O'Toole grabbed an old rake handle and ran it around over the dirt floor. Tess glanced back at Andrew, her eyes as pale a blue as he'd ever seen. "It's not there." She sounded tense, not relieved. "I was so sure…"

She pushed deeper into the cellar, pointing, squatting herself and searching. Andrew watched her, not the police. She was in control of herself, surprised and tense at finding nothing. Alvarez and O'Toole expanded their search, scanning the rest of the cellar with their high-powered flashlights.

There was no skeleton. No skulls, no bones. Nothing.

"Maybe someone snatched it," Tess said. "Maybe that was what the noise was."

The two cops weren't going there. "It's an empty, run-down, old house with a bad reputation. It was your first night here, you were down here alone under difficult circumstances…" Alvarez shrugged. "Are you sure it was a human skull you saw?"

She sighed. "Yes."

"But that doesn't mean that's what it was," he said.

"No, you're right, it doesn't, especially under the circumstances. That's why I didn't say anything right from the start-I wasn't sure myself."

They came out into the laundry room. O'Toole's color was better. Alvarez said, "There's not much more we can do at this point. I'm sorry. If anything changes, let us know."

"Fair enough. Thanks."

When they got back to Andrew's house, Harl was still on the porch with his pick and shovel. Andrew figured his cousin wouldn't rely on a police search of the cellar. He'd have to take a look himself before he'd be satisfied.

Tess, still pale and edgy, finished up with the police. After they left, she said without looking at Andrew, "I should get along back to Boston."

"Not so fast." He pulled out a chair at the table on the porch. Harl had put out two beers. Andrew opened one and set it on the table in front of the chair. "Sit."

Harl tilted back in his chair and eyed Tess, who looked ready to bolt. "I wouldn't argue. I've seen that look in his eyes before, about two seconds before he hit a guy over the head with a beer bottle. Five stitches."

Andrew gritted his teeth. "Harl."

"It's true."

"It's not true. He didn't need five stitches, and it was self-defense."

Harl shrugged. "So's this."

With a groan of frustration or confusion, or both, Tess swooped down onto the chair. Her body was rigid. She crossed her arms on her chest and sat at the very end of the chair, as if she'd spring up and out of there any second. She leveled her pale blue eyes on Andrew. "I know I should have mentioned the skeleton sooner."

"Yeah, no shit," Harl said.

Andrew stayed focused on Tess. "Why didn't you?"

"Because I'd intended to check the cellar myself to make sure before I told anyone. I didn't want to upset people or end up looking like an idiot if it was nothing. When Davey and my father showed up and didn't find anything, I decided to wait until morning and bring a friend." She didn't flinch at his hard gaze. "I procrastinated."

"Now what?"

She lifted her shoulders and let them fall, exhaling, suddenly looking tired. "Now? I don't know. I guess it's more likely I didn't see anything than someone slipped into my cellar while I was at dinner and stole human remains. It's easier, and more logical, to believe what we heard was just the bulkhead catching in the wind."

Harl snorted. "If you'd said something sooner-"

"But I didn't."

Andrew stayed on his feet, angry with himself, with her. But he shoved his anger down deep, concentrated on the problem at hand. "Did you think Harl or I might have something to do with it?"

"I had a million reasons, all of which seemed to make good sense at the time. Look, I can't undo what I did. In hindsight, maybe I should have taken you down into the cellar last night and had you verify what I saw, or at least called the police."

Harl suddenly rose, grabbed his shovel and pick and tore open the screen door. "The hell with it. What's done is done. Come daylight, I'll have a look down there myself. Andrew?"

"Dolly's going to a friend's house in the morning. I'll be over."

"Tess?"

She swallowed and licked her lips, outwardly composed, but Andrew could only guess what was going on inside her. "I can be back here early-"

"You're in no condition to drive," Harl said quietly. "Stay in the guest room. Trust me, Andrew doesn't have a bunch of bones stuck in the closets around here." He grinned, winked. "I've checked."

"That's not it-"

"It doesn't matter. Stay."

He left, the door banging shut after him. Tess jumped, startled, on edge. Andrew could see how tough the past twenty-four hours had been on her, trying to sort out what to do about what she'd seen-or thought she'd seen. He tried to soften, but found he couldn't. He was pissed as hell. But badgering her over what she now knew she should have done wouldn't get them anywhere, and it wouldn't make him feel any better to make her feel worse.

"I convinced myself it was a nineteenth-century horse thief," she said, not looking at him now. "Then when you mentioned at lunch that Jedidiah was lost at sea, I seized on the idea that maybe he didn't die at sea. Maybe the bones were his."

"You're sure they were human?"

She nodded. "I took anatomy in art school."

"Did you think this was all the work of a ghost?"

Her chin tilted up, catching the light, and he could see her color had improved. "It still could be. Maybe whoever's haunting the carriage house makes people see bones in the dirt, skulls, dead people."

"But you don't believe in ghosts," Andrew said.

"I believe in what I saw. It doesn't matter if it was a ghost, some kind of hallucination or real human remains. Well, it does matter, but that's not my point. I saw what I saw. Whatever it was."

"What would you have done if the police had found your skeleton?"

She managed a smile. "Fainted."

"Bullshit. You didn't faint when you practically fell on top of it last night when you were alone."

"Let's say this is the scenario that I both wanted and dreaded-that the police didn't find anything. It means I get to look like a nitwit, but it also means whatever I saw last night isn't there anymore." She took a swallow of her beer and got to her feet, steadier if not any less on edge. "I should get going."

"I don't think so." Andrew pointed to her beer. "I'll put a call in and have you picked up for driving under the influence."

"I've had two sips!"

"Take a look."

She held up her bottle and seemed surprised when she saw it was almost empty. Under ordinary circumstances, one beer wouldn't be a problem, but tonight wasn't ordinary-she was beyond the point of no return, and she knew it. "Damn. Your cat's still occupying my bed. I suppose I could borrow a couple of blankets and sleep in my car."

"I told you, I have a guest room."

Her eyes were steady on him, almost cool. "I'm still invited?"

He remembered the feel of her body against his and wondered if that was what she was thinking about, more than her nonexistent-or missing- skeleton. "Yes, but no more lies."

"If you didn't believe my snake story, what makes you think you'd have believed I saw a skull in the dirt?"

"Tess."

She breathed in, no hint she was the slightest bit afraid of him, how he'd react to her-or even particularly wracked with guilt over withholding what she'd seen last night. "I did the best I could under rotten circumstances. Look, I know you're ticked off because of the kiss, because it seems to you I should have come clean before we went that far-well, let's just chalk it up as one of those things. It happened. We don't need to make anything of it."

That was not the right response. She saw her mistake instantly, but she was too late. He caught an arm around her, pulled her to him. "It wasn't just one of those things, not for me." His voice was low and deadly, barely under control, and his mouth found hers again, a fierceness in him he couldn't explain, couldn't deny. His mouth opened, his tongue sliding between her teeth, his body pulsing, throbbing. He was in a dangerous mood. The taste of her, the feel of her, only inflamed him more. He slipped his hands under her shirt, eased his palms over her hot, smooth skin. "I could take you now. Here. Do you understand?"