Page 13 (1/2)

"What?"

"Just what I was trying to explain to you She wanted so when she saw you She wasn’t sure anymore She’d seen you froone away She needed courage, but not to tell you goodbye She needed courage because she was afraid she wanted to ask if she could cooodbye, and she was afraid of what you would have to say to her"

He’d heard it before So from Sam especially, still hurt

He didn’t know if it was true or not

He just knew that it hurt

5

Dying Love, Dead Loss was the name of the most popular book that had been written on the subject of Tanya Barnard’s murder Naturally, there had been dozens of newspaper reports and the sensationalise from across the country

Katie had never purchased the book She didn’t feel that anyone should edy

That day, however, on her way back from the ceht it in one of the tourist shops on Duval that sold sandals, clothing, souvenirs and about ten titles that were pertinent to the Keys Two of the books held maps and histories, tere on water sports on the island, another was on housing styles There was a book on Carl Tanzler, one on Key West ghost stories and one on the murder of Tanya Barnard The shop ned and operated by Eastern Europeans new to the area, but it was still a sht the book

She picked up a tuna croissant sandwich from one of her favorite restaurants and headed home with her book She had several hours before she had to return to work

Saturday night

It was going to be busy

Friday nights started the craziness of weekend revelers, bachelor parties, bachelorette parties and general let’s-drive-down-to-Key-West-and-get-plastered celebrations Also, Fantasy Fest would be starting the next week, so many people who intended to enjoy that week of bacchanalia would start filtering in

As she walked to her house, lunch and reading material in hand, she suddenly felt an odd sense of apprehension

It was broad daylight Tourists were everywhere, walking, on bikes, in rentalfro followed by a ghost who had suddenly discovered the need to talk

Tanya Maybe Tanya Barnard alking around Key West, and she had seen her brother and her onetiain, and discovered the need to try to help the around, she saw no one, not even the usual crowd she so one another and so out near the wharf fairly frequently, and ather near the docks, al served by the waterside restaurants now An early-nineteenth-century pirate seemed to look around Captain Tony’s now and then, and rumor had it that he’d been seen by a number of people

But the dead were quiet this afternoon She had no idea why she’d felt the chilling sensation, as if she had been watched

She felt it again when she reached her house and turned the key in the lock, so much so that she turned around to assure herself that she hadn’t been followed "Bartholo the knob Her ethereal houseguestthat she needed to be more careful than she was But, apparently, Bartholo around the ce to breathe down soive them a chill or a scare He could also lass or so wohost tours around He’d stand next to the guides, and blow out their lanterns now and then She didn’t really bla around, he needed a for jokes-not on her-at the moment