Segment 6.10

Omar’s face bore a toothy grin. His crossed arms bulged at the biceps. He looked every inch the confident soldier who boasted in the lines of the blog about his prowess at target shooting, his grace under fire, his ability to entertain with endless jokes, and his bottomless box of homemade cookies supplied by Mom. [...]

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Segment 6.9

No prices graced the menu for Horatio’s. Polly searched in vain and then stared into the lengthy descriptions of the dishes, written half in French. “This is too expensive,” she concluded, folding up her menu.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Peter said, from behind his menu.
“Tonight’s wine selection, sir,” the waiter announced, thrusting a bottle [...]

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Segment 6.8

A pile of sloppy pots and a stack of dirty plates awaited Saffron at the end of dinner. She sighed and dug in, one ear cocked to Angel and PePé as they brushed off the table and chairs and shook out the linens. She could only follow snatches of their Spanish banter. She caught the [...]

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Segment 6.7

Among the scattered dishes from Emmy’s afternoon snack, Bobbi found the packet of white powder. Packaged as it was in clear, unlabeled plastic, it did not bring coffee creamer to her mind at all. She slipped the packet into her pocket as she cleared the table.
Behind her Emmy laughed and cooed as she cuddled [...]

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Segment 6.6

“I can’t believe we had to pay the tow driver off to leave the cruiser alone,” Dinah grumbled. She dropped into the passenger seat and took up the file on Mr. Pinkham again. “On top of not getting squat on our missing man.”
“Never mind that,” Sam said. He slammed the car into gear and squealed [...]

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Segment 6.5

The rosé charted a warm course as it chased down the spinach-pear-feta salad and airy bread that Wyatt had quietly slipped onto the table while Petra pondered her turn.
“You guys are sneaky,” she muttered. “You didn’t invite me to dinner.”
“Eating is secondary to the game in this house,” Wyatt told her. “We don’t have [...]

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Segment 6.4

Outside the courtrooms where the night court held sessions, Rex sat on a bench, tapping his toes and looking at his watch. One hand crushed a paper cone from the water cooler. He lobbed the wadded paper towards a trash receptacle. It bounced against the lip of the opening and flew back towards him, rolling [...]

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Segment 6.3

The hospital cafeteria outdid itself on the chicken medallions with peas and pearl onions. If she hadn’t been so queasy, Raisa would have savored the meal just as much as anything Rex whipped up in one of his gourmet moods. She pushed the plate back and slid out of bed.
“What did Rex find more [...]

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Segment 6.2

The Hummer swerved to avoid the trash can rolling into the road and came to a dead stop halfway into the Daniels’ driveway. Oscar sprang out, his hand slicing through the air. “Who’s the dunce who can’t keep his trash can in its place?” He grasped the rim of the can and howled at the [...]

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Segment 6.1

“It’s so cold,” she said.
“Sorry.” He turned down the air conditioning in the Lexus. On second thought, he turned it off entirely and rolled her window down half way.
A smile spread across her face as she laid her head against the window, taking in the warm, salt-tinged breeze that rose from the sea below the [...]

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