"You take the gun?"
"I did, in case what they'd seen was more corporeal than they'd thought. "
"I was old enough to go with you," Harper objected. "You shouldn't have gone out there alone. "
She cocked her head at him. "I believe I was in charge. In any case, there was nothing to see, and I can't tell you if I felt anything, genuinely, or if I was still so worked up I thought I did. "
"What did you think?"
"That it was cold, and it shouldn't have been. And I felt . . . it sounds melodramatic, but I felt death all around me. I went through the place top to bottom, and there was nothing there. "
"When was the place converted?"
"Oh . . . hmm. " She closed her eyes to think. "Around the turn of the twentieth century. Reginald Harper was known for wanting the latest things, and automobiles were one of them. He housed his car in the carriage house for a time, then he used the stables for them, and the carriage house became a kind of storage house, w
ith the gardener living on the second floor. But it would've been later, more like the twenties, I think, before it was done up as a guest cottage by my grandfather. "
"So it's unlikely she would have stayed there, or visited the gardener there, as those dates are after first sightings. What would've been kept in there while it was an actual carriage house?"
"Buggies, some tack, I suppose. Tools?"
"An odd place for her to go. "
"I always wondered if she died there," Harper commented, "and figured she'd let me know once I moved in. "
Mitch's attention sharpened on him. "Have you had any experiences there?"
"Nope. She doesn't have much to do with guys once they pass a certain age. Hey, it's snowing. "
He popped up to go to the window. "Maybe it'll stick. You need me anymore?" he asked Mitch.
"Not right now, thanks for the time. "
"No problem. Later. "
Roz shook her head as he walked out. "He'll head right outside, try to scrape up enough for a snowball so he can throw it at David. Some things never change. Speaking of David, he's making chicken and dumplings if you'd like to stay, wait for this snow to peter out again. "
"It's a foolish man who turns down chicken and dumplings. I've made some progress, if elimination is progress, the last week or so. I'm running out of candidates, those who're documented, in any case, for Amelia. "
She wandered to his work board, studied the photos, the charts, the notes. "And when you run out of candidates who are documented?"
"I start looking outside the box. Off topic, how do you feel about basketball?"
"In what way?"
"In the going to a game sort of way. I scored an extra ticket to my son's game tomorrow night. They're playing Ole Miss. I was hoping I could talk you into going with me. "
"To a basketball game?"
"Casual, lots of other people, a specific form of entertainment. " He smiled at her easily, when she turned back. "Seemed like a good place to start. And you might be more inclined toward that sort of socializing than a quiet dinner for two. But if you prefer the latter, I find my calendar free the night after next. "
"A basketball game might be interesting. "
LILY SAT ONthe Bokhara in Roz's bedroom, banging the buttons of a toy phone with a plastic dog. Lily's mother had her head in the closet.
"Just try the eyeshadow, Roz. " Hayley's voice was muffled as she pawed through clothing. "I knew it was the wrong color for me when I bought it, but I just couldn't stop myself. It'll look awesome on you, won't it, Stella?"
"It will. "