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  “I’m not. She’ll miss…three days of recess when we go back to school. After all, she was at school when she did what she shouldn’t have.”

  Dan nodded and said, “Yeah, that makes sense. Deal. And she can be grounded then, too, so it won’t interfere with the holidays.”

  “We’re just a couple of old softies.”

  “She’s a good kid.”

  Melissa changed the subject by asking, “What are you going to do with the things we found upstairs?”

  “I’ll have to get in touch with the Collins descendants, I suppose. Although I have a hunch they won’t want any of it. They’d just think of it as old junk. But I won’t do that until after Christmas, too.” He pointed. “Tomorrow we’re going to get a tree and set it up right over there in the corner, and those ornaments Lew and Alice and Beth made are going on it.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea. It’ll be lovely.”

  “Not half as lovely as you.”

  “Flattery is always welcome. Dan…why do you think Lew Collins walled up that storage room?”

  “We’ll probably never know,” he replied with a shake of his head. “Maybe he did it after Beth died. Maybe he wanted to put it all away because it was too painful for him. Or maybe he was just saving it…for when the time was right for it again.”

  “You think the time is right again?”

  “I know it is,” he said.

  About the Author

  Livia Reasoner has been writing professionally for over 30 years. Under her maiden name Livia J. Washburn, she received the Private Eye Writers of America award and the American Mystery award for the first Lucas Hallam mystery, WILD NIGHT, and the Peacemaker for her short story, Charlie’s Pie. Her website is www.liviajwashburn.com

  She lives in the small Texas town she grew up in with her husband, NY Times bestselling author James Reasoner and a pack of rescue dogs.

  www.firestarpress.com