I catch an old client just in time

The woman at the far railing swings one leg over to straddle the bridge rail. Her hat comes loose and falls over the side, loosing a curtain of thick, dark hair.

The night breeze in my teeth, the moon at my back, I race across the dew-slick roadway. My soft soles are quiet, but I have to fight to keep my footing.

Thinker to a fault, I chew away on Janet's puzzle. Four, I still believe in true love. Five, even before I was a private eye, or a cop even, the wounded birds always flew my way. Six...

I spring onto the sidewalk. Only then does she notice. Before she can fall, I wrap my arms around her and hook my foot under the bottom rail.

She cries out and turns her head to look. I blink in surprise to face Magdalen Sullivan, a client for whom things didn't go so well. The deep blue of her eyes might as well be liquid shadow. But she wasn't due out on parole until...about last Tuesday.

"Whisper!" she spits. "You ruined my life, and you still can't leave well enough alone!"

My temples twinge in an instant headache, though her voice still sounds rich and beautiful. Somewhere behind me I hear footsteps.

"Magdalen, stop this!" I cry. "You're out, you have friends, you have a chance..."

"You arrogant bastard!" she yells. Finding strength in her anger, she struggles in my arms and breaks my foothold. The two of us teeter atop the bridge railing in the night breeze. I fight to keep hold of her while I scrabble to catch a handhold, a foothold, anything.

We start to topple.