the warehouse?\"", "\n\n\"Let's go find out.\"", "\n\nTen minutes later, the two women stood gingerly on a rusted old catwalk still connected to a single interior wall of what remained of the warehouse. ", "There wasn't much inside the building, but what was there was clear evidence that at least a few people had been using the place as shelter recently. ", "There was some old furniture—a mildewed sofa and ragged chair— grouped in one corner with a threadbare tarp providing a third wall to help keep out at least the worst of the wind, and a fire had been kindled in an old trash barrel in the center of the area, obviously for warmth.", "\n\nWith the toe of one shoe, Jennifer nudged a pile of newspapers and old rags that had clearly been used as a bed up on the catwalk. \"", "Scary place to sleep, I'd think.\"", "\n\n\"But maybe safer than down there,\" Kendra pointed out, gesturing toward the concrete floor below. \"", "At least from the viewpoint of a paranoid schizophrenic. ", "The way this thing creaks, it would certainly provide a warning if company came.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "And maybe he slept underneath the window for the same reason—because he was paranoid and wanted to keep an eye on things.\" ", "Jennifer looked at the window just above the makeshift bed; it was the only one that still had opaque frosted glass in most of its panes, but two of the panes were missing. ", "And through the openings, she had a dandy view of the rear of the building where Hollis had been found. \"", "And take a look—you were right.\"", "\n\nKendra leaned in to glance out the window. \"", "Far as I can tell, this is probably the only vantage point in the area where that entrance would be clearly visible. ", "Isn't that a streetlight just off the corner there?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "So even on a dark night, Robson—if it was him up here—could have seen someone go into the building and could have been able to tell he was carrying something wrapped in a tarp or in a sack, something that moved.\"", "\n\n\"A ghost. ", "Maybe masked, eerie in the light. ", "Or maybe even someone he really did recognize from his own past.\" ", "Kendra looked at Jennifer with a faint smile. \"", "If you ask me, this is no wild-goose chase we're on. ", "I say we keep looking for David Robson.\"", "\n\nConscious of the familiar adrenaline rush, Jennifer nodded. \"", "I agree.\"", "\n\nIt was only a few minutes later, as they got into the car, that she added, \"How did you know there was something in the report that could have been important, anyway? ", "You never saw the report, did you?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\n\"Well, then?\"", "\n\nKendra smiled. \"", "Call it a hunch.\"", "\n\n\"Christ, John, I'm sorry,\" Quentin said into the phone. \"", "Since this bastard always just dumped the women and left, doing his torturing and maiming elsewhere, I assumed he'd done the same thing to Samantha Mitchell. ", "That he'd cut her throat and abdomen _before_ he carried her to that building and then just arranged her body for maximum shock effect. ", "If I'd paid closer attention to the crime-scene photos, I would have seen it; that mattress was soaked with blood, especially around her head and shoulders. ", "I should have realized that he must have killed her there, in that room.\"", "\n\n\"It isn't your fault, Quentin.\" ", "John sighed. \"", "We were all a bit distracted trying to deal with the less . . . ", "physical details of all this.\"", "\n\n\"No excuse, not for me. ", "How's Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"If you want the truth, she's doing better than I am. ", "The bleeding stopped as soon as I got her out of the building, and by the time I got her in the car and wiped some of the blood away, there was just an angry-looking red line where before it was . . . ", "open.\"", "\n\n\"Where is she now?\"", "\n\n\"Sleeping. ", "The moment the shock wore off, it seemed all she wanted to do was sleep. ", "So I brought her back here to her place and put her to bed.\"", "\n\n\"Then I'm sure she'll be okay. ", "She wasn't in there long enough to connect completely with what happened to Samantha Mitchell.\"", "\n\n\"And if she had been? ", "Are you telling me it could have killed her?\"", "\n\nQuentin hesitated, then said, \"It's possible, at least in this instance. ", "I don't think she's quite there yet, but if her sensitivity continues to increase, I believe she might eventually become an absolute empath.\"", "\n\n\"Absolute?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Her system, both physically and emotionally, would become so sensitive it would literally absorb the injuries or illnesses of someone else. ", "If you cut your hand and she touched you, the cut would heal on you—and appear on her. ", "A real, bleeding cut, pain and all, identical to the one you'd had.\"", "\n\n\"Jesus.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "What I'm not sure about is whether she's a healing empath or a sharing empath. ", "If she's healing, any injury she absorbed—at least, short of a mortal one—she would also be able to heal. ", "So your cut would vanish, and the one on her would disappear as soon as she was able to heal it, probably within minutes.\"", "\n\n\"That . . . ", "can't be possible,\" John protested. \"", "To heal someone else's physical injuries with a touch?\"", "\n\n\"Oh, that part of it's definitely possible, believe me. ", "I know of a healer so gifted she literally brought a man back from the dead after he was shot. ", "With her, though, it's a distinct ability, not empathic but simply healing; it takes a great deal of her own energy, her own life force, to heal, but she doesn't absorb the actual wounds of whoever she's trying to help.\"", "\n\n\"But Maggie would. ", "If she's a healing empath.\"", "\n\n\"That would be my guess.\"", "\n\n\"And if she's a sharing empath . . . ", "she wouldn't heal? ", "She'd just absorb the injuries, the pain, and suffer with them?\"", "\n\nQuentin hesitated again. \"", "I don't know for sure, John. ", "We've never encountered an absolute empath, just theorized about one. ", "But considering the slash on Maggie's throat 'healed' as quickly as it did, I'd say she'll probably be a healing empath. ", "The only real question is whether it'll be an automatic ability, triggered simply by touch, or one she'll have to concentrate to use. ", "We'll hope for the latter, so she'll have some control.\"", "\n\nJohn drew a breath. \"", "Now tell me how she absorbed a slashed throat from an empty room, will you?\"", "\n\n\"Samantha Mitchell died in that room. ", "Recently— and horribly. ", "Suffering a hell of a lot of pain and anguish, to say nothing of terror. ", "Those emotions, that energy, lingered there in the room. ", "Maggie was able to connect to that, to actually begin to experience some of what that dying woman went through.\" ", "With a sigh, Quentin added, \"Whether she evolves into an absolute empath or not, I think Maggie's system is especially sensitive to these particular deaths because she's connected to them, linked to them in a very . . . ", "basic way.\"", "\n\n\"Fate. ", "Destiny.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Whether these victims are all souls Maggie's known before or it's his slimy soul she's connected to is impossible for me to say. ", "Maybe she knows.\"", "\n\nSitting in Maggie's quiet living room, gazing at the painting above the fireplace, John said, \"Maybe I'll ask her. ", "But I'm hoping she'll sleep for hours yet. ", "Look, I don't think she should be alone, so I'm going to stay here. ", "If anything happens, anything changes, or you guys come up with something we need to know, call me, okay?\"", "\n\n\"I will. ", "Considering the worsening weather, I'm expecting Kendra and Jennifer back anytime now, and Scott as well. ", "If nothing else, we'll at least have the DMV list of black Caddies to go over. ", "Something's about to break, I know that much. ", "I have an itchy feeling on the back of my neck, and that usually means we're close to the end of things.\"", "\n\n\"One way or another?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "One way or another.\"", "\n\nAfter they'd said goodbye and hung up, John wandered over to the fireplace and gazed up at the painting. ", "The signature on the lower corner was a scrawl, but he could read it. ", "Rafferty. ", "Beau Rafferty. ", "Her brother's work.", "\n\nNo wonder the style of the painting had been familiar to him; he owned two Raffertys himself. ", "Young as he still was, the man was considered one of the most talented artists this country had produced in the last hundred years, almost single-handedly bringing impressionist-style painting to the forefront of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art.", "\n\nOne artist who painted masterpieces for the world to enjoy, and another who talked gently to traumatized victims of crime and then sketched uncannily accurate images of criminals so the police could bring them to justice.", "\n\nTwo talented artists who shared a mother and who both possessed other unique abilities. ", "It really made him wonder about their mother. ", "A powerful psychic as well as a gifted artist? ", "Or were psychic abilities in any way hereditary?", "\n\nDeciding that he was doing the inner equivalent of whistling in the dark because he was feeling unsettled, John glanced out at the increasingly gray, dreary afternoon and set about making himself comfortable. ", "He turned on the gas logs in the fireplace, and when the cheery fire was crackling, also turned on the television, low, to a news program, more for company and background life than any desire for news.", "\n\nHe'd had enough news for a while.", "\n\nHe made coffee, having little trouble with Maggie's old-fashioned percolator, then explored her freezer and found a large package of what looked like homemade soup. ", "It seemed an ideal meal to prepare and allow to simmer until Maggie woke up, so he did that.", "\n\nWhile the soup was heating, he checked all the doors and windows a second time, making certain everything was locked and secure. ", "He wasn't normally so security-conscious, but what had happened to Maggie had shaken him more than he wanted to admit even to himself, and he intended to be as careful as possible.", "\n\nMaybe he couldn't protect her from \"psychic vibes\" that could cause her pain and injury, but he could damned well make certain nothing more tangible could hurt her.", "\n\nSuch as a serial rapist who might have been watching the police station and so might have seen Maggie as easily as he could have seen Jennifer or Kendra. ", "A rapist and murderer who could well decide to eliminate the threat of a sketch artist who, given enough time, might well be able to see him as his victims never had.", "\n\nRestless, John went to Maggie's bedroom door and eased it open. ", "The room was quiet and still; the lamp on her nightstand was turned low and showed him that she was still sleeping, apparently peacefully.", "\n\nHe stood in the doorway for several minutes, just watching her, listening to her breathe. ", "He had removed only her jacket and shoes and covered her with a blanket when he had carried her in here. ", "She had been too drowsy to protest and terrifyingly slight and defenseless in his arms. ", "As far as he could tell, she hadn't moved so much as an inch since he had left her here.", "\n\nHe stepped into the room and picked up her flannel jacket where it lay across the padded bench at the foot of the bed. ", "He could see the bloodstains even in the dim light, and when he brushed his thumb across them they were still damp.", "\n\nBlood. ", "Real blood. ", "He could smell it.", "\n\nHe had seen the gash in her throat, all too horribly real, and though Maggie had not cried or made a sound afterward, he had also seen the suffering in her eyes.", "\n\nSlowly, John lay the jacket back across the bench, then went out of the room, easing the door nearly closed. ", "He checked the rest of the house again, methodically, checked the soup. ", "Then he returned to the living room, drinking coffee and broodingly watching a weather report that promised a wet and blustery night for Seattle.", "\nCHAPTER EIGHTEEN\n\n **Even though the weather had worsened by late afternoon** , Jennifer and Kendra elected to keep searching for David Robson rather than return to the station. ", "They stopped at a small café for coffee and checked in with Andy and Quentin by phone, pleased to discover there was another possible lead in the search for the old black Caddie that might or might not belong to the rapist. ", "Even though Quentin sounded more frustrated than hopeful when he reported to his partner what little information they had so far.", "\n\n\"Nearly fifty old black Caddies in the city, dammit. ", "It's going to take time to run all the names through the computer even to give us a place to start.\"", "\n\nKendra, who knew her partner, merely said, \"It isn't your fault Joey decided to take matters into his own hands.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah? ", "Then whose fault is it?\"", "\n\n\"He's a big boy, Quentin. ", "A very big boy.\"", "\n\nQuentin didn't laugh. \"", "And he never would have gone looking for this bastard if I hadn't pointed him in that direction.\"", "\n\n\"You asked him to find out who claimed a kidnapping that never happened, that's all. ", "Anything more is Joey's doing, not yours.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, yeah.\" ", "Quentin sighed. \"", "Listen, you and Jenn be careful out there tonight, okay? ", "Watch your backs.\"", "\n\n\"You know something?\" ", "Kendra asked bluntly.", "\n\n\"No. ", "I just have a very bad feeling about tonight.\" ", "He sounded restless.", "\n\nKendra, who had almost as much respect for Quentin's \"feelings\" as she did his premonitions, nevertheless thought he was probably letting his worries about Joey get the best of him. ", "But all she said was \"We'll be careful. ", "Two transients we talked to about an hour ago swear they know David Robson and that he'll be at the Fellowship Rescue Mission tonight, so that's probably where we'll be.\"", "\n\n\"Okay. ", "Keep checking in, will you?\"", "\n\n\"You bet.\" ", "Kendra turned her phone off and returned it to her shoulder bag, then filled Jennifer in on the relevant details.", "\n\n\"Your partner sounds a little antsy,\" Jennifer noted.", "\n\nKendra nodded. \"", "Yeah, I give him another hour or so, and he'll be out here himself looking for Joey.\"", "\n\n\"They're friends?\"", "\n\n\"That I couldn't tell you. ", "All I know is that Quentin feels responsible for the guy, maybe because they knew each other as kids.\"", "\n\n\"Baggage from the past. ", "We all have that, I expect.\" ", "Jennifer sipped her coffee.", "\n\n\"True.\" ", "Kendra looked out at the dreary streets and added, \"It's already getting dark. ", "I figure the shelters are getting busy about now.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "We'll give it a few more minutes, then go on over to the mission, okay?\"", "\n\n\"Suits me.\"", "\n\nIt was raining when they left the café, the wind fitful as it gusted one moment and died off the next, and the temperature had fallen to hover only a few degrees above freezing. ", "So it wasn't surprising that they found the Fellowship Rescue Mission to be a very popular place.", "\n\n\"We'll have a full house, all right,\" Nancy Frasier told them. \"", "I've already opened the rooms upstairs and put out all the cots and sleeping bags we've got.\"", "\n\n\"We're still looking for David Robson,\" Jennifer said. \"", "Mind if we wander around and talk to people?\"", "\n\n\"It's fine with me, as long as things stay polite. ", "Some of these people are a little . . . ", "uneasy around cops, remember.\"", "\n\n\"We'll keep it low-key,\" Kendra responded with a smile.", "\n\n\"Thanks, I'd appreciate it.\" ", "Frasier sighed. \"", "We've already had a couple arguments today. ", "I knew it was tense out on the streets, but the nerves are coming inside now.\"", "\n\n\"Because of the rapist?\" ", "Jennifer asked.", "\n\n\"That's a big part of it. ", "Because two of the victims were found in this area. ", "Because the women are frightened and the men are getting tired of the way the women are looking at them. ", "Because we're heading toward the holiday season. ", "Because the weather's really lousy.\" ", "She sighed again. \"", "Take your pick.\"", "\n\nSomebody down the hall yelled for Nancy to come help get something unstuck, and she left the two cops with an apologetic grimace.", "\n\n\"If we split up,\" Jennifer said, \"we can get through here faster.\"", "\n\nMindful both of her partner's warning and the reason she was with Jennifer, Kendra said, \"Maybe, but I say we stick together. ", "If these guys are as tense as the director says, some of them might be in a more confrontational mood than usual.\"", "\n\n\"And they'll be less likely to take on both of us?\" ", "Jennifer nodded. \"", "Yeah, you're probably right. ", "Want to start down here or upstairs?\"", "\n\n\"Down here, I guess. ", "It looks like the main room for the men is already full.\" ", "They heard a sudden burst of laughter and a few colorful curses coming from that room, and Kendra added, \"Rules or not, somebody always manages to smuggle in a bottle.\"", "\n\n\"My favorite pastime,\" Jennifer muttered sardonically as they moved toward the men's dormitory. \"", "Arguing with a drunk or two.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe we'll get lucky and find David Robson quickly,\" Kendra offered.", "\n\nBut nobody was more surprised than she was when they did, in fact, find him ten minutes later, after another man told them Robson had gone upstairs to find himself a more private area of the house.", "\n\n\"Thinks he's too good for the rest of us,\" their informant sniffed, sounding quite insulted.", "\n\nThe man sitting on the next cot disagreed. \"", "Naw, he don't think he's better'n us, he's just skittish as hell. ", "Somebody dropped a shoe on the floor a while ago, and he damn near ran back out the door.\"", "\n\n\"Why's he nervous?\" ", "Kendra asked.", "\n\nThe man gave a thick chuckle. \"", "Says a ghost is after him. ", "So you'd better not say boo to him, ladies.\" ", "He cackled happily at his own wit.", "\n\nJennifer and Kendra exchanged glances, then thanked the men and made their way back out of the dormitory and to the front stairs.", "\n\n\"After all this,\" Jennifer said, \"if the guy turns out to be completely delusional, I'm going to be really pissed.\"", "\n\n\"I know what you mean.\"", "\n\nThey climbed the stairs to the second floor, encountering the director in the hallway. ", "When they reported what the men downstairs had told them, she said, \"If he's looking for more privacy, he may have taken one of the small back bedrooms; several of them haven't started to fill up yet.\"", "\n\nThey looked into two such bedrooms, finding one occupied by a snoring man who didn't come close to matching the description they had and the other still empty. ", "In the third room they checked—the most isolated bedroom in the house—they found David Robson.", "\n\nJennifer realized instantly why Terry's description had been so unhelpful. ", "Robson looked like two-thirds of the men presently at the shelter, virtually interchangeable with them. ", "He could have been any age between thirty and fifty. ", "He was hunched and thin, wearing shabby clothing too lightweight for the weather, and both his rather wild hair and his thick beard were a nondescript brown with threads of gray. ", "His eyes were heavy-lidded, a muddy brown color, and more than a little bloodshot.", "\n\nAlso like so many of the men in this place, he was uneasy in the presence of police, literally backing himself into a corner of the small room and clutching in front of him an ancient canvas duffel that apparently contained all his worldly possessions.", "\n\nWorking together instinctively, the two women separated a bit as they came in, with Kendra moving a couple of feet to one side to lean casually against a low chest and leaving Jennifer to step closer to Robson. ", "It was a tactic designed to make him feel less threatened, but it only half worked; his eyes moved nervously back and forth between them almost continually.", "\n\n\"I didn't do nothing,\" he protested as soon as Jennifer told him who they were.", "\n\n\"We know that, David,\" she replied soothingly. \"", "We'd just like to ask you a few questions, that's all. ", "About that ghost you saw a few weeks back.\"", "\n\nHe stiffened and pressed himself even tighter into the corner. \"", "I didn't see nothing. ", "Whoever said I did is a liar.\"", "\n\nJennifer hadn't expected it to be easy but nevertheless stifled a sigh. \"", "You aren't in trouble, David, I promise. ", "Nobody wants to hurt you. ", "We'd just like to know what you saw that night. ", "You were on the catwalk, weren't you? ", "Sleeping in that old warehouse? ", "And you looked out the window?\" ", "Not being in a courtroom, she didn't have to worry about leading her witness; all she wanted was something—anything— that might help her find or at least identify the rapist.", "\n\nHe swallowed visibly and made a little sound in the back of his throat, a frightened sound. \"", "He went to drown the puppies. ", "I know he did. ", "He went to drown them, and now he's looking for me.\"", "\n\n\"We won't let him find you,\" Jennifer reassured him. \"", "You're safe here. ", "Did he have the puppies in a sack, David?\"", "\n\nHe nodded jerkily. \"", "Yeah, a bag. ", "Carried it over his shoulder.\"", "\n\n\"And you saw them moving?\"", "\n\n\"Poor things. ", "Poor little things. ", "He'd already hurt 'em, cause they was bleeding. ", "I saw the blood on the bag. ", "He never liked dogs. ", "Never liked 'em at all. ", "Probably cause they didn't like him. ", "Dogs know who's good. ", "Dogs know.\"", "\n\nJennifer tried not to let the excitement she felt alter her relaxed and unthreatening tone. \"", "It was night, David, and you weren't close; how did you know it was blood you saw?\"", "\n\n\"I saw it! ", "I smelled it!\"", "\n\nWary of getting him too agitated, she tried another tack. \"", "Did you see him when he got to the building, David? ", "Did you see his car?\"", "\n\nRobson clutched his duffel closer to his chest with one arm, while his free hand plunged into the bag and brought out a ring of rusted keys. \"", "D'you think he dropped these? ", "I think he dropped these. ", "I'll give them to him when he comes to get me, and maybe he'll leave me alone. ", "D'you think he'll leave me alone? ", "He likes keys.\"", "\n\nJennifer glanced at Kendra, finding the agent studying Robson with a faint frown, then returned her attention to the man as she wondered if she was asking the right questions. ", "You never knew, not with a witness like this one.", "\n\n\"The car, David. ", "Did you see it?\"", "\n\nHe stared at the keys in his hand, then dropped them back in the bag and began rummaging again. \"", "It was here. ", "I know it was right here . . .\"", "\n\n\"David, did you see the car?\"", "\n\n\"What? ", "Oh. ", "He took the puppies out of the trunk.\"", "\n\n\"You saw that? ", "What color was the car, David?\"", "\n\n\"Black. ", "Black as the inside of hell. ", "Big sonofabitch too. ", "Maybe a Lincoln, I don't know.\"", "\n\nJennifer drew a breath and probed carefully. \"", "So he carried the bag of puppies into the building. ", "Did he have the bag when he came back out, David?\"", "\n\n\"Had the bag. ", "But it was empty. ", "He'd drowned the puppies and left them in there. ", "I told you that!\" ", "he snapped suddenly.", "\n\n\"I'm sorry, David, I'd forgotten.\" ", "She paused, then said, \"You know who he was, don't you? ", "You know who the ghost was?\"", "\n\nHe made another of those frightened sounds in the depths of his throat. \"", "Dead. ", "They said he was dead, but the devil can't die. ", "I know he's the devil. ", "I know it! ", "I saw him one time. ", "Saw him looking at her, and there was nothing in his eyes. ", "Nothing. ", "Why was that?\" ", "he demanded of Jennifer suddenly, desperately. \"", "Why was there nothing?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know, David. ", "Maybe if you told me who he is—\"\n\n\"No! ", "If I tell you, he'll know! ", "He always knew, always. ", "Always watching, smiling. ", "Always knew when I messed up the code.\" ", "The muddy eyes shifted between Jennifer and Kendra, worried, fearful, increasingly anxious. \"", "I'm a good programmer! ", "I am! ", "He knew that, even though he got me fired.\"", "\n\n\"David—\"\n\n\"You're going to tell him I'm here, aren't you? ", "You're going to help him get me!\"", "\n\n\"No, David, we just want to—\"\n\nIt happened with horrifying suddenness. ", "The duffel bag fell to the floor, and Robson was holding a pistol, his hand shaking so badly that it was pure chance it was aimed toward anything at all when it went off.", "\n\nJennifer was moving, reacting instinctively as she lunged toward him, dimly aware that Kendra was moving as well. ", "But both of them were just a little too far away and just a heartbeat too slow in reacting.", "\n\nThe bullet tore through the sleeve of Jennifer's coat and slammed Kendra back against the wall.", "\n\nSome time around eight John heard the shower, and by the time Maggie came out he had the soup ready for them. ", "She looked more fragile than he'd ever seen her, faint purple shadows under her eyes despite the sleep and far too much tension in the set of her shoulders.", "\n\nHe could still see a thin red line across her throat.", "\n\n\"You didn't have to stay,\" she said at one point.", "\n\n\"Finish your soup.\"", "\n\nMaggie looked at him for a moment, catlike golden eyes grave, then silently did as he ordered.", "\n\n\"Now I understand why you never walked through Christina's apartment after she died,\" he said suddenly. \"", "Because she died there. ", "Because you would have felt it.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "I wasn't sure it would happen, that I'd feel all of it, but there was a chance, especially since I—I felt some of what she felt when she was shot. ", "Even though I was nowhere near there when it happened. ", "And even without the connection I felt to Christina, what I was sensing had been getting so much stronger, so much more . . . ", "intense with every day that passed.\" ", "She shrugged a bit jerkily. \"", "I'd started being careful about crime scenes even before she died, just to be on the safe side.\"", "\n\n\"You should have told me that.\"", "\n\n\"You wouldn't have believed me.\"", "\n\nJohn knew that was true, so he could hardly deny it. ", "He remained silent while they finished the meal. ", "He cleared up afterward, sending her to the living room with coffee, and joined her there a few minutes later. ", "She was curled up on one end of the couch, the over-large black sweater and dark sweatpants she wore making her skin appear even more pale than usual and her hair more vibrant.", "\n\nWhen John joined her on the couch, she was looking at her hands, and said absently, \"I feel like Lady Macbeth. ", "All that blood on my hands. ", "I can still smell it.\"", "\n\nSteadily, he said, \"All I smell is lavender soap.\"", "\n\nShe tucked her hands down between her knees and shifted her gaze to his face. \"", "It's supposed to be soothing and relaxing, that scent. ", "Usually, it is.\"", "\n\n\"Maggie, maybe you should go back to bed.\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "I . . . ", "don't want to be alone. ", "Do you mind?\"", "\n\n\"Of course not. ", "But you didn't get enough rest.\"", "\n\n\"Enough for now. ", "It was the first time in days I was able to really sleep. ", "Probably because I knew you were here. ", "Have I thanked you, by the way?\"", "\n\n\"For what? ", "For staying? ", "I wanted to, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"For staying. ", "And for pulling me out of that building. ", "I don't know if I could have gotten out if you hadn't been there.\"", "\n\n\"Promise me you won't ever do that again. ", "Go into a place like that alone.\"", "\n\n\"No, I won't.\" ", "Her smile was a little shaky. \"", "I wouldn't dare, not after this. ", "That was very scary.\"", "\n\nJohn would have chosen a stronger word, but all he said was \"For me too.\"", "\n\n\"I'm sorry.\" ", "She lifted her hands and looked at them again as if she couldn't help herself.", "\n\n\"The blood's gone, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "I know.\" ", "She allowed her hands to fall, to rest on her thighs, but kept her gaze on them.", "\n\nHe hesitated, not at all sure if he was ready for this. ", "For any of this. \"", "We don't have to talk about it.\"", "\n\nMaggie smiled again, wry this time. \"", "Okay.\"", "\n\n\"I didn't mean—Maggie, it's not that I doubt what you can do.\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "You're just . . . ", "very uncomfortable with it.\"", "\n\nTrying to keep it light, he said, \"Stop plucking my feelings out of the air, will you?\"", "\n\nShe looked at him finally, that little smile lingering. \"", "One of the major drawbacks of . . . ", "getting too close to an empath, I'm afraid.\"", "\n\n\"It's not something I expected,\" he confessed.", "\n\n\"I don't mean to invade your privacy. ", "I'm sorry.\"", "\n\nHe shook his head. \"", "I don't have any no-trespassing signs, not where you're concerned. ", "It just takes some getting used to, that's all.\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "I know it does.\"", "\n\nHe wasn't saying any of what he wanted to say, and his own inadequacy disturbed him. ", "All too aware that the wrong words would hurt her, still unsure if he was ready for this, he watched her turn her restless gaze to the muted television.", "\n\n\"More rain,\" she murmured. \"", "Always rain. ", "People in Seattle don't tan—\"\n\n\"They rust,\" he finished.", "\n\n\"I keep forgetting you grew up here.\"", "\n\n\"I've thought about moving back. ", "Oddly enough, I miss the rain.\"", "\n\nIt picked up outside just then, drumming against the roof of Maggie's small house, and she nodded. \"", "I think I'd miss it too. ", "It's a very soothing sound.\"", "\n\nThe silence that fell between them wasn't particularly soothing, and John didn't have to be psychic to feel that. ", "There was too much left unsaid, and yet he knew they were at a turning point, a crossroads come upon so suddenly that neither one of them had been prepared for it.", "\n\n\"Maggie—\"\n\n\"We really don't have to talk about it,\" she said. \"", "About any of it. ", "Too much has happened for either of us to be sure of anything right now.\"", "\n\nThis time, he didn't hesitate. \"", "I'm sure of what I feel. ", "I'm just not sure of what you feel. ", "I mean—\" He shook his head as she looked at him, wryly aware that he was as awkward as a teenager facing, for the first time, the girl who was so desperately important to him that every word spoken took on terrifying significance. \"", "Maggie, you feel so much of other people's emotions, other people's pain. ", "I can't help wondering if you even have the energy left to . . . ", "feel for yourself.\"", "\n\nShe was obviously surprised, a little puzzled, even uneasy. ", "But she didn't duck the question. \"", "Sometimes it's easier to be alone.\"", "\n\n\"Because there's been too much of other people's feelings? ", "Because when you're alone, you can find peace?\"", "\n\n\"Is that so wrong?\"", "\n\nJohn hesitated, then reached over and brushed back a strand of her hair, allowing his hand to linger against her face. \"", "God knows I can't blame you for making that choice. ", "But it's an unbalanced existence. ", "You said it yourself, Maggie—life is about balance. ", "How can you go on giving and giving of yourself, your energy and compassion—and empathy—without at least sometimes taking something for yourself?\"", "\n\n\"Because it isn't that simple.\" ", "Her eyes were steady, the curve of her mouth a little vulnerable.", "\n\n\"I'd ask you to give as well as take.\"", "\n\nShe half nodded, agreement but also an obvious pleasure in the touch of his hand against her skin as she moved. \"", "People do. ", "It's only fair. ", "I just . . . ", "don't know how much I can give right now.\"", "\n\n\"And if I said whatever you can give will be enough?\"", "\n\n\"I don't think I'd believe you.\" ", "She drew a breath. \"", "Anyway, it doesn't matter. ", "This wouldn't even be happening if you hadn't been shaken up by today.\"", "\n\n\"The hell it wouldn't.\" ", "John didn't give her a chance to argue, just pulled her into his arms and kissed her.", "\n\nMaggie had told herself almost from the day she had met John that if this happened she'd be able to stop it. ", "Really easy—just say no. ", "Tell him she didn't want this, didn't want him. ", "Tell him she wasn't the slightest bit interested in acquiring a lover, thank you very much. ", "Even if it wasn't love, even if it was only desire. ", "Passion was very clearly and very certainly something she didn't need in her life.", "\n\nShe had been very sure of that.", "\n\nShe had been very wrong.", "\n\nTo her astonishment, it was about warmth as much as it was passion, about the simple, necessary human lifeline that was the touch of flesh on flesh. ", "Her body, racked so often and so long with the pain of others,\n\ncraved the healing warmth of him, the pleasure he created just by touching her. ", "And her weary spirit longed for the closeness, the intimacy he offered.", "\n\nThere was no pain in this, no fear, no darkness. ", "There was nothing but elation and the certain knowledge that some things really were meant to happen.", "\n\nWithout knowing if she had moved or he had moved her, she found herself on his lap, her knees on either side of his hips. ", "She felt his hair, silky between her fingers, felt his mouth hungry and insistent on hers. ", "She felt his hands slip under her sweater and touch her skin, felt them slide upward slowly until they could close over her breasts, and heard a little sound escape her, so eager it almost embarrassed her. ", "Almost.", "\n\nJohn drew back just far enough to look at her, his eyes darkened to emerald and so intense she couldn't look away. \"", "Just give what you can, Maggie,\" he said roughly. \"", "I swear I won't hurt you.\"", "\n\nShe touched his face with both hands, almost as if she were blind and needed her sensitive fingertips in order to see. ", "She touched his mouth, and then her lips followed, teasing his, taking his. \"", "I never thought you would.\"", "\n\nTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8\n\nAs promised, the rain grew even heavier after midnight and the wind began to whine and moan like something lost and lonely.", "\n\nMaggie didn't mind. ", "Her lamplit bedroom was warm and tranquil—at least for the moment—and she was discovering how good it felt to lie close to someone else in an intimate and peaceful bed. ", "It felt very good. ", "She wanted to hold on to this, to make the moment last, and knowing it couldn't made it all the more achingly sweet.", "\n\nJohn shifted position slightly and rose on an elbow to look down at her. \"", "You're very quiet.\"", "\n\nShe smiled. \"", "Listening to the rain. ", "Wishing the night could last a little longer than it will.\"", "\n\n\"There's that fatalism again,\" he said, intentionally light.", "\n\n\"Sorry. ", "Character fault, I'm afraid. ", "But . . . ", "the morning will come, John.\"", "\n\n\"And then the next morning, and the one after that. ", "Mornings don't mean endings, Maggie.\"", "\n\n\"Sometimes they do.\"", "\n\n\"Not this time.\" ", "He shifted again, pulling her closer so that his forearms were beneath her shoulders and his fingers could tangle in her long, thick hair. \"", "I don't intend to lose you.\"", "\n\nMaggie responded as she had to when he kissed her, her arms going up around his neck and her mouth every bit as urgent as his. ", "It was rather terrifying, she thought dimly, that he could have this effect on her when she had known him barely a week. ", "Then again, sometimes a week was a lifetime, and sometimes knowledge had nothing to do with time.", "\n\nThere was nothing of the normal awkwardness of new lovers between them. ", "No fumbling or uncertainty. ", "He knew without asking what would please her, just as she knew what would please him. ", "Yet even as Maggie knew that to glide her fingertips up his spine would elicit a shudder of need, there were also the still unfamiliar sensations of this particular body against hers, unexpectedly hard and powerful.", "\n\nShe knew he was a silent, intense lover, yet there was also the discovery that her voice murmuring his name had the power to affect him like an actual physical caress. ", "And just when she was certain he couldn't possibly make her feel more than she already had, he did.", "\n\n\"It's obvious to me,\" she murmured a long time later, \"that you didn't spend _all_ your time building a business empire.\"", "\n\nJohn chuckled and drew her a bit closer to his side. \"", "A man has to have hobbies.\"", "\n\n\"Ah. ", "And, naturally, you applied yourself to those _hobbies_ with all the energy and dedication at your command.\"", "\n\n\"Naturally.\"", "\n\n\"Well, none of it was wasted.\"", "\n\n\"Thank you. ", "You're not so bad yourself.\" ", "He hesitated only a moment. \"", "Maggie?\"", "\n\n\"Don't say it, okay?\" ", "She kept her voice quiet.", "\n\nHe was silent, then murmured, \"Because you already know.\"", "\n\n\"Because I don't need to hear it. ", "Not now. ", "Later . . . ", "when it's all over. ", "Tell me then, all right?\"", "\n\nJohn didn't answer aloud, just wrapped both his arms around her and held her, wide awake as he listened to the wind moan outside.", "\nCHAPTER NINETEEN\n\n **I should call John and Maggie,\" Andy said.**", "\n\n\"No, let them sleep.\" ", "Quentin glanced up at the big clock on the wall, then shifted restlessly on the uncomfortable couch in the hospital's waiting room. \"", "It's nearly three. ", "Besides, there's nothing they could do.\"", "\n\nAndy watched him. \"", "She'll be all right. ", "You heard the doctor. ", "Stable enough for surgery, and he didn't anticipate any complications.\"", "\n\n\"So why's it taking so long?\" ", "Quentin looked at the clock once again, frowning. ", "His face was drawn, the anxiety in his eyes obvious.", "\n\n\"He said it could be hours, Quentin, you know that.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Yeah.\"", "\n\nJennifer came into the waiting room and immediately asked, \"Any news?\"", "\n\n\"Not yet,\" Andy told her. \"", "Still in surgery. ", "What about Robson?\"", "\n\nShe sat down beside him on the couch across from the one Quentin occupied. \"", "Under restraints and sedation. ", "He won't be any help anytime soon, at least not verbally. ", "But when we ran his prints, we did find out that about four years ago he was employed by one of the electronics companies in the city, a big one. ", "They run three shifts, but I had to get the personnel manager out of bed so he could give me a list of employees working for the company at the same time. ", "We're comparing it to the list Kendra had put together of every person even remotely connected to the victims or the investigation.\"", "\n\n\"So maybe this _ghost_ he was so afraid of will turn up.\"", "\n\n\"Maybe.\" ", "She shrugged, her gaze moving to Quentin. \"", "He did specifically say the ghost had gotten him fired and mentioned being a programmer. ", "And I do believe he saw somebody go into that building, somebody who was carrying something in a sack that was moving. ", "So maybe it'll turn out to be a worthwhile lead after all.\"", "\n\nQuentin stirred slightly and said, \"It was a worthwhile lead. ", "Stop blaming yourself.\"", "\n\n\"I should have at least checked to make sure he wasn't armed,\" she responded, her voice tight. \"", "We knew he was paranoid, jumpy as hell, and the way he was clutching that duffel I should have at least taken it away from him.\"", "\n\n\"You couldn't have known.\"", "\n\nJennifer looked as if she wanted to continue protesting but just shook her head silently.", "\n\nQuentin repeated, \"You couldn't have known. ", "No one can be on guard all the time against the unexpected. ", "And there were two of you there, don't forget that. ", "From what you told us, it was pure chance Kendra was the one who got hit.\"", "\n\n\"He's right,\" Andy told Jennifer.", "\n\nShe grimaced. \"", "That doesn't make it easier.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, I know.\" ", "Andy looked back at Quentin. \"", "Shouldn't you report in, call your boss? ", "We tried to keep it quiet, but you know as well as I do that by morning the media will know an FBI agent was shot while questioning a witness.\"", "\n\n\"I'll call it in when we know something. ", "Where the hell's that doctor?\"", "\n\n\"He said he'd talk to us as soon as the surgery was finished,\" Andy answered patiently.", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Right.\"", "\n\nA silence fell that none of them was willing to break, and the clock quietly ticked away the minutes. ", "It was just after three-thirty when the doctor finally came into the waiting room, tired but satisfied.", "\n\n\"We're not out of the woods yet, but everything looks good,\" he told them. \"", "We were able to extract the bullet and repair the damage. ", "She'll have to take it easy for a while, but there should be no complications. ", "And we have an excellent trauma therapist on staff to help her through the emotional aftereffects of having been shot.\"", "\n\n\"Can I see her?\" ", "Quentin asked.", "\n\n\"Not until she comes out of recovery, and that'll be hours yet.\" ", "He looked at all of them, adding, \"My advice would be for you to get some sleep and come back later in the morning. ", "Believe me, there's nothing you can do here, and we'll call if there's any change.\"", "\n\n\"Thank you, Doctor.\" ", "When they were alone again, Andy said reluctantly, \"We should all be back at the office. ", "The search for that Caddie is narrowing, and the lead Jenn and Kendra were following could pay off at any time.\"", "\n\n\"I know.\" ", "Quentin shifted his shoulders as if to ease tension that refused to leave him despite the good news. \"", "And with every hour that passes, we're less and less likely to find Tara Jameson before he kills her. ", "You two go on back to the station. ", "I want to have another word with the doctor before I call Quantico and report in.\"", "\n\n\"You're sure?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, go ahead. ", "I'll be along in a few minutes.\"", "\n\nAfter they left him, it took Quentin less than five minutes to find the surgical recovery area and Kendra. ", "Between the lateness of the hour and his inborn ability to slip into places unnoticed, he was able to reach her bedside without being challenged.", "\n\nShe was either still sedated or sleeping deeply, and he didn't try to wake her. ", "He just stood looking down at her for a long time, without moving, his face bleak.", "\n\n\"Sir? ", "You shouldn't be in here.\" ", "The nurse's voice was low but authoritative.", "\n\nQuentin looked at her, saw her take a half step backward, and made a conscious effort to tone down the savagery he was afraid she had seen and smile reassuringly. \"", "Yes, I know. ", "It's all right. ", "I'm leaving now.\"", "\n\nHesitant, the nurse said, \"She'll be fine, sir.\"", "\n\n\"Yes. ", "Thank you, Nurse.\" ", "He sent a final look at Kendra, then left the room without another word.", "\n\nHe went directly to his rental car in the parking lot near the emergency room and started the engine but didn't move the car. ", "It was a long time before he reached for his cell phone and punched in Bishop's familiar number.", "\n\nJennifer poured herself another cup of coffee, afraid to stop and try to figure out how much she'd consumed in the past couple of days. ", "It was barely six A.M. on this cold, dreary Thursday in November, and she had enough caffeine in her system to stay awake until Christmas.", "\n\nNot that she expected to sleep between now and then anyway.", "\n\nScott came into the room, looking as tired as the others but considerably more dusty. \"", "If I never see another file again,\" he announced, \"it'll be too soon.\"", "\n\nJennifer felt a stab of guilt. \"", "I should have been helping you, Scott. ", "Sorry.\"", "\n\n\"Don't worry about it.\" ", "He grinned. \"", "I'll get even later.\"", "\n\n\"The question is,\" Andy said, \"did you find anything helpful?\"", "\n\nTriumphant, he said, \"I found out what happened in 1894. ", "Well, sort of.\"", "\n\nSitting at the conference table at Kendra's laptop, Quentin looked at him in respect. \"", "How in hell did you do that? ", "The computer databases haven't coughed up a damned thing.\"", "\n\n\"Punch in Boston,\" Scott advised.", "\n\n\"Kendra's the expert with this beast,\" Quentin said as he scowled at the laptop. \"", "But I'll try.\"", "\n\nAndy said, \"What'd you find out, Scott? ", "And how?\"", "\n\nHe grimaced. \"", "How is simple enough. ", "That box of miscellaneous files I've been going through. ", "I found the police report of the seventh victim from 1934.\" ", "He opened the folder he was carrying and produced a photograph of a young woman with dark, curly hair and striking dark eyes.", "\n\nIt didn't take more than an exchange of glances to confirm that she was completely unfamiliar to all of them.", "\n\nAndy sighed. \"", "Why did I hope at least one of us might recognize the face of the next possible victim so we could do something about it before he grabs her?\"", "\n\n\"Wishful thinking,\" Jennifer said. \"", "It was always a real long shot, Andy, you know that.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\" ", "He watched Scott pin the photo on the bulletin board in its proper place in the line of 1934 victims, then said, \"But she was killed here, right, in Seattle? ", "So how did you find anything about Boston and 1894?\"", "\n\n\"One of the investigating officers in 1934 put a note in the file, apparently out of frustration more than anything else. ", "Said he'd tried everything he could think of to find the bastard killing Seattle's young women, even thoroughly checking out all the family members of the victims despite their lack of motive— because his father, who had also been a cop, had told him about some murders that took place in Boston forty years before, murders that sounded eerily similar to the ones here, at least as far as what was done to the victims.\"", "\n\nQuentin frowned at him. \"", "So why did the cop focus on family members?\"", "\n\n\"Because in the Boston murders, it was apparently the brother of at least one of the victims who committed the crimes.\" ", "Scott shrugged. \"", "He was vague on the details, just said these killings were different in some ways but he was desperate, willing to try anything, so he checked out family members.\"", "\n\n\"And?\"", "\n\n\"Well, nothing more in that file. ", "I still have more to look through, and we don't know anything about the eighth victim. ", "Maybe there'll be more info in that folder—assuming I can find it.\"", "\n\nQuentin looked at the humming laptop. \"", "It'll take this thing a while to check the historical databases again, even with a specific city and date.\"", "\n\n\"I'm going to keep looking for the file on the eighth victim,\" Scott said. \"", "Maybe there'll be more info that might help us.\"", "\n\n\"Get a shower and breakfast first,\" Andy told him. \"", "And maybe sleep a couple hours, at least.\"", "\n\n\"I will if you will,\" Scott said dryly, and left the conference room before Andy could respond.", "\n\nWith a sigh, Jennifer said, \"We're all going on caffeine, adrenaline, and nerves. ", "Much longer, and none of us will be worth a damn.\" ", "She got up. \"", "I'm going to go see if we have anything useful yet on that company Robson worked for.\"", "\n\nAndy's phone rang as she left, and he answered it with a hopeful expression that very quickly turned to grimness as he listened. ", "Finally, he said, \"Okay, yeah, tell 'em we're on our way.\" ", "He cradled the receiver and muttered a curse under his breath.", "\n\nQuentin lifted a questioning brow. \"", "They found Tara Jameson?\"", "\n\n\"No.\" ", "Andy hesitated, then said, \"But they found somebody else, Quentin. ", "At least, it sounds like . . .\"", "\n\nAfter a moment, flatly, Quentin said, \"Joey.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "I'm afraid so.\"", "\n\nQuentin didn't say anything during the trip with Andy out to the waterfront location, and after a glance at his face Andy didn't try to open a conversation. ", "He thought fleetingly that the seemingly easygoing, humorous man beside him would be a very, very dangerous enemy, and he was glad they were on the same side. ", "It wasn't the first time he'd thought that.", "\n\nSo he said nothing until he parked the car near a cluster of other police cars not too far from where I-90 crossed over Lake Washington from Mercer Island. ", "It was a fairly congested area, so it wasn't surprising that the body had been discovered so early by an unlucky jogger.", "\n\nAndy said, \"Given the tides, there's no telling where he was dumped into the water. ", "The southern end of Lake Washington, probably, but that covers a lot of territory.\"", "\n\nQuentin nodded but said nothing as they approached the taped-off area near the water's edge.", "\n\nAndy stopped to talk to the detective in charge, but Quentin went on until he could look down on the body sprawled on the rocks half in and half out of the water. ", "Faceup.", "\n\nCause of death was obvious. ", "There was a gunshot wound to the center of the chest and another between the eyes. ", "Quentin didn't have to hear the medical examiner explain it to know that the first shot had been to the chest—and had failed to stop Joey. ", "Quentin hadn't known many men capable of withstanding what should have been a mortal injury, but he had no doubt it hadn't stopped Joey. ", "It had taken a second bullet to do that.", "\n\n\"Ah, Joey,\" he murmured.", "\n\nAndy joined him. \"", "He had your card, which is why they called me.\" ", "He shrugged when Quentin looked at him. \"", "Word's got around already that the Bureau is helping out on the rapist investigation, so they knew who to call.\"", "\n\n\"How long's he been dead?\" ", "Quentin asked matter-of-factly.", "\n\n\"Preliminary estimate is eight to ten hours, give or take a couple. ", "Some time last night.\"", "\n\nQuentin turned his gaze to the lake before them, frowning. \"", "So it didn't take him long to find whatever he found. ", "Maybe he was near the water when he was shot, and maybe not.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Doesn't narrow the possibilities much.\"", "\n\n\"Not unless we can place an old black Caddie fairly close to the waterfront.\"", "\n\n\"You think he found it?\"", "\n\n\"Don't you?\"", "\n\nAndy grimaced. \"", "I think it'd be stretching coincidence too far to think somebody uninvolved killed him right after he started looking for the Caddie.\"", "\n\n\"Agreed.\" ", "Quentin's mouth was a thin, grim line. \"", "So let's find that goddamned car.\"", "\n\nJennifer met them back in the conference room, still obviously wired with caffeine, and announced, \"Maggie just called; she and John are on their way in. ", "And the computer's sifted through the information on that electronics company, but so far nothing. ", "No name matches up to any on our list of family, friends, or acquaintances of the victims. ", "Now I'm going over the list myself. ", "I don't trust these damned machines.\"", "\n\nThe damned machine on the conference table beeped just then, and Quentin went to study the laptop's screen. \"", "Okay, we have a couple of very brief articles from a Boston newspaper, 1894. ", "A man named Robert Graham is suspected of murdering his entire family.\" ", "He looked up suddenly. \"", "Seven sisters. ", "And his own wife.\"", "\n\n\"Any more details?\" ", "Andy demanded.", "\n\nQuentin nodded and looked back at the screen. \"", "A few. ", "It was a fairly big story at the time, especially since nobody had a clue why he did it and because he'd already vanished when they found the bodies. ", "In those days, it wasn't at all uncommon for even a large family of siblings to continue living together in the family home, especially if they remained unmarried. ", "Apparently, none of Graham's sisters—all under the age of twenty-five—had married or had jobs, and he was supporting them. ", "Their parents had died . . . ", "just the year before, as a matter of fact, in what was probably a flu epidemic.", "\n\n\"They believed the killings were spread out over a period of at least three days. ", "That he probably tied up or in some way restrained and gagged all of them, then took his time killing them, beginning with . . . ", "his twin sister. ", "They believe the wife was last; from the looks of it, he had tied her to their bed early on and left her there while he killed the others. ", "She may or may not have been conscious and aware of what was going on.\"", "\n\n\"Christ,\" Andy muttered.", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "No descriptions of the victims, and precious few details of what he actually did to them—but they were all found with something covering their eyes, either bits of their own clothing or sheets, towels, something like that.\"", "\n\nJennifer drew a breath. \"", "So he killed his own family—not what happened this time, with the victims all unrelated to each other. ", "But he didn't want them to see or watch him—which is definitely like our guy and, apparently, the killer in 1934.\"", "\n\nQuentin sat down at the table, rubbed his face briefly with both hands, and said, \"Family members. ", "Maybe the cop in 1934 was on to something.\"", "\n\nAndy objected, \"But our victims are unrelated, like Jenn said.\"", "\n\n\"Unrelated to each other, yes. ", "But maybe at least one of them was related to her attacker.\"", "\n\n\"All the relatives have alibis for at least one period of time in which we _know_ this guy was either snatching another woman or spending a few hours torturing one,\" Jennifer pointed out. \"", "Every single one of them. ", "We triple-checked that.\"", "\n\n\"What are we missing?\" ", "Quentin muttered. \"", "There's something . . . ", "a fact or question so all this will make sense.\"", "\n\nAndy looked at Jennifer. \"", "The list of the electronics company's employees was screened, but the computer was only looking for connections to family, friends, or acquaintances of the victims, you said?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\"", "\n\n\"What about the victims themselves? ", "Were their names included?\"", "\n\n\"Sure. ", "The computer said there was no connection.\"", "\n\nHe sighed. \"", "Shit.\"", "\n\nQuentin rubbed his face again and said, \"You said you were going over the list yourself, Jenn, and I say it's a good idea. ", "Maybe you'll see something that escaped the mathematical logic of a computer.\"", "\n\n\"Right.\" ", "She immediately bent to the task.", "\n\n\"Andy, do we have a copy of that DMV list of black Caddies in the area?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah—it's right here.\"", "\n\n\"Let's see if any of those names jump out at us.\"", "\n\n\"We can't possibly be that lucky,\" Andy said, but handed over half the list to Quentin.", "\n\nThey were all tired, too tired to be doing what they were doing. ", "Not that it stopped them, of course. ", "But the weariness did make Andy question what he thought he was seeing nearly half an hour later. \"", "Reported stolen,\" he murmured.", "\n\nQuentin looked at him across the table. \"", "What?\"", "\n\n\"There was a black Caddie reported stolen two years ago. ", "Never found.\"", "\n\n\"Probably not so unusual,\" Quentin noted.", "\n\n\"No, not that part. ", "It's who reported it stolen. ", "Who it belonged to.\"", "\n\n\"Who?\"", "\n\nBefore Andy could answer, Jennifer said, \"Hey. _", "Hey._ ", "Do you know who used to work for the same electronics company as David Robson? ", "Who was, in fact, his boss in the software design department?\"", "\n\nSlowly, Andy said, \"Simon Walsh.\"", "\n\nShe stared at him. \"", "How'd you know that?\"", "\n\n\"Lucky guess. ", "He reported his father's old black Caddie as missing and probably stolen just over two years ago. ", "I love a good coincidence, but this can't be one.\"", "\n\n\"Christina's husband,\" Jennifer said. \"", "Christina's husband was David Robson's boss _and_ had him fired, just like Robson said. ", "And he used to own a black Cadillac?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah.\"", "\n\n\"But he's dead.\"", "\n\n\"According to the record, yes.\" ", "Andy looked at Quentin. \"", "Which would explain why the computer didn't come up with a match. ", "We didn't even have his name on our lists, since Christina was—or was supposed to be—a widow. ", "It was a sailing accident, wasn't it? ", "That supposedly killed him?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "In fact, since I knew Christina and John, I came to his memorial service.\" ", "Quentin shook his head. \"", "He was a sailing nut, often went out alone even in bad weather. ", "This time, the storm won. ", "And there were witnesses, of a sort. ", "Another boat near enough to see Walsh struggling with equipment, see the boom swing and hit him. ", "And over he went. ", "The other boat pinpointed the area, there was a pretty massive search, and they recovered his boat mostly intact—but he was never found. ", "As I remember, John hired experienced mariners and rescue people to search even after the official search was called off, but they had no better luck than the Coast Guard.\"", "\n\nJennifer fumbled for a cinnamon toothpick and thought longingly of a cigarette. \"", "But, Andy—she was his _wife_. ", "You're saying he did that to his own wife? ", "The rape? ", "The acid?\"", "\n\nSoftly but with a distinct note of loathing in his voice, Quentin said, \"Vows don't mean much to sociopaths, Jenn. ", "After what you've seen him do, how can you doubt he'd balk at brutalizing a loyal and loving wife?\"", "\n\nAndy said, \"And wasn't Walsh some kind of computer genius?\"", "\n\nQuentin nodded. \"", "Electronic security systems would have been child's play for him.\"", "\n\nJennifer was still protesting. \"", "If you're right about this, Christina was his second victim. ", "Why marry her, then fake his own death a few years later—and not attack Laura Hughes until a year and a half after that?\"", "\n\nQuentin said, \"He might have been drawn to Christina without really knowing why and believed himself in love. ", "Sociopaths don't feel the way we do, but they often pretend to feel, to live normal lives. ", "He could have married her, intending to live that normal life. ", "Then either felt too confined or just got tired of the game. ", "Faking his death was a nice dramatic way out of all the ties binding him, gaining him his freedom without any messy emotional confrontations.", "\n\n\"Then he sees Laura Hughes one day,\" Quentin continued, \"and something about her face triggers his psychosis. ", "We can be pretty sure it's the way these women look that makes him single them out, even if we're not entirely sure what it is. ", "He sees Laura—and goes after her. ", "Once he attacks her, once he begins to explore and satisfy his needs, his hungers, whatever restraints he felt before would melt away. ", "He not only has the taste of it but possibly understands now why he was drawn to Christina, why her face attracted him in the first place. ", "And she becomes his next victim.\"", "\n\nIt sounded all too horribly likely, even to Jennifer. ", "She stopped protesting.", "\n\nAndy drew a deep breath. \"", "Okay, we've got to start looking for a dead man. ", "And we have to do something else.\"", "\n\n\"Yeah,\" Quentin said. \"", "We have to tell John.\"", "\n\nHollis adjusted the sunglasses on her nose. ", "They felt oddly loose somehow. ", "Looser than the bandage had been.", "\n\n\"We'll keep the lights out in here, Hollis,\" the doctor said, his voice both soothing and disappointed. \"", "We don't want to add any unnecessary strain. ", "It may just take a little time, that's all. ", "The muscles are working properly, and the pupils. ", "The optic nerve looks fine. ", "The eyes themselves are very bloodshot in appearance, but that's perfectly normal.\"", "\n\nHollis thought he minded more than she did. \"", "It's all right, doctor. ", "We both knew the odds.\"", "\n\n\"I don't want you to lose hope, Hollis. ", "In optical surgeries, there's often a period of adjustment when the bandages come off. ", "Give it a little time, okay?\"", "\n\n\"I don't have any pressing appointments,\" she said lightly.", "\n\nHe sighed. \"", "I'll come back in a few hours, and we'll check again.\"", "\n\n\"Sure.\"", "\n\nWhen she was alone again, Hollis turned her face toward the window. ", "The blustery night had been followed by a miserable day, according to the nurses. ", "Wet, dreary, cold. ", "So she wasn't missing much, at least as far as the view out the window went.", "\n\nBut she would have liked to see it.", "\n\nShe really would have liked to see it.", "\n\n _Hollis?_", "\n\n\"Hello, Annie. ", "Were you around when the doc was here? ", "I'm still blind, you know.\" ", "Her voice was the same as it had been with the doctor, even and calm, almost placid.", "\n\n _Hollis, listen to me. ", "Are you listening?_", "\n\n\"Sure. ", "Sure I'm listening.\"", "\n\n _You have to see._", "\n\n\"I can't.\"", "\n\n _Yes, you can. ", "The eyes are yours now, Hollis. ", "They_ _belong to you. ", "They were a gift, so you could see. ", "You_ _must see._", "\n\n\"But I can't. ", "Just darkness. ", "That's all I see.\"", "\n\n _Do you want to help Maggie?_", "\n\nHollis sat very still, her fingers curling on the arms of the chair to grip hard. \"", "You know I do.\"", "\n\n _Then you have to see, Hollis._", "\n\n\"But—\"\n\n _You have to see._", "\nCHAPTER TWENTY\n\n **John didn't say a word in protest as it was all laid** out for him. ", "But something changed in his face, and Maggie, watching him, could feel the pain.", "\n\n\"I'm sorry, John,\" Quentin said. \"", "We could be wrong.\"", "\n\nWith a twisted smile, John said, \"I hope you are. ", "But somehow . . . ", "it makes sense to me. ", "It would explain so much, wouldn't it? ", "How he got into high-security places, for instance. ", "A snap for a computer genius.\"", "\n\nReluctantly, Maggie said, \"John, it could also explain Christina's death.\"", "\n\nHe looked at her, and she felt another flash of pain that was quickly and ruthlessly shoved aside. \"", "Yes, it could. ", "Of all his victims, Christina was the most likely to be able to identify him, given enough time. ", "He must have known that. ", "Must have realized, when she survived the attack, that he couldn't let her live. ", "Especially if he got into the apartment and saw the work she was doing trying to find her attacker. ", "It could also be why he didn't bother to go after Hollis Templeton or Ellen Randall a second time when they survived the initial attacks; he wouldn't think they had any chance of identifying him, so they were no threat to him.\"", "\n\nMaggie thought that if they both survived this, she would have to do something about this tendency of his to repress pain. ", "But for now, all she could do was say, \"If I'd been able to walk through her apartment afterward, maybe I could have seen all this.\"", "\n\n\"It would have killed you,\" John said flatly.", "\n\nAndy, who had been mostly silent until then, said, \"John, I swear to you I believed Christina committed suicide.\"", "\n\n\"I know that, Andy. ", "You have nothing to apologize for.\"", "\n\n\"Then why do I feel so rotten about it?\"", "\n\n\"Never mind. ", "What we have to do now is figure out where Simon could be.\"", "\n\nQuentin said, \"We've started on that. ", "Given that he had access to quite a bit of money before his presumed death, it seems logical to assume that he planned carefully. ", "I think we'll find evidence that he liquidated some assets and investments and possibly sold property as well before he took that boat out to die.\"", "\n\nJohn frowned. \"", "Thinking back, I was a bit surprised there was so little money. ", "Plenty for Christina to live comfortably, but given what he'd been earning with those cutting-edge software programs of his, I expected to find more.\"", "\n\n\"There was more,\" Jennifer announced as she came into the conference room. \"", "While some of the guys are looking for property he might have sold, I've been on another computer, checking out his financial records in the months before his supposed death. ", "Quentin was right—Simon Walsh was moving around a lot of money. ", "No one amount large enough to raise any flags, but taken together it's pretty obvious he shifted a sizable portion of his net worth somewhere I haven't been able to trace.\"", "\n\n\"He put it in another name,\" Quentin said. \"", "He laid all the groundwork for disappearing long before he did.\"", "\n\nAndy said, \"I still don't get why he went to so much trouble to hide his face when he'd already blinded his victims. ", "I mean, I could see him being extra careful with Christina, but the others? ", "None of them knew him, right?\"", "\n\nQuentin said, \"I think wearing a mask and wig is tied in with why he blinds them. ", "He doesn't want them to see but, even more, he doesn't want them to know it's him. ", "And he's convinced they would know, if they were able to see him, touch his face, even get a whiff of his natural scent. ", "Because he recognizes their faces somehow, or believes he does, and because he believes he knows them, he believes they could know him.\"", "\n\n\"It makes sense, I guess,\" Andy said. \"", "As much as this twisted bastard makes any kind of sense.\"", "\n\n\"So how do we find him?\" ", "Jennifer demanded.", "\n\nMaggie half listened without offering comment as the others discussed various ways they might find Simon Walsh's secret torture chamber. ", "What would it take, she wondered, to push a precarious mind even further into insanity? ", "Maybe even . . . ", "break it for good? ", "Was that an effective way to destroy evil, by splintering it so that not even its own will could hold it together any longer?", "\n\n\"Maggie?\"", "\n\nShe blinked at John. \"", "Hmm?\"", "\n\nHe leaned slightly toward her, his hand coming to rest warmly on her thigh. \"", "Are you all right?\"", "\n\n\"I'm fine.\" ", "She managed a smile. \"", "Just . . . ", "wondering why I couldn't see this. ", "Couldn't see him. ", "Christina had pictures of him, of course. ", "She showed them to me.\"", "\n\n\"You couldn't see him because none of the victims ever saw him. ", "He made sure of that.\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "Still.\"", "\n\nHe squeezed her thigh gently, then leaned back and looked across the table to meet Quentin's gaze. \"", "Do you think we'll find him by figuring out what properties he sold before he faked his death?\"", "\n\n\"I think we've got a fair shot at it. ", "To do what he does requires isolation and privacy. ", "And he's got to feel safe there, certain no one will find him.\"", "\n\nAndy said, \"You know, he could still have Tara Jameson at that place. ", "We haven't found a body yet, and he's had her barely forty-eight hours. ", "Plus we think he may have been interrupted if Quentin's source actually found him or at least got close enough to draw his attention. ", "So he could still be . . . ", "working on her.\"", "\n\nMaggie, remembering the painting, said, \"I don't think she's alive . . . ", "but she could be.\"", "\n\n\"Which means,\" Quentin said, \"he could have a hostage. ", "So assuming we do find a likely place where he might be holed up, we'll have to be damned careful approaching.\"", "\n\nGrimacing, Andy said, \"Yeah. ", "No fucking S.W.A.T. team. ", "If we blunder in and a victim dies because of it . . .\"", "\n\nHe didn't have to finish that sentence, because all of them could do it for him.", "\n\nHalf an hour later they had a printout of a list of properties Simon Walsh had sold in the months before his death. ", "It was a long list. ", "And they found Tara Jameson's name on it. ", "She had been the realtor involved in one such deal.", "\n\n\"You were right,\" Andy said to Maggie. \"", "He did know her.\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded, but said only, \"Anything else helpful on the list?\"", "\n\n\"So far,\" John said, \"it looks like different buyers. ", "But at least half a dozen were sold to what look like holding companies. ", "It may take some time to find out who actually owned them.\"", "\n\n\"Of all of us, you're most likely to be able to find information on businesses without wasting time,\" Quentin noted.", "\n\n\"I can make some calls,\" John said. \"", "I still have plenty of contacts here in Seattle.\" ", "He carried his copy of the list to the phones at the other end of the room.", "\n\n\"I'll go get a map,\" Jennifer said. \"", "We can start pin-pointing all these.\"", "\n\nMaggie studied the list, waiting for something to jump out at her. ", "Even so, she was very surprised when something did.", "\n\nShe knew this city, knew it well. ", "But she wasn't certain why the address of a waterfront warehouse should leap out at her the way it did. ", "Why? ", "It was one of half a dozen other warehouses, at least three of them fairly remote or isolated. ", "So why did this one feel so . . . ", "right?", "\n\nBecause Quentin's friend Joey had been found at the waterfront?", "\n\nOr . . . ", "because of the sound?", "\n\n _. . . ", "I know I heard another sound, a sound that bothered me somehow. ", "Because I recognized it, or thought I_ _should have . . ._", "\n\nHollis had said that. ", "And Ellen had said the same thing. ", "Even Christina had mentioned hearing something, something she hadn't been able to remember. ", "What had they heard?", "\n\nMaggie half closed her eyes, concentrating, trying to bring that faint, half-heard, and half-understood sound out of the hodgepodge of impressions and sounds and scents stored in her own subconscious after all the interviews with the victims.", "\n\nWater.", "\n\nWater lapping against pilings.", "\n\nMaggie looked around the room. ", "John was on the phone, jotting down notes on a legal pad. ", "Jennifer, Andy, and Quentin were bent over a map spread out on the table, carefully marking locations from possibilities on the list.", "\n\nMaggie looked at the list, then laid it down atop her sketch pad. ", "There was only one waterfront location remote enough to provide the privacy and secrecy he needed. ", "She should tell them. ", "She knew that. ", "There was really no excuse not to tell them.", "\n\nHer car was here at the station, John had driven her back there to get it this morning, both of them surprised to find the car not only intact but apparently untouched, her sketch pad safely inside, and she had driven it here, where it was more likely to remain safe.", "\n\nShe got up and went to pour herself some coffee, having already noticed the pot was empty. ", "Picking it up with a shrug, she left the conference room, ostensibly to get more water.", "\n\nOn her way out of the station, she left the pot on top of somebody's filing cabinet.", "\n\n\"Well,\" Jennifer said, staring down at the map, now marked with numerous little red flags, \"if we eliminate all the places that aren't remote or isolated enough for his . . . ", "needs . . . ", "we end up with six possibles. ", "All warehouses or storage facilities of some kind.\"", "\n\nJohn joined them and said, \"Only three of the addresses on this list are no longer in use, at least according to my sources.\" ", "He bent over the map and pointed them out. \"", "Here. ", "These three. ", "Supposedly either empty or storing bits of equipment and machinery forgotten long ago.\"", "\n\nQuentin frowned at the map. \"", "Two warehouses and one storage building. ", "But only the two warehouses are remote enough to satisfy his requirements, I'd guess, and they're miles apart.\"", "\n\n\"So which one do we check first?\" ", "Jennifer asked.", "\n\nBefore anyone could offer a suggestion, Scott spoke from the doorway, his voice strained. \"", "Where's Maggie?\"", "\n\nJohn looked around swiftly, realizing only then that she had been out of the room far too long. \"", "She's . . .\" ", "He steadied his voice, something in Scott's face sending cold fear through him. \"", "She went to get more water for coffee, I think. ", "Why?\"", "\n\n\"I found the file on the last victim from 1934.\"", "\n\nQuentin was frowning at him. \"", "And?\"", "\n\nScott opened the folder he carried and silently held up a photo all of them could see clearly. ", "All too clearly.", "\n\nThe last woman killed in 1934 could have been Maggie's twin.", "\n\n\"Christ,\" John breathed. ", "And he knew, even before they looked for her, that Maggie was no longer in the building, that she knew or guessed where Simon would be and had slipped away to face him.", "\n\nResponsibility. ", "Atonement.", "\n\n\"She's gone after him,\" he told the others, hearing the hoarse fear in his own voice.", "\n\n\"Alone?\" ", "Andy stared at him. \"", "In Christ's name, why?\"", "\n\nJohn shook his head, unable to even begin to explain any of it right now. \"", "Just—trust me. ", "That's where she's gone.\"", "\n\nQuentin didn't waste time with questions, just said, \"She hasn't got much of a head start on us, but if we're to catch up to her in time we'll have to split up to check both warehouses.\"", "\n\n\"No S.W.A.T. team,\" John said immediately, repeating Andy's earlier statement. \"", "If a bunch of cops show up and she's there, he could—\" He couldn't even finish the thought.", "\n\nQuentin said, \"I agree.\"", "\n\nAndy groaned. \"", "Shit.\"", "\n\n\"Do _you_ trust anybody else to go in, with Maggie in the line of fire?\" ", "Quentin asked him.", "\n\n\"No. ", "Dammit.\"", "\n\n\"Then it's us. ", "John, are you armed?\"", "\n\n\"In my car.\"", "\n\nAndy scowled at him. \"", "Goddammit, John.\"", "\n\nJohn shrugged into his jacket. \"", "Don't worry, Andy, I have a permit to carry. ", "And I'm a good shot.\"", "\n\n\"Listen to me. ", "If you shoot the man who killed your sister, there'll be a lot of sympathy, but—\"\n\n\"If I shoot him, it'll be because I have absolutely no other choice. ", "It won't be for revenge. ", "Trust me on that.\" ", "He looked at Andy steadily.", "\n\n\"Shit. ", "Okay, Jenn and Scott will come with me.\" ", "He stared at the map, at the two remaining flags. \"", "Want to flip a coin?\"", "\n\nQuentin studied the map for only an instant. \"", "John and I'll take the waterfront warehouse.\"", "\n\nAndy looked at him. \"", "Because of Joey?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Because of Joey.\"", "\n\n\"Let's go,\" John said.", "\n\nIt didn't occur to Maggie until she got there that the warehouse might have been wired for security. ", "But as she approached the place on foot after leaving her car nearly a hundred yards back along the rutted road, she also realized that he would have done nothing to draw undue attention here. ", "The isolation alone would protect him, that and the fence Maggie had scaled just after parking her car.", "\n\nIt was still a gray, dreary day, cold, not raining but almost, and nothing dry crackled under her foot to give away her approach. ", "The warehouse she neared was a huge, hulking old building, part concrete and part rotting timbers, with a slate roof and very few windows. ", "Maggie found the door easily enough but paused with her hand on it, her eyes closing briefly.", "\n\nUseless not to admit she was terrified. ", "Because he was in there. ", "And because there might be a dying or dead woman in there with him, a woman Maggie wanted desperately to save if she could. ", "If she could.", "\n\nWhat she couldn't do was open the door to those inner senses. ", "They could give her an edge—or destroy her. ", "They could help her find him—or kill her with another woman's mortal injuries long before he could get his hands on her.", "\n\nSo she did her best to keep those inner senses firmly under control, shut deep inside herself and as inactive as she could possibly force them to be. ", "It required almost as much focus and concentration to _not_ use the senses as it did to use them, and she was all too aware that she would not be able to do it indefinitely. ", "A few minutes, maybe.", "\n\nMaybe.", "\n\nShe drew a deep breath, then slowly pulled the heavy door open. ", "The hinges didn't creak. ", "Inside was darkness, but as she stepped in and eased the door shut behind her, her eyes quickly adjusted. ", "She could smell old machinery and dust.", "\n\nAnd blood.", "\n\nIt stopped her, but only for an instant. ", "She picked her way carefully among splintering crates and looming pieces of rusting equipment, gradually getting a feeling for the size of the place. ", "And seeing, finally, a light in the distance.", "\n\nShe moved toward it cautiously, becoming aware that he had not enclosed the space in which he . . . ", "worked. ", "Perhaps he was claustrophobic. ", "He had been before, she remembered. ", "Hated enclosed places, just hated them.", "\n\nWhen had that been? ", "1934? ", "At the very beginning, in 1894? ", "She wasn't sure. ", "Her memories of other lives were only instincts, flickering bits of knowledge, precarious certainties. ", "The universe refused to make it easy for her.", "\n\nHe had picked a warehouse with soaring spaces above and arranged his . . . ", "working space . . . ", "within walls made only of old crates and unused equipment in an area near the waterside end of the building. ", "A worktable with various tools and ropes and bottles of unidentifiable liquids. ", "A gurney off to one side, presumably so that he could wheel his victims out to whatever transportation he used.", "\n\nAnd in the center of the space . . .", "\n\nIt looked obscene. ", "A double bed with carved oak head and footboards. ", "And beside it, a chair. ", "A beautifully upholstered, wingback chair. ", "With a footstool.", "\n\nFrom her angle, Maggie could see a woman's wrists raised and tied to each side of the headboard, but she couldn't see if Tara was alive or dead.", "\n\nAnd even with her inner senses closed off, she could feel pain. ", "Pain from this victim and those who had gone before her, distant whispers of agony so acute they had soaked into the very matter of this place, the particles that made it real. ", "Maggie had to stop for a moment and press her hands to her mouth, concentrate on blocking, closing out, holding within.", "\n\nWhen she finally opened her eyes again, she saw him.", "\n\nHe had come out of the shadows and was doing something at his worktable, and even from here she could dimly make out a wordless humming, almost a crooning sound. ", "When he turned toward the bed, she saw that he wore a plastic mask, not a horror mask, but one with perfect, smoothly polished features, like those of a statue, white and lifeless. ", "Female features. ", "And the black wig he wore swept down on either side of the white mask, so that he had the creepy look of a mannequin.", "\n\nShe also saw that he was holding a knife.", "\n\nMaggie took a quick step forward, then froze as a shadowy figure emerged from between two large crates near her, paused only to make a beckoning gesture to Maggie, and then flowed toward the work area. ", "A slender, childlike young woman with a heart-shaped face and delicate features and long, dark hair.", "\n\nAnnie.", "\n\n\"Bobby . . . ", "Bobby . . .\"", "\n\nHe jerked to a stop, the eerily pretty white face turning quickly.", "\n\n\"Bobby . . .\"", "\n\nUnderstanding, Maggie eased her way to one side so that she would be approaching from a different direction and then moved toward him, hoping her own voice wasn't shaking too badly, and sounded as eerie as Annie when she called out, \"Bobby . . . ", "I'm sorry, Bobby, so sorry. ", "I didn't mean what I said . . .\" ", "She didn't know where the words came from. ", "Memory. ", "Instinct.", "\n\nThe knife he held clattered to the stone floor, and he backed up another step, his physical posture one of tension and uneasiness while that white face remained expressionless. ", "He fumbled behind him on the table, then held out a gun in one black-gloved, shaking hand.", "\n\nMaggie wondered if it was the gun he had used to kill Quentin's friend Joey.", "\n\n\"Bobby,\" Annie murmured sadly, \"you hurt me, Bobby. ", "Why did you hurt me?\" ", "She glided into the circle of light, facing him. ", "Confronting him. ", "The nightgown she wore was fine linen, and thin, and her feet were bare. \"", "Why did you hurt me, brother?\"", "\n\nHe made an odd, harsh sound.", "\n\n\"Bobby,\" Maggie called, moving toward them slowly. \"", "Bobby, I didn't mean it when I said you weren't a man. ", "I didn't mean to laugh at you.\" ", "She cast a quick glance toward the bed and flinched at the blood-soaked mattress, the pale, thin body that was bruised and battered. ", "The missing eyes.", "\n\nShe couldn't tell if Tara was dead or alive.", "\n\nFor an instant, her control wavered, and she felt a jolt of pain so intense it nearly doubled her over. ", "Desperately, she struggled to shore up those inner walls, to close out the suffering she couldn't afford to share this time.", "\n\n\"Bobby.\" ", "Annie glided another few steps toward him, holding out her hands beseechingly as she drew his attention away from Maggie. \"", "I've been trying to find you, Bobby. ", "I miss you so much . . .\"", "\n\nHe made another choked sound and this time ripped off the mask and wig. ", "Maggie recognized him from the pictures Christina had shown her. ", "He was an ordinary man with brown hair, a high forehead, and pale grayish eyes. ", "Slender but with wide shoulders and those oddly incongruous, outsize hands, their power obvious even gloved. ", "Especially gloved.", "\n\nBut otherwise an ordinary man.", "\n\n\"You're dead,\" he said hoarsely to Annie.", "\n\nMaggie moved into the light. \"", "We're both dead, Bobby. ", "You killed us. ", "You killed us a long time ago.\" ", "She was terrified she was wrong about this. ", "Terrified of not being strong enough to destroy his evil. ", "Terrified of dying.", "\n\nHe swallowed hard, staring at her now. \"", "Deanna . . . ", "I killed you. ", "Why won't you stay dead?\" ", "His voice cracked. \"", "Why in hell's name won't you _stay dead_?\"", "\n\nAnnie uttered a sweet laugh. \"", "We're stronger than you, Bobby. ", "We always have been. ", "Didn't you know that?\"", "\n\nShattering the quiet, he fired two times directly at her.", "\n\nThe bullets hit the crate behind her, splintering wood. ", "She smiled at him. \"", "We're stronger, Bobby. ", "We'll always be stronger.\"", "\n\n\"No! ", "I'm stronger! ", "I can kill you! ", "I can kill you all!\"", "\n\n\"You didn't kill me, Bobby,\" Hollis said as she stepped out of the shadows a few yards to Maggie's right.", "\n\nHe let out a sort of wail and backed up until he was up against the worktable and could retreat no farther. \"", "No. ", "No, I can kill you. ", "I _did_ kill you . . .\"", "\n\nWithout planning to, Maggie said, \"And it doesn't do any good to blind us, Bobby. ", "We see you. ", "We always see you.\"", "\n\n\"Always,\" Hollis echoed as she took another step toward him. ", "Her eyelids were reddened and the marks of the attack were only half healed on her face, but blue eyes gazed at him, clear and steady, and she wore a small, contemptuous smile. \"", "Did you really think you could take my eyes, Bobby?\"", "\n\n\"I did,\" he muttered. ", "He laughed suddenly, his own eyes gleaming with tears or madness. \"", "I did. ", "I took them. ", "I cut them out. ", "I did. ", "I know I did. ", "I put them in a bowl and watched them float. ", "I took your eyes, Audra. ", "I took—they were brown eyes. ", "I remember that. ", "Brown eyes. ", "And I took them. ", "And you couldn't see me.\"", "\n\n\"I see you now.\" ", "Her voice was flat, cold. \"", "I see you, Bobby. ", "We all see you. ", "You'll never be able to hide from any of us ever again.\"", "\n\n\"No,\" he mumbled, the gun wavering, his wide shoulders hunching. \"", "No, please.\"", "\n\n\"We see you,\" Annie repeated.", "\n\n\"We see you,\" Maggie echoed.", "\n\nHe laughed—a strange, high sound—and watching him, Maggie saw his eyes change. ", "In those flat gray depths, something was coming apart, disintegrating. ", "She felt a peculiar sensation, as if some force, some energy, had blown past her, pressure more than air, nearly causing her ears to pop.", "\n\nIt all happened within the space of seconds, and then, before she could move or react, that wavering gun pointed at her, steadied, and he whimpered, \"No—\"\n\nMaggie had a split second to gaze into eyes that now held nothing but a kind of dumb hatred, and then a third shot echoed through the warehouse.", "\n\nShe expected pain, waited for it. ", "But the pistol in Simon Walsh's hand clattered to the floor, and he crumpled almost soundlessly.", "\n\nIt was over. ", "It was finally over.", "\n\nBefore Maggie could do more than catch her breath, John was there, holding her hard with one arm while the pistol in his free hand remained pointed toward Walsh.", "\n\n\"Maggie—\"\n\n\"For a minute there,\" she heard herself say with astonishing calm, \"I thought you were going to be too late.\"", "\n\n\"He nearly was,\" Quentin commented, moving out of the shadows near where Annie had been. ", "He went to warily check for a pulse in Walsh, keeping his own gun at the ready but relaxing when he found no heartbeat. \"", "I didn't have a clear shot from my angle, so it was all up to him.\"", "\n\n\"Tara—\"\n\nBut Quentin was already moving toward the bed and seconds later looked at them with grim eyes. \"", "She's alive, but just barely.\" ", "He took out his cell phone to quickly summon an ambulance, while Hollis joined him at the other side of the bed, helping him to gently untie Tara Jameson's wrists and murmuring soothingly to the terribly injured woman.", "\n\n\"You two took a hell of a chance,\" John said, his voice jerky. \"", "Jesus, Maggie—\"\n\nMaggie sent a fleeting glance around, unsurprised to find Annie gone, then smiled up at him. \"", "I know. ", "It was just something I—\"\n\n\"Felt you had to do. ", "Yeah, I got that.\" ", "He flicked the gun's safety on, then stuck the weapon inside his jacket and put both hands on her shoulders. ", "He didn't shake her, but the desire to do so was evident in the way his fingers tightened. \"", "Want to tell me how you thought you could win this little confrontation without so much as a big stick?\"", "\n\nShe shook her head. \"", "I knew my face gave me an edge, that it would catch him off guard to see me here. ", "It gave _me_ the control, at least for a little while. ", "I thought . . . ", "maybe the only way to fight his evil would be to shatter it—or at least the mind holding it. ", "To have one of his victims face him, knowing all his secrets. ", "It was the only thing I could think of to do. ", "I had to try, John.\"", "\n\n\"Just don't ever do anything like that to me again.\"", "\n\n\"No, I won't.\" ", "She looked at him searchingly.", "\n\n\"I won't have nightmares about killing him,\" John assured her. \"", "And no regrets. ", "When you put a mad dog out of his misery, you're only doing him a favor.\"", "\n\n\"You had no choice,\" she said anyway.", "\n\n\"I know.\" ", "He pulled her into his arms. \"", "Are you all right? ", "Even I can feel the pain in this place.\"", "\n\nMaggie considered, then smiled at him. \"", "When you touch me, all I feel is you.\"", "\n\n\"Good,\" John said, and kissed her.", "\n\nNearly an hour later, Andy stood outside the warehouse with the others waiting for his forensics team to arrive and said, \"So that was what evil looked like. ", "I wasn't impressed.\"", "\n\n\"No,\" Maggie said.", "\n\nHe gazed at her with lifted brows. \"", "No?\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "That was just the shell evil lived in for a while.\"", "\n\n\"You mean because he's dead now?\"", "\n\n\"Because the evil was destroyed this time before the flesh was.\"", "\n\nAndy blinked, looked at John and Quentin, then shook his head. \"", "Never mind. ", "I don't think I want to know what it was all about.\"", "\n\n\"Wise of you,\" Quentin murmured.", "\n\nScott joined them, saying, \"The Caddie is parked in that shed over there. ", "A '72, looks like. ", "Just what your friend Joey described, Quentin.\"", "\n\nHe smiled faintly. \"", "Yeah, he always did know cars.\"", "\n\nJennifer asked, \"How the hell did Hollis Templeton get here?\" ", "Since Hollis had left in the ambulance with Tara Jameson, she asked the question of the others.", "\n\nMaggie shrugged. \"", "She said . . . ", "a little voice told her she should be here. ", "So she came. ", "Didn't say how.\"", "\n\n\"Jesus,\" Scott said.", "\n\nAndy looked at him, seemed about to say something, and then obviously thought better of it. ", "He settled his shoulders with the air of a man deciding things.", "\n\n\"Well, as far as we're concerned, Simon Walsh raped and killed women. ", "He was the Blindfold Rapist.\"", "\n\n\"Nobody's arguing with you, Andy,\" Quentin said mildly.", "\n\n\"No?\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\nAndy heaved a sigh. \"", "Good. ", "Now, will somebody please tell me what the fuck I'm supposed to put in my report?\"", "\n\nQuentin grinned at him. \"", "You can try the truth. ", "Of course, the truth is a bit complicated. ", "I mean, what with Maggie and Hollis being here, to say nothing of Annie.\"", "\n\n\"Annie?\"", "\n\n\"The little voice Hollis heard,\" Quentin explained solemnly. \"", "She was here. ", "Well, sort of.\"", "\n\nJohn looked at him. \"", "So you saw her too?\"", "\n\n\"Oh, yeah.\"", "\n\n\"Good. ", "I was afraid it was just me.\"", "\n\nAndy stared at them both for a moment and, again, very obviously decided he didn't want to know. ", "They all heard the sounds of sirens approaching, and he groaned. \"", "I'll either get a medal or get committed.\"", "\n\n\"Welcome to my world,\" Quentin said.", "\nEPILOGUE\n\nSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2001\n\n **Sitting up in her hospital bed to better talk to her** visitors, Kendra said to Hollis, \"So Annie was Robert Graham's twin sister, the first one he killed.\"", "\n\n\"Apparently. ", "I'd had her voice in my head since the attack, but it was only the last few days that she told me who she was. ", "And what she needed me to do.\"", "\n\n\"I'm glad you were there,\" Maggie told her. \"", "I think you were the clincher. ", "Standing there looking at him even though he'd thought he had blinded you for good.\"", "\n\n\"I wasn't sure what I was doing,\" Hollis confessed. \"", "Just . . . ", "saying whatever popped into my head.\" ", "She shook her head. \"", "Annie had told me I had to be there, that it was the only way to help you. ", "When she told me that, told me I _had_ to see or else he'd be free to go on killing, I just—all of a sudden I could see. ", "It was easy to distract the cop guarding my door, easy to slip out. ", "And I knew, somehow, where to go.\"", "\n\n\"You and Maggie,\" Quentin said. ", "He looked at Maggie. \"", "Thanks for sharing.\"", "\n\n\"Don't you give me a hard time,\" she warned him with a faint smile. \"", "I've already heard enough about it from John. ", "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I knew—or thought I knew. ", "It was just that so much of it was vague or unclear. ", "I was afraid if I said too much I'd cause things to go even more horribly wrong.\"", "\n\n\"We've been there,\" Kendra told her ruefully. \"", "Sometimes we walk a very fine line between what we think we know and what's actually going on.\"", "\n\nMaggie nodded. \"", "It can be a challenge. ", "I mean, there were flashes of memory or bits of information I wasn't sure I could trust, but all I really _knew_ absolutely for certain was that I had to be there at the end, confronting him.\"", "\n\nJohn said, \"Because you'd been his wife long ago and weren't able to stop him from killing.\"", "\n\nMaggie looked at the others with slightly lifted brows. \"", "He's having a hard time with this.\"", "\n\n\"No, I'm not,\" John denied. ", "He was stared at politely, and finally sighed. \"", "Okay, I am.\"", "\n\n\"He'll get used to it,\" Quentin assured Maggie. \"", "Between us, we've nearly worn away that high gloss of logic and rationality he used to wear.\"", "\n\nHollis looked at John. \"", "Aren't you grateful?\"", "\n\n\"Oh, immensely. ", "The world's beginning to look almost normal standing on its ear.\"", "\n\n\"It's all about balance,\" Maggie murmured.", "\n\nJohn took her hand with a determined air and said to the others, \"If you'll excuse us, we have things to discuss.\"", "\n\n\"Thanks for the visit,\" Kendra said, smiling.", "\n\n\"We'll be back tomorrow,\" Maggie told her.", "\n\n\"I'll look forward to it.\"", "\n\nAs they left the hospital room, they heard Quentin saying to Hollis, \"Listen, our boss should be here any minute, and he's sort of anxious to meet you—\"\n\nMaggie said, \"Do you think she will? ", "I mean, join Bishop's unit?\"", "\n\n\"You know her better than I do,\" John replied. \"", "But from what I've seen, I'd say Hollis Templeton is very aware of having a brand-new life stretching in front of her, and I doubt that after this she'll be eager to . . . ", "embrace the ordinary.\"", "\n\n\"Very poetic.\"", "\n\n\"Thank you.\"", "\n\n\"And probably true,\" Maggie added. \"", "There are certain corners that, having once been turned, change your view of the world forever.\"", "\n\nAs the elevator doors closed and the car started downward, John looked at her gravely. \"", "I'll say.\"", "\n\nShe smiled faintly. \"", "You're seriously considering it, aren't you? ", "Helping to build some sort of civilian resource organization similar to Bishop's unit?\"", "\n\n\"Quentin's had worse ideas,\" John admitted.", "\n\n\"Admit it—you're just beginning to enjoy seeing the world standing on its ear, that's what it is.\"", "\n\n\"Well, that's part of it. ", "And there's you, of course. ", "You're not about to stop doing what you do best just because that greater evil got buried this time around. ", "And much as I respect Andy and the other cops, I think we both know that your talents deserve . . . ", "a broader canvas.\"", "\n\n\"So do yours, for that matter,\" she said. \"", "Building the kind of organization Quentin was talking about won't be easy. ", "Lots of strikes against it, beginning with the uneasiness most people feel about psychic ability.\"", "\n\n\"Which is why I'm perfect for the job. ", "I know how to build organizations from the ground up, and I'm about as nonpsychic as they come.\"", "\n\nThey left the elevator and walked down the bustling hallway toward the doors, and it wasn't until they were outside in the clear, chill air that Maggie stopped, looked up at him with a smile, and said, \"It's all about balance.\"", "\n\n\"So I can say it now?\" ", "he asked, smiling but intent.", "\n\n\"You still don't have to.\" ", "She slipped her arms up around his neck as he pulled her close, both of them oblivious to the people walking past them. \"", "We balance perfectly. ", "I love you, John.\"", "\n\nJust before his lips touched hers, John murmured, \"That's all I needed to hear.\"", "\n**If you loved Kay Hooper's**\n\n **TOUCHING EVIL,**\n\n **you won't want to miss any of her** \n **novels of psychic suspense!**", "\n\n**Turn the page for her next tantalizing thriller,**\n\n **WHISPER OF EVIL, coming from**\n\n **Bantam Books in spring 2002!**", "\nTUESDAY, MARCH 14\n\n **Whoever had dubbed the town Silence must have** gotten a laugh out of it, Nell reflected as she closed her car door and stood beside the vehicle on the curb. ", "For a relatively small town, it was not what anyone would have called peaceful even on an average day; on this mild weekday in mid-March, at least three school groups appeared to be trying to raise money for something or other with loud and cheerful car washes in two small parking lots and a bake sale going on in the grassy town square. ", "And there were plenty of willing customers for the kids, even with building clouds promising a storm later on.", "\n\nNell hunched her shoulders and slid her cold hands into the pockets of her jacket. ", "Her restless gaze scanned the area, studying the occasional face even as she listened to snatches of conversation as people walked past her. ", "Calm faces, innocuous talk. ", "Nothing out of the ordinary.", "\n\nIt didn't look or sound like a town in trouble.", "\n\nNot far from where Nell stood was a newspaper vendor selling the local daily, and she could easily make out a headline announcing the town council's decision to acquire property on which to build a new middle school. ", "There was, as far as she could see, no mention on the front page of anything of greater importance than that.", "\n\nNell walked over to buy herself a paper, and returned to stand beside her car as she quickly scanned the three thin sections. ", "She found it where she expected to find it, in the obituary section.", "\n\n **GEORGE THOMAS CALDWELL** \n42, UNEXPECTEDLY, AT HOME\n\nThere was more, of course. ", "A long list of accomplishments for the relatively young man, local and state honors, business accolades. ", "He had been very successful, George Caldwell, and unusually well liked for a man in his position.", "\n\nBut it was the _unexpectedly_ Nell couldn't get past. ", "Someone's idea of a joke in very poor taste? ", "Or had the sheriff's department simply refused to announce the official cause of death?", "\n\nUnexpected. ", "Oh, yeah. ", "Murder usually was.", "\n\n\"Jesus. ", "Nell?\"", "\n\nShe refolded the newspaper methodically and tucked it under her arm as she turned to face him. ", "It was easy to keep her expression unrevealing, her voice steady. ", "She'd had a lot of practice.", "\n\n\"Hello, Max.\"", "\n\nStanding hardly more than an arm's length away, Max Tanner looked at her, she decided, rather the way he'd look at something distasteful he'd discovered on the bottom of his shoe. ", "Hardly surprising, she supposed.", "\n\n\"What the hell are you doing here?\" ", "His voice was just uneven enough to make it obvious he couldn't sound as impersonal as he obviously wanted to.", "\n\n\"I could say I was just playing tourist.\"", "\n\n\"You could. ", "What's the truth?\"", "\n\nNell shrugged, keeping the gesture casual. \"", "I imagine you can guess. ", "The will's finally through probate, so there's a lot I have to do. ", "Go through things, clear out the house, arrange to sell it. ", "If that's what I end up doing, of course.\"", "\n\n\"You mean you're not sure?\"", "\n\n\"About selling out?\" ", "Nell allowed her mouth to curve in a wry smile. \"", "I've had a few doubts.\"", "\n\n\"Banish them,\" he said tightly. \"", "You don't belong here, Nell. ", "You never did.\"", "\n\nShe pretended that didn't hurt. \"", "Well, we agree on that much. ", "Still, people change, especially in— what?—a dozen years? ", "Maybe I could learn to belong.\"", "\n\nHe laughed shortly. \"", "Yeah? ", "Why would you want to? ", "What could there possibly be in this piss-ant little town to interest you?\"", "\n\nNell had learned patience in those dozen years, and caution. ", "So all she said in response to that harsh question was a mild, \"Maybe nothing. ", "We'll see.\"", "\n\nMax drew a breath and shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, gazing off toward the center of town as if the bake sale going on there fascinated him.", "\n\nWhile he was deciding what to say next, Nell studied him. ", "He hadn't changed much, she thought. ", "Older, of course. ", "Physically more powerful now in his mid-thirties; he probably still ran, still practiced the martial arts that had been a lifelong interest. ", "Whatever he was doing, it was certainly keeping him in excellent shape.", "\n\nHis lean face was a bit more lived-in than it had been, but just as with so many really good-looking men, the almost-too-pretty features of youth were maturing with age into genuine and striking male beauty. ", "There might have been a few threads of silver in the dark hair at his temples, and she didn't remember laugh lines at the corners of his heavy-lidded brown eyes.", "\n\nBedroom eyes. ", "He'd been known for them all through school, for bedroom eyes and a hot temper, both gifts from a Creole grandmother. ", "Maturity had done nothing to dampen the smoldering heat lurking in those dark eyes; she wondered if it had taught him to control the temper.", "\n\n\"You've got a hell of a nerve, I'll say that for you,\" he said finally.", "\n\n\"Because I came back? ", "You must have known I would. ", "With Diana gone, there was no one else to . . . ", "take care of things.\"", "\n\n\"You didn't come back for the funeral.\"", "\n\n\"No.\" ", "She offered no explanation, no defense.", "\n\nHis mouth tightened as his gaze returned to her face. \"", "Most people around here said you wouldn't.\"", "\n\n\"What did you say?\" ", "She asked because she had to.", "\n\n\"I was a fool. ", "I said you would.\"", "\n\n\"Sorry to disappoint you.\"", "\n\nMax shook his head once, an almost violent negation. \"", "You can't disappoint me, Nell. ", "I lost ten bucks on a bet, that's all.\"", "\n\nNell didn't know what she would have said to that, but she was saved from replying when an astonished female voice exclaimed her name.", "\n\n\"Nell Gallagher? ", "My God, is that you?\"", "\n\nNell half turned and managed a faint smile for the stunning redhead hurrying toward her. \"", "It's me, Shelby.\"", "\n\nShelby Brennan shook her head and repeated, \"My God,\" as she joined them beside Nell's car. ", "For a moment, it seemed she would throw her arms around Nell in an exuberant hug, but in the end she just grinned. \"", "I thought you'd probably show up here eventually, what with the house and whatnot to take care of, but I guess I figured it'd be later, maybe summer or something, though I don't know why. ", "Hey, Max.\"", "\n\n\"Hey, Shelby.\" ", "He stood there with his hands in his pockets, expressionless now, dark eyes flicking back and forth between the two women.", "\n\nNell kept her own gaze on Shelby's glowing face. \"", "I thought about waiting until storm season was mostly past,\" she said easily, \"but it worked out that I had some time now before beginning a new job, so I came on down.\"", "\n\n\"Down from where?\" ", "Shelby demanded. \"", "Last we heard, you were out west somewhere.\"", "\n\n\"Heard from Diana?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "She said you were—well, I think the word she used was _entangled_ —with some guy in Los Angeles. ", "Or maybe it was Las Vegas. ", "Anyway, out west somewhere. ", "And that you were taking college courses at night. ", "At least, I think that's what she said.\"", "\n\nRather than commenting on the information, Nell merely said, \"I live in D.C. now.\"", "\n\n\"Did you ever get married? ", "Diana said you came close once or twice.\"", "\n\n\"No. ", "I never married.\"", "\n\nShelby grimaced. \"", "Me either. ", "Matter of fact, half our graduating class seems to be single these days, even though most of us have hit thirty. ", "Depressing, isn't it?\"", "\n\n\"Maybe some of us are better off alone,\" Nell offered, keeping her tone light.", "\n\n\"I think there's something in the water,\" Shelby said darkly. \"", "Honest, Nell, this is getting to be a weird place. ", "Have you heard about the murders?\"", "\n\nNell lifted an eyebrow. \"", "Murders?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah. ", "Three so far.\"", "\n\nMax said, \"We've had murders here before, Shelby, just like any other town.\"", "\n\n\"Not like these,\" Shelby insisted. \"", "People around here get themselves killed, the reason why is generally pretty obvious, just like the killer is. ", "No locked-room mysteries or other baffling whodunits, not in Silence. ", "But these deaths? ", "All fine, upstanding men of the town with reputations the next best thing to lily-white, then they're murdered and all their nasty secrets come spilling out like a dam broke wide open.\"", "\n\n\"Secrets?\" ", "Nell asked curiously.", "\n\n\"I'll say. ", "Adultery, embezzlement, blackmail—you name it, we've had it. ", "It's been a regular Peyton Place around here.\"", "\n\n\"Have the killers been caught?\"", "\n\n\"Nope. ", "Which is another weird thing, if you ask me. ", "Three prominent citizens killed in the last eight months, and the sheriff can't solve even one of the murders? ", "He's going to have a hell of a time getting himself elected again.\"", "\n\nNell glanced at Max, who was frowning slightly but said nothing, then looked back at Shelby. \"", "It does sound a little strange, but I'm sure the sheriff knows his job, Shelby. ", "You always did fret too much.\"", "\n\nShelby shook her head, but laughed as well. \"", "Yeah, I guess I did. ", "Oh, hell—is that the time? ", "I've gotta go. ", "Listen, Nell, I really want to catch up—can I give you a call in a day or two, after you've settled in? ", "We can have lunch or something.\"", "\n\n\"Sure, I'd love to.\"", "\n\n\"Great. ", "And if you get lonesome in that big old house and want somebody to talk to in the meantime, you call me, okay? ", "I'm still a night owl, so any time's fine.\"", "\n\n\"Gotcha. ", "See you later, Shelby.\"", "\n\nWith a wave to Max, the redhead rushed off, and Nell murmured, \"She hasn't changed much.\"", "\n\n\"No.\"", "\n\nNell knew her best bet would be to get in her car and just leave, but she heard herself saying slowly, \"These murders sound pretty unusual. ", "And to go unsolved for so long . . . ", "Doesn't the sheriff at least have a few suspects?\"", "\n\nMax uttered an odd little laugh. \"", "Oh, yeah, he has a few. ", "One in particular.\"", "\n\n\"One?\"", "\n\n\"Yeah, one. ", "Me.\" ", "With another laugh, he turned on his heel and walked away.", "\n\nNell looked after him until he disappeared around the next corner. ", "Then she looked at the busy little town that seemed oblivious of the storm clouds moving in, and half under her breath murmured, \"Welcome home, Nell. ", "Welcome home.\"", "\n**FBI Agent Noah Bishop has a rare gift for** \n **seeing what others do not, a gift that helps** \n **solve the most puzzling cases.**", "\n\n**Read his electrifying adventures in three** \n **stand-alone novels of psychic suspense from** \n **Kay Hooper, available at your** \n **favorite bookseller's!**", "\n\nSTEALING SHADOWS\n\n **HIDING IN THE SHADOWS**\n\n **OUT OF THE SHADOWS**\n\nREAD ON FOR A TANTALIZING PEEK\n\n **AT THESE THREE TERRIFYING**\n\nNATIONAL BESTSELLERS!", "\nSTEALING SHADOWS\n\n **Psychic Cassie Neill helps the L.A. Police catch \nkillers—until she makes a terrible mistake and \nan innocent child dies. . . . **", "\n\nLOS ANGELES \nAUGUST 16, 1998\n\n **Talk to me, Cassie.\"**", "\n\nShe was all but motionless in the straight-backed chair, head bowed so that her hair hid her face. ", "Only her hands stirred, thin fingers lightly tracing and shaping the red tissue petals of the exquisitely handmade paper rose in her lap.", "\n\n\"I think . . . ", "he's moving,\" she whispered.", "\n\n\"Where is he moving? ", "What can you see, Cassie?\" ", "Detective Logan's voice was even and infinitely patient, betraying none of the anxiety and urgency that beaded his face with sweat and haunted his eyes.", "\n\n\"I . . . ", "I'm not sure.\"", "\n\nFrom his position a few feet away, Logan's partner spoke in a low voice. \"", "Why's she so tentative with this one?\"", "\n\n\"Because he scares the shit out of her,\" Logan responded, equally quietly. \"", "Hell, he scares the shit out of me.\" ", "He raised his voice. \"", "Cassie? ", "Concentrate, honey. ", "What does he see?\"", "\n\n\"Dark. ", "It's just . . . ", "it's dark.\"", "\n\n\"All right. ", "What is he thinking?\"", "\n\nShe drew a shaky little breath, and those thin fingers trembled as they held and traced the paper rose. \"", "I—I don't want to . . . ", "It's so cold in his mind. ", "And there are so many . . . ", "shadows. ", "So many twisted shadows. ", "Please don't make me go any deeper. ", "Don't make me touch them.\"", "\n\nLogan's already grim face grew bleaker at the fear and revulsion in her voice, and it was his turn to draw a steadying breath. ", "When he spoke, his voice was cool and certain. \"", "Cassie, listen to me. ", "You have to go deeper. ", "For the sake of that little girl, you have to. ", "Do you understand?\"", "\n\n\"Yes,\" she replied forlornly, \"I understand.\" ", "There was a moment of silence so absolute, they could hear the soft crackle of the tissue paper she touched.", "\n\n\"Where is he, Cassie? ", "What is he thinking?\"", "\n\n\"He's safe. ", "He knows he's safe.\" ", "Her head tilted to one side, as though she were listening to a distant voice. \"", "The cops will never find him now. ", "Bastards. ", "Stupid bastards. ", "He left them all those clues and they never saw them.\"", "\n\nLogan didn't allow himself to be distracted by the disturbing information. \"", "Stop listening to him, Cassie. ", "Look at what he's doing, where he's going.\"", "\n\n\"He's going . . . ", "to get the girl. ", "To take her to his secret place. ", "He's ready for her now. ", "He's ready to—\"\n\n\"Where is it? ", "What's around him, Cassie?\"", "\n\n\"It's . . . ", "dark. ", "She's . . . ", "he's got her tied up. ", "He's got her tied up . . . ", "in the backseat of a car. ", "It's in a garage. ", "He's getting into the car, starting the engine. ", "Backing out of the garage. ", "Oh! ", "I can hear her crying. . . .\"", "\n\n\"Don't listen,\" Logan insisted. \"", "Stay with him, Cassie. ", "Tell me where he's going.\"", "\n\n\"I don't know.\" ", "Her voice was desolate. \"", "It's so dark. ", "I can't see beyond the headlights.\"", "\n\n\"Watch, Cassie. ", "Look for landmarks. ", "What kind of road is he on?\"", "\n\n\"It's . . . ", "a blacktop. ", "Two lanes. ", "There are mailboxes, we're driving past mailboxes.\"", "\n\n\"Good, Cassie, that's good.\" ", "He glanced aside at his partner, who grimaced helplessly, then returned his attention to that dark, bent head. \"", "Keep looking. ", "Keep watching. ", "You have to tell us where he's going.\"", "\n\nFor a few moments there was nothing but the sound of her breathing, quick and shallow. ", "And then, abruptly she said, \"He's turning. ", "The street sign says . . . ", "Andover.\"", "\n\nLogan's partner moved a few steps away and began talking softly into a cell phone.", "\n\n\"Keep watching, Cassie. ", "What do you see? ", "Talk to me.\"", "\n\n\"It's so dark.\"", "\n\n\"I know. ", "But keep watching.\"", "\n\n\"He's thinking . . . ", "horrible things.\"", "\n\n\"Don't listen. ", "Don't go too deep, Cassie.\"", "\n\nShe lifted her head for the first time since they had begun, and Logan flinched. ", "Her eyes were closed. ", "He'd never seen such pallor in a human face before. ", "Not a living face.", "\n**HIDING IN THE SHADOWS**\n\n **Accident victim Faith Parker has done what** \n **her doctors feared she never would: awakened** \n **from the coma that held her prisoner for** \n **weeks. ", "Now as Faith begins to regain her** \n **strength, she's shocked by intimate dreams of** \n **a man she doesn't recognize and tortured by** \n **visions of violence which feel painfully real. . . .**", "\n\n**She opened her eyes abruptly, as though from a** nightmare, conscious of the pounding of her heart and the sound of her quick, shallow breathing in the silent room. ", "She couldn't remember the dream, but her shaking body and runaway pulse told her it had been a bad one. ", "She closed her eyes and for several minutes concentrated only on calming down.", "\n\nGradually her heart slowed and her breathing steadied. ", "Okay. ", "Okay. ", "That was better. ", "That was much better.", "\n\nShe didn't like being scared.", "\n\nShe opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. ", "Gradually a niggling awareness of something being different made her turn her head slowly on the pillow so she could look around the room.", "\n\nIt wasn't her room.", "\n\nHer other senses began to wake then. ", "She heard the muffled, distant sounds of activity just beyond the closed door. ", "She smelled sickness and medicine, the distinct odors of people and machines and starch. ", "She noted the Spartan quality of the room she was in, the hospital bed she was lying on—and the IV dripping into her arm. ", "All of that told her she was in a hospital.", "\n\nWhy?", "\n\nIt took a surprising effort to raise her head and look down at herself; her neck felt stiff, unused, and a rush of nausea made her swallow hard. ", "But she forced herself to look, to make sure all of her was there.", "\n\nBoth arms. ", "Both legs. ", "Nothing in a cast. ", "Her feet moved when she willed them to. ", "Not paralyzed then. ", "Good.", "\n\nWith an effort, she raised the arm not hooked to the IV until she could see her hand. ", "It was unnervingly small, not childlike but . . . ", "fragile. ", "The short nails were ragged and looked bitten, and the skin was milky-pale. ", "She turned it slowly and stared at the palm, the pads of her fingers. ", "No calluses, but there was a slight roughness to her skin that told her she was accustomed to work.", "\n\nAfraid of what she'd find, she touched her face with light, probing fingers. ", "The bones seemed prominent, and the skin felt soft and smooth. ", "There was no evidence of an injury until her exploration reached her forehead and right temple. ", "There, a square of adhesive bandage and a faint soreness underneath told her she'd suffered some kind of cut.", "\n\nBut not a bad one, she thought, and certainly not a big one. ", "The bandage was small, two or three square inches.", "\n\nBeyond the bandage, she found her hair limp and oily, which told her it hadn't been washed recently. ", "She pulled at a strand and was surprised that it was long enough for her to be able to see. ", "It was mostly straight, with only a hint of curl. ", "And it was red. ", "A dark and dull red.", "\n\nNow why did that surprise her?", "\n\nFor the first time, she let herself become aware of what had been crawling in her subconscious, a cold and growing fear she dared not name. ", "She realized she was lying perfectly still now, her arms at her sides, hands clenched into fists, staring at the ceiling as if she would find the answers there.", "\n**OUT OF THE SHADOWS**\n\n **A picture-perfect Tennessee town has just** \n **become a monster's hunting ground. ", "Now a** \n **third person goes missing and Sheriff Miranda** \n **Knight is determined to make her** \n **small town safe once more. . . .**", "\n\n**So when're the feds due in?\" ", "Alex asked Miranda as** they stood near the top of the hill and watched as the lake down in the hollow was slowly crisscrossed by half a dozen small boats. ", "The last light of the day was just making it over the mountains to paint the lake shimmering silver; another few minutes and they'd either have to put up floodlights or continue the search tomorrow.", "\n\n\"Anytime now.\"", "\n\nAlex looked at her curiously. \"", "So how come you're out here instead of back at the office waiting for them? ", "I mean, dragging the lake is a good idea— anonymous tip or not—since we haven't found a trace of the Grainger girl anywhere in the area, but I can call in if we find anything.\"", "\n\nMiranda's shoulders moved in an almost irritable shrug. \"", "They'll have to drive in from Nashville, so it could be late tonight. ", "Anyway, I left Brady on duty at the office with instructions to bring them out here if they arrive before I get back.\"", "\n\nStill watching her, Alex asked, \"Do you have any idea how many are coming? ", "Isn't this crack new unit supposed to be made up of a dozen or more agents?\"", "\n\n\"I don't know for sure. ", "There isn't much information available, even for law enforcement officials. ", "We'll get what we get, I guess.\" ", "She sounded restless, uneasy.", "\n\nAlex was about to ask another question when he saw Miranda stiffen. ", "All her attention, all her _being,_ was suddenly focused elsewhere. ", "She no longer saw the lake or the people below them, wasn't even aware of him standing beside her.", "\n\nThen he saw her eyes shift sideways, as if she was intensely aware of some sound, some thing, behind her but didn't want to turn her head to look at it.", "\n\n\"Randy?\"", "\n\nShe didn't respond, didn't seem to hear him.", "\n\nAlex half turned to look behind them. ", "At first, all he saw was the hilltop and light flooding over it because the sun had not yet set. ", "Then there was an abrupt, fluid shifting of the light, and the silhouette of a tall man appeared.", "\n\nAlex blinked, startled because he hadn't heard a sound. ", "Two more silhouettes appeared on either side of the first, another man and a woman. ", "They paused there on the crest of the hill, looking at the activity below them, and then lost the blinding halo of light as they moved down the slope toward Alex and Miranda.", "\n\nThe man on the left was a couple of inches shorter than the other but still plenty tall at about six feet. ", "He was maybe thirty, on the thin side, and had nondescript brown hair. ", "The woman was roughly the same age, not very tall, slender and blond. ", "Both were casually dressed in dark pants and bulky sweaters.", "\n\nBut it was the man in the center who caught and held Alex's attention. ", "Dressed as casually as the other two in jeans and a black leather jacket, he was a striking figure. ", "He was very dark, his black hair gleaming in the last of the day's light, and a perfect and distinct widow's peak crowned his high forehead. ", "He was wide-shouldered and navigated the rock-strewn slope with far more ease than his slipping and sliding companions. ", "As he neared them, Alex saw the vivid scar marking one side of his coldly handsome face.", "\n\nHe looked back at Miranda and saw that her gaze was fixed once more on the lake below. ", "But her breath was coming quickly through parted, trembling lips, and her face was a little pale and very strained. ", "He was astonished at how vulnerable she looked. ", "For a moment. ", "Just a moment.", "\n**Bantam Books by Kay Hooper**\n\n _Touching Evil_ \n _Out of the Shadows_ \n _Hiding in the Shadows_ \n _Stealing Shadows_ \n _Haunting Rachel_ \n _Finding Laura_ \n _After Caroline_ \n _Amanda_ \n _On Wings of Magic_ \n _The Wizard of Seattle_ \n _My Guardian Angel_\n\nTOUCHING EVIL\n\nA Bantam Book / September 2001\n\nAll rights reserved.", "\n\nCopyright © 2001 by Kay Hooper\n\nNo part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ", "For information address: Bantam Books.", "\n\nBantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words \"Bantam Books\" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. ", "Marca Registrada. ", "Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.", "\n\nwww.randomhouse.com\n\neISBN: 978-0-307-41866-1\n\nv3.0\n" ]

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[ "Method for the determination of Pb, Cd, Zn, Mn and Fe in rice samples using carbon nanotubes and cationic complexes of batophenanthroline.", "\nAmong cereals, rice is the second most cultivated staple crop in the world. ", "It may be contaminated by toxic heavy metals present in water or soil. ", "Therefore, monitoring the presence of heavy metals in rice and its products is a matter of a great importance from the nutritional and toxicological view. ", "In this paper, a simple and effective analytical procedure based on dispersive micro solid-phase extraction with the use of oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes and batophenanthroline was developed for the determination of lead, cadmium, zinc, manganese and iron in white and wild rice samples. ", "Due to the high preconcentration factor of 200, the optimized procedure allows obtaining detection limits between 0.13 and 0.35 ng mL-1 using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). ", "Novel preconcentration method can successfully be applied in food analysis with accuracy better than 7% rel. ", "and repeatability lower than 3%." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts" }

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[ "Bylazora\n\nBylazora or Vilazora (Βυλάζωρα in Ancient Greek) was a Paeonian city from the period of early classic antiquity. ", "It is located near the village of Knezhje, which is part of the municipality of Sveti Nikole in the Republic of North Macedonia.", "\n\nHistory \nPolybius tells us:\n\nIn 219 BC, the Dardanians collected their forces for a raid into Macedonia and at that time Bylazora must already have been in their hands. ", "With its location at Sveti Nikole, Bylazora commanded the entrance to a long defile and, no less important, a route southwestwards into Pelagonia via the Babuna Valley, or Raec Valley into Styberra and interior of the Macedonian Kingdom. ", "It can be assumed that Bylazora, as the largest Paeonian town, must have been in Dardanian possession when Philip V captured it in 217 BC, with the aim of garrisoning it and ending Dardanian raids. ", "Bylazora is also mentioned by Livy in his \"The History of Rome\" when Perseus in 168 BC arranged military support from the Gauls who were campaigning in Desudaba, Maedica, requesting the Gaulish army to shift their camp to Bylazora, a place in Paeonia, and their officers to go in a body to him at Almana on the River Axius.", "\nThe geographic dominance over the surrounding valley has determined the communications significance of the city in ancient times. ", "It was situated between the states (or sometimes provinces) of the Dardani, and of Thrace and Macedonia. ", "Ancient Bylazora was the largest and most significant city of Paionia, mentioned in the records of Polybius and Titus Livius. ", "They emphasize its strategic geographic position as a frontier of the northern border of Macedonia against the Dardanians.", "\n\nAccording to experts, there are two significant dates related to the relations between ancient Macedonia and Bylazora: The first is 217 BC when king Philip V of Macedonia reconstructed its fortifications; The second is 168 BC when king Perseus of Macedonia, during the Third Macedonian War, arranged military support from the Gauls who were camping nearby in defending the city against the Romans.", "\n\nDiscovery\nA strange fabrication, to the effect that Bylazora was located at the village of Kneze near Sveti Nikole stems from professor Ivan Mikulcic, who in 1976 set foot on the hill called Safara and claimed \"this is Bylazora\" without presenting a single substantial fact. ", "In that manner he was able to move the ancient Bylazora on the bank of the Axius River to the inland of Paeonia at Kneze near Sveti Nikole.", "\n\nIn August 2008, a team of researchers led by archaeologist Boban Husenovski from the National Museum of Macedonia with the participation of researchers from The Texas Foundation for Archaeological & Historical Research discovered the main gate of a city, fortification walls, and plenty of small archaeological finds that have been dated to between the 6th and 3rd century BC.", "\n \nFrom these findings, they have been able to confirm that these are in fact the remains of the ancient Paeonian city of Bylazora. ", "The excavations are ongoing (2008).", "\n\nExternal links\n 2008 Summary Report, TFAHR \n 2008 Excavation Photos, TFAHR\n 2008 Excavation Report, TFAHR\n\nReferences\n\nCategory:Archaeological sites in North Macedonia\nCategory:Paeonia (kingdom)\nCategory:Geography of ancient Paeonia\nCategory:Former populated places in the Balkans\nCategory:Sveti Nikole Municipality" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)" }

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[ "Q:\n\nQuestion about $ \\{ p_n (x) \\}_{n \\in \\mathbb{N}} \\subseteq \\mathbb{Q} [x] $\n\nLet $\\{ p_n (x) \\}_{n \\in \\mathbb{N}} \\subseteq \\mathbb{Q} [x]$, be a sequence such that for all integers $N \\geq 0$, there exists $\\alpha_n \\in \\mathbb{C}$ such that: \n$$p_0(\\alpha_N) =0, p_1(\\alpha_N) =0, \\cdots, p_N(\\alpha_N) = 0$$ \nShow that there exists $p(x)$, with degree higher or equal to one, such that $\\forall n\\geq 0, p(x) \\vert p_n(x)$.\nI tried to think about ideals, showing that they all are cointained in a principal ideal, and then showing that it is proper. ", "But I'm not sure if this is possible and I'm not quite sure how to do this.", "\n\nA:\n\nIf all $p_n$ are $0$ this is obvious. ", "Otherwise the number of possible distinct such $\\alpha_N$ is bounded by the degree of the first nonzero polynomial in the sequence, and is in particular finite if any such nonzero polynomials exist. ", "Thus there must be an $\\alpha$ such that $\\alpha_N=\\alpha$ for infinitely many $N$, so all $p_n$ have $\\alpha$ as a root and hence are divisible by the minimal polynomial of $\\alpha$.\n\n" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "StackExchange" }

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[ "Coronary artery bypass graft surgery after thrombolytic therapy in the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction Trial, Phase II (TIMI II).", "\nWe examined the results of coronary artery bypass graft surgery after thrombolytic therapy in the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction trial, Phase II (TIMI II) with particular emphasis on patient characteristics, the impact of antecedent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and morbidity and mortality in certain subgroups. ", "Coronary bypass surgery is frequently used after thrombolytic therapy, but there is relatively little information with regard to early and late outcomes. ", "We analyzed 3,339 patients enrolled in the TIMI II trial. ", "Bypass surgery was performed in 390 patients (11.7%): 54 (14%) within 24 h after entry into the trial or within 24 h of coronary angioplasty and 336 (86%) between 24 h and 42 days after entry. ", "Perioperative mortality rates were, respectively, 16.7% and 3.9% (p < 0.001); perioperative myocardial infarction rates were 5.6% and 6.2%, respectively; and major hemorrhagic events occurred in 74% and 50.9%, respectively (p = 0.002). ", "On multivariate analysis, the only independent predictor of perioperative mortality was bypass surgery within 24 h after entry or after coronary angioplasty. ", "Among patients undergoing bypass surgery within 24 h of entry or after coronary angioplasty, the prevalence of multivessel disease (59.1% vs. 77.8%) and use of the internal thoracic artery (18.5% vs. 62.5%) were lower than in the remaining surgical patients. ", "Among the 322 perioperative survivors, the 1-year mortality rate after discharge was only 2.2% and 1.9%, respectively, in the two groups. ", "Only one patient had a documented recurrent myocardial infarction during the first year. ", "The increased mortality rate with bypass surgery after thrombolytic therapy, particularly in patients undergoing operation within 24 h of coronary angioplasty or during the involving phase of infarction, must be balanced against the excellent 1-year prognosis and perioperative survivors, who are in general a group at higher risk of death or recurrent infarction. ", "These data provide a basis for comparison for future studies." ]

{ "pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts" }

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[ "Cutaneous T-cell lymphoid dyscrasia: a unifying term for idiopathic chronic dermatoses with persistent T-cell clones.", "\nIt often takes several years before the diagnosis of mycosis fungoides is clearly established. ", "During this period preceding the diagnosis of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), some patients experience a variety of distinct skin conditions of ambiguous origin. ", "With refinement in the methods of T-cell clonal detection in skin biopsy specimens, we can now establish that many of these preceding entities are characterized by a T-cell clone. ", "Therefore, we studied the association of these clonal conditions with CTCL. ", "We identified 8 distinct clinicopathological conditions characterized by the frequent detection of T-cell clonality, a chronic course often recalcitrant to topical therapy, lack of a known triggering event, and lack of morphologic evidence of a T-cell lymphoma with potential for progression to CTCL. ", "We propose the term cutaneous T-cell lymphoid dyscrasias to unify these entities. ", "Defining the preceding stages of CTCL is important to properly categorize these conditions and to help us understand and redefine the evolution of idiopathic clonal dermatoses and their potential for lymphoma progression." ]

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[ "Jim Wilson (producer)\n\nJim Wilson is a film producer. ", "He won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1990 for Dances with Wolves, which he shared with fellow producer Kevin Costner.", "\n\nCareer\n\nProducing\nIn 1990, Wilson produced Dances with Wolves. ", "It was adapted by Michael Blake, based on his novel. ", "It was the highest-grossing Western film of all time, $424.2 million worldwide, and won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Score, and Best Film Editing.", "\n\nFollowing the success of Dances with Wolves, Wilson produced another hit, The Bodyguard in 1992, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. ", "Released by Warner Bros. the film grossed $410.9 million worldwide. ", "The soundtrack is the best-selling soundtrack in film history, selling over 44 million copies worldwide. ", "It won the Grammy for Album of the Year.", "\n\nWilson has continued to produce films, including Wyatt Earp, The Postman and Message in a Bottle.", "\nFor television, Wilson executive-produced the award-winning 8-hour mini-series 500 Nations for CBS.", "\n\nDirecting\nIn addition to producing studio fare, Wilson has directed numerous features, including Stacy's Knights starring Kevin Costner, Head Above Water with Cameron Diaz and Harvey Keitel, Whirlygirl with Monet Mazur and a feature-length documentary Laffit - All About Winning.", "\n\nIn 2014 he finished 50 to 1, about a misfit group of New Mexico cowboys who find themselves on the journey of a lifetime when they learn their crooked-footed racehorse qualifies to run in the Kentucky Derby.", "\nBased on the true story of Mine That Bird, the cowboys must overcome impossible odds even before they reach Churchill Downs and the land of Kentucky's blue bloods.", "\n\nFilmography\nSmart Alec (1986) (producer/director/writer)\nDances with Wolves (1990) (producer)\nThe Bodyguard (1992) (producer)\nRapa Nui (1994) (producer)\nHead Above Water (1996) (producer/director)\nThe Postman (1997) (producer)\nMessage in a Bottle (1999) (producer)\nLaffit: All About Winning (2006) (producer/director)\nWhirlygirl (2006) (producer/director)\nMr. Brooks (2007) (producer)\nSwing Vote (2008) (producer)\n50 to 1 (2014) (producer/director) <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1777595/>\n\nExternal links\n \n\nCategory:American film producers\nCategory:Living people\nCategory:Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award\nCategory:Year of birth missing (living people)" ]

{ "pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)" }

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[ "Introduction {#s1}\n============\n\nHarbor seals (*Phoca vitulina*) are one of the most abundant and widespread pinnipeds in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. ", "Throughout their range, harbor seals haul out at near-shore sites on a regular basis and have a moderate level of fidelity to those sites. ", "Seals haul out for a variety of reasons including rest, thermoregulation, predator avoidance, social interaction, molting, pupping and nursing [@pone.0038180-Allen1]--[@pone.0038180-Reder1]. ", "The relative importance of these behaviors and physiological functions changes over time and differs between ages and the sexes [@pone.0038180-Thompson2], [@pone.0038180-Brown1]. ", "Additionally, environmental variables (e.g., tidal state) influence the availability or suitability of preferred haul-out locations. ", "Thus, at any given time, only a portion of the population will be ashore and that proportion changes with respect to these environmental variables, physiological functions and behaviors. ", "The goal of this study was to model the haul-out behavior of harbor seals with respect to changes in demographic, environmental and temporal covariates.", "\n\nHarbor seal haul-out behavior has been studied by several researchers [@pone.0038180-Brown1]--[@pone.0038180-Pauli1]. ", "This research has provided a solid understanding of seal behavior and has provided critical information for estimating population status and trends [@pone.0038180-Frost1]--[@pone.0038180-Brown2]. ", "Our study expands on previous work in two key areas: 1) the use of a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) that accounts for temporal auto-correlation with a large dataset to model seal haul-out behavior, 2) the unique opportunity to examine the impact of exposure to increased killer whale (*Orcinus orca*) predation on haul-out probability.", "\n\nIn many of these studies, tidal state is the most consistent factor influencing the daily timing of when seals haul out. ", "With some exceptions (e.g. Hood Canal, Washington), the highest proportion of seals ashore occurs between 2 hours before and 2 hours after low tide. ", "Lower tides often expose rocky reefs, sandy beaches and mudflats that are favorable haul-out sites for seals because of isolation from land predators and quick access to deep water. ", "In areas where seals rest on habitats or man-made structures that are available at all tides, tidal state is less influential.", "\n\nTemporal cycles also play a role in determining the proportion of seals ashore. ", "Peak counts of seals at haul-out sites typically center on low tides that occur during the middle of the day [@pone.0038180-Watts1], [@pone.0038180-Boveng1], [@pone.0038180-Yochem1], [@pone.0038180-Simpkins1]. ", "When researchers monitored the presence of seals across all hours of the day, most found more seals present during day than night hours [@pone.0038180-Thompson1], [@pone.0038180-Simpkins1]. ", "Additionally, the annual breeding and molting cycle of seals leads to temporal changes in haul-out behavior. ", "During pupping and weaning, adult females and pups spend more time ashore [@pone.0038180-Huber1], whereas males focus on establishing and defending aquatic territories [@pone.0038180-Sullivan1], [@pone.0038180-Hayes1]. ", "All age and sex classes, with the exception of pups, go through a complete molt every year. ", "The largest proportion of seals ashore often occurs during the molt period [@pone.0038180-Thompson1], [@pone.0038180-Stewart1], [@pone.0038180-Everitt1]; however, the timing of molt often varies with age and sex [@pone.0038180-Huber1], [@pone.0038180-Daniel1]. ", "These temporal cycles work in concert with tidal influences to affect the overall pattern of harbor seal haul-out behavior.", "\n\nPredation risk is an additional factor influencing the time seals spend ashore. ", "Vulnerability to land-based predators (e.g. bears, wolves, coyotes, dogs) likely influences where seals haul out and sites that are isolated from the mainland are often preferred [@pone.0038180-Nordstrom1]. ", "Hauling out on land also provides seals relative safety from marine predators (i.e., killer whales and sharks). ", "The expectation is that as predation risk from marine predators increases, the amount of time seals spend ashore would also increase until the need for energy outweighs the risk of predation. ", "Unfortunately, quantifying predation risk for inclusion in a model of haul-out behavior has not been possible.", "\n\nHood Canal is a fjord-like body of water located in western Puget Sound of Washington state ([Fig. ", "1](#pone-0038180-g001){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Harbor seals are the most abundant and only resident marine mammal within Hood Canal. ", "In the winter of 2003, 11 mammal-eating [@pone.0038180-Ford1] killer whales spent 59 days in Hood Canal. ", "Other than a few generic (no ecotype identified) killer whale observations and less than 3 confirmed observations of fish-eating residents, killer whales do not visit Hood Canal with any regularity. ", "A second group of 6 different mammal-eating killer whales was in Hood Canal for a total 172 days in 2005. ", "In both years, bio-energetic models and on-water observations predicted consumption of approximately 1000 seals by these whales within Hood Canal [@pone.0038180-London1]. ", "The dramatic increase in exposure to killer whale predation experienced by harbor seals in Hood Canal provided an opportunity to test the impact of predation on haul-out behavior of seals.", "\n\n{#pone-0038180-g001}\n\nHood Canal seals are part of the inland Washington stock of harbor seals, but differ significantly in key areas of haul-out timing and pupping phenology. ", "Seals in Hood Canal are more likely to haul out at high tide [@pone.0038180-Calambokidis2]. ", "Additionally, the pupping and molting periods in Hood Canal appear to extend well into October and early November. ", "For the remainder of the Washington inland stock, peak pupping generally occurs between July and August; molting for the inland stock is in late August and September [@pone.0038180-Jeffries1], [@pone.0038180-Huber1].", "\n\nSeals haul out at a variety of sites within Hood Canal, but over 85% of the seals counted are found at 5 main haul-out sites: Quilcene Bay, Dosewallips River delta, Duckabush River delta, Hamma Hamma River delta and Skokomish River delta ([Fig. ", "1](#pone-0038180-g001){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "With the exception of Quilcene Bay, seals usually haul out on the edge of tidal sloughs. ", "At high tide, these slough-edge habitats provide seals with isolated, level resting areas while also allowing easy access to deep water during periods of high tide. ", "Pilot tracking studies in Hood Canal (concurrent with this study) indicate some level of interchange between haul-out sites and overlap in their use of the marine habitat. ", "The haul-out site in Quilcene Bay is located on floating oyster and salmon net pens, and, as such, tidal state does not affect access by harbor seals.", "\n\nThis study presents data from archival time-depth recorders (TDR) deployed and recovered from harbor seals in Hood Canal during the pupping and early molting periods in 2002 (pre-killer whale exposure) and in 2005 (post-killer whale exposure). ", "Additionally, we present 2006 data from flipper-mounted VHF tags and shore-based VHF data. ", "These data were used to model haul-out behavior of harbor seals in Hood Canal with respect to known demographic (age, sex), environmental (tidal state) and temporal (hour of day, day of year, and year) covariates. ", "General linear models (GLM), general additive models (GAM) and GLMMs can all model this type of binary 'time-line' data [@pone.0038180-Frost1], [@pone.0038180-Simpkins1], [@pone.0038180-Bengtson1]. ", "The GLMM is advantageous in this scenario because it accounts for temporal auto-correlation and random effects for variability among seals [@pone.0038180-Bengtson1]. ", "Previous implementations of GLMMs that account for temporal auto-correlation were limited in computational efficiency and analysis of the long time series that are typical of haul-out data was not possible. ", "In this study, we used a GLMM with an exponential auto-covariance model for repeated measurements to allow efficient analysis of these large data sets [@pone.0038180-VerHoef1].", "\n\nMaterials and Methods {#s2}\n=====================\n\nEthics Statement {#s2a}\n----------------\n\nAll work was conducted in accordance with and under the authority of the United States Marine Mammal Protection Act (NMFS Permit \\# 782-1702). ", "The Marine Mammal Protection Act was established in 1972 requiring all research conducted on marine mammals in the United States be done under the authority of federal permits issued by either the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). ", "All applications for a permit to conduct research on marine mammals have gone through a four-stage review process that includes: 1) agency review (either NMFS or USFWS); 2) a public notice and review period; 3) review and recommendation from the Scientific Advisers to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission; and 4) a final action by the reviewing agency. ", "All capture and handling activities described in this manuscript have gone through and been approved by this process. ", "At the time this work was conducted there was no additional requirement for review of these procedures by an institutional review board or ethics committee. ", "In 2010, a NMFS Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) was established for the Alaska Fisheries and Northwest Fisheries science centers and the capture and handling protocols described here were reviewed and approved by this committee.", "\n\nStudy Design {#s2b}\n------------\n\nThe TDR and VHF deployments were originally conducted as part of a multi-year foraging ecology study of harbor seals in Hood Canal. ", "Given the original study objectives and the unplanned nature of the two killer whale incursions, the design and instrument deployments were not ideal for addressing haul-out behavior and potential influences of killer whale presence and predation. ", "For this study, and the unique ecological opportunity it provides, we have made an effort to mitigate any design concerns by relying on more stringent analysis techniques (e.g. GLMM with temporal auto-correlation) and being transparent regarding our analysis assumptions. ", "Researchers hoping to answer similar questions should attempt more balance between haul-out sites and should consider use of satellite-linked tags that archive and transmit haul-out behavior records via Argos or GSM based systems.", "\n\nTDR Deployment {#s2c}\n--------------\n\nSeals were captured with either a beach seine technique or by using mono-filament tangle nets [@pone.0038180-Jeffries2]. ", "In 2002, all seals were captured at the Dosewallips haul-out site. ", "In 2005, most packages were deployed at the Dosewallips site, with a few animals captured at Quilcene Bay, Duckabush and Skokomish haul-out sites.", "\n\nArchival time-depth recorders (TDR) (model Mk9, Wildlife Computers, Redmond, WA) were attached to all age and sex classes with the exception of pups in Hood Canal during 2002 (n = 16) and 2005 (n = 22). ", "We deployed the majority of TDRs in late July and early August; tags remained attached to the seals as late as 1 November. ", "TDRs were programmed to record an electrical resistance value of the surrounding medium (water or air) every 10 s. The resistance value ranged from 0--255, with values near 0 indicating low resistance (wet) and those near 255 representing high resistance (dry). ", "Each TDR was incorporated into a flotation pack (Pacific Eco-tec, Nanaimo, B.C., Canada) that included an internal VHF transmitter (Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS), Isanti, MN, USA). ", "The packages were located on the mid-dorsal region, and we used five-minute epoxy to adhere packs to the hair. ", "Once the animals molted (September-October), the TDR packages fell off and were either recovered by researchers using VHF receivers or beachcombers who returned the packages to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. ", "After the tags were recovered, data were downloaded and decoded using software supplied by the manufacturer.", "\n\nVHF Deployment {#s2d}\n--------------\n\nFlipper-mounted VHF transmitters (164--165 mhz) were deployed in 2006 on seals at Skokomish River sites. ", "Seals were captured as in 2002 and 2005, and transmitters were attached to all age and sex classes. ", "An ATS Data Collection Computer (DCC, models D5041A and DCCII) and receiver (model R2100) were installed on a hill above the Skokomish River delta with an unobstructed view of the entire haul-out area. ", "The DCC program scanned each frequency for 10 s. The number of frequencies scanned remained constant over the duration of the deployments; each frequency was scanned 15 times per hour. ", "The DCC used pattern matching to validate reception by matching the pulse rate. ", "All transmitters were set at a pulse rate of 60 pulses per minute and the expected number of pulses recorded by the DCC was between 9 and 11. ", "The number of pulses was significantly greater than expected for a small portion of the data. ", "This was likely due to signal interference from other transmissions in the area. ", "The pattern-matching algorithm detects transmitter reception in the presence of interference and the DCC only logs signals that pass the pattern matching criteria. ", "To increase confidence in the data set, all records for which the recorded number of pulses exceeded 25 or was less than 5 were removed from analysis.", "\n\nVHF deployments for analysis of haul-out patterns could be confounded because the DCC only detects haul-out bouts within range of the DCC (approx. ", "8 km line-of-sight). ", "We assume if the DCC did not detect the transmitter frequency, then the seal was not hauled out. ", "In fact, the animal could have moved beyond the range of the DCC and hauled out at a different location. ", "A combination of additional roadside and aerial VHF tracking, as well as additional DCC listening stations, provided some verification that deployed tags remained within range of the Skokomish DCC. ", "A similar approach was employed during the 2005 TDR deployments to verify those seals remained within the Hood Canal region. ", "For the TDR deployments in 2002, captured seals were outfitted with head-mounted VHF tags and were located from a boat at least once a week. ", "For a given seal, any periods of significant absence from the DCC record and additional tracking efforts were removed from analysis.", "\n\nData Preparation {#s2e}\n----------------\n\nWe aggregated records from the TDR and VHF deployments, relevant capture information and various tidal covariates into hourly time-lines. ", "We then truncated TDR records only to include data recorded after release and prior to the last significant dive recorded by the instrument. ", "We grouped the resistance values recorded by TDRs by hour and calculated the hourly average value for each seal. ", "The resistance values range from 0--255 with 0 representing no resistance and, thus, the tag is submerged in salt water. ", "255 corresponds to maximum resistance and the tag is in the air. ", "To convert the resitance values to a binary statistic, all hourly averages greater than 127 were categorized as hauled out and values 127 or less were categorized as not hauled out. ", "We matched the hourly time-lines with tidal covariates (time from high tide, tidal height) as calculated by the MDR wtides (<http://www.wtides.com>) software package. ", "The difference in the timing of tidal state between the Dosewallips region and the Skokomish region is approximately 15 minutes. ", "All values were determined based on tidal values at the half-hour for the Triton Head location (47.6033,−122.9817) in central Hood Canal.", "\n\nFor the VHF data, we aggregated the logged detections into hourly time-lines for compatibility with the TDR records. ", "Uninterrupted VHF logging occurred from 14 September through 29 November 2006. ", "Haul-out status was determined by dividing the number of possible detections by the number of times the DCC detected each transmitter for each hour. ", "In those cases where interference required removal of the records from analysis, we adjusted the denominator accordingly. ", "For those hours in which the fraction of scans with confirmed reception exceeded 0.5, we classified those seals as hauled out. ", "Hours with values less than or equal to 0.5 were classified as not hauled out. ", "We matched tidal covariates to the hourly VHF record-set using the same procedure employed for the TDR data.", "\n\nGLMM Analysis {#s2f}\n-------------\n\nWe fit a GLMM to the time-line haul-out data for analysis of the relationship between seal haul-out behavior and our covariates. ", "The response variable was binary time-line data with a '1′ indicating a seal was mostly hauled out during the hour. ", "We included the following explanatory variables in the model: 1) hour as a categorical variable with 24 levels, 2) minutes from high tide grouped into 30 equally spaced categories for every 32 minutes, with the category midpoints starting at 448 minutes prior to high tide to 482 minutes after high tide, 3) days from 15 August as a continuous variable, 4) year as a categorical variable for 2002, 2005, and 2006, 5) sex as a categorical variable, 6) and age as a categorical variable with levels pup, yearling, sub-adult, and adult. ", "Because the data were binary, we used the logit link and binomial variance function [@pone.0038180-McCullagh1], similar to logistic regression. ", "We also included temporal autocorrelation and a random effect for variability among seals. ", "Note that some explanatory variables pertain to the individual seal (sex, year, and age), and some pertain to the repeated measurements of seals (hour, date, and tide). ", "Hence, we used a repeated measurement analysis with temporal autocorrelation on the logit scale because of the binary nature of the data. ", "The opportunistic nature of the study resulted in site and year being confounded (seals from different sites were captured in different years). ", "Ancillary data from tracking studies and behavior observations suggest there is some interchange between haul-out sites in Hood Canal and the haul-out substrates and tidal influences are similar. ", "Additionally, the killer whales exploited habitats throughout Hood Canal so all sites were exposed similarly to any predation threat. ", "For these reasons, we have chosen to include a year effect in our model and not include a site effect.", "\n\nThe model we feel best represents the data iswhere is a binary outcome for *i*th seal at the *j*th time and is a binomial distribution with a sample size of 1 and probability parameter *p*,\n\nwhere is a vector of explanatory values listed above, is a parameter vector, *r~i~* is an independent random effect for seal *i* with , and is a temporally auto-correlated random effect for repeated measurements of a seal. ", "The likelihood formed by this model is difficult to maximize, so Wolfinger and O'Connell [@pone.0038180-Wolfinger1] introduced a pseudo-likelihood approach based on a Taylor series approximation. ", "This method is used in PROC GLIMMIX in SAS and the Splus function glmmPQL (Insightful Corporation, Seattle, WA, USA), which was used by Bengtson et al. [", "@pone.0038180-Bengtson1] for a model similar to ours. ", "Using pseudo-likelihood for our model required inverting an *n~i~*×*n~i~* matrix for each seal, where the number of observations per seal, *n~i~*, was often several thousands. ", "This made the use of commercial software impossible.", "\n\nWe chose an exponential auto-covariance model for repeated measurements,because it can handle missing data and it has an analytical inverse. ", "Here is the time of the *j*th observation for the *i*th seal. ", "We were able to use this autocovariance model, and sparse matrix techniques, to fit models using pseudo-likelihood [@pone.0038180-VerHoef1]. ", "We programmed the analysis in the statistical software R [@pone.0038180-Team1] and used custom software developed by Ver Hoef et al. [", "@pone.0038180-VerHoef1]. ", "P-values for explanatory variables were based on the Type III hypothesis test as in SAS [@pone.0038180-Littell1].", "\n\nWe examined p-values for all interaction terms. ", "Following Ver Hoef et al. [", "@pone.0038180-VerHoef2], interactions with *p*\\>0.15 were removed one at a time, starting with the least significant variable. ", "This step-wise regression continued until the final model structure included all interactions with *p*\\<0.15. ", "Final statistical significance was based on *p*\\<0.05. ", "Note that pseudo-likelihood does not use a true likelihood so it was not possible to use AIC. ", "Therefore, we used the traditional approach of stepwise selection of fixed effects based on p-values.", "\n\nResults {#s3}\n=======\n\nThe pooled dataset of records from recovered TDRs and VHF deployments spanned three separate years and covered dates from the last week in May through the first week of November ([Fig. ", "2](#pone-0038180-g002){ref-type=\"fig\"}). ", "Of the TDRs deployed on harbor seals within Hood Canal, 25 (12 in 2002 and 13 in 2005) were recovered with data records usable for analysis ([Table 1](#pone-0038180-t001){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "The distribution of recovered TDRs and deployed VHF tags across age classes ([Table 1](#pone-0038180-t001){ref-type=\"table\"}) was balanced and the number of males and females included in the analysis was identical. ", "The combined TDR and VHF record-set represented 61,430 seal-hours of data.", "\n\n{#pone-0038180-g002}\n\n10.1371/journal.pone.0038180.t001\n\n###### Numbers of recovered (TDR) or deployed (VHF) instruments across age and sex classes.", "\n\n![](", "pone.0038180.t001){#pone-0038180-t001-1}\n\n *Males* \n ------- --------- --- --- ---\n 2002 5 \n 2005 6 3 \n 2006 5 3 1\n Total 16 3 3 1\n TOTAL 25 9 7 3\n\nSix terms were included in the GLMM and we used type III hypothesis testing to determine relative importance within the model. '", "Hour of day' (*p*\\<0.001), 'minutes from high tide' (*p*\\<0.001), 'days from 15 August' (*p*\\<0.001) and year (*p*\\<0.001) were all found to be significant factors ([Table 2](#pone-0038180-t002){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "Both the sex and age terms were not found to be significant (*p*\\>0.15) and were, therefore, not included in the final model. ", "The haul-out probability was highest in the 'minutes from high tide' categories represented by 33, 65 and 97 minutes after high tide. ", "The coefficients for these categories (1.11524, 1.11693, and 1.11370 on the logit scale) were equivalent and they confirmed previous observations of Hood Canal being a high tide haul-out area. ", "The coefficients for the year term (2002: intercept, 2005: 0.50335 (*p* = 0.095), and 2006: −0.60428 (*p* = 0.034)) suggests the observed year effect was due in large part to a significant increase in haul-out probability in 2005. ", "For further examination of the year effect, values for the other factors were standardized to the adult females, 65 minutes after high tide. ", "We calculated estimates of haul-out probability for each year at 0 and 12 hours on 22 September ([Table 3](#pone-0038180-t003){ref-type=\"table\"}). ", "This analysis indicated a 40--50% increase in haul-out probability in 2005 compared to 2002. ", "In addition to the specific temporal, environmental and physiological covariates, we also investigated interactions between the terms (e.g., hour : minutes from high, days from 15 August : minutes from high). ", "Of the examined interactions, only 'hour : days from 15 August' (*p*\\<0.001) was found to be significant ([Table 2](#pone-0038180-t002){ref-type=\"table\"}).", "\n\n10.1371/journal.pone.0038180.t002\n\n###### Type III hypothesis table for the five terms selected for the final model.", "\n\n![](", "pone.0038180.t002){#pone-0038180-t002-2}\n\n Effect Num.df Den.df F Value Prob. ", "F\n ---------------------------- -------- -------- --------- ---------\n Hour of day 23 61,430 11.81 \\<0.001\n Minutes from high tide 29 61,430 49.87 \\<0.001\n Days from 15 August 1 61,430 306.65 \\<0.001\n Year 2 35 7.84 \\<0.001\n Hour : days from 15 August 23 61,430 13.11 \\<0.001\n\n'Num. ", "df' refers to the number of degrees of freedom and 'Den. ", "df' refers to the denominator degrees of freedom.", "\n\n10.1371/journal.pone.0038180.t003\n\n###### Changes in haul-out probability across year (and exposure to killer whale predation) for noon and midnight.", "\n\n![](", "pone.0038180.t003){#pone-0038180-t003-3}\n\n Year Hour of Day Haul-out Probability\n -------------------------------- ------------- ----------------------\n 2002 (Pre-killer whales) 12 0.161\n 2005 (Post-killer whales) 12 0.240\n 2006 (2 y w/out killer whales) 12 0.095\n 2002 (Pre-killer whales) 0 0.344\n 2005 (Post-killer whales) 0 0.465\n 2006 (2 y w/out killer whales) 0 0.223\n\nCalculations were standardized on 15 August and 65 minutes after high tide.", "\n\nA probability surface ([Fig. ", "3](#pone-0038180-g003){ref-type=\"fig\"}) illustrating the interaction between 'hour of day' and 'days from 15 August' was created by averaging the effect for year, age and sex while using the middle maximum probability category for 'minutes from high tide' (+65 minutes). ", "Predictions from the model ([Fig. ", "4](#pone-0038180-g004){ref-type=\"fig\"}) indicate that at the beginning of the study period (June-August), harbor seals in Hood Canal were more likely to haul out during the night-time hours. ", "As the days progressed into September, there was a linear increase in haul-out probability during mid-day hours. ", "Finally, by late October and November, seals had the highest probability hauling out during the mid-day and afternoon hours.", "\n\n{#pone-0038180-g003}\n\n{ref-type=\"fig\"} for each hour of the day.](pone.0038180.g004){#pone-0038180-g004}\n\nThe estimated autocorrelation was . ", "Most of the autocorrelation disappears beyond (often called the practical range [@pone.0038180-Chiles1]), which is between 9 and 10 days. ", "Also note that and , indicating that the extra variation (beyond binomial variance) associated with repeated measurements of a seal is almost twice that of the variation among seals.", "\n\nDiscussion {#s4}\n==========\n\nThe haul-out behavior of harbor seals in Hood Canal differs from that observed at other locations. ", "The association with high tide (as opposed to low tide) was known from previous work, but this study further specifies the relationship and demonstrates the highest haul-out probability occurs during the 1.5 hours after high tide. ", "This effect is likely tied to the nature of the haul-out habitat these seals are using. ", "The tidal sloughs are deep and narrow. ", "Seals cannot access the bank until the water is at or near high tide. ", "These results suggest that once the seals come ashore, they stay for a few hours and leave before the water level drops too low.", "\n\nOur analysis found no effect of sex or age. ", "This is surprising given our deployments were reasonably balanced across the factors and that our study period encompassed pupping, weaning, breeding and molting. ", "From previous studies of harbor seal behavior our expectation would have been to see an increase in haul-out probability for females in August and September followed by an overall increase in haul-out probability in October and November during the molt. ", "That we did not see an effect of age and sex is likely a combination of low sample size and the higher stringency of a model that appropriately accounts for temporal auto-correlation. ", "We have no corroborating data to provide a biological explanation for no effect of age and sex. ", "With higher sample sizes we would still expect to see differences in haul-out behavior between age and sex classes.", "\n\nThe interaction between 'day of year' and 'hour of day' is a striking result and suggests the haul-out behavior of harbor seals in Hood Canal is more dynamic than previously thought. ", "Grigg et al. [", "@pone.0038180-Grigg1] observed seals at Castro Rocks in San Francisco Bay with a more nocturnal haul-out pattern similar to that seen with the Hood Canal dataset during the summer months. ", "Seals at Castro Rocks are exposed to high levels of human activity and Grigg et al. [", "@pone.0038180-Suryan1] concluded the seals had shifted to a nocturnal haul-out pattern in order to avoid disturbance.", "\n\nThe sensitivity of harbor seals to disturbance has been previously documented [@pone.0038180-Allen1], [@pone.0038180-Suryan1], and all of the index haul-out sites within Hood Canal experience human disturbance on a regular basis. ", "The haul-out site used in Quilcene Bay is on operational salmon net-pen floats and oyster rafts. ", "These facilities are visited for maintenance or harvest on a regular basis. ", "The Dosewallips haul-out area is contained within the Dosewallips State Park and the tidal sloughs are popular spots for kayakers and canoers to explore. ", "Motorized boats are also in relatively close proximity as they come and go from a nearby marina. ", "The Hamma Hamma site is a working oyster farm. ", "Lastly, the Skokomish site is in close proximity to a kayak rental facility and is a regular spot for tribal and commercial fisheries. ", "The seasonal aspect of human disturbance also correlates well with observed behavior. ", "Recreational activities (e.g., kayaking, pleasure boating) are higher in the summer months with a noticeable drop-off after the Labor Day holiday (first part of September). ", "Most schools return from the summer holiday just before or soon after Labor Day. ", "In response to this reduced activity many businesses reduce hours. ", "The haul-out probability surface shows during late summer, seals are less likely to haul out during the mid-day period. ", "As human activity declines over September, seals are more likely to haul out during the mid-day hours. ", "By October and November, when human presence is reduced, seals are exhibiting a more typical diurnal pattern with the highest probabilities occurring in the mid-day to afternoon hours.", "\n\nThe increase in seals onshore with respect to day of year is not entirely a result of reduced human activity. ", "Seals in Hood Canal have been observed to undergo molt between September and November. ", "Our capture data and deployment lengths for the TDRs (which were adhered to the hair) confirm the timing of molt; the majority of tags fell off between mid-September and mid-October. ", "A few tags detached from the seals in late August and one tag remained on an animal through the first week of November. ", "Given the timing of molt, it is difficult to determine the relative importance of molt versus human disturbance in the observed pattern. ", "It is likely the change in behavior from a predominately nocturnal to diurnal haul-out pattern is related to decreases in human activity, whereas the overall increase in proportion of seals ashore is a response to the energetic demands of molting.", "\n\nWhereas the haul-out behavior of harbor seals varies within a day and within a year, the behavior is expected to be relatively stable across years. ", "Our results indicated a significant increase in haul-out probability in 2005 compared to 2002 and 2006. ", "While the year effect is potentially confounded by site, such an increase is consistent with the idea that seals exposed to killer whale predation would spend more time ashore to avoid predation. ", "For other harbor seal populations, killer whale predation is likely a regular factor influencing their behavior [@pone.0038180-Ford1]. ", "Additionally, the normally transient behavior of mammal-eating killer whales precludes them from having a dramatic impact on overall haul-out behavior. ", "The unique situation in Hood Canal was ideal for observing a dramatic shift in behavior. ", "Naive seals were exposed to an unprecedented level of predation over 2.5 years. ", "Consequently, their haul-out behavior underwent a dramatic shift. ", "Our deployments in 2005 began only a few weeks after the whales left Hood Canal. ", "By the time of our 2006 deployments, whales had been absent from Hood Canal for more than a year, and the haul-out probabilities appear to have returned to pre-killer whale levels.", "\n\nThere was significant autocorrelation in these data that ranged up to 10 days. ", "It was important to include autocorrelation in our model because otherwise, statistical inferences, such as the p-values that indicate significance, tend to be too low [@pone.0038180-VerHoef2]. ", "This could have caused us to falsely declare an explanatory variable as significant more often than we should.", "\n\nThe extra-binomial variation due to the repeated measures random effect with autocorrelation and the among-seal-variability indicated that it is important to have many seals and a fairly long time series per seal in order to estimate the effects of explanatory variables with much precision. ", "It is especially important to have multiple seals to investigate factors that only change from seal to seal; in particular, sex and age. ", "Note that none of the among-seal factors were significant, whereas all of the within seal factors were highly significant. ", "Much of the time and expense is involved with capturing individual seals; however, future studies would benefit from having more seals when investigating subject-level effects.", "\n\nWithout an appropriate model for haul-out behavior of seals in Hood Canal, it is not surprising that acute population changes due to killer whale predation in 2002 and 2005 were not detected from raw counts [@pone.0038180-London1]. ", "Correcting survey counts within Hood Canal using the GLMM presented here may provide annual population estimates that are more in line with expectations from bio-energetic models. ", "The importance of understanding the haul-out behavior is not limited to evaluating the impact of killer whales. ", "Additional ecological concerns over seal and salmon interactions [@pone.0038180-London1] and low dissolved oxygen events within Hood Canal require adequate monitoring of populations on a localized scale. ", "The model presented here should provide researchers and managers with improved ability to monitor seal population trends and abundance in Hood Canal.", "\n\nOur results indicated a higher level of plasticity in haul-out behavior for harbor seals than previously described. ", "This contrasts with recent studies showing relatively consistent haul-out patterns across sites and years [@pone.0038180-Simpkins1], [@pone.0038180-Huber1]. ", "This is partly due to the unique opportunity Hood Canal provided. ", "Our deployments spanned a dramatic ecological event that occurred during an extended visit by mammal-eating killer whales, and we were fortunate to recover a large sample of tags that recorded detailed information over a long time period. ", "However, the observations in Hood Canal do provide key insights into harbor seal behavior and have implications for the conservation and management of other populations.", "\n\nThe authors would like to acknowledge the support from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's National Marine Mammal Laboratory. ", "The field component of the project benefited greatly from the contributions of B. Murphie, S. Murphie, D. Lambourn, A. Galloway and other members of the capture crew. ", "Special consideration goes to G. VanBlaricom for his advice and support as the primary author's graduate advisor. ", "M. Simpkins and J. Laake provided valuable feedback during the analysis and manuscript preparation.", "\n\n**Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.", "\n\n**Funding:**The authors would like to acknowledge the financial and logistical support from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's National Marine Mammal Laboratory. ", "Signicant funding was also provided by the United States Marine Mammal Commission, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. ", "The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.", "\n\n[^1]: Conceived and designed the experiments: JML SJJ MML. ", "Performed the experiments: JML SJJ MML JVH. ", "Analyzed the data: JML JVH. ", "Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SJJ PLB. ", "Wrote the paper: JML JVH.", "\n" ]

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[ "Why are you looking at me so lovingly? ", "It's not like your my girlfriend.", "\n\nSunset: *nods* yes\n\n\n\nO_O" ]

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[ "The present invention provides novel prostacyclin analogs. ", "Particularly, the present invention relates to prostacyclin analogs substituted at the C-19 position by hydroxy.", "\nParticularly, the present invention relates to 2-decarboxy-2-aminomethyl-19-hydroxy-6a-carba-PGI.sub.2 compounds. ", "The novel prostacyclin analogs are useful for pharmacological purposes, e.g., as anti-asthmatic agents. ", "The preparation and use of these compounds is incorporated here by reference from United States Patent 4,225,508." ]

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[ "Q:\n\nCan I use the OR operator or AND operator between two if..else statement?", "\n\nCan/Should I use the OR operator or AND operator between two if..else statement?", "\nIf [statement]\n\nend if\n\nOR\n\nIf [statement]\n\nend if\n\nA:\n\nCombine them into one statement like this:\nif age < 30 AND height_feet > 6.1 then\n ' do something\nelse\n ' do something else\nend if\n\nIf you have to check the OR condition, just switch the AND to OR. ", "\nEDIT\nYou can combine if statements like this also:\nif age < 30 AND height_feet > 6.1 then\n ' do something\nelse if age < 30 OR height_feet > 6.1 then\n ' do something\nelse\n if employee_type = 1 then \n ' do something\n else\n ' do something\n end if\nend if\n\n" ]

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[ "ROMACTED facilitator Raxhi Rakipi in Albania; Photo credits: Municipality of Elbasan\n\nThe EU and the Council of Europe (CoE) have a long-standing and wide partnership in this field. ", "The Joint Statement issued by Marija Pejčinović Burić, Council of Europe Secretary General, and Helena Dalli, European Commissioner for Equality, on the occasion of the International Roma Day is indicative of this close partnership. ", "They call on all European countries to comply with the standards laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter and to increase their support and protection for marginalised groups, in particular Roma.", "\n\nIndeed, the EU is cooperating with the Council of Europe via numerous joint programmes centred around the objective of Roma social inclusion . ", "Our programmes, among other things, are promoting, inclusive education and training ( INSCHOOL ), supporting good governance and Roma empowerment at local level ( ROMACT and ROMACTED) and facilitating the access of Roma women to justice ( JUSTROM ). ", "While these initiatives have produced tangible results, there are still many areas where we need to step up our actions.", "\n\nAs noted in the EU-CoE joint statement, many of the 10-12 million Roma in Europe still suffer from poverty and social exclusion , a phenomenon further aggravated by widespread anti-Gypsyism sentiments. ", "Already the Commission’s 2010 communication on the social and economic integration of Roma in Europe noted the challenges faced by Roma people, including a lack of access to high quality education and poor integration into the labour market, all leading to lower incomes, poor health and, consequently, higher mortality rates. ", "Such findings have also been corroborated by a recent report produced by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).", "\n\nThese challenges have become particularly acute during the current crisis. ", "Both FRA and the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights have underlined that with 30% of the Roma having no access to tap water in their households , the standard advice of regularly washing hands with soap and hot water to limit the spread of COVID-19, sounds hollow. ", "At the same time, the overcrowding in Roma neighbourhoods makes social distancing almost impossible, hence putting Roma people at extreme risk . ", "Moreover, the fact that Roma tend to be employed in precarious positions that require physical contact makes the current lockdown particularly harmful for their economic status.", "\n\n/file/roma1jpg-0_enroma_1.jpg Cleaning and disinfection of a building in Kosovo during the coronavirus pandemic | ROMACTED joint programme\n\nFurthermore, they also have problematic access to healthcare given that many of them lack health insurance and, occasionally, identity documents. ", "Finally, to add insult to injury, the Roma population has been subject to hate speech in the context of the current pandemic. ", "They have been presented as a threat to public health, with certain member states taking special measures targeting them on this basis.", "\n\nThe issue of hate speech in particular was at the centre of the common statement issued by Vice-President Vĕra Jourová and Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli ahead of the International Roma Day. ", "The statement criticized those who use the current situation to spread fear, anger and hate against the most vulnerable groups, such as the Roma minority. ", "It subsequently recognised that online hate speech and fake stories against Roma people are multiplying while many Roma continue to face anti-Gypsyism, discrimination and socio-economic exclusion.", "\n\nWith such a worrisome picture in mind, there is much work to be done in order to mitigate the effects of the crisis for the Roma population . ", "First of all, it is important for governments to establish facilities for clean running water in these communities. ", "At the same time governments should facilitate the unhindered access of doctors and pharmacies in the Roma communities. ", "Existing local engagement practices with Roma populations suggest that health mediators with trusted access to these communities must play a pivotal role in this effort. ", "Moreover, governments should include special provisions in their economic recovery plans to tackle the economic adversity that the Roma population will face as we exit the crisis." ]

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[ "Jack Black Scores with Dallas Cowboys\n\nShare Article\n\nBecause Looking Good is a Competitive Advantage\n\nCarrollton, TX (PRWEB)November 2, 2010\n\nDallas based skin care company Jack Black is pleased to partner with its hometown heroes, the Dallas Cowboys, one of the top sports franchises in the world, to bring exclusive skin care and grooming products to the players and their fans.", "\n\nJack Black tested the NFL waters in 2009 though a partnership with the Miami Dolphins, but their Dallas Cowboys relationship is the first-of-its-kind, offering premium skin care products to their fans and suite holders.", "\n\nA range of products in the Cowboys' locker room at their practice facility. ", "Players will have access to a number of Jack Black facial skin care and body products for use after workouts. ", "This includes a selection of Jack Black's new Performance Remedy products formulated specifically for athletes to help enhance performance and speed recovery.", "\n\n\"We are thrilled about our new partnership with the Dallas Cowboys,\" says Patricia Finn, Director of Marketing at Jack Black. \"", "We have had great success executing innovative, engaging programs at sporting events, effectively targeting male fans. ", "Given that Jack Black is a Dallas-based skin care company, we look forward to exposing men and women in our hometown to our brand and our products.\"", "\n\nA favorite of athletes and sports enthusiasts, Jack Black products are a perfect complement to the luxurious amenities offered at Cowboys Stadium." ]

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[ "Tag Archives: independent\n\nWould you like to be kissed by a pair of Swarovski crystal jeweled lips? ", "Well if you have been a regular RadioFlagger, chances are you’ve already been sugar smacked by these glitzy glammed-out lips, and have likely come to look … Continue reading →\n\nCollege radio has long been the lifeblood of the music scene. ", "Not only have die-hard, underground music fans always turned to college radio as a credible source of music discovery, but artists have historically relied on college radio as a … Continue reading →" ]

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