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Back 3 a.m.
Chapters (67)
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  67. 3:46 a.m.

I run to the pile of three DVDs stacked neatly on a bookshelf in the living room. Men in Black is at the bottom and I slip it out.

I open the case and look for any writing. There is none. I set the DVD down on the computer then run to the trash can hoping to find the Amazon packaging, but the trash has been emptied.

I imagine what could have been written on the inside of the brown cardboard.

For the first time, I wonder if the coroner’s time of death was right on the money. How easy would it be to fake the Amazon packaging, especially for a lifelong spy, then leave the package on my doorstep?

My mother was found less than six miles from my house. Could it be a coincidence? Or was it because she’d just left my condo?

I sit back down to the computer and slip the DVD in.

It is 3:49 a.m.

I wait for the plans for a nuclear warhead to start streaming. Or a list of all the spies in Russia. Or a picture of the President with his pants down.

What I don’t want to start playing is exactly what starts playing.

The movie.

:06

For the first time in months, I wake up early.

The clock reads 2:58 a.m.

Two extra minutes.

Time is currency to me and I start shopping. (I once tried to explain this to my father and I told him two extra minutes was the equivalent of him waking up and finding two thousand dollars cash on the bedside table. He would immediately start thinking of ways to spend it. It was no different with me.) Should I use the two minutes all at once or should I break it up? Take an extra minute shower? An extra thirty seconds on the pot? Do sixty sit-ups? Run a couple extra blocks?

I think about asking Lassie for his feedback, but he’s still out cold. Anyhow, he’ll probably want me to spend it rubbing his belly.

I decide to spend the time on the phone with my dad. Getting two more minutes of insight into my mother.

“You’re up early.”

I glance up.

Ingrid is standing in my doorway.

Naked.

My eyes soak up her perfect breasts, toned stomach, and the beautiful curvature of her buttocks.

I know how I will spend my extra time.

She jumps on the bed and we attack each other.

Nine minutes later, we lie panting.

“That was awesome,” I mutter.

Eyes closed, she holds up her hand.

We high five.

Lassie appears from wherever he hid and licks Ingrid’s nipple.

“Dude!”

He gives two more licks, then jumps away before I can smack him.

I spend a couple minutes in the bathroom then head to the kitchen. My dad has texted twice, and I text him back that I’m fine and Ingrid is over and I will call him tomorrow.