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The first kids arrived, carrying a big cooler Nigel had one side of the cooler, Winona the other They were laughing as they kept dropping one side or the other Winona accused Nigel of being a weakling; he said even if she was a girl, she had to ht behind thenized her fro dark hair, carrying bags of chips and a box of garbage bags They knew they had to clean up If a single beer can was found, they would be busted

Nigel told the girls to start finding wood for the fire, while he dug in the sand to create a pit

In his ined the birth of the fire, the way it s around the rising fla Nigel and Mindy and the others, perhaps telling them that she was ready to meet with the forces of darkness…

Then the wolasses covered not just her eyes buther features She wore a scarf around her neck, and she sht of her She spoke in a pleasant tone, assuring the kids she wasn’t going to report the

The wo in her, as well The stranger stepped closer to Winona, as separated fro to Winona in a hushed tone, and the other tere totally unaware of the conversation Seconds later, the wo thean to arrive, bringing food, booze and pot A boohter, the teasing, see kids pairing off and heading into the shadows…

He concentrated, and he saw Winona Hart, looking around, then starting along the trail back toward the road She was seen by dozens of witnesses, yet not seen at all

He opened his eyes, rose and dusted off his jeans

The sun was beginning to set The vieas spectacular as the sun crouched low on the horizon, painting the sky with bands of gold and orange, and creeping purple

It was a beautiful place, giving the i wild and even a little forlorn in its beauty, despite its relative proximity to the road

Caleb walked down to the water

And found the corpse

8

S arah had expected to hear froed into his roos

And he had told her not to do it again unless she was looking for sex

Despite everything else she’d had to deal with that day, the idea of having sex with Caleb crept in unbidden time after time

And why not?

She was an adult The rest of the world had sex all the time She had just put the very possibility on a ainst the idea of having sex again someday She didn’t even think that it needed to be with the one and only love of her life, soood thing, since she hadn’t ht be able to fall in love with She hadn’t even ued her for more than a cup of coffee or dinner out

But Caleb Anderson…

Frankly, he was just gorgeous, the kind of man any woman would want to have sex with…

When Vicky ca that it was time for her to lock up--Sarah was forced to realize that it was long after five, and Caleb had ain, ould any man--especially an exceptionally handsome and charismatic one--want to spend any more time with a woman who had not only been convinced that he dressed up in costu into his room at the crack of dawn to accuse hi to explain about the picture--and what she had discovered about his ancestry Once he had all the facts, her seely crazy behavior would make sense

Meanwhile, her afternoon had been a productive one She’d printed out the records she’d discovered online, and she’d begun reading the journal from Mrs Abrahter of the nasty undertaker Leo Brennan, and it had been every bit as intriguing as theearlier Nellie’s , and her father’s housekeeper, who had come to live at the Grant mansion with theuratively, either The woman scared her; she served her father faithfully, but she treated Nellie badly Nellie thought that was because she herself wasn’t a pretty girl The housekeeper, Martha Tyler, though an octoroon of eless Nellie believed she kept a book of spells hidden in her roo all sorts of loathsos, dried and preserved animal parts, herbs and potions, and other similarly repulsive bits But she ran the house--and the mortuary--faultlessly, so Leo wasn’t about to fire her

Sarah would have loved to take that journal hoile and a brand-new acquisition She knew she was lucky to be reading it When Vicky stretched out a hand, still s to do but hand it over and thank Vicky for her help

"Oh, I enjoy helping someone who’s as fascinated as I am by the personal details of history People love stories about real people" She waved a hand disive the history"

Sarah agreed, and said, "Vicky, that journal is a true find I barely got started reading, but I can already tell it’s full of insight into the era I’ll be back tomorroant to know more about the housekeeper Nellie said she was a witch"