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CHAPTER 8

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...n police officer Michele Pagan
...Mary's stepmother.
...'m going to have to ask you to

...ng more until I speak with my

...t I'd urge you to come in. Let us
,

...r the rest of the day. We're on

...does most of the talking.
says. "At school. A fight between
...case understand, our Mary's not

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FILTHY RICH

Officer Pagan’s starting to feel as though she’s swimming in uncharted waters. She’s young, and the cases she’s worked before this have been minor. Robberies, that sort of thing. Pagan’s not used to the Gold Coast. She was educated in New York City, and, to her, the less affluent towns further in from the Coast might as well be somewhere in Georgia. Then again, she knows enough to know that in the back of the station, detectives are already whispering.

What’s a guy with that kind of money need with some girl from out west? The women around here could make a man cry.
Extortion?
The kid’s fourteen. What would she know from extortion?
Have you seen the shows these kids watch? They know about things we’ve never dreamed about.

No, Pagan thinks. This is her case.
She’s the one who’s going to work it.

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