Chapter 82

BY LATE AFTERNOON it finally caught up with me that I hadn't gotten even an hour's sleep for the second night in three days.

I also started to feel that I was missing something impor-tant about the case. I was sure of it.

I called Cindy and Claire together. I'd been so focused on finding Hardaway, I'd missed something else.

Claire had spent the day in the morgue with the grim task of trying to identify the victims of the Rincon Center blast. There were sixteen dead so far, and more to come, unfortu-nately. She agreed to meet for a few minutes across the street at Susie's, our familiar corner table.

The minute I hit the street on the way to Susie's, I could feel the anxiety, see it on faces. Claire and Cindy were wait-ing for me inside.

"The note about Jill is the key." I told them my latest the-ory as we sipped¹ our tea.

"The note said she was part of the state," Claire said, looking puzzled.

"Not that one. Cindy's e-mail. It said, `This one wasn't like the others....' "

"This one was personal," Cindy finished it off.

"You're thinking Jill had some personal contact with this guy?" Claire blinked. "Like what?"

"I don't know what I'm thinking. Just that each of these victims was chosen precisely². None of the killings³ have been random⁴. So what led them to Jill? They tracked her. They cased her home and picked her up. Lightower, Bengosian... Something tied Jill to the two of them."

"Maybe one of her cases?" Cindy shrugged⁵. Claire seemed unconvinced.

There was a lull⁶ in the conversation. We looked around. The silence brought us all to the same place. The empty seat at the table.

"It's so strange to be here," Claire said, letting out a breath, "to be doing this, without Jill. To be talking about her."

"Jill's gonna help us," I whispered.

I looked at both of them. A renewed sparkle was in their eyes.

"Okay," Claire said, nodding, "how?"

"We're going to look over her old cases," I said. "I'll try and get someone on Sinclair's staff to pitch in."

"And we're looking for what exactly?" Cindy narrowed her eyes.

"You got the e-mail. Something personal," I said. "Just like this case is for us. Look at the faces in here, and out on the street. Somebody has to stop these bastards⁷, these murderers."

1 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句

2 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

3 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

4 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

5 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 lull   

v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇

参考例句：

• The drug put Simpson in a lull for thirty minutes.药物使辛普森安静了30分钟。
• Ground fighting flared up again after a two-week lull.经过两个星期的平静之后，地面战又突然爆发了。

7 bastards   

私生子( bastard的名词复数 )； 坏蛋； 讨厌的事物； 麻烦事 （认为别人走运或不幸时说）家伙

参考例句：

• Those bastards don't care a damn about the welfare of the factory! 这批狗养的，不顾大局！ 来自子夜部分
• Let the first bastards to find out be the goddam Germans. 就让那些混账的德国佬去做最先发现的倒霉鬼吧。 来自演讲部分