“Pete’s in there.”“Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn’t affect us. We just need to get clean.”“What about Lara? How is she going to change?”�...We’ll deal with her later.”I huffed. “I don’t know what I might do if I see Pete right now.”Heather took my arms and looked at me sincerely. Her face caught the flood light from Brian’s front porch, and my heart stuttered as I noticed twin trails of gray watercolor painted on her cheeks, connecting eye to jaw. Somewhere between Woodstock and here, Lara’s situation. "So Slave, where are we?" Ma'am, that was stroke 22 of 44 that I have earned for sloppy work and lack of decorum. Please continue your patient instruction of this slave."Page had given Willow time between each stroke to recover and think of an appropriate response. She had to admit Willow was quite good at creating phrases that fit the moment."Slave, I am growing weary of this activity. Would you be willing to bargain some of your strokes away?" Ma'am please could I?" I don't know. What would. When his daughter was 10, her friendliness toward her father was such that she would snuggle against him, sit on his lap and forever be around him, much to the chagrin of Beth-Ann.The divorce came about because of a couple of things that Beth saw occur between Jerry and their daughter, but the truth was that Jerry had been totally innocent of his wife's suspicions. However, to protect his daughter, he didn't bring up the fact that what had happened both times were Jewel's doing.First there was. All told there are four hundred and twenty-six deputies, including the headquarters personnel. There are twelve sergeants and two remaining lieutenants. We have seven secretaries and a dozen account clerks who work day shift five days a week. That’s what they told me in Payroll this morning.”“Know anything about the budget?”“Not a thing, Chief…er, I mean, Matt. Why don’t we start in the business office where they have all of that information?” He led us down the hallway and we turned into.