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He sat back for acould have happened But he was pretty sure he was on the ree with hi the household--Beth, Ashley and Frazier--left those ere closest to the household He knew Ashley, and if he hadn’t known her, he’d still know that no one could have acted the terror she had shohen he had come upon her Frazier couldn’t have pulled if off physically Beth had no interest in the family; she hadn’t even really understood the history behind as going on, and she didn’t have the strength tohe could find on her on the coe a long-ago ancestor Her fa the war So, using logic, it seemed to be down to Griffin Grant, Cliff Boudreaux, Ramsay Clayton, Hank Trebly, Toby Keaton or, less likely but still possible, Dr Benjamin Austin or the sutler, John Martin He put the last two at the end of the list Concentration first--Ramsay Clayton and Cliff Boudreaux

How in hell to prove that it wasn’t Cliff?

He looked at the phone on the desk and noted that there was a button to call directly to the stables

Cliff answered quickly "Yes?"

"Cliff, I’ to be honest I want to eli to let a forensics teao over your apartment and car?"

There was silence, dead silence, on the other end

Then Cliff answered hiht and hard "Whatever it takes, whatever it takes Bring it on,up, his eyes on the desk phone, Jake felt that soht in his throat

It ht have been Ashley--Ashley in her attire for the draal Plantation

But it wasn’t

It was the woman he had seen in Jackson Square in New Orleans before he had even known that he was going to be coal He could see the door through her misty form, but he could also see her face clearly It wasn’t as if he could really hear her voice, and yet he could; it was inside his head

"Coot about Detective Mack Colby and the call he had intended to host out of the office and through the house

And on out to the stables

Cliff was there, sweeping hay from the slab of concrete in front of his door He looked up at Jake with guarded eyes

"Are you doing the search?" Cliff asked him

Jake felt about two feet tall He had known Cliff for years; he could remember many more occasions with the man than what he had mentioned to Ashley Cliff had patiently corrected hi and the plantation itself dozens of tiator season together, and Cliff had taught him that even if the creatures were predators, they had their place in life They had to be hunted to control the population, but they didn’t deserve to be tortured because ood shot between the eyes That was the way to kill a gator

He had taught hiht with that of the horse he was riding, how to sit a jumper and how to calht hiht Cliff how to hold a cue and shoot a break that could nearly clear the table

"No, Cliff, honestly, it’s because I want you cleared I don’t want anyone who doesn’t know you the way I do not knowing that they can trust you," Jake said

Cliff studied hio after Ashley?" he asked "You ask host of Eal had disappeared when he’d reached the stables

But now he knehy he was here

"Where is Ashley?" he asked

"Just tenher mare out for a ride Said she needed to clear her head, and a ride around the property always did that for her I was going to let her have a few ht about her being alone"

"Hell, no!" Jake said "What horse can I take?"

"If you head to the bayou, you’ll find a concrete marker That’s where Emma had Harold Boudreaux buried," Marshall had told Ashley "But don’t go now, young woman Show some sense of self-preservation There’s soal Plantation, and you are the last of the Donegal faal!" she told hial"