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I returned to my Audi, still parked in front of Merodie’s house The car was broiling The AC worked well but took tiine and turned the air-conditioning on full, I slid out of the car and shut the door behind lared at Merodie’s house The stench of death was still in my nostrils, hair, and clothes and probably would be for some time to come

I turned away from the house and looked across the laard Mollie Pratt’s place For aroom drapes, but then she disappeared

5

Woodbury, located southeast of St Paul, was nearly an hour’s drive from Anoka Yet more than distance separated the two cities Anoka was old, with a history and traditions that stretched back to 1680 Woodbury, on the other hand, was brand-spanking new--I had a Carl Yastrzeraphed baseball that was older It wasn’t even a city when Yaz won the Triple Crown in 1967, yet it was now home to over sixty thousand residents

The private street where Priscilla St Ana lived served a quintet of estates that somehow all bordered on different holes of the Prestwick Golf Course Like most of Woodbury, the five houses looked like they had all been built yesterday I parked in front of the one with red brick, white triray roof set way back from the street, only a little hbors It reminded me of an Italian villa, or at least what I supposed an Italian villa to look like, having never actually seen one

I hurried along the tile ay to the front door of the estate--I couldn’t think of it as a house--and used the bell A doughlike woe answered She was dressed in a fawn-colored uniform and demonstrated no emotion or interest when I announced that I had an appointment to meet Priscilla St Ana With a curt "Wait here," she closed the door, leavingin She returned a few moments later with instructions

"Follow me, please"

I trailed the h sumptuous, decorator-perfect rooms that would have caused my father to faint dead away at the excess ‘Course, my father was a man who used the same toaster for thirty years and believed the autoht e hts was an unnecessary luxury I told hi rich I intended to surround hiht it every day of the six h French doors and onto a sprawling patio of red tile and salarden flowers, a low hedge, and several trees that couldn’t have been more than a few years old In the center of the patio was a huge swi pool, its walls and floor painted sky blue Deck furniture of rich redide arms and lacquered patio furniture with thick cushions were ether and scattered around the pool in no discernible pattern

I heard the thu board and looked up just in tiht yellow one-piece swi, and slicing into the water An ice cube dropped into a tuer splash than she did

Between the pool and the house was a round table with a glass top, an i from the center of it On top of the table was a half-filled pitcher of fresh-squeezed orange juice and a single glass, also half filled An enormous white toas draped over one of the chairs The maid stopped in the shadow of the umbrella and announced, "Ms St Ana will be with you in awoman climb out of the pool She went back to the board and made another dive and then another and another Not once did she acknowledge my presence After her fifth dive, she used the ladder to pull herself out of the pool and walked to the table She reached for the towel, h for me to see that her sun-drenched skin was flawless and to smell the chlorine in her fine auburn hair I watched her use the towel to buff her body; the swientle curves

She glanced at ence

"I’m Silk," she said

"Yes, you are"

"You’re here to see Priscilla"

It wasn’t a question, but I answered yes just the sa tresses between the folds of the towel, breathing lightly with the effort Beyond question, she was a lovely girl, and she looked alraph I discovered in Merodie’s house--the one of Merodie holding an infant