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Finn stuck his head outside a little ht Gin would hog-tie hi him here so we could question him at our leisure "

Eva and Owen both shifted on their feet No one said anything The faint hurass rose up, but their high-pitched songs did little to ease the tension between us all

"Well," Finn drawled, "don't everyone speak up at once "

"You have no idea," I muttered "No idea at all "

I walked inside, down a hallway, and into the den in the back of the house Owen trailed right along behindinto all the roo at all the furniture that was stuffed inside Even though she'd been here before, there was always so to look at that she hadn't noticed before Fletcher had been a bit of a pack rat, and lots of odd dishes, interesting carvings, unusual sculptures, and other quirky knickknacks crowded into the rooms The old man had been dead for h s see part of Fletcher out ofI just couldn't bear to do yet

We reached the den, with its worn furniture, but instead of sitting down, Eva went over to the s were propped up, the runes of my family members - dead and otherwise A snowflake, an ivy vine, a pri to look closer at the fourth one, a neon pig

"I like the Pork Pit sign the best," she said "It makes me think of how I first met you in the restaurant "

I smiled at her "Me too, sweetheart "

The sign also re he'd taughtand letthoseon the here and now

"Y'allto fix us a snack "

Once again, nobody said anything Eva kept looking at the runes, while Owen sat down on the end of the plaid couch and turned on the television, staring at it without really seeing it I jerked my head at Finn, who followed me into the kitchen

Finn put the folder he'd been carrying down on the table, right next to his open laptop, then poured himself as probably his fifteenth cup of coffee of the day I started pulling things out of the cabinets, in thesweet, crispy, and crunchy, all at the sa al, aveht

Hoar, and more soon crowded onto the counter, and I filled a pan with oil and let it start war on the stove I coh, used my biscuit cutter to divide it up, and rolled out the sections into several, large, flat rounds A heaping scoop of apples went into the center of each piece of dough, which I then folded over, cri a half-moon-shaped pie

I repeated the process until I'd made a dozen pies Then, one by one, I dropped theht, fluffy, and golden brown When they were done, I slid the fried apple goodness onto a plate

"So lay it out for me," I finally said to Finn as I topped the pies off with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and a few drizzles of sourwood honey