”It didn’t take us long to find it. The top of the Eiffel Tower is an unreal view. You can see pretty much the entire city from every direction. ...he streets seem to go on forever. Me and my trusty polaroid were snapping pics from every angle.“It’s so windy up here. Reminds me of that time last spring when we were driving on the pacific coast highway and pulled over to fuck. Remember?”“Alex! Jesus we’re in public. Please don’t answer that Dad.”“How could I forget?” I leaned down to Alex. “I. Meanwhile, several .44s were firing. There was a slightly longer pause and two more blasts from a shotgun. Then, a few seconds later, I felt Helen gather me in her arms. That was when I fainted completely.I found out later that I was unconscious for about three hours. I came to my senses while lying in a bed, later identified as part of the hotel. Helen was sitting beside me, quietly crying, and a much older woman was sewing up my wound. She said, "Ah, now that you are awake, you can have some. His arms were covered in bruises. The bones in both his hands and one of his knee caps had been pulverised as if he had tried to beat up a brick wall. Back at Rick’s, the horrifying remains of another officer were discovered coating one wall. Even more gore had been splattered on the floor nearby. Whatever had thrown him against the wall had done it with so much f***e that it took a day just to reassemble his jaw so that he could be identified. Not one of the dozens of investigators appointed. Life managing this combination was another source of tension: our marriage was all about the practicalities and time management, and romance and bed for anything but exhausted sleep were vague memories.I was headed to the wine bar to join the celebration hosted by Maggie, a long-time colleague, of both her fifteen years in the company and her promotion to a new role. We had joined the firm at about the same time and at first worked closely together, remaining good friends through several.