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Hell, no, he wasn’t getting caught up in all this

Angry with himself, he started to drive toward the Wayside Inn

Then turned

Darcy hadn’t intended to go back to the library that day, but Penny was so determined to talk about the skull that she didn’t think she could stay in the house It wasn’t that she didn’t like Penny, and like her very much She simply didn’t want to try to explain just what her "extrasensory" perceptions were She didn’t understand it all herself--how on earth could she explain it all to another person?

Then, as well, both Clint and Carter had been in the house And they had wanted to talk Clint had been char her if she could help him find the cuff links he had lost last Christmas Carter had simply wanted to talk, to know her past, what other mysteries she had unraveled Both had seeh she liked them both so very much, she had wanted equally to escape

She had enjoyed the library and Mrs O’Hara, and decided to take refuge there where she could research Amy Clayton’s family She was sure that soraveyard could be found, but the library, she was certain, would have local records

She knew the minute she saw Mrs O’Hara that the woman had heard she had found the skull It was a small town News traveled quickly But Mrs O’Hara didn’t question her, other than to ask if she wanted tea Darcy decided to accept a cup Mrs O’Hara had a nice sense of perception herself--she found the record book Darcy wanted behind the desk, as if she’d searched for it as soon as she’d heard the news

"If you’re looking for anything else local," Mrs O’Hara told her, "just head up to the loft level" She pointed to stairs which led to the ay that circled the peris inally been built as a grand old horinned, seeing her look up and around "Originally, this was part of an old plantation It belonged to a ood friends with Tho other notable men But he was a Loyalist, and thethe Revolution Luckily, he had this structure planned as an outbuilding, his own private retreat, and the furious Patriots were happy to keep his book collection alive and well, since he was forced out of the country It’s beautiful, isn’t it? And everything is original Except for some of the books, of course Thankfully, the place was very large, because over the years we’ve accumulated many fine collections of books"

"It’s an extraordinary library," Darcy told her sincerely

"On the National Register of Historic Buildings," Mrs O’Hara said proudly "We ine that it’s far better for a library to have too many books than too few," Darcy said

"Naturally!" Mrs O’Hara agreed

With her cup of tea and the old book Mrs O’Hara had already found for her, Darcy curled up in one of the stuffed aran to read

The Clayton fahteen hundreds They had, however, arrived in the mid-seventeen hundreds, and had round The record book--a horribly boring toes, baptisms, deaths, and little more, but it actually offered a plot raveyard It wasn’t far from Melody House at all Once the skull was deemed ancient by the proper authorities, Darcy assu that it was buried along with the rest of poor Amy Clayton

She set the book down and looked up the stairway, noting again just how exceptionally fine the building was Naturally, since a wealthy and influentialand books--had planned it for hie, the wood old and polished, and it appeared that even the runner on the stairs was as old as the facility

She decided that it was time to set the record book aside and head up to see what else she could find

At the top of the stairway she discovered that the flooring of the loft was really littleThe runner extended only up the stairs, then curved into an arch at the landing, while the flooring itself then becaan to peruse the different books Some would be of little interest to anyone other than people who found their own faht that it was quite wonderful that so ht come here and find out about ancestors There were books with nothing more than family names on them, or titles that explained their contents exactly, such as Marriages aers of Stoneyville, and The Murtons Who Attended Grace Church She s most to be very old It seemed that people hadn’t kept such si ti tiht her eye The Stones of Melody House She was delighted to see it, and once again, touched by the people of decades past who had found every little detail of life worthy of recording

Deciding it was one volume she definitely needed to read, Darcy started to reach up for it She was tall but she really had to stretch

As she balanced on both toes, she heard a sudden creaking sound from the boards under her feet Even as she frowned, the floorboard directly beneath her suddenly gave

She grabbed frantically for the shelf in front of her Too late, because it had all happened too quickly For a second frozen in ti that the wood beneath her had failed, and that she was going to crash into a sheer drop She was disbelieving, even as the siht of her body

She cried out, a whoosh of air escaping froe doard

She grasped out desperately for any hold, all the while wondering, How? Why? Mrs O’Hara would never have sent anyone upstairs if it wasn’t safe--