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When Tolliver pulled into a driveway that led into a large corner lot, I was trying not to be stunned by the obvious richness of the area Fred Hart’s place had been new hborhood appeared to date from the same era; the hoood growth and all the landscaping seemed well-established

What astonished me so was that all these houses had taken steroids Not one of them would have less than four bedrooined each one of them cost a million, probably way more; this was not the kind of place I planned to look at when Tolliver and I began house hunting I pulled into the e, which could hold two h to hold four third-world faht side that le oil stain

I ju Fred out of the car

"He prettythe drive," Tolliver explained "At least he’d already given me directions I hope the house key works If we’re at the wrong house, we’re screwed" We both laughed, but not too merrily I sure didn’t want to have to talk to the police again, for any reason

Tolliver handedhe’d extracted fro Fred out of the car I hurried over to the door The second key I tried turned in the lock, and his security systean to tweet or blare when Tolliver got the stu man into the house I moved ahead to find the best place to stow hienstern house was so pretty and big, but this house was overwhele I passed fro room I didn’t knohat to call it It had exposed bea, an enors

"If I had been brought up here, I would believe I could have anything I wanted," I said, stunned

"Where do we go?" Tolliver asked iical reflections I made my feet move The reat relief Together, Tolliver and I got Fred onto the (of course) king-size bed, got his coat and shoes off, and covered hihan that had been thrown artfully over the back of a huge leather chair in front of the rouping I didn’t knoas supposed to have conversations here, since Fred appeared to live by himself I predicted I’d find a walk-in closet and a bath with a sunken tub somewhere very close I opened the closet door, and then the bathroom door Yep All that andaround, startled

Fred Hart had roused hirabbed Tolliver’s are him comfortably

"You have to watch out I’ll tell you the truth You just don’t knohat happened" the older ain

"I know you drank tooup Fred’s coat and looked around for any other little thing we should do "That’s it," he said "Let’s go I feel like I broke in, this is so hed We left the bedroo our way back to the kitchen I just had to stop while ere going through the family room It was so pretty, all dark browns and coppery colors with bright blue touches here and there I sighed, and turned to look out the hugeinto the back yard I was a bit surprised there wasn’t a pool I decided the lack was due to Fred’s gardening habit

When Ben Morgenstern had toldlike this The high red brick wall that enclosed the back yard was covered with vines, carefully pruned and directed Running all around this as a flower bed full with bushes and probably with bulbs that would blooroupings of bushes and flowers, s of tables and chairs inside the fah and thick There were a couple of beds that looked newer, because the brick edging looked brighter and the plants sarden in Nove, but I was deeply impressed Maybe this hy Fred had held on to such a house after the deaths of his wife and daughter

On a wrought iron table on the flagged patio right outside the s, I saw gardening gloves, sos were laid out with precision, and a folded newspaper by the in his garden this very ainst the table was a spade, covered in dirt Digging a neer bed in November? He was enthusiastic I wondered why he’d left the spade dirty, when everything else was so clean Maybe he’d intended to finish some job when he’d put it down

I didn’t knowthan I did about astrophysics I shrugged Maybe Noveood time to turn the dirt over so it breathed all winter, or soht, just where the brick wall ran up to the wall of the garage, was a wooden gate It was placed there so Fred could wheel his gardening stuff back to its place in the tool closet in the carport, I figured

Tolliver was using our cell phone "Hey, Felicia," he said "This is Tolliver I don’t like to leave this as a uess I better tell you that your dad is at ho kind of sick when he caht hi He’s asleep right now" And with a snap of the phone, Tolliver ended his oodbye

"Good idea," I said "She should come by and check on him I wonder if they see each other very s It’s quite a drive out here froh-pressure job" My voice trailed off I should shut up

Tolliver looked at me without expression He didn’t want to talk about Felicia Okay I got that

A final glance around left ed orphan in a Dickens novel We left through the kitchen, locking the back door behind us Considering the cold weather, it wasn’t too surprising that we didn’t see a soul as we backed out of the garage and drove to the end of the street to turn right, to get back to reen’s to buy a few things, and we filled the car’s tank with gas while ere taking care of odds and ends We’d gotten tired of room service, not only the menu but also the expense, so we had a leisurelyso and there were no es for us at the front desk or on our voice mail e finally went back to the Cleveland The day had sped by

"You kno that we’ve gotten the check, would the police really need us any more?" I asked "I don’t think so I knoe don’t have anything on the schedule until next week, but we could leave Meet to Texas to see Mariella’s basketball gaer," Tolliver said "Just to see"

I bitbite out of Felicia Hart, whoing Tolliver along, I just knew it Now that I’d seen the house she’d grown up in, I was sure Wouys like him, not in real life He’d denied any real attach Tolliverit casually, but I could see that he was tense

"Hey," he said "Felicia oh, how’s he doing? He what? Okay, I’ll come"

He listened for a few seconds He looked unhappy, puzzled