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She shifted, as if she was completely comfortable on her makeshift bed on the floor She sers--and she had it off She noticed, however, that down here, there were more tools and lock boxes, and she was pretty sure the lock boxes were filled with the drugs that had been used on the women

Her captor hunkered down beside her "I know you can see ghosts, Kelsey I know you can talk to the stuff, and peopleYou’d turn your visions or whatever they were into the hosts," Kelsey said, looking into Sandy Holly’s eyes and wondering how she could have missed the fact that her dear friend, her hostess, the woman she’d known for so host of Rose Langley, haven’t you, Kelsey?" Sandy said

She was so weak Her led fro with garden hoes and edgers All Sandy had to do was reach up and grab the machete One strike and--

She forced herself to stare into Sandy’s eyes and giggle "I thought you liked Jeff Chasson Instead, you cut his balls off"

"I didn’t cut his balls off!"

"Well, since he’s dead, it doesn’t reallyfor Chasson But he was a snoop, so I was trying to distract hi too much Kelsey, listen, I don’t really want to kill you You’re ive you a little dose and leave you here They’ll find you sooner or later All I want is the diamond, Kelsey"

"Why?"

Sandy sounded impatient "I just do! I just hat it can buy I want the power it can give ed to royalty, and it would mean a whole new life I’ve heard about it since I was a kid When ine it--I almost felt like I could touch it I’ve watched this place I’ve worked so hard to get this place so I could have the diaht!"

"What aley had that diamond when she died She hid it soley--you’ve probably already done it So get her to tell you where the diamond is I’ve already disappeared You won’t reive you a bit more, and the world will think I was the killer’s last victi she could keep it up, but Kelsey decided to stick with the stupid smile "Why did you invite a US Marshal to stay with you when you were killing people? Wasn’t that kind of…dumb?"

"I wanted you here All the other idiots who claireat psychics were useless I really just stumbled on Sierra Monte--and her belief that she was a psychic and could find the diamond After that…after Sierra, I was sure there was a real psychic out there sohost and ask her But, as you kno," she added dryly, "I’ve been trying for a while I figured I’d get to you eventually And then I eavesdropped on you and Logan Raintree Everyone in Texas knows about him and what happened to his wife" She patted Kelsey’s head "So, you find it, he finds it--I don’t care I just want it"

"You’re good," Kelsey said "So good… But I’ around here? Had you contacted her?"

"Actually, no I didn’t kill her I heard about her from Ricky and I did contact her, yes She had so a psychic But that was one messed-up woman She had a hard tiht’ve been for real, who can tell? I’h, that she looked at that water and just threw herself in Drowned herself I never had a chance to really get to know her--or to find out if she could locate the diaood I didn’t let iveSierra Monte out of the wall That bitch toldto keep it I was livid That night was a o after her, and she kept running, and I had to keep stabbing her…Thank God there were drunkards down in the bar, a bunch of losers who couldn’t hear an air-raid siren if it went off right next to theure out what to do with the body So I walled it up Everything was all repainted later, after the room was cleaned, and no one was any the wiser Anyhen I was done, I went out theand down the tree When they told me about it, I cried, Kelsey I cried real tears I kept crying whenever I checked on the clean-up crew"

"What about the smell?"

"I used cinnamon bark--not just cinnamon, it has to be cinnamon bark--and spices I put it inside the wall And, of course, I ht when I did my little home repair Remember history? How people used potpourri sachets to hide smells? Cinnamon was the base for those, and believe you me, I had to think of that quickly after she wound up dead! She was , you see"

"Like I said, Sandy, you’re good"

"I got good, that’s for sure I knew the bodies would be discovered at so fa Oh, Kelsey, you’d be stunned at how naive women are! I took a course on what to watch out for, but those little fools are the ones who really should have taken it They were so gullible!"

"Why did you kill the the dia voice, as if Kelsey should have undertood this

"So you killed Jeff Chasson for getting too close to the truth" Kelsey made an effort to keep her toneher lips

"There’s more to it"

"He was a prick!" Sandy leaned closer to her "Do you knohat he had the audacity to say to led "Well, pretty soon, unless you get et to know you The two of you can haunt San Antonio happily together Oh, oh…it’ll be a threesoer shows up--eta voice sheto kill us, anyway!"

"I really don’t want to," Sandy said earnestly "I mean that I just do what needs to be done"

"Dress up like a hairy frontiersman?" Kelsey asked

"That was fun I wore a costume and did the computer invites at the internet café But down at the plaza? That wasn’t me" She moved her lips close to Kelsey’s ear, and Kelsey prayed she wouldn’t notice that the patch was gone "That was es this kind of operation alone You knohat? He’s a great actor But he’s going to die tonight, too The diamond is mine" She moved away suddenly "I want that diamond, Kelsey And I want it now"