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THE JULIUS FAMILY vanished six years before I married Martin Bartell They disappeared so abruptly that some people in Lawrenceton phoned the National Enquirer to tell a reporter that the Juliuses had been abducted by aliens I had been ho in the Lawrenceton Public Library when - whatever it was - happened to TC, Hope, and Charity Julius And I was as full of speculation as anyone else But as tiot to wonder about them, except for an occasional frisson of creepiness when the naavepresent To say I was surprised to get a house is an understatement: "stunned" is more accurate We did want to buy a house, and we had been looking at fancier homes firmly anchored in the newer suburbs of Lawrenceton, an old southern town that itself is actually in the regrettable process of beco a commuter suburb of Atlanta Most of the houses we&039;d been considering were large, with several big roo for a couple with no children, in my opinion But Martin had this streak that yearned for the outer signs of financial health He drove a Mercedes, for example, and he wanted our house to be a house where a Mercedes would look at home We&039;d looked at the Julius house because I&039;dmy friend and realtor Eileen Norris to put it on the list I&039;d seen it when I was searching for a house for myself alone

But Martin hadn&039;t loved the Julius house instantly, as I had In fact, I could tell he found e His arched dark eyebrows rose, the pale brown eyes regarded ly

"It&039;s a little isolated," he said

"Just a mile out of town I can almost see my mother&039;s house from here"

"It&039;s smaller than the house on Cherry Lane"

"I could take care of it myself"

"You don&039;t want aelse to do, I added privately (And that was not Martin&039;s fault, but my own I&039;d quit my job at the Lawrenceton library before I&039;d even retted it e Would you want to rent it out?"

"I guess so"

"And the garage being separate from the house"

"There&039;s a covered ay"

Eileen tactfully poked around elsewhere while Martin and I conducted this little dialogue

"You do wonder what happened to them," Eileen said later, as she locked the door behind her and dropped the labeled key into her purse And Martin looked at me with a sudden illued wedding gifts, I was stunned at his handing me the deed to the Julius house

And he was equally bowled over by iven hi Martin&039;s present had been terrifying The plain fact e didn&039;t know each other that well, and ere very different What could I give him? Had he ever expressed a want?

I sat in my brown suede-y chair in the "family" room of the townhouse I&039;d lived in for years now and castto think of the perfect gift I had no idea what his previous wife had given hiful Madeleine the cat spilled over frohtly with her purring Madeleine see she was more trouble than she orth, and she would make some demonstration of an affection I was sure was false Madeleine had been Jane Engle&039;s cat, and my spinster friend Jane had died and left s - friendship andof Jane led me to think of the fact that I&039;d wrapped up the sale of her house, so now I had even eneral - and suddenly, I knehat Martin wanted Sophisticated corporation h The only obvious tie-in this had with his present life was that he noorked for Pan-A products in conjunction with soricultural Latin American countries, principally Guatemala and Brazil Martin&039;s father had died early in Martin&039;s life, and his otten along with husband number two, Joseph Flocken, particularly after the death of Martin&039;sto ruin because the stepfather was too consumed with arthritis to work it, yet he wouldn&039;t sell, to spite Martin and his sister

By golly, I&039;d buy the farood reason to be absent frooing to visitin Houston and into the second trinancy I phoned A their answering machine screen their calls for a few days I&039;d call her every night and if Martin had called ht my idea was very ro over to Lawrenceton soon, with her husband, Hugh, for the festivities preceding the wedding and the wedding itself "I can hardly wait to meet Martin," she said happily

"Don&039;t turn on your charm for him, now," I said cheerfully, and suddenly becaht about Martin being char can I be?" Aured Aht convex curve to her tummy We closed with our usual chatter, but ht to Pittsburgh (the nearest airport), and on the drive west in the rental car to the town nearest Martin&039;s family&039;s farm This town, Corinth, a little smaller than Lawrenceton, boasted a Holiday Inn where I&039;d reserved a roo sure what else I&039;d find You have to understand, for h I told myself repeatedly that other people traveled by thehly nervous I&039;d studied thethe plane trip, I&039;d sat in the airport parking lot anxiously checking over the Ford Taurus I&039;d rented, I&039;d marveled over the fact that no one in the world knew exactly where I was

My first impression of Corinth, Ohio, was of how fahtly different, and the people dressed a little differently, andarchitecture was more heavily red brick, rouped around a doith inadequate parking space, and there were plenty of John Deere tractors in the big sales lot right outside town I checked in to the Holiday Inn and called a realtor There were only three listed; Corinth was modest about its salability The coricultural acreage") was Bishop Realty I hesitated, , and I wasn&039;t used to it

"Bishop Realty, Mrs Mary Anne Bishop speaking," said a brisk voice "This is Aurora Teagarden," I said clearly, and waited for the snicker It was more like a snort "I want to look at some farms in the area, specifically ones that are not in the best shape I want soested this in thoughtful silence

"What size property did you want to see?" she asked finally "Not too big," I said vaguely, since I hadn&039;t wriggled that infors up for you to see to," Mrs Bishop said She sounded rather cautious about it "If you could tellto farm the land? If I knehat you intended to do with it, maybe I could select properties to show you that would suit you better" She was trying awfully hard not to sound nosy

I closed lad she couldn&039;t see ious community," I said "We want a property that we can repair ourselves, and , but mostly ant the extra land for privacy" "Well," Mrs Bishop said, "you&039;re not Moonies, are you? Or those Druvidians?"

Druids? Branch Davidians?

"Gosh, no," I said firmly "We&039;re Christian pacifists We don&039;t believe in drinking or s We don&039;t dress funny, or ask for donations on street corners, or preach in the stores, or anything!" With an effort, Mrs Bishop joined in ave me clear directions to her office, recommended a couple of restaurants for supper ("If you&039;re allowed to do that"), and said that she&039;d see ht a Coke, and watched the nehile sipping a bourbon-and-Coke lad Mrs Bishop wasn&039;t there to see the conduct of this purported ely anonymous in this little tohere no one knew ht at the town Martin had known so well growing up I went past the ugly brick high school where he had played football Through a light drizzle in the gray spring evening, I peered at the houses where Martin irls he&039;d dated, boys he&039;d gone drinking with Some of them, perhaps most of them, were surely still here in this townone to Vietnam with Perhaps they mentioned it as seldo on Martin&039;s life I had a book in ht it was the paperback of Liza Cody&039;s Stalker), and I read as I ate supper at the diner Mrs Bishop had recohtly alien - none of the southern diner standbys But the chili was good, and it ith reluctance I left half of everything on ravity and calories see a little more effect than they used to When you&039;re four feet, eleven inches, a few extra calories end up looking like a lot

No one bothered me, and the waitress was pleasant, so I had a nice tin I should not walk or run tonight, though I&039;d virtuously broughtshoes As a palliative to ot back tothe plane and the long car ride had caused I checked in with Ae on her o

I smiled fatuously, since no one was there to see me, and called him The minute I heard his voice, I roomed thick white hair, the black arched brows and pale brown eyes, the heavily muscled arms and chest He was at work, he&039;d told Ae desk, covered with piles of paper that were nonetheless neatly stacked and separate He would be wearing a spotless white shirt, but he would have taken his tie off when the last e on a padded hanger on a hook in his very own bathroom

I loved hi told Martin lies before, and I kept having to re a lot about the baby?" he asked "Oh, yes She&039;s scheduled to take La-ho about coaching her" I hesitated a moment "Did you take La the course, but I was there when he was born, so I guess Cindy and I did," he said doubtfully

Cindy Wife number one, andto beco, "Roe, is A you ideas?" I couldn&039;t tell how he felt from his voice He&039;d spoken so ood time to talk about another child "How do you feel about that?" I asked

"I don&039;t know I&039; to think of starting all over again"

"We can talk about it when I get hos Martin wanted to do when I got home By a pleasant coincidence, I wanted to do the up, I picked up the little Corinth phone book Before I could reconsider, I flipped to the B&039;s

Bartell, C H, 1202 Archibald Street

Now, this ht of Martin&039;s for with the urge to see Cindy Bartell A particularly ridiculous jealousy had flared in my heart; I wanted to see her Wise or not, I decided to lay eyes on Cindy Bartell while I was here I took off lasses and relaxed on the slablikeseriously stupid, and wrackedSurely Martin had mentioned it at some point or other? He was not one to discuss his past h he seemed fascinated with the placidity of mine

I alet up and wash ed up the fact that Cindy Bartell was, or had been, a florist

The little telephone book infor for a Cindy&039;s Flowers

I fell asleep as if I&039;d been sandbagged, still not having decided if ood sense would keepI showered briskly, put , wavy hair up in a bun that I hoped would ht on the lasses carefully I wore a suit, a khaki-colored one with a bronze silk blouse, and modest brown pumps I wanted to look ultrarespectable, so Mrs Bishop would be reassured, yet I wanted the religious cult front to be objectionable enough to tempt Joseph Flocken to sell the farm to spite his stepchildren Unfortunately, I didn&039;t know the location of the far I was si around with the real estate agent

I scanned ht I would pass whatever test Mrs

Bishop chose to give, and went off to have a little breakfast before I met her

Her directions proved excellent, which boded well for her efficiency Bishop Realty was in an old house right off Main Street As I entered the reception area, a door to the right opened, and a tall, husky blond wo a cheap navy blue suit and a white blouse "The Lord be with you," I said prolance at e in a zippered pouch in e

"I do have a few places to show you thisher ithyour group settle in our area It is a church, I understand?" She waved me into her office and we sat down

"We&039;re a sroup," I said with equal caution, wondering about tax exe to be an actual church "We like privacy, and we&039;re not rich," I continued "That&039;s ant a farm a fair way out of town, one that we can fix up" "And you want at least - what - sixty acres?" asked Mrs Bishop "Oh, at least Orthe Bartell/Flocken farroup was interested in this part of Ohio You see land available down there "

"God told us to coed her broad shoulders and assuo find that place that&039;s just right for you We&039;ll go inat far I drove around in rural Ohio with Mary Anne Bishop, looking at fields and fences and run-down far about how cold and isolated some of these farms would be in winter, how the land would look covered with snow It ine it None of these faret her to show ht place? Evidently Flocken hadn&039;t listed it with anyone, was just sitting on it to keep Martin and Barby out I began to hate Joseph Flocken, sight unseen We returned to town for lunch, after which Mary Anne excused herself to recheck the afternoon&039;s appoint rooht property Even after that, ot up to look in the mirror on the wall above a tiny decorative table, a little closer to Mary Anne&039;s office My hair, which leads its own life, was escaping froan repair work If I listened really hard, I found, I couldher out this afternoon, Inez, if you&039;re ready No, she doesn&039;t wear funny clothes or anything like that She&039;s tiny, and young, and she&039;s wearing a suit that cost aat WalMart " but she&039;s very polite and not at all weird A real southern accent, you-all!"

I winced

"No, I don&039;t think the pastor would roup evidently doesn&039;t drink, suns They can only have one wife It sounds pretty respectable, and if they&039;re off in the country by themselves well, I know, but she has the money, it seems kay, see you in a little while"

Mary Anne strode out of her office with a bright face and a sheaf of papers on the various places we&039;d see this afternoon My heart sank down to join riculture in mideastern Ohio than I ever wanted to know I met many nice people who really wanted to sell their farms, and felt sorry for most of them, victims of our economic times But I couldn&039;t afford all those far Mary Anne Bishop had lined up There were threeto consider seriously two of the properties we&039;d looked at, but found sufficient fault with theer for toot in my rental car, which had been parked at her office all day I&039;d tried a couple of times to steer her conversation toward the years Martin had been growing up here, but she&039;d never h she and her husband were both natives of the town

I h with my paperback, so when I saw a bookstore onlot with happy anticipation Any place books are ether makes me feel at home It was a small, pleasant shop in a little strip with a dry cleaner&039;s and a hair salon A bell over the door tinkled as I went in, and a gray-haired woister looked up fro the feeling of being surrounded by words "Do you want anything in particular?" she asked politely Her glasses , unfortunately, fuchsia But her s Where are your ht wall toward the rear," she said, and went back to her book I had a happy fifteen or twenty minutes I found a new James Lee Burke and an Adam Hall I hadn&039;t read The true criive that Not everyone was a buff, likeup my books with the sa at all, I asked her where Cindy&039;s Flowers ht be "Around the corner and one block down," she said succinctly, and reopened her book

I started oing to Cindy&039;s Flowers instead of the Holiday Inn

It looked like a prosperous place on the outside, with a very pretty Easter-decorated frontI powdered my nose and inexplicably took the pins out of my hair and brushed it out before I left the car The front of the store held displays of both silk flowers and live plants, and sos and funerals There was a huge refrigerator case, a se work area in the back was al there One, an artificial blond in her fifties, was putting white lilies on a styrofoam cross The other, who had very short dark hair and was about ten years younger, seeratulations on the male baby" bouquet in a blue straw basket shaped like a bassinet Being a florist was a rites-of-passage occupation, like being a caterer - or a oing to help me, and the dark-haired woman said, "You finish, Ruth, you&039;re almost done" She came forward to help me silently and quickly in her practical Nikes, ready to listen but obviously in a hurry

"What can I do for you?" she asked

She had large dark eyes and a pixie haircut Her face and her whole body were lean She was beautifullyand oval and covered with clear polish

"Um I&039;m just here for a couple of days, and I suddenly realized my mother&039;s birthday is tomorrow I&039;d like to send her some flowers" "From the sunny South," she commented, as she picked up a pad and pen "What did you have inso identifiable Every ti aboutflowers, so around forty dollars," I said at random She wrote that down "Where are you froia"

Her pen stopped for a second