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"It wasn’t I re You were bundled up next toawful It must’ve been the fever And every last one of them wore armor and carried foul weapons of all sorts Probably a ht off whatever took s I reht in the coht in the--"

Parsona stopped the swing, cutting off Molly’s question She rose, gazing out at the grassy square

"Look, Molly We have a visitor"

Molly turned to follow her aze Over the sea of children, she could see a tall, pale h the ed on his skeletal frame like becalmed sails He see did He was a walking déjà vu and heading right for her, a wide sether different in his eyes

26

Walter strolled through the lobby and ignored Cole, as trailing along behind hio back to the roo fun of how Walter talked

"We don’t even know that she needs saving," Cole whispered

The lobby buzzed with activity Several Stanleys turned to watch the two boys as they weaved through the organized chaos Walter felt exposed--conspicuously unattended, as all the other guests had escorts--he hurried toward the elevators The situation reminded him of many a clumsy heist he’d attempted in the past, and shouldn’t have Well, he should’ve planned them better, at least

"I know sshe iss in trouble," he hissed over his shoulder "You can sstay here if you like"

A tour group popped out of one of the elevators--Walter veered toward it, dodging around a Stanley that see for the same elevator He beat the robot to the lift and pressed the button to close the door The Stanley stopped and stared at hied to shoulder the android aside and squeeze through the shutting doors

The huet that card?"

Walter looked at the pass he’d swiped through the elevator reader; it differed in color froht not be quite as dumb as he looked

"I borrowed it," he said He typed away at the keyboard by the elevator, then turned to look at the back wall The tour schematic of the co the shaft

"How do you kno to do that?" Cole asked

Walter sneered "Englissh lissh, not becausse of me" He looked to his handheld co here," he said, shaking his silvery head

••••

Mr Byrne sto with a heft his fra--Molly remained seated As the two adults embraced, Byrne peered down at Molly over Parsona’s shoulder

"Mollie Fyde?"

"Isn’t she lovely?" Parsona asked, breaking off the hug and gazing adoringly at Molly

"Mr Byrne," theout a thin hand, pale as a corpse’s

Molly warily accepted the outstretched hand, then shivered as her sers

Parsona clapped her hands together "Let’s go inside where there’s plenty of seating, shall we?"

Mr Byrne held Molly’s hand and stared at her long enough to make her uncoreeted them inside, despite the pleasant weather Three comfortable chairs faced the hearth, a low table before themQuaint pictures of frontier life adorned the clapboard walls, and folded quilts were draped over anything that would hold them An especially ornate one stretched out across one wall like the skin of a cottage drying for the tanner Random pops sounded from the fire, and ood creaked under their feet

Even the imperfections are perfect, Molly noted

"I’ll sit in the middle, if you two don’t mind," Parsona said "I just can’t believe racefully to the center chair and turned to Mr Byrne He eased himself down into the floral upholstery as well "This is Mollie’s first visit with me, and I haven’t seen you in almost, what, ten years? Quite the coincidence, don’t you think?"

"Quite," agreed Mr Byrne He s Molly

"After we catch up, perhaps we could go for a horseback ride, or head into town for a play They always have the best shows at the opera house"

"That would be lovely," said Mr Byrne Molly saw hilance to the coffee table and then back to Parsona "Perhaps the girls could make us sohs "Why, of course! I say, what etically "You can tell I’o see how the girls are coe As the door flew open, the sounds of laughter and play flooded through like a joyous outburst, then fell silent as it closed

Molly narrowed her eyes at the ether and rested his elbows on the cushioned arodfather, Mollie"

"I don’t think so"

"Oh, but I am Your father and I were the closest of friends"

"Then how come I’ve never heard of you before?" Molly asked

Byrne looked to the fire; e "There are s your father never told you"

"Yeah? Maybe that’s because I was six years old and I didn’t need to know theue "No, no, no, Mollie Things he couldn’t tell you"

Molly thought about the elusiveness of her mom--the one trapped in Parsona’s nav computer--but she refused to let this creep trip her up or cast doubts This had to be the man her mother wanted her memories kept from

"You don’t scare me, and I don’t believe your lies," she said

He spread his arms; the skin above his eyes rose in surprise, or amusement--it was difficult to tell without hair on his brow

"Scared? I’ to scare you--"

"Whatever Just so you know, odfather tried to mess with me and I killed him"

"Ah, yes Lucin I heard about that" He shook his head again "Shaotten to the old bastard first"

"Yeah?" Molly challenged "Why? What did you ith him? What do you want from my mother? Why are you even here?"

He leaned closer, his voice lowered to the level of the crackling flames "Why, Mollie, I’m simply here to collect what’s mine"