"Okay if we take this?" Jack nodded at the ledger. "We can copy it and give it to Susan."
"Sure. Doesn't mean much to me, one way or the other."
I suddenly realized we'd been missing a big part of this. "Wait! We never even talked about a major question here. Who left the ledger for you? And what about the note? I forgot about the note!"
"I think I dropped the note," Lorraine said. "It's under the table. But it's different handwriting than the ledger, anyway, and it's on a clean sticky note that looks new. And I have no idea who could have left that ledger."
Jack crossed to the table and retrieved the note by folding one of the discarded gloves over it and slid it into the ledger. "I've got it."
"I'm going to bed. It has been a long couple of days."
"Do you need help?"
She smiled at me. "No, honey, but thanks. I just need some rest."
Lorraine looked like she might fall asleep standing up. So I gave her a quick hug, grabbed the music box, and headed for the door. Lorraine had given me lots of hugs in my childhood and my gift had never shown me any visions of her death, a fact that I was more than usually grateful for right now. I'd seen enough death to last any ten people a lifetime and definitely didn't want to see hers.
"Lock it behind us," Jack said gently. "And hang in there. We're going to figure this out."
"I know you will, Jack Shepherd." She reached up and gave him a quick hug, and closed the door behind us. We waited to hear thesnickof the lock and then went back to the truck, Jack carrying the ledger and note and me carrying the music box, which was still quietly playing a medley of country music.
"This is going to get old fast," I muttered, glaring at the stupid box.
"Goingto get old? Hey, I still have that tire iron in the back."
Ah. Blessed silence.
"It responds to threats, so it's definitely at least somewhat sentient, which worries me. Maybe not as much as it should, but it worries me."
Jack didn't respond until we were on the road toward home, and then he gently patted the top of the box. "I know a guy," he finally said with obvious reluctance. "If it gets to be a real problem, we can call him."
"A friend?"
"Ha! No, Rhys na Garanwyn isn't someone that anybody would call a friend."
"Sounds lonely."
Jack gave me a startled glance. "I never thought of it that way. But yeah, maybe. I guess even monsters can be lonely."
"You're not a monster, Jack. Don't let a bad-tempered water nymph get to you. Andyou," I pointed at the box. "A single note of monster songs and you're kindling."
We pulled into my driveway and passed Carlos's house, which was dark.
"Is Carlos out of town, do you know?"
Jack shrugged. "I don't keep track of vampires anymore, happily."
"I think of him as myneighbor, not a vampire."
"Yes, I know. I learned this when I found out you invited him into yourhome, Tess."
"He's Susan's brother," I reminded him.
He sighed. "I know. I know. And I can't say I wish you were more careful or less trusting or less neighborly, because I wouldn't change a single thing about you. I just… I just want you to be safe."
He pulled up in front of my porch and parked.
"I know." I touched his cheek. "I want you to be safe, too. For now, I'm going to go in and get a good night's sleep, especially since you're inviting people over for breakfast. Will you stop and get eggs on your way over in the morning?"
