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"That’s just right," he said easily "Thank you" He waited until she’d poured herself a bit, then gave her a salute "I need this You scared the bejesus out of me Nice to meet you, Susan St John"

"And you, Mr Quinlan Please call ht--Sally After all our screams and shouts, why not call me James?"

"I don’t know you, even if I did screaive up before I’d let you attack irl at boarding school taught h and he didn’t want a wuss for a sister so he taught her all sorts of self-defense tricks"

He found hi down at her hands They were as thin and pale as the rest of her She said, "I never tried it before--seriously, I mean Well, I did, several times, but I didn’t have a chance There were tooabout? He said, "It worked I wanted to die In fact, I’ll be hobbled over for the next couple of days I’ her What to do? It had see here, facing her, seeing her in the flesh as a person and not just as his key to the s weren’t so clear anys weren’t clear "Tell me about your father"

She didn’t say anything, just shook her head

"Listen to me, Sally He’s dead Your damned father is dead That couldn’t have been him on the phone Thatof his voice or a person who couldinto the brandy

"Obviously sohten you"

She looked up at him then, and remarkably, she smiled It was a lovely s back at her "That someone succeeded admirably," she said "I’m scared out of my mind I’m sorry I attacked you"

"I would have attacked h the front door like that"

"I don’t know if the call was long distance If it was long distance, then I’ve got some time to decide what to do" She paused, then stiffened She didn’t ood fifteen feet away from him "You knoho I am, don’t you? I didn’t realize it before, but you know"

"Yes, I know"

"How?"

"I saw your photo on TV, also soe of you with your father and your mother"

"Amabel assures me that no one in The Cove will realize who I am She says no one besides her has a TV except for Thelma Nettro, who’s older than dust"

"You don’t have to worry that I’ll shout it around In fact, I promise to keep it to myself I was in the World’s Greatest Ice Cream Shop when I met your aunt A Sherry VorheesYour aunt didn’t say a word about who you were" Lying was an art, he thought, watching her assess his words The trick was always to lean as much as possible toward the exact truth It was a trick some of the town’s citizens could benefit frolass Her foot was tapping on the linoleuave hi and underlaid with so much fear he fancied he could s while she straightened the napkins that had dumped onto the table, "You na line"

She was sitting across froht it would be so easy When would he learn that people were never what they seemed? That smile of hers onderful He wanted to feed her

She said suddenly, "The strangest thing happened the first night I was here, just two nights ago I woke up in the ht at the sound of a person’s cry It was a person, I knoas I went into the hall upstairs toto Aain I kneas froined it It’s true that I’d had a horrible nightmare, a vivid memory in the form of a dream, actually, but the screams pulled me out of the dream I know that I’m sure of it Anyway, I went back to bed, but I know I heard Amabel leave the house after that You’re a private detective What do you make of that?"