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It would be dangerous to stay too long, she realized It was one of her old haunts

And there ht be those about ould know it

Yet

There had to be someone about who knew her Why else make such a determination to see that she akened? Perhaps she would have to find soe and the church to rest--and observe She must be far more careful than she had been in the past She are that she had overstepped the boundaries of her power before, grown careless in her belief in herself, and in her position in the world

Indignity swept through her

She would not be so fearful as to become humble That would be far too s slowly Slowly, until she had gotten a firrasp on the ways of the world And discovered as out there A thrill entered into her as she wondered

Yes, it could be

She thought about the village, as she hadn’t before And her eyes narrowed as she wondered if the saers existed

Surely, they did

Ah

So first things must come first She ers she could observe, and perhaps resolve, even while she watched

Waited

But for tonight

The palace

The things that they had done! She ion where the old architecture was displayed for the common visitors who apparently inundated the place daily

By then, she had walked for hours, looked for hours

And daylight was co much more rational

Like Ann, she was deeply worried about Jacques

No, perhaps she was even randfather believed in vampires That was extremely serious But she had sworn to him that she would keep their conversation secret, and she intended to do so

She wished that she dared talk to soer in the crypt, so But of course, now the police would know, and so it wasn’t necessary for him to worry so much

But he believed in vampires

She couldn’t share that with anyone, even if she hadn’t made such a promise to him She was very afraid that he would wind up locked away in an institution So what should she do? Continue to regale hiic? Or humor him

Tease him Tell him it was a pity they were in France and not Italy, where there was sothe door

No Jacques did not seem to have a sense of humor about it; he was dead serious And there had been a hout history, there had always been enough greed and brutality arandfather’s way of dealing with the evil in the world

She could drive herself crazy with this And with the worry that she should have done the right thing, and gone to the police

Ann was about to leave for hen she ca as she prepared a breakfast tray for Jacques Roland was already out and busy about the grounds Katia kissed Tara, who thanked her and waved her away, insisting she could get her own coffee With cup in hand, she followed Ann to the car

"Sothink we should still go out tonight?" Ann asked

"I don’t know Should we?"

"I really need a night out"

"All right," Tara said slowly "We’ll stick together"

"And it seeuy was after the riches in the crypt IYes, I need a night out"

Tara thought for a moment and then nodded "I’m afraid that we live in a world where murder is all too frequent There’s no reason to believe that sorave would be after us" As soon as the words were out of her hten Where the hell was her purse? If the police had found it, they would have called by now

Maybe the murderer had found it