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He shook his head "Look, Ashley, I knoe’re all kind of scared right now, soin the ht until they find whoever killed Charles!"

"She won’t be out alone again," Jake said firmly, in a voice that seemed to scrape all the way down her spine "It’s pitch-dark and chilly out here, and the h to rustle the woods theet on back now"

Toby clicked on his own high-beaain, they protected their eyes

"Toby!" Ashley said quickly

"Yes?"

"Were you under this tree a few o?" she asked

He looked at her and squinted "No Well, hell, I don’t think so I didn’t knohat the hell was out here--I wasto listen Why?"

"I--I thought I ht have seen you," she said

"Well, if you’d seen ," he told her indignantly "I’ down the trail They could follow the glow of his flashlight as he headed for the bayou

"What was that all about?" Jake asked Ashley

"I cliht so me I saw someone beneath me, and it scared the hell out ofout here?" Jake deht You shouldn’t have been, and you daain until the killer is found"

"And what if you brilliant people with your brilliant team never find the killer?" Ashley demanded

Jake didn’t answer Cliff did

"Then on’t be out here, period The plantation will go down, and the Donegal faarcane here, just like you see it beyond the ce at her; she could see that in the glow of the flashlight Cliff still held on the little copse where they stood

"We’ll find him We’ll find the killer," Jake said, and he turned away "Cory…and worse, she realized She was still feeling rejected, no ht have been--even if she had been the one to put a block on him years before

"I’ll ride with Cliff," she said

Cliff was startled, but he looked down at her with a shrug, sheathed his shotgun in his saddle and shifted the light in his hands to reach down for her

"Let’s hope Varina one out and had a heart attack!"

With Cliff’s strong grasp, she leapt up behind hih the dark, Jake h the woods to the house

Approaching the stables, they saw that Varina had indeedaround in the center of the stables as if she were teasing the horses ere still in their stalls

"I’ve got the horses," Cliff said gruffly "You get in the house, Ashley, before Frazier realizes that you’re not around anywhere"

She started toward the house Jake was right behind her She felt hi to stop her until she felt his hands on her shoulders

"What the hell were you really doing?" he deht--after a corpse is found in the cemetery"

She turned around and stared at him

"A murdered man!" he said with some force

"Look, this is my house I live here, and I don’t think I’m under suspicion--by anyone’s standards I’ll ride when I feel like riding!" she told him

She was startled when she suddenly saw him take a breath and smile

"What?" she demanded

"I’ll just talk to Frazier," he said and walked past her

"Da back to her