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Chapter 4 - Criminal Intent

She came in like smoke under a locked door—uninvited,but too late to stop.

Lips like perjury.Legs that crossed themselves like secrets.A voice dressed in silk and suspicion.

I asked her name.She gave me a crime.One I'd commit twice—first with my hands,then with my silence.

She said,"Take off your badge.Truth's got no place here tonight."

We danced through half-truthsand cigarette burns,her fingernails spelling out confessionsagainst my throat.

The sheets were a courtroom.The verdict:guilty,gasping,again.

She vanished before morning,left only a red lipstick markon the warrant I never served.

And I—I still taste the alibi.

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