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Barry cleared his throat "You’re not just saying that, right?" he asked her
"No, I swear to you, he ith me But, Renee, you should have told the police the truth"
"I wanted to talk to you first," Renee said "Ihim and all, so I…" She trailed off
But Sarah was barely listening Caleb had been with her all through the night, until he had awakened to follow a ghost--Cato’s ghost--up to her attic
What the hell had Cato been up to last night? And if he was innocent, as he clai seemed to prove, ould he have har the killer away?
"It’s frightening, whatever you saw," Sarah said "No matter what, you can’t be alone anymore Promise?"
"I promise," Renee assured her, then said, "You need to be careful, too, you know I don’t care what anyone says, I think someone locked you in your basement Maybe they just wanted to scare you--or et out"
Before he could leave the station and head for Renee’s place, Caleb heard his name called
"Mr Anderson?"
He stopped and turned, and saw a unifor man with dark close-cropped hair, dark eyes, bronze skin and square cheekbones
Native American?
Caleb strode toward hier," he offered, shaking Caleb’s hand "Can you meet me around the corner at the Coquina Café? I can’t talk here," he said
"I’ll see you there," Caleb said
By the tier arrived He accepted one of the cups, saying, "Thanks The stuff at the station tastes like dishwater Come on out the back There’s a terrace, and no one will see us there"
As Caleb followed hi to be disloyal or anything, but I’m worried about Ja desperate And the thing is…he hasn’t been hi at straws I don’t think we should have called the Frederick Russell case an accidental death as quickly as we did And now he’s accusing you of chasing old legends, while he thinks we have a vengeful Indian on the warpath"
"Are you a Seminole?"
"Miccosukee, from way down south We’re a separate tribe, but back in the day, ere all luether as Seh, and that’s what’s getting toon about the fact that the woed And because of the yaupon holly in her blood, he’s decided it’s a vendetta That’s just crazy" He hesitated for a second "Look, I love ustine I even think the world of Ja road on this one I just…well, I’ in a different direction, because I’ to do with the Seminole Trust ht desperately to stay alive and stay here, where we’d had our home forever But we didn’t drain anyone’s blood, and we didn’t run around drugging people"
"Thanks for co else I ht not know?"
"Yaupon holly It’s not a sedative In fact, it tends to make a person more alert It can cause delusions in sufficient quantity" He laughed "The black drink is like…like a night out with your frat brothers You go a little crazy, but you don’t start killing people and draining their blood"
"But if you drugged soh of it, could you convince the--when it wasn’t?" Caleb asked
"Oh, hell, yeah I convinced e and nearly broke a leg," Jier told him
"Thanks This has been very helpful" They shook hands
After they parted ways, Caleb decided that before going to see Renee, he wouldback to your house, are you?" Renee deht now And don’t worry I won’t be alone," Sarah assured her
"You should stay right here," Renee insisted
"I’ll be all right I’ herself, wondering when she had o back to the house, though Thather Maybe you weren’t supposed to get out…
She felt shaken, disturbed that Renee, too, had seen Cato’s ghost
On top of that, the events in the diaries were plaguing her, and she wanted to get an overview, one untainted by her own take on both history and recent events
What better way than by taking a tour?