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They began inching their way across the crevasse At the halfway point, Napoleon looked over the side and saw nothing but blackness, the translucent blue ice walls sloping into nowhere

At last they reached the opposite side They followed the next tunnel, which zigzagged for twenty feet, into another ice cavern, this one s Lantern held before him, Laurent walked to the center of the cavern and stopped beside what looked like a pair of ice-covered stalagh and truncated at the top

Napoleon stepped closer to one Then stopped He narrowed his eyes It wasn’t a stalagmite, he realized, but a solid coluainst it and leaned his face closer

Staring back at hiolden face of a woman

CHAPTER 1

GREAT POCOMOKE SWAMP, MARYLAND PRESENT DAY

Salanced over at his wife, who stood up to her waist in oozing black ht yellow chest waders coaze, turned to him, pursed her lips, and bleisp of hair froo?” she asked

When she’d first donned the waders he’dshe looked like the Gorton’s Fisher stare He’d hastily added “sexy” to the description, but to little effect

“You,” he now replied “You look beautiful—Longstreet” When Remi was annoyed at him she called him by his last name; he always responded in kind with her maiden name

She held up her arms, coated to the elbows in slime, then said with a barely concealed smile, “You’re crazy My face is covered in mosquito bites, and my hair is flatter than paper” She scratched her chin, leaving behind a dollop of mud

“It simply adds to your charm”

“Liar”

Despite the look of disgust on her face, Sam knew Reoal, no amount of discomfort would dissuade her

“Well,” she said, “I have to ad yourself”

Sam tipped his tattered Pana ed wood he hoped was part of a chest