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There were two sht of the early daas just beginning to seep in The light fell over old trunks, broken chairs and several dress the attic realht

Cato MacTavish paused in the center of the rooreat sadness

I have looked forever, he said And finally I have found her

He e wooden steaht flooded the rooan to fade Caleb realized he was standing naked and alone in the dusty attic in the co the war at hi fro, her hair a wild mane around her head, her skin so soft, the silk wrap she had grabbed to follow hiht of her, the feel of her, triggered so within him

"Caleb?" she repeated

He looked at the trunk and gave hi himself free from the mists of sleep and drea

He kneake at last, but memory of the dream was vivid He walked closer and saw that the trunk was padlocked, preventing hi it He looked around and saw that soo, judging by the coating of dust, and yet not so many years as the trunk had been there He strode across the room, oblivious to his own nakedness, and picked up one of the dumbbells

"Caleb?" Sarah said, louder now, fir, he s a trove of loosely piled Victorian clothing He drew out hose, capes, petticoats, stays, throwing things aside…until at last he found what he was seeking

Bones

Bones nestled in decaying silk and satin Wisps of hair still clinging to a skull with leathery skin still covering the bone Dried andsubstance to the bones She was real, and yet she appeared to be nothing but a decorative prop for a macabre haunted house

"Oh, my God…" Sarah breathed frorim certainty

"How do you know?" she whispered

"There’s a locket around her neck--with a likeness of Cato," he said "Cato didn’t do it He loved her"

"What?" Sarah asked, shaking her head in concern and stepping back, as if she were afraid to touch him "I don’t understand" She studied him for a moment, and then realization lit her eyes "You saw hihost," she whispered

"I had a dream," he said, but even as he spoke, he wasn’t sure he believed his oords And if not, what did he believe?

What had he seen, and how had he ended up in the attic?

"It was a drea about the past and what happened here, and I had a dream that led ht as well call that professor--Dr Manning I need to shower and dress--we both do She’s been in that trunk for over a hundred and fifty years Another hour isn’t going to make any difference In fact, I don’t want to call anyone yet I’ hiure out how to proceed and whether this has anything to do with everything else going on"

"Caleb, it all has to be connected," Sarah said "Whatever you say, I knoe both saw a ghost And he’s not trying to haunt anyone or hurt the killed Eleanora and the others, and he left because he couldn’t prove the truth"

He set his hands on her shoulders and wondered why he of all people--a ating the incursions of the paranorhost

Sarah was still staring at hied in some fundamental way She looked wary She looked…

Afraid

He winced and tightened his grip on her shoulders "All right, here’s what I think Soo Maybe that housekeeper, Martha Tyler, conned people into believing she had some kind of power, like the tricks Marie LeVeau used in New Orleans She would listen She would get people to tell her things they didn’t even know they were telling her That way, she could tell one heartbroken wo she could do to help, then tell another that she could help her win the man of her dreams She would have mixed her potions and convinced people of their efficacy, and maybe she even had a certain power of her own But, she couldn’t have been working alone"

"Brennan," Sarah said "Brennan orking with her She worked for hiot here ahead of the Union occupation, and old Mr MacTavish needed money, so he took him in as a boarder And then Brennan talked MacTavish into using the house as a funeral parlor MacTavish would have been willing to do anything to survive the war and save the house so his son could inherit the old mansion when he returned But MacTavish died, and when Cato finally came back from the war, Brennan was already established in his house There were all kinds of ways for the carpetbaggers to keep a , and then the other women, the accusations would have started--fed by Brennan, no doubt--and eventually Cato MacTavish h, and he left Brennan was a nasty hter wrote about how h, and I don’t knohat happened to her, but a son inherited this place I don’t knohere he ca with the Union army when his father and sisterfirst at him, then sadly down at the trunk and its pathetic contents "If this is Eleanora, how did the line go on? How can you be his descendent?" she asked

"Either she had a child before she died and soet the child out of the city--or he went on to find a hen he left St Augustine," Caleb said "You were the one who discovered the connection--what did the records say?"

"They didn’t say anything There was nonanus And then his son’s fainia, in 1901"