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Just as he was about to crawl back down the snowbank, Oliver was brought up short by the widening of the winter man’s eyes Frost stared in what see on that access road, and Oliver dragged himself upward several inches to have another look At first nothing looked different to him

Then he saw the fox

Kitsune darted along the access road at the base of the snowbank, doing her best to reil and Gav and the Before-and-After brothers At the back of the Cherokee, using the vehicle to hide herself, her fur rippled and flowed and she stood up The transformation from fox to woman was as simple as that and Oliver had to blink several tiure out what he had just seen and how it could be such a natural change One ed to an animal and the next it was a cloak draped upon a beautiful woil, who zipped his fly and started over to join the others, she ducked and reached into the back of the Jeep In a single swift un case over her shoulder and then she was darting for the snowbank, directly beneath the spot where Oliver and Frost lay in hidden observation

Gav had a sausage wrapped in a roll, dripping round as he went to take a bite It was inches fro the snowbank with such delicate agility that she seeil, she justyour gun! She’s got your gun!"

He had only gotten out the first feords as he stood, pointing at the snowbank, when the others caught sight of Kitsune as well Mr Before spotted Oliver and their eyes rinned

Then he was scra down the snowbank with Frost beside hi so swiftly that she dashed past theht with pleasure The hunters were shouting threats and curses after the up the snowbank A beer bottle sailed through the branches of the tree to Oliver’s right and then struck another, showering broken glass down into the snow

"Do youthinkan, hardly able to catch his breath as heabreast of Frost but unable to catch up with the fox-woman

"Yes," the winter ether as they ran "It’s tione"

The hipped up around the the snow into a ray and the sun blotted out and the shouts of the hunters were muffled Kitsune paused just ahead as she realized as happening They caught up to her and she s those too-sharp teeth, just before the driven snohited out all of their surroundings The forest was entirely gone

And Oliver felt the world shift

CHAPTER 8

The Whitney family lived in a Federal Colonial that had been built in the last decade of the eighteenth century for a sea captain by the nae Jensen The seae to Ruth Anne Landry, twenty-year-old daughter of the town’s only baker Her father had no dowry to speak of, but with a wife as fair as Ruth Anne, Captain Jensen felt he had all that he could ever have asked for

The house had been built for her over the course of an entire year, painstakingly constructed to ht to be put together with at least as end held that he had never slept a single night in his own bed, that his last voyage ended in a storm at sea on the very same day that the builders declared the house complete and announced to Mrs Jensen, now heavy with child, that she could begin to decorate andhome at her pleasure

This was not precisely true In fact, the captain had overseen the furnishing of his home and had spent several weeks there in hison that fateful voyage The truth was less colorful but no less tragic than the legend

On Monday afternoon, a s fuse, Ted Halliwell sat in the parlor of the Captain Jensen House-- as the plaque beside the front door proclaimed it-- and listened to Marjorie Whitney tell the history of her ho possible to postpone thewith her daughter, Julianna The young woman Oliver Bascombe had left at the altar

"That’s a wonderful story, Mrs Whitney Yousurrounded by so much history here" Halliwell sipped his tea, which tasted slightly of alerly set the cup down "But I really do need to speak with Julianna Do you think she’ll be er?"

From the moment he had arrived, Marjorie Whitney had evinced a sort of brittle pleasantry Now there was a crack in it, no different, he iined, than a crack in the china cup

"She went to the health club a while ago, as I told you, Deputy--"

"Detective, actually"

The woht down" Her nostrils flared as she took a breath and seemed to steady herself "Oh, I’ve been remiss I think I et soht This is perfect," Halliwell told her

"It’s no trouble at all," Mrs Whitney replied, and then she was up and fleeing the rooh she meant never to return And perhaps that was true

Halliwell took a second sip of his bitter tea, mainly out of politeness, and then let it sit He clasped his hands on top of his knees and tried not to get too comfortable on the floral-patterned love seat where Mrs Whitney had steered hiet up, to wander around the roo if she ever did come back with those butter cookies Despite his deht of cookies made his stomach rumble and he had to try to remember the last time he had eaten

Several an to feel trapped on the love seat He stared at his teacup and the tray that Mrs Whitney had set out with a pot, cups and saucers, milk and lear bowl When he found hiet up

He had just risen to his feet when Julianna entered the room

"Detective Halliwell? Sorry to have kept you waiting"

"I understand I was a bit earlier than we’d agreed I appreciate you taking the time toti, or even to offer his condolences, before they’d had a chance to build up to it

Julianna was an attractive woman with fine, delicate features that seemed out of place It took Halliwell a ave that iured her for five foot nine at least, probably taller, and her elegant features and stylishly cut auburn hair belied her foruely aware that she worked at Bascoht that if she was a lawyer, she’d be the center of attention in any courtroom

"It’s no trouble at all," she said The precise words her mother had used minutes before But just as with her mother, it was a lie He could see the pain in her eyes, the regret and grief "I’ve known Mr Bascoine--"