the bouquet and fingered the blossom. Crushed petals slowly drifted to

the darkened stones.

"What did she dot' Alec circled to the left, keeping hlmserf in the clearing.

H Bartholomew was going to attack, he'd have to negotiate through the

ruins first.

"She never told you?" The man slowly stripped off his gloves and stuffed them in his pocket; "She never told you about her ultimate act of betrayal?"

Alec imagined a fro sure formingin the man's sanity and madness spewing to the surface. God help him if Hank had a gun.

"Ellen told me many stories."

Bartholomew smiled, revealing the true depth of his insanity. "She Wld you.

I can tell. I can always tell."

Time to str/kc.

"No, you're wrong." Bartholomew stared at him and Alec continued.

"You're the one who told me a lot about Ellen, "Dr.

Barton. "" Savoring the man's shocked expression, Alec shot him a

calculated smile.

"Yes ... I'm the same Alexander Brody, the investigator you hired to

find your long-lost patient. I found A Killer Smile 21 her, all right."

Alec forced his smile to deepen.

"And a though we only had a brief time together, it was very.

enlightening."

Bartholomew pulled his trembling fist from his pocke revealing a switchblade.

"You were intimate, weren't yo She made love to you."

The blade flicked into place. can see it in your face."

Alec obeyed the first rule of serf-defense: exploit yo' opponent's

weakness.

"Yes, we did."

The man stepped forward, and the blade caught the gli of the sun.

"It's not right, you know. She always refu. me when I made romantic

overtures.

"No, Hame. I'm n 'ready for that, Hank." It was all a lie," he spat.

"She w willing to bed every Tom, Dick and Harry she ever dat but not

me,!

They didn't deserve her love ... much less body. She belonged to me!

Mind, body ands soul And the end, I got all three."

He flipped the knife up and derfly caught it, deme st rating his deadly

skill.

"I suppose it's'time to take c of you, too;' He lunged forward, ready to attack.

Hermitt growled and lowered, straggling to get "No, Hermitt." Alec

tugged at the dog's lead. I'//take a of him myself. Hermitt rumbledagain, but squatted a." he, too, knew to bide his time for the rightopening.

After years of security work, Alee knew how to disa: an attacker. Heshifted, preparing to take on Bartho mew, but before Alec could beginhis counterattack, voice called out, destroying his momentum and conctration.

"No! Stop it!"

A figure stepped out of the shadowy undergrowth, for a dangerous moment,

Alec Imost forgot about' man with a knife.

A Killer Smile A Killer Smile 229 "My God ..." For a second treacherous moment, his heart ntisfired, and hope flared where despair had existed for a long cold winter.

"Ellen?"

He stared into the face which had haunted his days and nights, living in

his dreams and dying in his nightmares. He knew he didn't believe in ghosts, but at this moment wasn't so sure about believing in reality.

Hermitt's guttural noises subsided, and the 8nimal lunged toward his

mistress, all dangers forgotten in the heat of discovery. Alec yanked

back the leash.

"Her-mitt--stay!" The dog crouched, obviously torn between loyalties to two masters. Alec unwillingly dragged his attention back to Bartholomew.

The man stood still with his arm raised in mid swing His face grew slack

in shock, and the blade wavered, then lowered.

"Ellen? But I thought I'd killed" -- Alec watched her recoil from the man with stark terror etched across her features. He celebrated Bartholomew's gross error while berating the folly of his own actions; the man had a new target now: Ellen.

Before the man could take a step toward her, Alec spoke in a hushed voice.

"So, Ellen's haunting you, too, eh?"

Hank stared at her, then gave Alec a quick glance. "Haunting? What do you mean?"

"Her ghost, Ellen's ghost. Do you see it, 'too?" Please, Fallen--for your sake--play along with me.

"O-ghost?" Hank stuttered. He turned to glare at his "spectral" victim.

To Alec's relief, Ellen gave him-an almost imperceptible nod, then turned toward Bartholomew and spoke in an ephemeral whisper.

"Why?

Why did you destroy my life, Hank? Why did you kill me?"

The knife slowly lowered.

"I--I had to, Ellen. You weren't pure. Fire purifies the soul."

"It doesn't purify. It consumes. I died in that fire ... a horrible,

painful death."

Good girl. Alec circled around the side of the man, keeping a watch on the knife. Keep going, he gestured to her behind Bartholomew's back.

"Why did you hate me so much, Hank?"