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"So, when you were a little girl, you knew you wanted to grow up and do facial reconstructions for law enforcement?" he asked There was a curl to his lip He did have a sense of humor

"I started off the usual way I was into nudes," she said drily

He gave her a full-fledged suess I did ask that rather caustically"

"I always drew, and I had a flair for faces When I was in college, one of my professors was asked to help with a reconstruction on a burn victim I was fascinated by his ability to take a skull and return it to life through the iraduated, and then apprenticed on an anthropological dig in Mexico Andwell, Texas is a big state I helped various departan was approached by a ed the first Krewe, and I was called in We worked a sad and gritty case in San Antonio, and next thing I kneas in the acade unexpected paths sometimes," he said He sounded far more open than he’d been earlier in the day

"You seeed "I can’t put er on it, but your sketch reminded me of someone"

"At this point it’s not really accurate, you know It’s just the way I work Toin to build up the face With e know and e can guess, that should give us a better sense of a person’s appearance Souesswork, of course, but you’ll have more of a likeness when I’m done But you can’t know the woman The skull is over a hundred years old If it was from someone more recently dead, it wouldn’t be as delicate"

"No, I haven’t been around for a hundred-plus years," he said with a slight laugh

"True, but I understand you’ve been in law enforcement for quite a while Did you alant to be a cop?" she asked

"Yep"

"You’re from here However, you started your career in Texas?"

"I went to Texas A & M University and then into the academy"

"You left Houston to come back here," she said

"My parents died when I was a kid I was raised byI caood life and lived well Didn’t deserve to die the way he did, but then no one does The cancer was brutal"

"And you stayed here in Lily," she said

He had a rueful s "Well," he ht now they’d be stretching to find someone to take h"

"StillHouston, Texas Lily, Arizona You s, reed "In a way, a dae Back in the very early days--the Civil War and after--you had a fair share of bar brawls, shoot-’elements Then, a decade or two after the war, there werethe silver h days There was a sheriff way back--but no real sheriff’s department, and the sheriff had to be an ex-outlaw hihters out here Now, of course, we have our ser county department The towns had their own sheriffs back then and county help aht be on hand or the regular s went really badly But then the outlaw days pretty much petered out in the twenties We had a few h in the thirties In the forties, when a lot of local men went off to war, the town alet a few bar brawls, a few fender benders, occasionally a do citizens and tourists for the most part"

"So, you stay because you love Lily, you love the peace and tranquility or?"

"Or I burned out in Houston?" he asked her

"I didn’t say that"

"It’s easy to burn out in Houston," he said mildly "But no, I didn’t burn out"

"If you were friends with Logan and worked with him, you were probably pretty intense as a cop," Jane said

"Intense? I think it’s a require in Houston And I don’t ood I like the history, and the fact that my family’s from this area Anyho knohat the future will hold?"

The velvet curtains were drawn back by an usher as they spoke; people surged out of the theater area and into the bar

"Ti into his pocket and left a large bill on the table "I’ll pick you up in the ht-thirty? We have a car you can use while you’re here if you want, but it’s down at the sheriff’s office"

"Thank you I’ll build up the skull toet a more realistic look at e of soft-tissue depth, at least," she told him

"Thanks," he said "You should see the shohile you’re here"