”But, even as she leaned forward again, her hand went tothe security phone. Suddenly, she didn’t want to bethere.Why me? she thought. Why ...ow? Don’t you know someone iswatching?No, she answered herself. She doesn’t.Picking up the telephone, Denise speed-dialed Ed Simeon’sbeeper, then hung up before it could ring. “Come, on,” she admonished. “Stop fucking around andcall.” She dialed again, and then hung up again. “Now,” shesaid.. The door is ajar and I peek through the crack.I clearly see him sat by her bedside holding the book on his lap. Jess is in bed and appears to be nearly asleep.Again self-revulsion begins creeping up; but its oft-lurking presence begins a final retreat, as what I'm witnessing, materialises.While Dan methodically reads from the book on his lap, his mind is focused on what his other hand is caressing.It is under the blanket quietly exploring Jess's parted thighs. That moment sublimates me.Looking. She's noticed like all of us that lots ofthe old mills and stuff are being turned over to small business centresand apartment blocks. The population's moving back into town, especiallythe single thirty-something's. These are the girls who use dressagencies," finished Sian."So what about the other side of the coin, the charity shops?" pressedDorie Lou, who was secretly a bit worried about lowering the tone of theneighbourhood, what with the district beginning to recover from the longdepression. “Your lawyers will then try to make a deal with the district attorney’s office, since you are all just teens and are really little more than naughty children. Justice does not consider rapists and drug dealers children. You will all be tried as adults. The district attorney’s office will be trying all six of you for rape, drug dealing, conspiracy, and anything else they can put their imaginative minds to. You will all go to court on this. At some point your lawyers will try to make a deal with.