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Who the hell was she, and how did he know her?

Katherine sie McDuff I saw you on TV a few days ago"

Angie McDuff Mike McDuff’s ex How the hell could he have forgotten her? Though, admittedly, it had been a few years, and she had a lot more red in her hair than when he had seen her last

"Thanks so enuinely pleased to have been recognized

"Hi, Angie, how are you doing?" Jed said

"Good, thanks Though not as well as you are, it see your pardon?"

She smiled "Your face has been all over the news"

"Great," he murmured

"They can’t keep that book of yours on the shelves I mean, I knoas fiction, but you kno people are They’re interested in anything with a hint of scandal attached to it I bet you’ll be getting a lot of calls soon, people wanting to interview you about Beau Kidd and what you think is going on now Was Beau railroaded while the real killer got away, or is the current ie, this is Katherine Kidd," he said politely "Beau Kidd’s sister"

Angie gasped, turning a mottled shade of red "Oh I’ up bad ht"

"Well, nice to ain I think I saw your cousin Ana a few months back And I heard that Mike’s cousin, Christina, has moved to town" She flashed him a broad s to need vocalists, of course"

He tried to keep his sood word for me, will you, if you run into her?" she asked

Was she kidding? But he kept his smile in place Christina Hardy was one of the most loyal women in the world No ould she hire her cousin’s ex, not that he was going to tell Angie that "Sure," he said, and left it there

Angie waved goodbye to them both with another sone, Katherine started speaking as if they’d never been interrupted "My brother was good friends with Larry Atkins, but still…All I know is that Beau wasn’t guilty, and Larry’s the one who shot hi over one of the victims And he drew his oeapon," Jed said

"You could at least talk to Larry again"

"All right, why not?" Jed told her So what if he’d just been out there? he asked hiain about the amount of land Larry Atkins had now It was hill country out there, too Maybe there were a few secret places out on the property

Katherine set her hand on his, breaking into his thoughts "Want to see lanced at her hand If this invitation had cos were different now "I’ll follow you hoet inside okay," he told her

She drew her hand back "There’s someone else?"

In the past years, there had been a nuht This could have been the same But it wasn’t

"Yes, there’s someone else," he said huskily "But I’ll be happy to see you ho her head "Actually, I don’t think I’o down the street and see ato see ive me a call and tell me hoent?"

"Yes," he promised her

"You’ll call no matter what?" she asked, her tone afraid and hopeful all at once

"No one

Beau Kidd was back He sat on the floor with her, going through clippings, while Killer dozed on the couch "There just has to be an answer," he said

She gazed up at hi her teeth He hadn’t been there…then he was "You were the lead detective on the case," she reminded him

He shook his head "Yeah, and as soon as I wanted to keep an eye on a girl…she died"

"Beau, did you draw your weapon on Larry Atkins?" she de blankly out across the parlor "I dreeapon But not on Larry"

"What do you mean?"

"The killer was there"

"The killer was there? Who was it?"

"Obviously, I don’t know"

She stared at him as if he had taken leave of his senses "But you said--"

"It was night Dark Sohway, so I called Larry and told hiht…" He paused, and ghost or not, the look that flashed across his face was one of pure agony "I saw her, and I thought she was still alive, so I ran over to her But then I heard soht that the killer was still there She was…she was still warm, you see," he said very softly

Killer suddenly stood up and barked once, his tail wagging

The doorbell rang