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She was strong; they fought for the gun

A shot went off and Mariah screaun from her but it eluded them both and landed several feet away But the woman had been shot--and he realized that Olivia had recovered her own gun and ed to fire off a round

Despite the fact that she was bleeding, Mariah strained to reach her weapon Yet she suddenly went still and Dustin struggled with her weight, trying to eneral had coun

"Not on this land!" he said "Not on this land Cruelty and murder will not happen, not on rasped the weapon and he threw Mariah off hi

Malachi burst into the ceeneral said

And he faded away The ghost of Marcus Danby grinned and saluted Dustin, then faded, too

Aaron, also, was gone Malachi had rushed to his cousin’s side, while Abby assessed Mariah’s injuries

Dustin turned quickly to reach Olivia She was hugging Malachi, but she pulled away and smiled tremulously at him

"You’d make a horrible reenactor," she said

"Yeah, I know I’m sorry You, uh, need to learn how to shoot," he told her

She nodded "I guess I do"

She was shaking, but she appeared to be all right She didn’t even seem traumatized "The others?" she asked

"Ambulances came pretty quickly to the Horse Faret the darts out of them?" he asked her

She nodded She started to take a step, but she wasn’t walking very well He stopped her, looked into her eyes and muttered, "Oh, the hell with it"

Then he swept her into his ar the shadows of the dead behind--and Malachi and Abby to deal with Mariah

Epilogue

Mariah Naughton proved to be full of surprises--and her last surprise was especially dramatic

She never reached a hospital, and she never explained her entire story They had to piece together what they could fro Mariah, and froet the DA to deal with her as leniently as possible

What happened in the end was because Mariah had no intention of leaving "her" land She had used a gun on Olivia, but she’d still had a supply of poisoned darts Frank Vine arrived at the ceed to use her poisons on herself--in a greater dose than she’d used on anyone else Frank radioed for a helicopter; it came, but Mariah was pronounced dead on arrival

Olivia tried to feel so for her She couldn’t She knew she should have sympathy for someone who’d lived with such a disturbed, tormented mind She worked constantly with people who had issues and probleers and

One day, she thought, she’d forgive Mariah But it wouldn’t be for a long time

The Horse Farm was a shambles Mariah had set out to destroy it and she’d done an effective job It would be hard to convince others of the good that had existed, now that Marcus, Aaron and Mariah were dead and Sandra Cheever was busy working out a plea bargain

But on Wednesday , when she sat with the Krewe members and her Horse Farm team in the office, she was determined

"We’re fired," Drew said dully "I understand"

"Of course," Sydney said

"No We’ll close our doors for about a week, but we’re actually in a sound financial situation Of course, we can’t use our reserves forever or we’ll be left with no choice but to move on"

"So e do?" Mason asked

She pointed a finger at hieous--yes, we all know that and you could probably have a future as an actor or ood therapist You’ll be our new director"

"You’re director," he said