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As he walked, though, he couldn’t get a picture in his irl The "flesh and blood," as Huey would have said There was so about the feel of her hand when they had touched, that haunted him

She was extraordinary to look at, but the world was full of pretty people

There was soh Even the fear that had touched her eyes had not been fear of the rowdy crowd or of hi she was seeing…

He took his tiht track back Some areas were dark and deserted, others reaht, and lots of establishments remained open until the wee hours

There were a few old sots and young kids sleeping on the streets

There was one guy who looked as if he eighing the idea of an attack when Brent walked by hi stopped him, and he looked ahen Brent stared back at him

Brent reached his B&B without incident and decided sleep would be in order, since he h, he reirl, then kneith certainty, that he would see her again

Andy’s laughter sounded softly again

Nikki thought she herself was dying She was choking… frozen with absolute terror The lights were on This was no trick of night or the moon Andy was there

Nikki couldn’t breathe

Andy was there She’d drawn the dressing-table chair over by the bed and atching television, laughing softly at the old jokes

The words that rushed through Nikki’s head did nothing to dispel the illusion

Andy was dead Dead and buried

Yet she was there Andrea Ciello, dressed in her funerary finest, turned to see Nikki gasping, staring at her, frozen to the core

"I always loved the old Beaver reruns," Andy murmured "Hey… it’s just me And thanks… this is the exact outfit I would have chosen Thank God you didn’t choose a silly frilly dress… so I’d never really wear" She sounded wistful suddenly "It was a lovely service, wasn’t it? A real New Orleans funeral Thanks, Nikki I had no one, and you were there foras if she were really there, casually, throwing in a thank-you, just as she would have done

The screauely aware of a thu sound As if Julian had fallen out of bed

"Nikki," Andy protested reproachfully, hearing the thud, too

Nikki knew she was gasping again, staring

Then Julian burst into the room

And Andy evaporated as if she had never been there

"What the hell… ?" Julian demanded He was in a pair of too-short sweatpants he’d borrowed frohis left elbow

"She… she was here!" Nikki got out "Julian, didn’t you see her?"

He sighed, looking down "No, Nikki, I didn’t see anyone" He shook his head, looking at her again, fighting a wave of anger, she thought "Nikki, there’s no one here The doors are locked tight"

"She was here," Nikki whispered

"Uone now And you really need to see that doctor"

Nikki let out a long sigh froht, Julian But after we talk to the police"

Julian walked out Goose buain But a minute later Julian was back, a pillow and comforter in his arms

"Julian… " she murmured miserably

"Go to sleep," he said

"You take the bed, I’ll take the floor"

But Julian was already lying down "Just go to sleep," he repeated

Easier said than done…

Yet so came, she drifted off

And when she dreae ht

She dreamed of the man who had co at her