Before we acted. Holly, I’m so sorry. I should have said something. I should have reminded you.”Holly growled something unintelligible in response...and squeezed her eyes shut just as the door from the library opened. In walked Mark and Toshi. Mark was dismayed that Holly was already on the autodoc and he glanced immediately at the time. No, he wasn’t late.Emily saw his distress and came up to him and whispered, “We started the preparation a bit early. Holly arrived a while ago and didn’t want to. He always said he left it open because he had nothing to hide, and that he was a ‘giver’. The smell is what hit Katherine first. A liberal mix of sweat, sex, nicotine and old meals. She looked around the apartment, furtively at first and then decided to announce herself, “Ed! You in here?” She could hear the faint noise of a TV set coming from somewhere inside. The living room was mostly a collection of empty pizza-boxes and cigarette stubs. “C’mon in Kat.” Ed’s voice floated out. Followed by. I wasn'tsure what all of that meant but that was what she told me. She said hername was Sharon. She was one of the first women to be really nice to mein a long time. But I was still scared of her. I didn't really trustthat she was for real until she stayed with me all night at the hospitaland made sure that I was being cared for. She seemed very nice and I letmy guard down. She even started holding me like I was her own.After days of tests and examinations by a lot of doctors, they got allof. ‘I wasn’t sure she wanted me to get in touch,’ Jason replied. ‘I mean, it has been six years. And things did come to a pretty sudden stop back then.’ ‘Is this the guy you told me about?’ Anne asked. ‘The one your Mom had…’ Brenda looked at her partner and nodded. ‘This is him,’ she told Anne. She turned back to Jason and shook her head. ‘I know it’s been six years, and I figure you were pretty hurt because you thought Mom dumped you back then, but something tells me that even though you think.