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Strawberries The leading story on the neas about strawberries No murders, no robberies, no political scandals “Xander,” he said to himself with a wry chuckle, “you’re not in DC anymore”

Xander Langston had been glued to the local news tonight, as he had been for the past two nights, waiting for things to hit the fan He’d come home to Cornwall to handle the fallout, but so far the local broadcasts had focused on the unseasonably mild weather, the local youth baseball tea strawberry festival He flipped off the old fuzzy television in the living roo a flat-screen television for the bunkhouse and the ot on his laptop He wouldn’t have time to drive into Canton and buy them in person

If the biggest buzz around toas the Strawberry Days Festival, life was good No neas good news—especially with his first book hitting shelves next week and an election year co up His critics liked to point out that he’d been elected the first titiressman Walt Kimball, had hand-selected him to follow in his footsteps Whatever the reason, Xander had succeeded in a landslide victory over his opponent At the tiressmen ever elected to the US House of Representatives, just e requirement of twenty-five

This fall he would be kicking off yet another reelection caainfully e record, no sound bites that could be taken out of context and absolutely no scandals of any kind Typically, it was easy for Xander to avoid scandals He wasn’t married, so he couldn’t have affairs He didn’t have an interest in prostitutes He’d never been offered any bribes, and even if he had, he would have turned them down

But everyone had a skeleton in their closet, so to speak And that hy he was back in Connecticut at the Garden of Eden Christ this crappy television instead of burning the ht oil in his Capitol Hill office

With a sigh, Xander got up from the couch and walked over to theThe sun had already disappeared behind the rolling green hills, but it was still light enough to illuminate the far but balsam and Fraser fir trees

It was a startling view after being away for so long Looking out theof his office in the Longworth House Building earned hi and the sea of tourists and buses traveling up and down Independence Avenue Those people traveled thousands of nored on a daily basis He was too busy to appreciate the classic architecture and historic significance surrounding hiround tunnels to the Capitol Building and missed it entirely

He ht have a plush, professionally decorated town house a few blocks from the office in the Capitol Hill district, but this place—with its old, worn furniture and acres of trees—was ho back here, surrounded by the cal influences of nature and fresh air, Xander felt etown and a fast-track career in politics There was no traffic gridlock here, no honking cabs, no frantic running through the metro stations He could finally breathe

Things wouldn’t stay peaceful here for long, though The literal skeleton in Xander’s closet belonged to Tommy Wilder and last Christmas it had been unearthed by a construction crew on land that used to be part of the far the body, but that would soon change Brody, his coenius foster brother and one of the four “Eden boys,” had eo with news that the police had commissioned a facial re-creation sketch, but it hadn’t been released to the public yet Xander hadn’t asked how Brody knew about it He was just grateful for the heads-up

When the sketch hit the news, people would start sniffing around the fararnered some attention when the body was first unearthed, but no one really believed it had anything to do with his foster parents, Ken and Molly Eden The sketch would change that When Toer in their care and people would be forced to consider their involvement His foster parents weren’t fit to deal with the journalists and police that would knock on their door looking for infor froht by the idea of Tommy’s death to answer questions They needed someone at the farm to run interference and Xander was the best choice