Figuring the library-study wasn"t likely to be occupied at 9:30 at night, Rey and I agreed to meet there. My cousin sat where Lewis had been hours before, her torso pressed into a handsome antique desk as she leaned over and scanned papers. The lawman was upstairs with Jeana, who, between coughing and sneezing fits, looked as stressed and tense as an inexperienced cross-country skier about to be thrust down a flying hill. The promise of a full-scale cold was etched on her ruby-red nose and in her glassy eyes. Gwynne was out for the count; the victim of a wicked bug, his pale face had become more ashen as he grew increasingly sweaty and sick.
I sat opposite my cousin, legs crossed, a tall glass of cranberry juice and soda in hand. We were wearing similar two-piece fleece outfits; hers was
