After a hearty meal and clean up, we were all sitting at the kitchen table playing cards. Carl and the four of us. I asked Carl, “Have you ever been...to San Jose?”“No, why do you ask?”“I was just thinking that us three guys should get away for a weekend.”This came as a surprise to Baxter as well as the wives who protested loudly, “What about us?”“You could go too. Stay in separate hotels and do your own thing. We’ll do our thing.”Thus, the groundwork was laid, pardon the pun. ---Baxter and his. Donna answered the door in a beautiful violet-colored sundress. She managed to look elegant, poised, and relaxed all at once. Inside, her house looked like a stereotypical suburban home, though probably cleaner and better decorated than most with the lack of a male presence. The walls were covered with framed photographs and I couldn't help myself to just begin exploring them for several minutes.Of course, I was looking for pictures of Stacy and was rewarded handsomely—cute baby pictures,. So he let me go. Anyway not used to being cut free—I'm a guy that is used to being busy—I had a lapse of character and my second wife left me. For the first time in twenty years I had no job and no spouse and my kids lived somewhere else. I had never felt so alone and forgotten and disrespected, so I got lost. Thankfully I bumped into Amy Madison and rediscovered my purpose. That case and its success gave me back my life." And if it crashes again?" asked the young and ambitious male secretary.. .. into something dark.Nina stared at Samantha. She wants me to reassure her that I don't think she's crazy.Can I do that? While I'm thinking of her blowing away videogame zombies with a controller made out of a real gun?Nina swallowed. "What else is in that shoebox, Sam?"Samantha reached into the box, and took out a little green circuit board. It was star-shaped. When she pressed a button, colourful lights flashed in sequence at each point. "It's a Christmas ornament," she said. She.