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By Root 488 0

somewhere along the coast that Flacco and Gordo knew about. I paid them what Gem told me to. They were going to sail the old man’s boat back to its home, with Max aboard.

An old station wagon came by the motel and picked up the little girls. Gem dealt with it.

Levi vanished without saying goodbye … and I wouldn’t have offered him money, anyway.

I phoned the clinic. Randy and Michelle would haul the old man back to Key West. She’d make the Mole come along, too. The Prof and Clarence would cover their route. They’d all be in place before the boat got back.

And then they’d all head back home.

“I must return to my house,” Gem told me. “There are things I need to attend to; things that I have neglected.”

“Okay.”

“And you will come with me.”

“Gem …”

She just stared at me, unblinking.

It wasn’t a good time for me to go back home. And I couldn’t operate where Gem lived. But Portland was close by. And that town looked ripe for the kind of work I do.

As far as New York was concerned, I was dead. So, for now, I figured I might as well be dead and gone.

And once I learned Portland better, there were a couple of Russians in Lake Oswego I wanted to visit some night.

So I could tell them how their son turned out.

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Vachss has been a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, a social caseworker, and a labor organizer, and has directed a maximum-security prison for youthful offenders. Now a lawyer in private practice, he represents children and youths exclusively. He is the author of twelve novels, two collections of short stories, three graphic series, and Another Chance to Get It Right: A Children’s Book for Adults. His work has appeared in Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, the New York Times, and numerous other forums.

Further information about Andrew Vachss and his work is available on his website, “The Zero,” at www.vachss.com.