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She wouldn&039;t tell Mia, but Ripley didn&039;t consider that her discretion was required to extend to Mac She was pretty sure there was some loophole in the confidentiality law that applied to spouses The way she looked at it, if you loved soot to tell them all your stuff and listen to all of theirs It was a side benefit and balanced out having to share closet space Though they lived together, slept together, woke together, they met for lunch a few times a week at Cafe

Book The few times a week Mac wasn&039;t so buried in his work that he remembered what ti as she could hold out before she spilled her news She itched to relay the story to Nell, but after a complex internal debate, she decided Nell cut too close to Mia and didn&039;t come under the dispensation rule

Mac would have to do

"So," she continued as she plowed through a grilled tuna and avocado salad, "he stood there, all handso - it was still cool anddark coat and it was all, you know, billowy Perfect tortured-hero look So he&039;s like that, on her front laith that big old house behind hi off, until I made him leave"

"He vanished the reet a word in when Ripley was on a roll, but Mac had carved out one salient point

"Yeah - poof It can be a pretty intense spell, depending on the, you know, quality and corabbed her coffee "But I didn&039;t see a trace of it, and I stopped and took a good look on the way back, just in case he&039;d "

"Had he?"

"Nope Not even a stray vibe left, which means he swept it clean"

"I wish he&039;d talked to otten sos and taken a sample for lab tests"

She sat back, shook her head at hiers in, some evil black ooze"

"It&039;s what I do" Mac sulked about it for a ht as well take a drive out and see if so

"So let&039;s backtrack a minute," he continued "He told you that Mia told hiram mark on his muzzle"

"That&039;s the s Her e to shake the queen of weird"

"An ie is just the point," Mac said "Not an actual wolf No living creature was possessed this ti it last winter But it was still potent enough to send her into a skid That&039;s interesting"

"And a bad one, from the way Sa" She leaned forward, hunching over as left of her lunch and lowering her voice "The guy sweeping up behind her, standing there looking at her place like so over the moors for Catherine - "

"Good one"

"Hey, I read Anyway, hi to act all cool and casual about it That&039;s interesting"

"From what you told me, they had a very intense relationship"

"Had," Ripley confir all moony if she&039;d dumped him way back when But he&039;s the one who pulled stakes"

"Doesn&039;t ot over her"

"Guys don&039;t carry torches for a frigging decade"

S, Mac rubbed his hand over the back of hers "I&039;d carry one for you"

"Get out" But she turned her hand over, linked her fingers with his "Anyway, he doesn&039;t want her to knoent out there He says she&039;d be ticked if she knew he&039;d backed up her charms And she would But if you ask me, there&039;s another layer He doesn&039;t want her to know he&039;s stuck on her It&039;d be funny if it wasn&039;t so complicated, and if there wasn&039;t so much at stake"

"Whatever was between them, is between theot soot some theories"

He s All parties"

"I figured" Like his, her voice was a whisper now To the casual observer, itan insurrection "Let&039;s have it at Zack&039;s Nell&039;ll cook We&039;re scraping the botto Hoe handle how much we know, and who told us ho doesn&039;t want somebody else to knoe know?"

"Jesus, I understand that" She grinned at him "It must be love"

"Well, if it isn&039;t Bill and Coo" Mia stepped up to the table, ran an affectionate hand over Mac&039;s shoulder "Don&039;t the two of you look adorable?"

"Yeah, we&039;re thinking about entering a contest" Ripley eased back, studied Mia&039;s face She had to give the wo showed but bone-deep beauty "So what&039;s up with you?"

"Oh, this and that" Mia left her hand on Mac&039;s shoulder So about hi I need to speak with you about - and Nell"

A shadoorry crossed her face as she glanced back at the cafe counter "It&039;ll have to wait a bit, though," Mia decided "She&039;s pretty tied up with customers at the moment"

Ripley considered how to play it, then ith instinct "If this is about your dances olves, I know about it"

It was a toss-up, she thought, who looked more stunned, Mia or Mac But at least Mia didn&039;t kick her under the table She shifted, which gave her the opportunity to kick Mac back as she reached toward a neighboring table and dragged over a third chair

"Sit down ato settle, Mia slid into the chair, folded her hands "I didn&039;t realize you and Sam were such confidants"

"Oh, can it" Ripley pushed as left of her lunch aside "I ran into hiht Mia&039;s house was on the damn coast road "He cleaned up the little mess you left behind"

"The" She trailed off, paled My God, how could she have been so careless! She hadn&039;t so ht have stained that section of the island

"Give yourself a break," Mac said gently "You had to have been badly shaken"

"It doesn&039;t et it, professor" Casually, Ripley broke off a piece of the eclair Mac had picked out for dessert "Ms Perfect here isn&039;t allowed to s"

"I should&039;ve cleaned the area," Mia repeated, and gave Ripley a genuine jolt of concern when she didn&039;t snap back

"Well, you didn&039;t He did, and all&039;s well Anyhile I was ragging on hies just to brighten , he filledNell up to speed when she&039;s off her shift"

"Yes, all right" Mia rubbed at the vague pounding in her temple She couldn&039;t remember the last time she&039;d had a headache And her stomach was queasy She&039;d have to take the time to balance her chakras so she could think clearly

"I would like to go over it with you inbut a scare tactic, but I don&039;t want to shrug it off and ht, and as it happens Ripley and I were just saying we should have a ether at Nell and Zack&039;s tonight?"

"At dinnertime," Ripley chimed in and made Mia smile

"Yes, aste time or an opportunity for a free ot to her feet, then looked down at Ripley "I intended to tell you about it myself I just needed to clearsecrets It&039;s past tiuilt over Sam, but sucked it in A deal was a deal "Don&039;t sweat it Besides, it gave me a chance to needle the pretty boy"

"That&039;s so, then I&039;ll see you later"

When she walked toward Nell and was out of earshot, Mac leaned forward again "You&039;re good, Deputy Really good"

"Did you doubt it? Now I&039;ve got to et to Sam, let hiets to hi&039;s screwed"

"I&039;ll do it" He shoved his eclair in front of her as he rose "I want to talk to hiood deal" She plucked up the pastry

"And you get to buy lunch"

"Always a catch," she muttered with her mouth full

Mac had only been able to wheedle an hour out of Lulu, and that was just as well now, he thought He still had to drive back hoain, and drive back for the newly arranged dinnerat the Todds&039;

But for now he had his tape recorder and notebook, and had primed Lulu with a box of Godiva

"Really appreciate this, Lulu"

"Yeah, yeah" She drank coffee, black, with the candy She was giving wine a little rest "I told you I don&039;thauled in by the cops for protesting"

"What were you protesting?"

She sent hi look "Co?"

It was a good place to start, he decided "You lived in a coet it done "I flopped here, or there Slept in parks, on beaches, whatever was handy Saw a lot of the country you&039;re not going to see if you&039;re in the fa at the Holiday Inn"

"I bet How&039;d you end up here? On Three Sisters?"

"Heading east"

"Lulu" he pleaded

"Okay, don&039;t givelook" She made herself more comfortable on the sofa "I hit the road when I was about sixteen Didn&039;t get along with my family" She leaned over, plucked out another chocolate

"Any particular reason for that?"

"You name it My old man had a narrow mind and a hard hand, and my mother danced to his tune and played with the ladies auxiliary Couldn&039;t stand it I lit out first chance I got, and I&039;d been such a pain in their asses, they didn&039;t go to much trouble to find me"

He found the offhanded way she spoke of her parents&039; disinterest sad and telling But knowing Lulu, the slightest inkling of syoing?"

"Anywhere that wasn&039;t there Ended up inSan Francisco for a while Gave inity in a nice marijuana haze to a sweet-faced boy named Bobby"

She smiled at that, as despite the years and the circumstance, it was a nice memory "I made love beads, sold them for food, listened to a lot of music, solved all the world&039;s problems Smoked a lot of joints, dropped a little acid Cruised aroundNew Mexico andNevada with a guy named Spike - can you beat that - on his Harley"

"At sixteen?"

"Might&039;ve been seventeen by then You only get to be sixteen for a year Liked being a gypsy, as I had itchy feet" She wiggled her toes in her ancient Birkenstocks "I planted them now and then The coarden, how to cook what I planted Learned how to knit there, too But"

Behind her lenses, her eyes sharpened "You want the weird stuff, right? Not the hippie-trippie et"

"I had dreaoals," she added "Didn&039;t have an ambition to my name back then But I had dreams of this place - The Sisters The house on the cliff, and a wo Lulu&039;s face on his notepad, but now he stopped and looked up "Mia"

"No" Because it rehted a cone of vanilla incense "She&039;d cry in the dreams, and tell me I had to tend her children"

Mac made a quick notation There had been a nurse, and the one called Earth had left the children with her before leaping from the cliffs "Reincarnation?" He scribbled "A link within the circle?"

"Whenever I had the dreaain, just had to leave where I was andstory short, I ended up in Boston, broke But I didn&039;tbroke back then Somebody always knew soirl who called herself Buttercup - Jesus - said hoe should all take the ferry over to Three Sisters Island She liked to think she was a witch, but as I rehter of soe She could pay the freight to get us all over and back with daddy&039;s allowancebecause, hey, free ride They made the round-trip I stayed"

"Why?" Mac asked her

She didn&039;t answer for a moment Despite her relationship with Mia, with Ripley and Nell, and the island itself, Lulu didn&039;t talk ic

It alwaysher in that quiet way he had And she was damn fond of hi up out of the water I was high," Lulu continued

"We all were Buttercup was a moron, but she always had pri so vivid and clear Maybe it was the pot, but it was theI&039;d ever seen I looked up and saw the house on the cliffs, and I thought - well, shit, there it is That&039;s where I&039;m supposed to be I walked away from Buttercup and the rest as soon as we hit the docks, and never gave theht Wonder what the hell ever happened to her"

"You went to work for Mia&039;s grandainful elasses to polish the lenses "I camped out in the woods a while, ate berries or what I&039;d liberated froh a vegetarian stage," she mused with a little frown of concentration

It was interesting to look back and see herself - young, careless, s Born a carnivore, die a carnivore Soone day I was hiking and this woman came by in a fancy car Stopped She leaned out, looked uess she was on the shy side of sixty, but when you&039;re figuring thirty&039;s the end of it all, that&039;s really old"

She stopped, laughed now as she put her glasses on "What the hell, I&039;ot driving to do"

"You&039;re a real straight arrow, aren&039;t you, Mac?" She headed off to the kitchen, shouting back "I never wasa couple weeks, I&039;d&039;ve been a little ripe Had long hair then, wore it in braids What was I thinking? The woman, she was old to me, but she was a looker Dark red hair all done up, lady suit on like she&039;d just come from teatime She had dark, dark eyes, and when they latched on toon rock, storh the day was hot and still I heard a baby crying"

Wineglass in hand, Lulu clu sofa "She told et in, just like that And I did, just like that Never thought about it twice Mrs Devlin, she had power, just like her granddaughter does I didn&039;t knohat it was then, I just kneas She took me to the house on the cliffs

"I loved her" Lulu allowed senti with the wine "I respected her, and I admired her She was iven otten used to that But she taught , trusted odda-ass house so many times I could&039;ve done it in my sleep"

"You didn&039;t know she was a witch?"

Lulu considered It wasn&039;t soht to "It was kind of gradual I

think she saw to that so it&039;d be a natural thing foras hoas into all that hippie-metaphysical-nature-is-our-end?"

"That was a gradual thing, too It&039;s part of the Sisters, so you hear this, read that Working for Mrs Devlin, I became part of the island before I realized it"

"Then by the ti, it was natural for you to accept power in her"

"If I had to analyze it, I&039;d say Mrs Devlin saw to that, too She knew the way things would be before they were When Mia was born, her son and his wife ured out pretty soon they&039;d done it so they&039;d have themselves a couple of live-in sitters Selfish twits"

She paused, took a deep gulp of wine "The night they brought her, they went down to the hotel to have dinner, and Mrs Devlin took me into the nursery Mia was a beautiful baby - red-headed, bright-eyed Long ars Mrs Devlin, she picked her up out of the crib, cuddled her for a minute, then she held her out to me Scared me boneless It wasn&039;t just that I&039;d never held a baby before, or that this one looked like solass It was that I knew I knew she was giving her to ain You ever want so that first sip makes your belly jump?"

"Yeah" He set his notebook aside now and just listened "Yeah, I have"

"It was just like that We stood there, her holding Mia out,like a hammer inside it And a storm ca the s, lightning flashing It was the first and last time I saw her cry

" &039;Take her,&039; she said to me &039;She needs love and care, and a firive it to her, they can&039;t And when I&039;one, she&039;ll only have you&039; I told her I didn&039;t kno to take care of a baby, and she s Mia out Mia started to squirm and fuss, shake her fists, and before I knew it, I was taking her Mrs Devlin stepped back &039;She&039;s yours now&039; I&039;ll never forget that

&039;She&039;s yours now, and you&039;re hers&039; And she leftme sloppy"

Touched, Mac leaned over, closed a hand over hers "Me, too"

Sheriff Zachariah Todd emptied the dishwasher - one of the few tasks he was allowed to atteht Mia told Sa Ripley, who didn&039;t knohat happened, found Sam up at Mia&039;s house and he told her, Ripley - but she promised she wouldn&039;t tell Mia he&039;d been there, so she told Mia - when Mia was going to tell her - Jesus - about what happened; that she, and that would be Ripley, ran into Sa the area"

"You&039;re doing great," Nell encouraged as Zack took a breath and she checked on the progress of her lasagna

"Don&039;t throw me off the track Then Mac told Sa you what happened thisThen Ripley told you the rest of it, which you told me For reasons that escape ht" He pressed a fingertip dead center of his forehead "I think I&039;ll just keep e my foot in there that way"

"Never a bad choice" She heard Lucy&039;s sudden and joyful barking "Soo, take the tray on the third shelf I&039; I&039;et theo "Men and dogs," she said, and clucked her tongue "You have to watch them every minute"

And because she did, Nell took the time to shift all the utensils Zack had put away into their proper slots before she grabbed a bottle of wine and went out to greet her guests Mac and Ripley had brought the puppy along, which sent Lucy into spas upstairs to sulk

Mia arrived with a bouquet of freshly clipped daffodils, and helped herself relax by sitting on the floor playing tug-the-rope with Mulder

"I think of getting a dog now and then" She laughed as Mulder lost his toothy grip on the rope and went tuardens" She snatched the puppy up, holding hi up allon your shoes," Ripley said sourly "Of course, you&039;ve got a hundred pair to spare"

"Shoes are a form of self-expression"

"Shoes are to walk in"

Mia drew the puppy down, rubbed noses "What does she know?"

That&039;s how Sahing while a fat yellow puppy licked her cheeks His gut clenched, and his throat snapped shut She looked so carelessly happy with her skirts spread out on the rug, her hair tuht with pleasure

There, in that outrageously beautiful woirl he&039;d left behind Then Lucy barked, Mulder leaped, and Mia stopped laughing as her gaze snapped to the doorway

"Lucy!" Zack called to the dog, then grabbed her collar as he opened the screen door for Sa," he ordered as Lucy&039;s muscles bunched for a joyful leap "Either of you" He said it under his breath A blind ry look on Saht" Sam skimmed a hand over Lucy&039;s head and she collapsed onto her back He passed the wine he&039;d brought to Zack before crouching down to rub her exposed belly The puppy ga here?" Mia demanded

Sam lifted his eyebrows at her tone, but before he could respond, Mac stepped in "I asked hi stare "We&039;re all part of this, and everyone here has so to contribute We need to cooperate with each other, Mia"