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"Yes"

"But David Yates and his friend claiton’s house," Sary with you? Is that why? David believed, you know, that you had mind control over him andthe acoustic guitar Jauitar was a modest piece of equipment, to be sure, but Jamie had been certain that it would s and listened in awe And then, of course, he wanted to play with it

But now he paused, frowning and concerned "I don’t understand I don’t understand what happened at all I had just gotten my tray I saw David Yates and I kneould try to knock it out ofat hiure out the best way to back away fro--and then he started beating hied me to stop! A bunch of his friends stared at him, and then at me, and then they came after me--and I ran I almost flew like a bird, I was so afraid The school was in an uproar, and the cops came, but the kids had to admit that I hadn’t touched him"

"You were never anywhere near him," Sam ently

Malachi looked at Jaht have been the one considered to be mad "Me? Threaten him? Never Dr Jamie, sir, look at me And look at David Yates He could rip me to shreds in a , and I know, God help me, that you turn the other cheek, but…no No I never threatened David Yates"

"Was he acting?" Saers at the time, all about fourteen Still very impressionable If they heard talk around town about Malachi’s faht believe what they heard

"No, sir I don’t believe he was acting He aluys like David aren’t supposed to cry, I don’t think," Malachi said He paused, looking at the guitar again, forgetting Sam and Jamie for adoesn’t ease the pain when you lose so that happens, and you can’t really stop it"

"It’s okay, Malachi," Jamie said "President Lincoln was known to cry He couldn’t show tears to the country, but he cried when he lost his children, and he cried when he knein the war Men do cry"

Malachi nodded "Yes, sir," he said softly

Sam knew that he had to find out h he wasn’t afraid of threats, he wasn’t going to lose a case over his own oing to have to depend on her

He looked at Jaave Malachi a war him that they’d return

Malachi shook Sauitar even as the door closed behind theet back to Salem," Sam told him "Have you talked to Jenna?"

"No Do you want me to call her?"

Saer "We’re headed back We can see if she wants to meet us somewhere for dinner"

Jamie pulled out his cell and dialed Sa," he said

"Oh, well, we can call again on the way," Sam said He didn’t knohy, but the missed callfar too fast until Jamie said, "Salem has been there hundreds of years--I think it ait for us And Massachusetts, as you should know, can be fierce on speeding tickets"

"Try Jenna again," Saht that, when she didn’t answer a second time, even Jaht of a speeding ticket

Hitting the pedestrian area again, Jennaiood mood as they tried to entice her to join them Since one was in a clown outfit, she tried to escape by being equally jocular while assuring the, she hurried around and up the hill toward the cemetery

She looked at her phone and realized she had missed a call Ja ho and the gate was due to be locked She passed the graves, and tried not to note the air of history that hung there, that whisper of darkness that see before they caates, but she wandered into the ceraves, aware of those around her, and respecting theraves of little children, and she felt the pain of long-gone parents, laying their tiny babes to rest

She walked along the stone wall to the rear of the cemetery and was startled to see a rim

"The devil! The horned devil--he is real, and he is co for you!" he warned her

She blinked, not sure if she was seeing the past or the present, the ie had become so very real and solid

And then she turned

In the place where a huge oak had grown right through the stones of the deceased, she saw so Shadow

Not shadow It was far darker than the hazy figures of the dead

It was real