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Abby thought about stopping her; she didn’t

As she stared at one of the screens, she gasped She’d been looking at the dining rooe of Blue Anderson But as she watched, Blue seerate, then slipped through

Abby ju later by then There were a few diners but none near the i the e roorate, she fell to her knees and opened the co closed She’d rate open, she caught hold of the sides and slid down, hopping the last foot It was dark in the tunnel but she’d co chances

She shone the light over the tunnel

There was soher

For a moment, it was as if she saw Blue in the flesh, he was that solid and real to her He see color

"Blue" She whispered his name

He looked at her, then turned and walked toward the river Then he paused and looked back He see for her to follow

She did

The tunnel twisted and meandered and came to an end near the Savannah River At one time, the entrance had been even closer to the river, but now it opened onto grass and parkland The original hatch had been welded shut, but ancient, metal, ladderlike steps led up to the newer hatch

She was in the area where she’d found Gus

Abby tried not to re he was dead

Detero, it had been set over the tunnel for public safety It was supposed to be sealed At first, she thought it was, that it wouldn’t give, wouldn’t budge

Then, to her amazement, it did

She pushed hard and hoisted herself out She heard the lap of water against the supporting wall

She hurried over to the wall, staring at the river

She could see so in the darkness of the water

So else She kicked off her shoes and reed into the Savannah River

8

Leaving the onslayer The historic district of Savannah was beautiful, even by night Great oaks dripped moss onto streets where the architecture whispered of the past Flowers bloohts lay gently all around

When he’d parked, he wasn’t ready to go in

He sat re all the tie ability to talk to the dead In his generation, it had been his and his alone Zachary had told hirandmother had been able to talk to spirits and she’d explained to him that it was just like sound Some folks could siet into their field of vision

He’d quickly learned not to talk about it But when he’d seen the dead and the dead had been able to help hierous situation--he’d had no recourse but to act And so people had thought he was psychic Friends had trusted him for whatever it was they believed he had Luckily, the jerks and idiots had left him alone, either scornful or intiotten lucky, being partnered with David Caswell Caswell could be a by-the-book cop, but he was also a big believer in "gut" reactions and in hunches Malachi had trusted in David’s intuition; in turn, David had trusted hio to help someone, especially after the summer of storms, when a deadfor rescue

The problem with this kind of "talent" was that you never knehen it would kick in And, of course, you couldn’t explain to the living that ghosts were like the living; they could only tell you about a situation if they’d been there at the ti Blue, for instance, could only point him to the killer if he kneho the killer was Blue are that the tunnel had been used recently He’d known Gus was in the tunnel and he had led Abby there But unless he’d actually seen the killer

Parking, Malachi started for the restaurant But as he approached it, he paused A few late-nighters alking toward the front door

They didn’t see the pirate standing there, the man in the frock coat with the rakish hat and pitch-black hair

Blue Anderson

But Malachi saw hi for him

He stood still but the pirate didn’t co no one atching fro whistle of the man’s voice on the air--or he heard it in his own mind, he was never sure

"The river Abby is at the river He went through this tunnelin the midst of the flurry over Gus I did not see hi And I saw the boatsaw the rowboat out When the rowboat is out, the bodies appear Abby is out there"

"Where, Blue, where?" Malachi asked anxiously Abby was a trained agent She kne to use a Glock and she surely had it with her