“I know, I know, but when I saw   
them laughing, Ijust floored it. I     
didn’t even think about it.”           
     “That’s a pretty damn poor de-    
fense, Crim,” he said, using my nick   
naturally, like he’d been using it for 
years.                                 
     “It’s the worst kind, I know, but 
when the impulses take over, everything
suddenly goes into super slow motion,  
and I know exactly what to do. It’s    
never failed me so far, except  when I 
dived off the bridge. I didn’t get a   
good grip on that branch, and I’m usu- 
ally able to do that, but it did slow  
me down,” I said, almost like I was    
talking to myself.                     
     “Usually? Are you telling me that 
you’re jumping off things on a regular 
basis?”                                
*      “Sometimes, yeah,” I said, and saw  
the skeptical look in his face.        
     “The trick is in how you fall, and
what you do on the way down. There’s   
always something there to slow you,    
especially if you’re close to the      
building, windows, ledges, fire        
escapes, or anything like that.        
     “If worse comes to worse, I’ve    
always got my magic rope.”             
     “Now see, that’s the kind of bull-
shit that you can’t sell to a guy like 
the DA,” he said and pointed to his    
office.                                
     “I know, but it’s all I got, and  
it’s true.”                            
     “Maybe,” he said, but still looked
skeptical, “but you’re gonna need more 
than that, and that’s why you need what
I got, and what I know.”               



CHAPTER 2: MONDAY, OCTOBER 20th
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