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Four days after Christmas, Dallas...

After two weeks of helping the last of her father’s miners quit Rowling Enterprises, Jean Lasater arrived back in Dallas to see her doctors. They said the same thing they did at every other appointment and always before she had politely listened, but this time, she stood up and walked out without a word. She wanted to go home to die but she didn’t have a home any longer. She had sold her parents’ house years ago, so she drove to the spartan upscale apartment where she had lived for almost a decade. Looking around, she didn’t have photos or paintings, nothing lovely decorated her dwelling; she didn’t even have a Christmas tree. Her home was as lonely as her but it’s not time to think about that. There was little time left and she needed to be quick with her actions. Thinking about the next move, she went to her answering machine and pushed the play button, waiting to hear the messages that filled in.

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