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"I&039;d feel better if I could talk her into rose instead of russet" She polished off the cupcake "We&039;re going down to Jackson this weekend to shop You&039;re welco if you&039;d like"

"I appreciate that But I don&039;t have anything to shop for"

"When a wo on heroff her fingers "I guess I do I guess we all do"

"Burke&039;s hardly been home to do more than fall into bed for a couple of hours since Austin took off" She tilted her head "Honey, you&039;re not worried that he&039;s going to come back here and bother you?"

"I don&039;t know" Restless, Caroline rose "I can&039;t quite dish there isn&039;t a reasonable motive for him to do so" She looked out the , and her eyes were drawn to the line of trees, and the memory of what lay beyond the else has been covered up by this search for Austin Hatinger I can&039;t forget that just a couple of weeks ago I walked out there by the pond and found his daughter"

"Nobody&039;s forgotten about Edda Lou Or Francie or Arnette either It&039;s just if you think about it too ent Burns is talking to everyone in town He interviewed Darleen just thisit hard is he&039;s not working with Burke He&039;s working around hi with his federal case, I suppose, but it&039;s a mistake Burke knows these people, and they trust him They don&039;t trust some shiny-shoed Yankee"

Caroline had to smile and look down at her own shoes "Mine haven&039;t been polished in weeks"

"Oh, it&039;s different with you" Susie waved Caroline&039;s northern connections aside "Your kin was here Of course, you could say that you and that Burns fellow speak the sae"

Caroline lifted a brow "You could, but I don&039;t think it&039;s quite true"

"It seemed to me he had a lot of respect for you"

"For Caroline Waverly, h, Caroline sat again "Why don&039;t you tellaround, Susie?"

"It&039;s just that I was thinking, with you and Agent Burns in the saestion"

"What suggestion would that be?"

"He can&039;t keep cutting Burke out like this," Susie blurted out, and scowled down at the chocolate cru as Burke&039;s wife, because I love hi as a woirls needs to be caught, and it&039;s going to be a whole lot harder without Burke s theree with you, Susie I do But I really don&039;t see how I can help"

"I just thought you "

"How&039;s this? If the opportunity presents itself, I&039;ll try"

"I guess he didn&039;t do anything for you," Susie said "Roh and shook her head "No, he didn&039;t And no ain who thinks of my music first and me second"

"Oh That sounds like a story" All anticipation, Susie propped her chin on her hands

"Let&039;s just say I was involved with a ht of ent Burns looks at et your heart broken?"

Caroline&039;s lips curved "Cracked, a little"

"Well, the best way to shore it up again is a nice fling with an easy ue to her top lip "I heard you went to the ht"

"Why am I surprised?"

"Josie street&039;d be a nice, painless cure for a broken heart"

"Cracked," Caroline corrected her "And we just went to the "

"A roundwork for one" She grinned as Caroline shut her eyes "He stopped by and took Marvella out for lunch while he was down in Rosedale picking theesture"

"Uh-huh Once Burke brought hborly bunch of violets Nine et all flushed and bothered," Susie said with a wave of her hand "I&039;hborly interest in Tucker, youa lot of questions about him"

"What kind of questions?"

"Questions that apply to Edda Lou"

"But" Caroline felt her heart give one uncoht that he wasn&039;t a suspect because he was hoht she was killed"

"Maybe the FBI would like to find a way around that Of course, he&039;s asking questions about a lot of people" She looked deliberately toward the back door, and the porch beyond where Toby was hu "In the Garden"

"Susie" Caroline bit her lip and lowered her voice "That&039;s absurd"

"YouToby and his Winnie all ent Burns has different ideas" She leaned closer "He went by and talked to Nancy Koons Wanted to know if Edda Lou and Tucker had had any fights there in the roo house If he&039;d shown her any violence And he asked her about Toby, too"

"What did she tell hi, because she didn&039;t like the way he asked" Susie drew lines in theBurke in Burke kno to approach people They&039;ll talk to hiain soon, since you were the one who found the body"

"There&039;s nothing I can tell hiht be interested in the fact that Tucker&039;s co around here"

Caroline rubbed at an ache centered in her forehead "My personal life is none of his business That I will tell hi after Susie left, Caroline worried over every point of the conversation She listened to Toby and his son pack up for the day and worried so to pinpoint her part in the whole picture

She was a stranger Yet her fa from Innocence She hadn&039;t known Edda Lou, yet she had been the one to find her She&039;d never spoken a single word to Austin Hatinger But he&039;d shot at her

She didn&039;t know Matthew Burns Oh, his type certainly, but not him Still, it was true that they moved in the sae How that could help solve a crime was beyond her Yet Susie had made her feel responsible

She was-for lack of a better ter for her So she felt even more responsible Oh, she knew all about responsibilities They snuck up on you, attached themselves to you like tiny, thirsty leeches until you were sucked dry She&039;d had a responsibility to her parents, to her music, to her teachers, her maestros, her fellow ht up to the last, she&039;d had a responsibility to Luis Oddly enough, she&039;d come to Innocence to escape froed down in it all over again

She could do nothing She understood that now It had always been her choice, and she had always chosen to give in rather than fight back

But wasn&039;t it different this tih she doubted she had anything to offer, she was involved Not just with Tucker, but with Innocence And for the tiht" She pressed her fingers to her teo talk to hiestions, Yankee to Yankee"

She snatched up her purse and was heading out the front door when Matthew Burns turned into her drive

Well, Caroline thought with a sigh It ht you on your way out," Burns said as he stepped from his car

"No-that is, yes" Caroline smiled and altered her plans "But I have a few minutes yet Would you like to come in?"

"I would Very an to growl behind the screen door

"He&039;s just a puppy," Caroline assured Burns "A little leery of strangers" She opened the door and scooped the dog up

"Cute," Burns corel clear as a bell

"He&039;s excellent co Useless outside and carried hi? Iced tea, coffee?"

"Iced tea would be wonderful I&039;et used to the heat"

"Heat?" Caroline said with the same amused derision she&039;d heard froet hot until August Please have a seat I&039;ll be right back" She snickered to the dog as she went into the kitchen When she returned, Burns was standing, hands linked behind his back, frowning at the bullet hole in her sofa

"An interesting conversation piece, isn&039;t it?" She set the tray of drinks down "I&039;ve about decided not to have it repaired"

"It&039;s deplorable Hatinger shooting into this house without any concern that you ht have been hurt He didn&039;t even know you"

"Fortunately, Tucker thought quickly"

"If he&039;d thought at all, he wouldn&039;t have put you in such a dangerous position"

Caroline took a seat, understanding that Burns&039;s stiff manners wouldn&039;t permit him to do so first "Actually, I don&039;t believe Tucker are that Austin was out with a rifle It came as quite a surprise to both of us Would you like lear?"

"Just a little lehtly to face her "Caroline, as I&039;ve loved your music for years, I feel as if I know you"

Her smile remained pleasant "It&039;s funny how often people s to numerous composers and isn&039;t mine at all"

He cleared his throat "What I mean is, I&039;ve admired your talents, and followed your career, so I feel a certain connection I hope I can speak frankly"

She sipped "So do I"

"I&039;m concerned, Caroline, very concerned I&039;ve heard talk around town that you&039;ve been seeing Tucker Longstreet"

She settled back in the crook of the couch "That&039;s theabout small towns, don&039;t you think? If you sit in one place for "

He stiffened like a poker "Personally, I don&039;t care for ruhter had hi his lips "I&039;roup or a law firm" She sed the next chuckle when he didn&039;t respond in kind Laughing at him was certainly no way to soften hiestion "Places like this run on gossip, Matthew I iine it could even be helpful"

"Indeed However much I abhor such habits, I must take this professionally You&039;d be wise to do the sa a vicious and brutal lass from hand to hand, but her eyes re questioned I suppose that would include me"

"Your involvement with this is merely that of an innocent bystander who happened to find a body"

"There&039;s no merely about it, Matthew I found the body, and I&039;m a member of this community I have" Her lips curved at the truth of it "I have friends here, and probably numerous cousins of one sort or the other"

"And you consider Tucker Longstreet a friend?"

"I&039;ave him a bland look "Is that a professional question?"

"I&039; a series of street off my list I consider him someone to be watched, carefully watched You may not be aware that he had relationships with the other two victims"

"Matthew, I&039;ve been here for over teeks I&039;m well aware of it Just as I&039;e is in trouble, and that Bea Stokey&039;s boy, LeRoy, got a ticket for speeding out on route One Just as I&039; any of those hideous things to those poor wo, patient breath, and Burns set aside his iced tea It never failed to fascinate him how easily women could be taken in "People were fooled by Ted Bundy&039;s charm and attractive looks A serial killer is not sos They are clever, ent And often, yes quite often, they theo for periods of time when they have no recollection of what they&039;ve done And if they do, they hide it under a mask of affability or concern But they lie, Caroline They lie because what they live for is the kill The anticipation of it, the skill hich they hunt, stalk and slay"

He watched her pale and reached for her hand "I&039; you I mean to Someone, very likely so behind athe next kill I will use all e, to stop hih And if it&039;s not, he will kill again"

She had to set the tea aside She needed nothing cool now, not when her blood had turned to ice "If that&039;s true-"

"It is"

"If it is," she repeated, "shouldn&039;t you be using all available assistance?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You&039;re an outsider here, Matthew Your badge doesn&039;t change that If anything, the fact that it&039;s federal makes you more of an outsider If you want to help these people, then use Burke Truesdale"

His shtened his shoulders "I appreciate your concern, Caroline, but the simple fact is you don&039;t knohat&039;s involved here"

"No, I don&039;t But I do know about politics and authority No one could perform with dozens of different orchestras under dozens of different maestros and not understand the food chain My point is, Matthew, you-as I have been most of my life-are the outsider Burke knows these people You don&039;t"

"Which is precisely part of the problem He knows them, he sympathizes with them He&039;s related to the about Tucker again"

"To be specific The terood ol&039; boys,&039; isn&039;t it? They toss back a few beers together, shoot some rabbits or other small creatures, and sit on their porches and talk about cotton and women" He brushed a speck of lint from his trousers "No, I don&039;t know these people, Caroline, but I know of the I need to solve this case is to enlist Burke Truesdale to pave my way I believe him to be an honest man And a loyal one It&039;s his loyalties that concern me"

"May I speak frankly, Matthew?"

He spread his hands "Please"

"You&039;re behaving like a poht ell in DC or Baltimore, but it doesn&039;t cut it here in the delta If someone else is killed-as you seeht have been prevented If youa liaison to these people instead of standing back all s and superior"

He rose stiffly "I&039;m sorry, Caroline, that we&039;re unable to see eye to eye on this ht feel, I must still advise you to curtail your involvestreet until this case is resolved"

"I&039;ve discovered a terrible habit inadvice"

"Your choice" He inclined his head "I&039;ll have to ask you to come in to my temporary headquarters tomorrow Around ten, if that&039;s convenient"

"Why?"

"I have soive you answers Official answers" She didn&039;t bother to see him to the door