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"That’s exactly what I was afraid of" Louie clenched and unclenched his fists

"If you wanted to avoid her, you should’ve forwarded the call to ated to talk to the wo a pest of herself If there was a story behind those remains, the facts would co either of theest she contact you," Louie said, "only it turns out you were at the Rotaryand, fool that I am, I took the call"

In Troy’s opinion, that was the ain, if you want"

"I do Apparently she’s co to Cedar Cove on Wednesday and wants to interview the teenagers who discovered the body"

"That is not going to happen" Troy would do everything within his power to make sure of it Philip Wilson, better known as Shaas of legal age but his name hadn’t been released to the press Tanni Bliss, the other teenager, was still in high school He’d contact their parents and give them a heads-up about this reporter Both kids had been pretty shaken, as Troy recalled--Tanni ave a satisfied nod of his head "You deal with this"

"I will"

"Do it fast I gather she’s bringing a photographer to take a picture of the cave She’s writing a feature story on this, and with our tourisot to convince her there’s nothing to report"

Troy shrugged "Why do you suppose she’s so interested?"

"Hoould I know?" Louie flared "Like I said earlier, this is bad ti a feature on touriset picked up across the state, and this woman’s article is bound to overshadow his Cedar Cove could do without the negative press" He shook his head "That’s not the half of it, either The council just put together a request for state funds to enhance tourism in our area" He looked up at the heavens "Why is all of this happening now?"

Troy didn’t have an answer for hihtly mollified "I’d appreciate that" He handed Troy a slip of paper "In case you need it, here’s that reporter’s phone nu he’d noticed about reporters was that the more fuss he made, the keener their interest Any bit of inforh; they de around until they found what they wanted--or a reasonable facsimile thereof Over the years, Troy had learned that the best policy was to say nothing, or at least nothing of substance He was polite and cordial, but his lips were sealed

After the mayor left, Troy hurried to his office He’d just sat down at his desk when his cell phone chirped He rarely received personal calls A quick check told hihter

"Hello, sweetheart," he said

"Hi, Daddy I wanted to tell you I saw Faith"

Hearing Faith’s name produced an instant flash of anticipation, i for you"

Troy sat up straighter "She did?" He hated the hopefulness that elevated his voice

"It’s a recipe for bran muffins"

"Oh" His hopes quickly deflated

"You didn’t tell me you’d been over to her house"

"It was a routine call I stopped by to follow up after the break-in"

"I think it’s terrible that soreed

"Have you seen hter inquired She sounded as if she’d been taking classes froator

"Just that once since the break-in"

"I see," Megan said "Faith looked good, didn’t she?"

In Troy’s opinion, Faith always looked good "Yes, she did," he ested I bake the to eat that particularand had skipped lunch The fact was, he would’ve eaten sawdust if Faith had served it

"I thought I’d bake these for you and bring the"

"Wonderful, thank you" A re he needed

"Can I drop them off after dinner? I mean, you’ll be home, won’t you?"

"Where else would I be?"

This was obviously an exploratory question to see if he’d be with Faith

"Craig wanted to run a couple of errands tonight and I figured I’d go with him, then we’ll stop at your place Should I call first?"

"No need I’ll be home"

"Okay" She seemed disappointed "I’ll see you around seven We won’t stay long"

"You’re welcoan, you know that"

"I know," she said

They chatted for a few more minutes before Troy closed his cell and slipped it back inside its case His daughter sounded better than she had since Sandy’s death Troy ell aware that she rief, the sae for Kathleen Sadler at the Seattle paper For the second time, he asked that she direct all future calls to hiet, but Troy planned to put a stop to that He’d prefer the ain

On his drive ho past Rosewood Lane He didn’t expect to see Faith, although he hoped he would It’d been more than a week since they’d talked

As it happened, he saw her struggling with a heavy bag of groceries, dragging thelanced up just as he drove slowly past Since she’d already seen his vehicle, Troy pulled over to the curb and parked

"Lettoward her

"I’m fine" But even as she said it, she surrendered the two heavy bags