Page 49 (1/2)

There on the screen was a long list of Googled sites, all offering to ship perfectly safe ephedra to anyone desperate and stupid enough to want it

‘Still,’ said Ar up ‘The ephedra alone wouldn’t do it Once the ephedra was in her body the potential was there, but theAn accessory The old Hadley house’ To everyone’s aht She was scared to death’

NINETEEN

Clara leaned back and reached for herIn front of her were the remains of breakfast Crumbs The plate looked so forlorn she popped a couple of slices of bread into the teepee toaster and closed the doors

She and Myrna had stayed with Agent Lacoste at the old Hadley house while she did whatever she needed to do Not nearly fast enough in their opinion Most of the time Clara had stood just inside the roos up to its chest, not unlike Madeleine, though smaller And with feathers Well, maybe not so much like Madeleine Still, there was a similarity They were both dead

But while Clara felt terrible about Madeleine, she carried no guilt Unlike this little creature She knew she’d helped kill it They’d all known there was a bird In fact, that hy they’d decided to use this particular roo it

Had she even tried? No Instead she’d been terrified the bird would attack out of the shadows Far fro to save the bird Clara had hated it Wanted it to die, or at least go away, or failing that attack someone else

And noas here Dead A baby A tiny, frightened robin, which probably fell down the chimney froain

Finally Agent Lacoste had been ready The three women had held hands and stared at the salt circle And each sent silent thoughts out to Madeleine While Agent Lacoste had seen only the grotesque shell, Clara and Myrna re Madeleine s in with those interested eyes The living Madeleine becaht of the bird, and apologized to it, and promised to do better next time

It was the most peaceful few moments in the old Hadley house Clara had ever spent Still, none of them protested when it was time to leave

Chief Inspector Gaent Lacoste flagged him down Myrna and Clara said hello then walked back to the loft While Myrna put the bacon back on, Clara called Peter to tell him where she was

‘Have you seen the paper?’ he asked