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No

He was good They’d never been able to catch hiain and let soe So easy

He had to stay cals tear down the brick bastions of his own talent He was good, and this was all a challenge

He started; his na called

With a sht"

Dan McDuff turned Marcie McDonnagh was standing there, just outside the woood yourself," he told her

"Aw, shucks," she said, and s she wore, but the exaggerated female vampire makeup just ht

She ran up and hugged him suddenly, then pulled away self-consciously "We oes up Hera and Zeus, here we come"

He had to smile in return "I wanted it so badly, I’m still not sure I believe it’s real," he told her

"Me, too" She let out a happy sigh

"We should celebrate," he said

She nodded

"My cousin and soo out after the show and celebrate"

"I’d love to celebrate, but I’ve got an early class to to have to ask you for a rain check"

Was that the brush-off? he wondered He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t really care It wasn’t as if he’d been trying to pick her up He had just wanted to celebrate their victory

"Sure," he said

Suddenly they both started Above them, from the main park, a scream had echoed so loudly that it had penetrated to the catacohed "They’re doing a good job up there," he said

Marcie shuddered "Yeah? Strange, isn’t it? People, tourists, are paying to be scared, but all we have to do is live in the area, walk into a dark parking lot alone, to be afraid"

"I’ravely

He could have killed her Grabbed her right then and there, and shaken her

She’d scared the hell out of him

There was an unknown SUV in her front yard, a late-model Volvo, nice Just the type of car for a boy-next-door serial killer to drive, he had tormented himself, his heart in his throat, when he reached her house He’d heard the dog barking, but she’d never coe car in her driveway

But Christina was evidently just fine She opened the door and stared at him, her eyes ith dismay as the realization of what she had done dawned on her "Oh, my God, Jed!"

"Yeah, Jed," he said dryly

She winced "I’m sorry" She sed hard, and Killer barked Jed absently patted the dog to quiet him "Come in, please My old friend Genevieve arrived with Thor, her husband, and I forgot all about the phone Did you ever meet Gen? She carew up in Key West, but we’ve been friends for years I thought she was so lucky, growing up, actually living in Key West" She was babbling, and she knew it She forced herself to stop, then stared at hi stricken "Jed, I am honestly so sorry"

"It’s okay There’s only a serial killer running around with a penchant for gorgeous redheads, and then you--a redhead, I ht mention--drop the phone and don’t cohed in a coht"

"Come on in I have people for you to meet"

He decided that he hadn’t met Genevieve before, because he would certainly have remembered someone so beautiful She was tall, tanned and attractive, and she and Christie e together To his surprise, he did know the very tall, very blond man as Genevieve’s husband "Thor Tho

The others stared at them blankly "I was in underwater retrieval and recovery for a while," Jed explained

"He was a cop," Thor said to his wife

"Jed Braden--the author," the olderhis hand "Adam Harrison"

"Uncle Adam," Christie supplied