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"I’lanced past Abby at Malachi and slad you’re here--all of you For Abby"

"Thank you, Macy," Malachi said "By the way, do you remember much about the day before Gus’s funeral?"

"Uns up, that the restaurant would be closed the next day There was an announcement made at the service that the mourners elcome to join us here after, and anted to limit it to the people who’d known Gus well, not have casual tourists wandering in"

She see

"I’ left the restaurant," he said "Do you reht’ve left soon after she did? How about our barflies?"

Macy looked at hihtly "Helen’s been found Abby saved her"

"Yes, but another young woive usyou can help us" He leaned on the host stand,way about hiht More so, perhaps, because he had no idea

"I’d love to help you!" Macy said "I wasn’t down here the whole ti back and forth, between the restaurant and supply room And ere so distracted that day, too Butoh, I think both Aldous and Bootsie left in the early afternoon And wait! Yes, I know Dirk left even before they did because he took his ship out He worked the Black Swan’sand afternoon shifts because he kneouldn’t do either one the next day ButI could be off onelse?"

Macy shook her head "No, I was here Later Sullivan went up to do an inventory to get our orders in, since we knew everyone would be preoccupied the next day More than that, I can’t say"

"You’ve been very helpful, Macy," Malachi told her "Thank you"

"If there’s ever anything I can do" Macy’s voice trailed off

Malachi thanked her again and turned to leave; Abby followed They walked the few blocks to Colonial Park Cemetery

That day, Abby let herself really look around the ceilant as ever on their bench A young woown seerinning soldier stood behind a group of tourists; he blew on a girl’s neck and his grin broadened when she spun around, looking for the prankster Across the way, hovering by one of thewo a casual walk through the stones

Malachi, she thought, noticed them all He was, however, fixated on the older couple

"Good , young sir," thepolitely

"We wanted to let you know that Abby has written the necessary people about your son’s gravestone We are in the process of getting the situation rectified," Malachi told him

"We thank you sincerely" The reat dishonor will be set right"

The woman rose, as well She looked at them, and Abby could almost believe there were real tears in her eyes

But she wasn’t there Except as

Heart, soul, spirit?

"I wish I could set every situation right" Abby decided not to add that, through the years, gravestones hadn’t just been defaced, soether She wanted to tell the The dead remained alive in their loved one’s ," Malachi said "Right down the street, in the area you kindly pointed out toelse?"

"You looked inside, not in the alley?" the o back," Malachi said "We’ll keep looking Inside and out"

"There was a ti after the war--the war that took our son--when the dead were often taken beneath the ground The dead and dying The yellow feverthey did everything they could to fight it And when it was over, I believe they tried to hide the epidehtfully "We were the South Our economy was cotton--and the river The cotton plantations, of course, depended on slaves But there were those who hated slavery Early on before the other war, I heard they began to use so We, my wife and I, we closed our eyes I was a merchant here, and I kne the plantations worked, butinIf I remember" He looked at his wife "If I re down the streets Disappearing into the alley, into the darkness"

"Thank you," Malachi went to shake the hostly hand touch Malachi’s in return

She lowered her head, sht he ard with people He wasn’t He was very good

With the living and the dead

"Thank you," Abby echoed She and Malachi hurried across the ceroups and couples, parents and children

They walked back toward the Wulf and Whistle The buildings on the street were flush with one another; space here was at a premium But a narrow alley stretched between streets, an alley that was no longer passable by any kind of conveyance A tree that had taken root blocked it at the sidewalk Malachi and Abby crawled over the roots that sprouted through the concrete, and they stood in the narrow alley behind the Wulf and Whistle

"Who knows exactly as going on when," Malachi"But there was a tunnel in the Wulf and Whistle Presu the sick and the dead down to various tunnels and underground rooround Railroad became active, they reopened the tunnels After the war--the Civil War, this time--the local owners, aware of ent on at the ceht have hurried and covered up their secrets"

"But ent down into the Wulf and Whistle You tapped all the walls in the tunnel there yourself"