The next day, a real Mexican dandy and two companions showed up at the jail wanting us to release our prisoners. I stood to one side where I could kee...p an eye on the two obvious bodyguards while the dandy talked to Bob. I'll have to say this for the dandy: he was real subtle when he offered the bribe to let the prisoners go. He was willing to pay $50 each for the men, and that was a passel of money!Bob was real polite when he turned down the offer, even when the offer was raised to $75 per man.. I also knew that she worked long hours, and that alone kept her out of any mischief. The one thing that caused some worry was the fact that according to Ruth she still had no social life to speak of. I brought it up once but Dolores told me that she did regular chats with two of her friends in Montana using Skype software. Obviously, some broadband service was now available, even in that Clearwater place.With the summer semester starting, she enrolled in a number of evening courses, extra. She took her entire bottle of painkillers. Fortunately they got her to the hospital in Rutherford in time.”“Oh my God!”“Yeah. And you sound like her. Promise me you won’t do anything dumb in the next hour.”“I promise.”“OK. I’m leaving right now. See you in less than an hour. Don’t say anything to anyone.”“I love you, Mikey.”“I love you too, Liz.”I quickly changed into jeans and rugby shirt, grabbed my wallet, keys, jacket, and baseball cap. I walked out to the common area and let Clark know I. ”She pressed the hold button, grabbed a junior reporter,gave him thirty seconds of explanation and instructions onthe story, then grabbed her pack of cigarettes, her coffeecup and her steno pad. She rushed back into an emptyeditor’s office and sat down at his desk before picking upon the on-hold line.“Bryan, I’m back. Now what’s going on with Gary Franks?What do you know about him and how did you becomeinvolved with him?”His voice was very calm “I met.