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"Perfect, thanks See you soon"

She jumped into shower, then paused The house seemed so…empty There had to be at least fifty people downstairs, and yet she felt…

As if the house was quiet As if it were silent, watching, waiting…

"Matt?" she whispered He wouldn’t leave her He would trust her If he could, he would co near

Thank God she would be able to explain so on with her now, and to people ouldn’t immediately jump to the conclusion that she had becoht made her feel cheerful as she dressed in heels and a knit halter dress, then threw an embroidered shawl over her shoulders When she went to transfer her essentials into a dressier handbag than she usually used, she saw that there was a e on her phone

It was Joe He wanted her to call and tell him where they would be, and said he would join the

By the tietting ready to leave, and Ada in the hall

Melissa, like Brad, looked as if she would like an invitation to hang around Normally, Leslie would have asked her to join theht She was too desperate to spill her guts to her friends "I’ll get the doughnuts to," she told Melissa in answer to her hopeful look

"Okay…cool I’ll be in early, like usual Will I see you two again?" she asked Ada excluded

"I don’t have to be at the airport until around ten or eleven," Ada Good night"

At last Melissa was gone, and the alarm had been set, and Leslie spun around on the stairs to face her friends "I’uys!" she exploded

"Was it a ently

"No…no, I would never say that, but…"

"Is Matt here?" Adam asked

"Yes And no"

"Why don’t we find a place to eat and you can tell us all about it?" Nikki asked

"There’s a great pub around the corner, O’Malley’s It’s been there since before I first caood to ht," Nikki said

"I don’t even knohere to begin," Leslie said

"Start with your arrival," Adam said "We can talk as alk"

On the way back to his car, Joe realized with a touch of anxiety that there were no ht he’d sie down in the crypt, but it looked as if she hadn’t called hiiven him free access to the site, so he’d decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check out the work being done in the crypt for himself, just to make sure there wouldn’t be any more "accidents" of any kind down there He wondered how happy Lay the find considered it to be farthan his He was certain Lay around on his own

The crypt yielded no clues to anything, though he stood there just looking around for a long ti aloud to his dead cousin again "What’s going on here, Matt? What the hell ato do hat’s happening underground, I know that ht over the basement, and there are bones in the basement…Watch out for her, Joe

Was that his oishful thinking talking? Yeah, Matt, giveShe was the love of your life, and she’s still in love with you, but I’ve got to be near her, at least And I hope to God I’

After a while he decided he’d spent tooon an iinary conversation with his dead cousin, so he left and headed for his car Once there, he looked at his watch, thought about what traffic was going to be like, swore and decided on the subway As he aiting on the platforuarantee yesterday’s whereabouts of any of the ine that any one of theination And yet, he was convinced that theheiress and the explosion were all connected and that all he had to do was get the dots connected in the right order He considered the possibilities as he stepped onto the train and grabbed the pole for support The cops: Ken Dryer and Robert Adair He’d known Robert forever, and it was Robert who’d connected hiood old nose-to-the-paveh, a job that took him all over the city The others: Hank Smith…the builder He would know a lot about basements Lay other than his work? Then again,went Lay hours thatAnd Brad Both Brad and Layinia when several of the disappearances had occurred But the distance frohts occasionally blinking off, then back on They were deep underground You had to love Manhattan What it couldn’t supply above--speedy transportation--it did beneath Dark, damp and deserted, the tunnels down here seemed to stretch forever

Had it been an accident when Leslie was pitched onto the tracks? It was actually surprising that things like that didn’t happen more often than they did So many people, a wave of humanity The only way it could have been intentional was if so her And he hadn’t been able to clear any of his suspects; none of theet now, he thought