15 Chapter 15

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I heard the key in the door, and after a minute or so, after he’d reset the alarm, he appeared in the kitchen doorway.

In his right hand was a white cardboard box from the Olde Towne Pastry Shoppe and in his left was a shopping bag. I thought I recognized the logo on its side, but before Icould give it more than cursory attention, I was distracted by the duffel that was slung over his right shoulder. Poking out from it was the hilt of a sword. It had to be the sword that had been in the case above his large-screen TV.

The case had been badly shattered; I had seen that for myself when I’d paid that clandestine visit to Mark’s apartment to assess the damage for myself the day before. I found it rather telling that of everything he could retrieve, he’d brought that with him.