�We argued, yes. About my drinking, yes. Then Wendy recognized me from their table across the room, and she came over to tell me what she thought of me. Her husband came over when he realized who I was, and he decided to give me a piece of his mind for, uh, mistreating his wife and her sister last year. It was ugly, yes.�

�Okay, so when did the violence enter into it?� Diane asked, her arms crossed over her chest. Harry�s face took on a tinge of regret at her mistrusting expression, and he continued.

�Well, a young Hispanic gentleman was seated at the bar, a few seats down from me. Seeing the melee, he pulled out a gun and decided to join in. He shot at Wendy, and the bullet went right through her to her husband, who was standing right behind her.�

�At this point, Claire had turned around and gone for her own gun. He told her to freeze, and he backed us up along the bar. He saw my steak knife and picked it up. When Claire saw his eyes turn to the side, she went for her gun again, and the guy struck like a rattlesnake, so fast. He plunged the knife into her gut, and she fell back into me. He dropped the knife and took off running. I set Claire down on the ground, grabbed a napkin and told her to hold it against the wound, and gave chase. Before I ran out, I told the bartender to call 911, to tell them �officer down.��

�The prints, Harry,� Diane reminded him.

�These guys always wear gloves.�

�The gun, Harry,� she reminded him.

�That was mine. The gang took it off me last fall when they had me in their lovely seaside warehouse. Cleaning house with it must have been planned for a while. They knew I was tagged as a dirty cop. It was only a matter of time that they would decide to use it on people around me. I�m sure the plan was some kind of murder-suicide. They may have even thought about killing you and me in that way. It must have surprised him as much as you that we weren�t together on Valentine�s Day.�

�Oh, so now you�re the hero, and ditching me on Valentine�s Day supposedly saved my life from a phony murder-suicide plot?� Diane clucked her tongue and shook her head. �You�re going to have to do better than that, Denby.�

�On to Lauren,� Harry said, changing the subject rapidly, absent-mindedly scratching the stubble on his cheek. He hadn�t shaved for a few days, so there was quite a bit more stubble than usual.

�Oh, yes, let�s not forget how Lauren died drooling and seizing in front of her niece and nephew, in my arms, in a filthy apartment� Diane�s bitter sarcasm twisted her face with anger. �I don�t know what that�s going to do to them in the long run.� Harry couldn�t meet her eyes for a few minutes.