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The meditation bell chimed, reverberating and fading into silence. Alice breathed out.
The meditation bell chimed again.
Alice breathed in.
The meditation bell rang out one last time.
Alice drew in the air, from the diaphragm all the way up to her throat.
And as the chime faded, she breathed out one last time.
She opened her eyes. Calm. Lucid. In semi-darkness but seeing clearly. The argument with her father put aside. The case now in the forefront of her mind. The case and the issue of Ray.
A memory lost to her after a heavy night of drink and drugs had bubbled up to the surface during her meditation. Alice recalled staggering sideways and falling on Ray's gravel driveway during the night before. Scratching a side panel on Ray's truck with the chain on her watch. There'd been e
