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Is fear, he wondered, the only emotion that will thrive in this brave neorld we’re y fries, and an icy bottle of Dos Equis in the deserted coffee shop at Cove Lodge, Tessa Lockland returned to her room, propped herself up in bed with pillows, and called her o Marion answered the phone on the first ring, and Tessa said, "Hi, Mom"

"Where are you, Teejay?"

As a kid, Tessa could never decide whether she wanted to be called by her first name or her middle, Jane, so her mother always called her by her initials, as if that were a nae," Tessa said

"Is it nice?"

"It’s the best I could find This isn’t a town that worries about having first-rate tourist facilities If it didn’t have such a spectacular view, Cove Lodge is one of those places that would be able to survive only by showing closed-circuit pnrooms by the hour"

"Is it clean?"

"Reasonably"

"If it wasn’t clean, I’d insist you ht now"

"Mo a film, I don’t always have luxury accommodations, you know When I did that documentary on the Miskito Indians in Central America, I went on hunts with them and slept in the mud"

"Teejay, dear, you s sleep in the hed it or camped out, but never that you slept in the mud Even unpleasant experiences can be hile if one keeps one’s sense of dignity and style"

"Yes, Moreat, but it’s better than sleeping in theout," Tessa said

Both were silent a moment Then Marion said, "Daot a broken leg"

"I should have gone to Moonlight Cove as soon as I heard they’d found poor Janice If I’d been there, they wouldn’t have cremated the body By God, they wouldn’t! I’d have stopped that, and I’d have arranged another autopsy by trustworthy authorities, and now there’d be no need for you to get involved I’ry with hed

"Mo three days before Janice’s body was even found You can’t travel easily now, and you couldn’t travel easily then, either It’s not your fault"

"There was a ti couldn’t have stopped me"

"You’re not twenty any more, Mom"

"Yes, I know, I’m old," Marion said miserably

"Sometimes I think about how old I am, and it’s scary"

"You’re only sixty-four, you look not a day past fifty, and you broke your leg skydiving, for God’s sake, so you’re not going to get any pity from me"

"Coood daughter If you caughtyou with pity, you’d kick hter’s ass now and then is one of the pleasures of a mother’s later life, Teejay Damn, where did that tree co for thirty years, and I’ve never landed in a tree before, and I swear it wasn’t there when I looked down on the final approach to pick h a certain amount of the Lockland family’s unshakable optimism and spirited approach to life cae measure of it--with a full ene pool

Tessa said, "Tonight, just after I got here, I went down to the beach where they found her"

"This must be awful for you, Teejay"

"I can handle it"

When Janice died, Tessa had been traveling in rural regions of Afghanistan, researching the effects of genocidal war on the Afghan people and culture, intending to script a docuet word of Janice’s death to Tessa until teeks after the body washed upon the shore of Moonlight Cove Five days ago, on October 8, she had flown out of Afghanistan with a sense of having failed her sister souilt was at least as heavy as her mother’s, but what she said was true: She could handle it

"You were right, Mom The official version stinks"

"What’ve you learned?"

"Nothing yet But I stood right there on the sand, where she was supposed to have taken the Valium, where she set out on her last shere they found her two days later, and I knew their whole story was garbage I feel it into find out what really happened"

"You’ve got to be careful, dear"

"I will"

"If Janice was … murdered--"

"I’ll be okay"

"And if, as we suspect, the police up there can’t be trusted …"

"Mom, I’erous-looking as a Disney chipainst my looks to be taken seriously Wo sister, and et h the exterior and realize I’ve got a brain that is, I strongly believe, bigger than that of a gnat; usually they have to know me a while So I’ll just use ainst it No one here will see me as a threat"

"You’ll stay in touch?"

"Of course"

"If you feel you’re in danger, just leave, get out"

"I’ll be all right"

"Proerous," Marion persisted