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I went up to uess was the asse around for a hot lunch With luck, I could slip down the outside stairs and reach one I washed h my hair I had my jacket over my arms and a hand on the doorknob when soht Shales Maybe he’d gotten the okay to talk toin the corridor "I hope you don’t ht you’d probably come up here to your room I didn’t have an opportunity to introduce myself I’m Robert Haws of the Floral Reach Baptist Church"

"Hi, how are you?"

"I’ o She suggested you ht"

"How nice," I said "Actually, I’ht, but I appreciate the invitation" I’ the warm, folksy tone they all used with one another

Like his wife, Reverend Haws appeared to be in his fifties, but aging better than she was, I thought He was round-faced, handsome in a Goody-Two-Shoes sort of way: bifocals ire fraray, cut full (with just the faintest suggestion of styling len plaid and a black shirt with a clerical collar that seemed an affectation for a Protestant I didn’t think Baptists wore things like that He had all the easy char end of pious coave it a pat,lots of Christian eye contact "I understand you’re from Santa Teresa I wonder if you know Millard Alston froate He and I were seo that’s been"

I extractedpleasantly "The name doesn’t sound familiar Of course, I don’t have much occasion to be out in that direction"

"What’s your congregation? I hope you’re not going to tell h, just to shohat a wacky sense of humor he had

"Not at all," I said

He peered toward the roo with you?"

"Uh, no Actually he’s not" I glanced at olly" rather stuck in my throat, but it didn’t seem to bother hi himself "I hate to see you run off so soon If you’re in Floral Beach come Sunday, maybe you can make it to the eleven-o’clock service and then join us for lunch June doesn’t cook any you as our guest at the Apple Faree I wish I could, but I’m not sure I’ll be here for the weekend Maybe another tial to pin down," he said His uess he was unaccusto his unctuous overtures rebuffed

"I sure am," I said I put on my jacket as I moved out into the corridor Reverend Haws stepped aside, but he was still standing closer to me than I would have liked I pulled the door shut behindsure it was locked I walked toward the stairs and he followed me

"Sorry to be in such a rush, but I have an appointment" I’d cut the waret on your way, then" The last I saw of hi down at aze that contradicted his surface benevolence I startedslot until I’d seen hi to the Fowlers I didn’t like the idea of his being anywhere nearthe two-lane access road that connected Floral Beach to the highway, another mile due north I reached the entrance to the Eucalyptus Mineral Hot Springs and turned into the parking lot The brochure in the s had been discovered in the late 1800s by two s, a spa was built, serving as a therapeutic center for ailing Californians who arrived by train, alighting at the tiny station just across the road A staff of doctors and nurses attended the afflicted, offering cures that included mud baths, nostrums, herbal treatments, and hydroelectric therapy The facility flourished briefly and then fell into disuse until the 1930s, when the present hotel was constructed on the site A second incarnation occurred in the early seventies when spas becaain Now, in addition to the fifty or so hot tubs that dotted the hillside under the oak and eucalyptus trees, there were tennis courts, a heated pool, and aerobics classes available, along with a full prograa instruction, and nutritional counseling