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Q1: what does "just a piece of all of it" mean?
Eli leaned across the table. “Whatever she did, or planned to do, she didn’t deserve to die for it.”
“You’re kinder than I. But we can take it back to its roots. Your an-cestor committed murder out of greed, cast off his own sister, for the same reasons. Without that, we wouldn’t be here. I’m really just a piece of all of it.”
“Believing that may help you get through the next few weeks.” Eli got to his feet.
Once more, Abra put a hand over his as she rose. “For the sake of your children, I hope your lawyer is as good as you believe.”
“Thank you. I really wish both of you all the best.”He had to walk out, get out. “Jesus Christ” was all he could say when Abra gripped his hands.
“Some people are twisted, in ways that don’t show. In ways they themselves don’t see or understand. It may be circumstances that twisted her, Eli, but she’ll never really see it.”
“I could get her off,” he stated. “I could get her off with five years, and she’d only do two.”Q2: what does "she'd only do two"mean?
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does "ease the blow"mean "relax"here?
“It was horrible. The worst moment of my life. Everything I loved and believed in was slipping through my fingers. He said we’d tell the children over the weekend so we’d have plenty of time with them to ease the blow, and in the meantime, he’d sleep in the guest room, and we’d maintain a civilized front. I swear to you, I could hear Lindsay’s words coming out of his mouth, her way, her tone. You understand me?” she asked Eli.
“Yeah, I do.”
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what doe "I got caught up"here mean?
“We should go back to bed.” Her smile was full of promise. “I bet I can help you sleep.”
“There’s another reason I love you. You always have really good ideas.” But as he took her hand, he remembered. “Jesus, I got caught up.”
“A habit of yours.”
“No, I mean I forgot why I came out here in the first place, why I couldn’t sleep. I went up and started working on the books—the led-gers, the accounts.”
“All those numbers and columns?” Instinctively she reached up to rub at temples she imagined ached. “You should have nodded off inside five minutes.”
“I found it, Abra. I found Esmeralda’s Dowry.”
“What? How? My God, Eli! You’re a genius.” She grabbed him, cir-cled and swayed. “Where?”
“It’s here.”
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what does "that's what's coloring it"mean? what does "color"here mean?
“What did I miss?”
He lowered his hand to Barbie’s head when she leaned against him. “You said you had kids. You’re married.”
“That’s right.”
“How many times?”
She let out a laugh. “Just the one. It’s worked out pretty well.”
“That might be it. You haven’t gone through the dark side. Maybe I’m wrong and that’s what’s coloring it. But I don’t think so. The only way to be sure is to box him in. That’s what I’m going to do, here, on my turf. In my place.”
She let out a sigh. “I can help.”
“Yeah, I think you can.”
When he’d finished talking to her, he felt lighter somehow. “You know what?” he said to the dog. “I’m going to work for a couple hours, remind myself what my life’s supposed to be about. You can hang with me.”
He left the past, and what would come behind it, and went down to surround himself with the now.
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what does "we hit the highlights, or more like the lowlights."mean?
“Do you want to go in, talk to some of the neighbors?”
“No point. The cops would have already. Suskind wouldn’t have come here other than to go through the apartment. Not only because he wouldn’t have a reason to meet Duncan here, but because this area would scare him. South Boston’s not his turf.”
“It’s not yours either, whiskey baron.”
“That’s my father, or my sister the baroness. Anyway, I’ve done some pro bono work out of Southie. Not my turf, no, but not uncharted ter-ritory. Well, I guess we hit the highlights, or more like the lowlights.”
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what does "steel and block"mean?
“Very.” She considered. “He probably never came here, did he, to the office?”
“Probably not. He’d want to meet somewhere like a coffee shop or bar. Not in his area or Duncan’s.” Eli pulled up at another building— steel and block.
“This is where he lived?”
“Second floor. Dicey area.”
“What does that tell you?”
“That Duncan felt he could handle himself, wasn’t worried about his car getting stripped, his neighbors screwing with him. Tough guy maybe, or just one who figured he knew the score and how to play the game. Someone like that wouldn’t think twice about meeting a client alone.”
“Do you want to go in, talk to some of the neighbors?”
“No point. The cops would have already. Suskind wouldn’t have come here other than to go through the apartment. Not only because he wouldn’t have a reason to meet Duncan here, but because this area would scare him. South Boston’s not his turf.”Q2: what does " car getting stripped"mean?
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what does "broken his own to bits"mean?
Eli sat back, listened to Mike do his chatty salesman patter. And, he thought, the man he believed was responsible for death, for pain, for fear was speaking on the other end. The man who’d taken lives, and broken his own to bits.
And he couldn’t reach him, not yet. Couldn’t touch him, couldn’t stop him. But he would.
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what does " gut him like a fish "mean?
“Fool me once,” Eden continued, blinking her eyes clear. “Late nights at the office, business trips. Only this time, he wasn’t dealing with someone ready to be stupid or trusting. I’d check on him, and I knew he wasn’t where he said he’d be. I don’t know who she is, or if there’s more than one. I don’t care. I just don’t care anymore. I have my life, my kids—and finally a little pride. And I’m not ashamed to say when I divorce him, I’m going to gut him like a fish .”
She let out a breath, a half laugh. “I’m still pretty mad, obviously. I took him back, after what he’d done, and he threw it in my face. So.”
“I didn’t have time to make that choice.” Eli waited until Eden looked back up and over at him. “I didn’t have much time to be mad. Someone killed Lindsay the same day I found out what she’d done, what she’d been doing even when I thought we were trying to make our marriage work.”Q2:what does " he threw it in my face"mean?
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what does "I'll get those"mean?
He carried the files into the library, sat at the old desk with them and his legal pad for his own notes.
And went to work.
When Abra came in shortly after five, he was still at it, and the dog who greeted her at the door stared at her with pleading eyes.
“Eli.”
“Huh?” Blinking, he looked around, frowned. “You’re back.”
“Yes, I’m back, and actually a little late.” She stepped up to the desk, scanned the piles of papers, the thick ream of notes, and picked up the two empty bottles. “A two–Mountain Dew session.”
“I’ll get those.”
“Got them. Did you have lunch?”
“Ah . . .”
“Did you take the dog out?”
“Oh.” He slid a glance down to the sad-eyed Barbie. “I got caught up.”
“Two things. One, I’m not going to let you neglect yourself again, skipping meals, subsisting on nuclear-yellow soft drinks and coffee. And two, you’re not allowed to neglect a dog who depends on you.”Q2:what does "nuclear-yellow"here mean?
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what does "make mine a draft"mean?
Sherrilyn studied the schedule as Eli spoke with Abra. A woman with her hands in that many pies, she thought, knew a little about a lot of people. And that could be useful.
“She said you can get the key from her neighbor, the house to the right of the cottage. Maureen O’Malley.”
“Great. I’m leaving those files for you. I have copies.” She closed her briefcase, lifted it. “I’ll keep you up-to-date.”
“Thanks. You’ve given me a lot to process.” As he walked her to the door, it struck him. “Six-pack. Beer. Bar.”
“Make mine a draft.”
“Abra, the second break-in. We were at the bar where she works on Fridays. She saw this guy, unfamiliar, unfriendly. He ordered another drink, but he left before she served it and as soon as I walked in.”
“Can she describe him?”
“It’s dark in there. She worked with a police artist, but the sketch isn’t much. But . . .”
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