Page 32 (1/2)

Whitney sht that she and Jake really were just friends Caring friends, but no more And it was easy to understand Whitney was impossible not to like

"I’ll roll so," Whitney said

She hit a button on her remote and directed Ashley to watch the top screen She did so The screen captured the area between the stables and the cemetery

Shadows seemed to undulate on the screen

"What is it?" Ashley asked her

"The past?" Whitney queried in return "It’s hard to say Skeptics would swear that you’re seeing movement because of clouds and the hosts" Whitney looked at her; she wasn’t joking "It seey fro in battle Sos are repetitious--it’s just the energy, running in the saain Then, of course, there’s what they call an intelligent, or active, haunting That refers to a ghost or ghosts who still have their wits about them And they don’t repeat an action over and over They move about and watch the world"

"Oh," Ashley said si do you know best? I have a feeling about you You’re like Angela--you just don’t know it yet"

"Pardon?"

"Everyone is afraid at first," Whitney told her

"Afraid?"

"Of ghosts, of course," Whitney said

Ashley just stared at her

Whitney continued "The thing is, most of the time, they just want to help They’ve made their mistakes They want to keep others--especially their descendants--fro the sahosts, in h, that the ghosts very much want to er, and they want to preserve Donegal Plantation, too, because it carries an important lesson The place is all about the path that we’ve taken as A us don’t want to repeat , cruelty to our fellows or war"

"I believe we do a good job with education here," Ashley said She realized that her voice sounded raspy She took a long s of her coffee, afraid to say anything else

Whitney sed "Anyway, that’s what I believe," she said softly Then she added, "Hey, that was great last night--the ether…before," Ashley said

"That was obvious You’re really good together," Whitney said "In many ways" She set the remote down, stood and stretched "Hey, want to introduce et to ride I’d love to h--the place is surrounded by cops at this ela is here She e back when she was a cop"

"It’s hard to believe Angela was a cop," Ashley said

"That’s like a fairy-tale princess in a patrol car, huh? But, hey, even Disney princesses are toughening up these days We’re all capable of ht?"

"So I like to believe," Ashley said "Is it all right to leave the screens unattended?"

Whitney nodded "Everything is taping" She hesitated "Okay, so half ht as well enjoy it, right?"

Ashley smiled "Yes, and I love our horses, too Come on out and meet them"

It was obvious Hank Trebly wasn’t pleased to see Jake and Jackson--he left the roo from his office and motioned to theh he’d known Jake before, just as Toby Keaton had known hial Plantation constantly

"I don’t knohat you think I can tell you," Hank said, pulling out the chair behind his desk in his office and taking a seat "I was there, yes, of course But I didn’t see anything And I told that to the police They sent a ht after they found the poor bugger’s body"

"You weren’t particularly fond of him, were you?" Jackson asked

Trebly immediately took a defensive tone "What was to like or dislike? He was O’Reilly’s stepson, and he didn’t really belong I mean, he never even took his stepfather’s na to be a part of it all He didn’t have anything to add to any of our conversations in a roundtable It was his place to play a Yankee, but he whined so al But I didn’t hate him And, sweet Jesus, I could never do that to another hu! I mean, why in hell would I?"

"Well," Jake said, "there’s that bid you al property"

"What?" Trebly said, sitting up straight His eyes narrowed "Frazier Donegal told you that?"

"No, actually, Frazier didn’t tell ht after Frazier’s son, Patrick, died, the property fell into bankruptcy You went to the bank, trying to coerce a sale"

"I--well, that’s just pure bull!" Trebly said, but his face had gone pale "Look, I illing to help Frazier out"

"I don’t think so," Jake said "There were also plans on file to expand the sugar ar fields"