Status Updates From Guardian Angel, A V.I. Wars...

“I’m a street fighter, Dick. I had to be as a kid just to survive, but I’m afraid I never outgrew it. Someone like Teri suits you better than I do. You’ll see; you two will get through this time somehow.”

I took a wrong turn down a connecting hall. Suddenly the diesels sounded very loud: I was coming to the corridor that led to the loading bay. (at the age of 39 B&Es are still a prime means of investigation for VI.)

Evidently two cases in this book: an old woman on the same block as VI with five dogs, who ends up with health problems and dog problems. And an old friend of Mr. Contreras, who has a drinking problem and a housing problem and disappears.

The police had confiscated my professional picklocks a number of years ago, but during the winter I’d acquired some new ones—billed, of course, as “state of the art”—at a security conference out at O’Hare. Tonight might be my first chance to use them.

VI’s dog Peppy starts out this book by having eight puppies