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"Absolutely What’s that, four h"

I took ashoes and socks The socks I stuffed inle in back I wasn’t crazy about the persistent buh the soft sand, but it was better than walking fully shod

She was alreadyif I hadn’t been faithful toroutine On the ocean, waves broke a dozen yards out, and once we reached the hard pack, the water rushed forward in an icy flurry, covering our feet with foaiving You can usually spot a few hardy souls swi in its depths, but no one had braved it that day Two sailboats tacked toward the islands and a speedboat, at full throttle, paralleled the shoreline, keeping a para-sailor aloft, attached by a towrope scarcely visible against the pale blue sky Hang gliding and parasailing are second and third down on s I never want to do in life The first is have another tetanus shot

Deborah said, "I understand this whole business originated with Michael Sutton What’s the nature of your relationship?"

"I wouldn’t call it a relationship," I said "I o when he hiredwith his appearance in my office and his story about the two pirates he’d seen in the woods "They clai for buried treasure, but he noticed a bundle on the ground nearby A feeeks ago, he ca and the penny dropped Now he’s convinced he saw Mary Claire’s body wrapped for burial The only snag is when the police excavated the site, they found a dead dog According to the ID tag, his name was Ulf"

She seemed taken aback "Well, that’s bizarre I can assure you he wasn’t ours"

"I know I drove to Puerto and talked to the man ned him He said he’d taken Ulf to Dr McNally for hip dysplasia X-rays revealed a nasty tumor instead and the vet reco’s remains from a shed at the rear of the clinic and transported the body to your property, where they buried him"

The look she turned on me was perplexed "Pardon my skepticism, but it sounds like all of this is predicated on the notion that it was Mary Claire’s body he saw What makes you so sure? It seems like folly to operate on the idea when all you have is his word for it"

"Agreed I’m not even sure we could say we had his word on it Call it a hunch"

"Call it anything you like, it’s still odd If so and they had to dispose of her body, ould they bury her in our yard when Horton Ravine has acres of woods?"

"I’ve been asking myself the same question If we’re lucky we’ll find answers On the other hand, we may never know"

"There’s a certain irony in here somewhere I haven’t heard Michael’s name in years His parents, Kip and Annabelle, were our best friends"

I looked over at her with interest "Really Michael’s parents? When was this?"

"During that same period We nant with him They were the dearest people in the world I lost Annabelle, Kip, and Patrick in a span of two years"

"Avis told me your husband died in a plane crash," I said I was reluctant to bring up the subject of his death, but it see on had better be rooted in reality The fact that alking, with our attention directed outward, allowed aeye-to-eye over a cup of tea

"Some days I think I’m reconciled, that I’ve dealt with the pain and it’s over and done Other days the grief is just as fresh as it was the first moment I heard"

"What were the circu toward her ree in social work at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee This was the fall of 1985 She and Patrick drove out in her car, with all her stuff in a four-by-eight cargo trailer His plan was to get her settled and then fly on to Atlanta for a business one with him, but it made more sense for me to tend the hoether The Midwest Express flight to Atlanta went down after takeoff The right engine failed and then a whole series of things went haywire I was here in California without any intuition whatever It’s hard to realize your life can change so radically with no warning at all When Rain phoned, she couldn’t even speak I thought it was a crank call and nearly hung up on her"