Ballard spends this day working on the first crime in the book--the credit card theft. She, with help from a call center in Mumbai, tracks perp (Nettles) to a motel room and busts him. She does not follow procedures to the letter and is criticized by another cop. After that, she sleeps with the parole officer who has come out because Nettles is on parole. She awakens in his apt and gets a call from Jenkins, her partner. Her old partner, Chastain, has been murdered. (Chastain did not tell the truth when she complained about sexual harassment from Olivez.) She drives out to Chastain's place but Olivez sends her away. There is a suggestion that Chastain's murder is connected to the murders in the restaurant. Murder was execution style.
"To all humankind, Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends, she was only a frequently passing thought." Angel Clare is a good character. He's "enlightened," in so many ways, but when Tess's confesses her "crime," he reverts to ancestral form . . . Tess's "confession" comes earlier than I expected, right after Angel reveals that he has had a bad moment with a woman. Tess points out the similarity in their transgressions, though his is the only true transgression, expecting forgiveness. She doesn't get it. She returns to her mother . . . realizes she can't stay with her. Thoughts to suicide. Unhappiness that divorce is not possible. Departs. Tragic in that the two, if Angel could just see clearly, would indeed be a great couple, each adding to the other. Nature as a definite force involved in the tragedy. It's not neutral--when things go bad, the very skies mock Tess. Tess as unaware of the power of her bea...
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