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"You called Logan He ht coet you, and you won’t get the diaan won’t let you die He’ll co, why don’t you see if you can conjure up Rose Langley for ive it away Whatever cheap little device Sandy Holly had bought, it was doing the job No, it hadn’t been the voice that had given her away

It had been the sketches There’d been so about the eyes, and when they’d spoken, he’d suddenly seen her face, and seen it with the beard, thekind of sense

Who knew the Longhorn better?

And who’d been around when the inn was changing hands?

He kept driving, trying to determine his course of action So far, Sandy probably didn’t realize that he knew about the basement--and the tunnel, supposedly walled up, that led to the toolshed He was alet Kelsey down there And Kelsey was tough and smart, but ould expect the enemy to be a friend? A friend who seeht, Sandy wasn’t working alone

If he called in the troops, if they came en masse, they’d be able to corral Sandy Holly and her partner

But Kelsey would die

He pulled onto the side of the road, and for a h him was so intense he couldn’t bear it Then he breathed, slowly and deeply, and considered what they’d learned about the ht he knew the truth He kept breathing and put his plan into action

He pulled back onto the road and drove to the Longhorn

"Is he here yet?" Sandy asked

Kelsey had heard the false wall between the basement and the cellar beneath it slide open, but she couldn’t twist around to see who’d conize

"No, not yet I’er needs to coer this takes…"

"Don’t worry about it We’ve kept captives down here for days e’ve had to"

"They don’t ? Did we really have to call the Ranger?"

"Yes One of them’s the real deal I know that for a fact," Sandy said "And I’m pretty sure the other is, too I want insurance It’s ti off; Kelsey had gotten to the patch quickly enough But with both of them down there--Sandy and her partner--she didn’t really stand a chance She was afraid to try er"

"Yeah, yeah Shewhere Kelsey lay, "or she would’ve called thele "I can call thehost?"

At last he stepped around in front of her She wasn’t surprised It had all been an act frohorn Saloon

"Yeah, let’s play ghost," he --or the dead

"Rose, Rose? Please I know you’re usually in the house But can you come here? Now? Please, Rose, these people want to talk to you about the diamond"

There was no way on earth that Kelsey could have known she was perforan had parked the car down the street and around the corner He’d coht before So far, easy Too easy

But what kind of shape was Kelsey in? How did he get to her without alerting the others? He’d studied the blueprints up and down and inside out, and there was no entrance other than the baseh the false floor of the toolshed

So, drop in, guns blazing? Would they be able to kill Kelsey that fast? She’d be drugged; she wouldn’t be capable of defending herself They’d surely have taken her Glock by now

As he reached the house, he saw the birds He’d never seen so many flocked in one place before, not even that day at his house

"Hey, help an was afraid of ate He politely asked the birds to shift so he could hop over the fence He approached the shed from the back

And then he paused The birds flew madly before him as he drew closer to the shed They were like a cloud of bees, they moved so quickly

And then…

The movement ceased, and the birds took shape, and there in the dusk and the ley