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He knew she’d been in a sanitarium, a very expensive posh little resort sanitarium in Maryland All very private But this? She’d been a prisoner? Drugged to her gills?

He looked at her for a long time Her smile faltered He just shook his head at her, cupped her face in his hand, and said, "Hoould you like to come back to Thelma’s place and share my tower room with me? I’ll take the sofa and you can have the bed I won’t make any moves on you, I swear We can’t just sit here for the rest of the night It’s daet sick"

"And then what?"

"We’ll think more about that toh, then we need to figure out who it could have been And I want to knohy you were in that place for sixher head even as he spoke He knew she regretted spilling it to him now After all, she didn’t know him, didn’t have a clue if she could trust him or not She said, "You know, I have another question Why did Martha answer Aood one, but the answer’s probably just as si next to the phone when it rang Don’t get paranoid, Sally"

He carried her duffel bag, his other hand under her ar, but it wasn’t bad, not a sprain, as she’d feared He didn’t want to haul her over to Doc Spiver’s Only the good Lord knehat that old ive her artificial respiration

He had a key to the front door of Thelhts were out They walked to his tower roo Theluest, who had co and had said that she was here to visit her daughter in the subdivision, but she’d alanted to stay here, in one of the tower rooms Thank God, she’d said, that there were two Which e house

He switched the bedside lamp on low only after he closed the venetian blinds "There It’s char, isn’t it? There’s no TV"

She wasn’t looking at hi as fast as a shot toward the door She knew she didn’t remotely love him anymore She was afraid She was in this man’s room, a man she didn’t know, athat she’d fallen for it without thought, without question Ja She was as nuts as they ca on the doorknob, trying to turn it, but the door didn’t open She realized the key was still in the lock She felt like a fool

He didn’t make any movement of any kind He didn’t even stretch out his hand to her He just said in his calht I know you’re scared Come now and sit over here We’ll talk I won’t hurt you I’ht, another da anywhere near her side were just about nil

She walked sloay froainst a small end table, and sat down heavily on the sofa It was chintz with pale-blue and creaether, just like Lady Macbeth, she thought She raised her face "I’m sorry"

"Don’t be dumb Noould you like to try to sleep or talk a while?"

She’d already told hi his comment that she was the sanest person he knew And he wanted to knohy she’d been in that place? God, she couldn’t bear that Thinking about it was tooabout it If she did, he’d know she was paranoid, delusional

"I’ he was in the shadows and so was she, and neither of theht be I still haven’t found out what happened to Harve and Marge Jensen, and you knohat? I’m not all that interested anymore Now, I called a friend at the FBI No, don’t look like you’re going to dive for the door again He’s a very good friend, and I just got some information from him" Liesto be better than the bad guy’s lies

"What’s his nah and low for you, but no sign as yet He said they’re convinced you saw soht of your father’s murder, that you probably saw the person who killed him, that it was probably your mother, and you ran to protect her If it wasn’t your mother, then it was someone else, or you