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Martin left for work the nexton whatever reaction his revelations had raised

I watched hie I had theopen to let in the coolair, so I heard hiet off the hood of his Mercedes Martin was so fond of his car that he would not leave it parked at the airport when he had to catch a plane, but instead invariably took one of the coerously Madeleine sauntered insolently out of the garage as Martin backed out, reversed on the concrete apron, and took off down the gravel I went out with the bag of cat food and filled her bowl She rewarded me with a perfunctory purr I sat on the steps in my bathrobe and watched her eat every bit of kibble I went through the rest ofrituals in the sa so bizarre it was just going to take ht of the men some of my classmates had married: a hardware store owner, an insurance sales a police officer had been thought very exotic by my friends Police officers were too close to the wormy side of life, the side we didn&039;t see because we didn&039;t turn rocks over For whatever reason

From our beautiful triple bedroom s that looked out over our front yard, and across the road, to rolling fields, I spied Angel Youngblood going out for her old She did her stretches, in itself an ian to run I watched her lope down the driveway and out onto the road, long legs puetic Soon she would be bored I had an idea

I atching for her when she caured she&039;d had time to shower and dress, I called her I&039;d found their number written on the pad by the telephone on Martin&039;s desk when I&039;d gone to el," I said after she answered "If you wouldn&039;tover after you&039;ve run whatever errands you need to run, I have a project"

Thatan eel and I didn&039;t know each other, were bound by no ties of friendship or kin or cooal And since Angel was an employee, she had to help me without protest She had co like a healthy farirl who tossed bales of hay up to the loft with her bare hands I had braided my hair to keep it out of the way I had assembled a retractable metal tape measure, a pad and pencil, and a copy of thewith the Julius&039;s family disappearance I&039;d had that stuck away in a file for years, since I&039;d thought of doing a presentation on it for the Real Murders Club

I intended, of course, to find the Julius fael and waited till she read it

Police continue their search for the T C Julius fa by Mrs Julius&039;s mother, Melba Totino Mrs Totino called the police after walking across to the fa and finding no one at ho, and the discovery that the fae, Mrs Totino reported the disappearance Missing are T C Julius, a retired areant who had hoped to open a business locally; his wife, Hope; and their daughter Charity, 15 Julius is described as 5-11, 185 pounds, 46, with graying brown hair and blue eyes Hope Julius has dark brown hair, blue eyes, is 5-4 and 100 pounds She is 42 years old, and is suffering fro the Lawrenceton High School, has blue eyes and shoulder-length brown hair She is approximately 5-4 and 120 pounds

The Juliuses had o to be close to Mr Julius&039;s only surviving relative, his aunt, Essie Nyland Mrs Nyland is described by friends as being distraught at the disappearance, "She&039;d been so happy at TC hbor, Mrs Lyndower Dawson "I&039;m afraid this will finish her" The day before the disappearance appeared to be a normal one, Mrs Totino told local authorities She reported spendingthe family for meals, as usual She said Harley Dim-moch, a friend of Chanty Julius&039;s from their previous hometown of Colu spent the day helping Mr Julius around the house

In the late afternoon, local contractor Parnell Engle arrived to pour the concrete for a new patio T C Julius had planned at the rear of the house He saw and spoke to Hope and Charity Julius, who both seemed normal at that ti all leads with the uth they left voluntarily, since the fae," he cons of violence and all their possessions are still here" He urged any resident who has knowledge of the Julius family to call the police station immediately

There were pictures with the article: a shot of the house and a studio portrait of the faressive smile and a square face His wife, Hope, looked thin, frail, and ill, shrunken to the sahter Charity Julius had shoulder-length hair that turned under neatly and an oval face like her irl, but she was attractive, and she held herself like a girl who&039;s used to being a force to reckon with

"That&039;s this house," Angel co the picture She checked the date at the top of the article "Over six years ago" "Where do you think they are?" I asked

"I think they&039;re dead," she answered without hesitation "He justto open a new business No hter getting into trouble with the law He&039;d just built the apartment for the mother-in-law, so he must have been able to tolerate her No apparent reason for hihter with him"

"I think they&039;re still here The car was still here" "But the killer could have taken theel objected reasonably "What if the Dim-moch boy took them away and dumped them on the way home?"

"Then why haven&039;t the bodies turned up?"

"Not found yet They haven&039;t found Hoffa, have they?" I would not be daunted "I just think with the car here, with the bodies not having been found elsewhere, that the chances are good they&039;re here somewhere" "So, what do you want us to do?"

"I want us toelse we can think of"

"You don&039;t think the police did all that?"

"I don&039;t knohat they did, and I&039;m not sure I can find out But I&039;ll try This is just step one"

"Step one Huh" She thought about it for a second and shrugged "Where do we start?"

"The apartment, I&039;m afraid"

"But the mother-in-law, Totino, says she was in the apartel aain "So we start with the least likely and elily "Okay," she said, and we gathered our paraphernalia and started to work

We were halted after an hour and a half by the arrival of Susu Hunter, who had been my friend my whole life She hollered from the front porch "Roe! I know you&039;re here soel and I extracted ourselves froe, dusty and warm and fairly covered with cobwebs The toolshed was an area I had overlooked during my house renovation You could tell Mr Julius had intended to use it often: There was pegboard lining the walls with hooks still protruding, and a workbench with a powerful fluorescent light overhead had been added He had also altered the doors, apparently: They were extra-wide doors that swung back completely Now it held some boxes of tools Martin had apparently not opened since he had been transferred to Chicago and lived in an apart coure out; perhaps it had been Jane Engle&039;s Assorted rakes, hoes, shovels, a sledgeha was gried, eren&039;t at our best "Look at you, Roe!" Susu said in soing the garage," I said, not untruthfully We had done a certain a since ere in there already "Susu, this is Angel Youngblood, a new arrival to Lawrenceton"

Susu said warlad to have you here! I hope you like our little town And if you don&039;t have a church hoary Baptist"

I wished I had a cael&039;s face was a picture But underneath the gritty life she&039;d led in the past few years, Angel Dunn Youngblood was a true daughter of the South She rallied "Thank you We like it here veryus to your church, but right now Shelby and I are very interested in Buddhism" I turned to Susu in anticipatory pleasure

"How fascinating!" she exclai a beat "If you ever have a free Wednesday noon, first Wednesday in the month, we&039;d love to have you come speak at the Welcome to Town Luncheon"

"Oh Thanks soShelby to coratefully, bounding up the stairs to their apartment I was relieved to see a little smile - a nonmalevolent smile - on her thin lips as she shut the door behind her

"What an interesting woman," Susu said with careful lack of emphasis

"She really is," I said sincerely