Two people in blackuniforms hurried toward me, then grabbed me by my arms and forced themback behind me. One of them said:"Cngratulations, Erik the B...ack! We've caught you at last: your days asa fugitive from the stars are now over. You will be taken to theAstroprison, where you will serve out your sentence as prescribed by law,for you have been sentenced to life." When?" I asked, and as the two me loaded me onto the shuttlecraft, oneof them saiud:"In absentia, two weeks ago, you murdering. ”I say, “Go for it.”He sits down at my laptop, pulls up Google Maps and begins to mark off the hotels we’ve already checked with big red x’s He stares at the map and the red x’s and swears, “God dammit! How did we miss that?”I dash to the computer, look over his shoulder and ask, “Missed what?”Thom laughs and says, “Well, I sure as hell know how we drove past that hotel since it’s a little off Colfax Ave. But it’s a chain hotel and my best guess is we will find Ben there.”I ask, “What’s your. Valerie and Tim must have been awoken by the sounds of sex since they exited Heather’s bedroom shortly thereafter. Valerie came out fully dressed and looking as perfectly composed as when I had last seen her while Tim came out fully naked, carrying his clothes in a pile in front of him, and walking with a very pronounced bow-legged hobble. He rubbed his ass as if it were sore, and sported vicious looking nail marks along his back, but nothing was ever spoken about it.Everyone (save for Jess,. I worked in the mornings, rapidly proving myself to be a very helpful and useful employee, who was well worth the money I wasn't being paid. In the afternoons, I wandered around town as if exploring, but in reality so my planned encounter with my family would seem natural. I also made a few comments about looking for a girlfriend.I kept an eye on my families at night, but nothing of note happened. Ava spent a lot of time with them, which was good because she looked like she needed it. I.