The next morning, sunlight poured in through the window and the scent of flowers and wet grass should've been enough to roust her out of bed. But the night had been long and her dreams had left her shaken. They were as if it had happened. She rolled over and reached for the knob on the nightstand. Her hand dropped and she fell back against the pillow when she remembered she had disposed of the empty bottle. Tears filled her eyes, miserable that it was gone, and hating that she would have broken her promise to Maria.

The urge to wallow was tempting, but she had never been one to lie around and sulk. She flung back the covers and climbed out of bed, yanking off her pajamas on the way to the shower.

Donald was off on a trip, and wasn't due back for a week or so, and with the children busy finishing their lessons, she decided to explore the rest of the estate. She walked into the backyard, around the island of trees and across the sprawling lawn to the bushes and flowers that circled the property.

She was strolling alongside the creeping vines, picking flowers when she noticed some of the branches wound around posts and through the hollows of a wooden fence. Then her eyes fell on a gate once used as an entrance into the redwoods. She pulled away leaves and branches enough to crack the gate open, and was still debating on whether to go in when Nathan scrambled across the yard.

"Hey, you done with your studies?" she asked him.

"Yep. Are you going down to the water? Can I go?"

"Oh. So you guys have a swimming hole. Well, I'll be."

Nathan's face lit up as he peered around the gate and up a path almost overgrown now. "Please, can we go?"

"Well, maybe we could..."

"Oh, boy!" He dashed through the gate before she had a chance to say more.

She set the flowers next to the fence and hurried after him. "Nathan, not so fast."

Almost immediately upon entering the forest, there was a strong odor of bark, vegetation, and undergrowth, far more intense than in the trees closer to the house. The path was rugged and the atmosphere raw and exhilarating, and each time she was about to catch up with Nathan he disappeared again, leaving branches swaying in his wake.

"Hey, Kiddo. Don't go in the water, you hear?"

Up ahead, a large branch had fallen across the trail, and as she stepped over, her foot caught a snag. When she stooped to adjust a shoe, the dogs she heard now and then began to yelp and growl. Pounding hoofs were upon her in moments, and she bolted upright just as three deer shot by.

She charged up the path, heart racing, blood rushing, expecting the dogs at any moment.

But everything became too quiet.

Then a scream echoed through the forest, and it felt like the end of the world. Her heart lurched as she tore up the path, hollering for Nathan. Her eyes darted here and there for the dogs as she ran. She noticed a wire fence a hundred yards or so into the trees, and hoped that the dogs were on the other side.

"Where are you, Nathan? Naathaan!"

When she rounded a bend, the ground sloped down to the water, and there he was, on a sandy beach, throwing rocks in.

"Nathan." She was irritated with him, standing for a few moments catching her breath. "You realize you... scared me... ha-half to death?" She looked to her left where the wire fence wound around in the opposite direction, and was glad it didn't go all the way down to the water.

"Do the dogs ever come over the fence?"

He turned and waved. "Nah, I don't think so. They live a ways back." He bent to pick up another handful of rocks, tossing them out in angles.

"How deep is it?" she asked as she made her way down.

"Oh, probably up to my knees at the edge."

When she reached the bottom of the hill, she collapsed onto a moss-covered log. She leaned back on her elbows, thinking what a peaceful setting it was with the sun shimmering off the water and a gentle breeze rustling through the leaves.

Nathan found a stick and pretended to use it as a sword to catch fish. "Woo, almost got one," he said each time he made another jab. Finally, he flung that aside and went to gather up sticks and branches to build himself a ramp alongside the water.

It was heartwarming for Emily to see him have so much fun. "You've never talked about this place before. It's fantastic."

He didn't answer.

"Nathan? Why haven't we ever come here before?"

He stopped what he was doing and looked across the water, but still didn't say anything.

"You've come here to swim, haven't you?"

Still no answer.

"Nathan. Have you ever come here before?"

"A long time ago." he said, sounding angry.

She sat up, wondering what had come over him. "Did Sylvia bring you here?"

"Mommy did." She could barely hear him.

He picked up one of the sticks he'd been playing with and slashed it across the water.

"Oh, Nathan." She slipped from the log and went to him. She put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Nathan, really I am."

He shrugged her off, heaved the rest of the rocks in at once and headed up the shoreline.

She caught up with him and they walked together in silence, although the forest was full of life and soon the tension began to lift. A raccoon ran toward them, stopped with a startled look, and scrambled off into the woods. That put Nathan over the top, and before long he was laughing and carrying on. Something caught his eye and he pulled her over to observe an army of ants.

They huddled over the mound of dirt, and as they watched the little creatures with packs on their backs scampering about, they heard a thump-thump-thumping sound. It was the same noise that awakened her the first night. She hadn't heard it for a number of weeks.

She grabbed his arm. "Shhh. Listen!"

"Oh, that, that's just a helicopter. Haven't you ever seen a helicopter before?"

"Just in pictures."

He leaped to his feet and ran up ahead, she right behind him.

"So your father has a helicopter?"

"Either that or someone that works for him."

They rounded a corner just as it landed across the water, next to a building. A few moments later, two men left the aircraft and began to carry boxes into the building.

"What's over there?" she asked.

"Father's business."

She noticed half a truckload of logs to the side of the building and six or seven floating in the water. But, besides the men coming in the helicopter, it was quiet. She recalled Erwin's comment about Schillings' so-called .

"Nathan. Have you ever been inside the building?"

"Nope."

"Ever asked your father if you could?"

He wrinkled his nose. "Nah, no use. He wouldn't let me anyway."

About a third of a mile upstream, there was a bridge, and she realized this was where his father disappeared to sometimes when he wasn't traveling. On several occasions she'd seen him drive out of the yard and make a right turn into the trees with one of his model T's while Nathan looked on. She had wondered at the time why he didn't take his son along.

There was movement across the water again, and she noticed the men hurry from the building and head back to the aircraft. With boyish excitement, Nathan jumped on a tree stump for a better view as the helicopter lifted and disappeared over the trees.

Emily went to stand beside him. "You ever ride in one of those?"

"Nope. Maybe when I grow up I will. I'll probably be a pilot."

They stood in silence until the drum of the engines melted into the distance. Just as they were about to leave, there was pandemonium as the dogs came through the brush. They didn't have time to move before the animals charged out into the open and clawed up the wire fence.

Nathan leaped from the stump. "Let's get out of here!" he hollered, scrambling up the slope.

Emily ran up the hill after him, and when she reached the top, she stopped and looked back down. There was a man standing under a tree, looking at her. He called to the dogs. They dashed over obediently. He took another peek at her, and then disappeared into brush with the animals.

She caught up with Nathan at the house, took him by the hand, and led him to the nearest bench. He stood wringing his hands, refusing to look at her.

"What's going on? We weren't supposed to go to the water, were we? Why's that?"

He squirmed, but kept silent.

She sighed, frustrated that he couldn't see she was trying to help. "Oh, Nathan, why do you do these things?"

Poor boy, she thought. He had been so excited earlier, and now this. "I saw a man down there, was that Harold?"

He nodded, keeping his head down.

"I'm not going to force you, but you need to tell me what that was all about, before your father gets back from his trip. You hear?"

He gave another nod then tried to pull away, obviously intending to make a beeline for the house.

"Wait," she said, holding him back. "Please don't worry. We'll work it out, I promise. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you."

He looked up then with a little spark back in his eyes. "Can I go watch Leave it to Beaver?"

"Go on." She let go of his hand and watched him run off toward the house. She went back, closed the gate, and gathered up the flowers.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE.

The time had come for her final chance to meet Samuel Dimsmoore. It was only two days away. She'd already talked to Bruce about taking her to San Francisco. Since it hadn't worked out the last time, she wanted to be certain he'd be around on Friday.

She walked through the kitchen to pick up a snack on the way out and found Pearl mixing up a batter of biscuits. Gabriel came from the pantry with a jar of jelly in each hand. She gave Emily a timid smile, set the jars on the table and headed for the basement. On her way down, she called back up, "How many potatoes?"

Pearl used her apron to wipe the flour off her hands. "At least a dozen. Same as usual." She kicked the basement door shut on her way to the refrigerator. "Stupid girl. Can't even remember to close a door."

Emily reached for an orange and yanked back the peel. She was tempted to tell that moody little woman not to be so mean, but guessed that would only make things worse. "Hey, Pearl, do you know where I might find Bruce?"

"Auh, probably fiddling with one of the Model T's Bud left behind. You'd think that ninny would find better things to do with his time." She stopped and glowered up at Emily. "What do you want with him, anyway?"

"Nothing much. Just have a question for him."

"I hope you're not..."

"Just a question, Pearl," Emily said, so irritated she had to bite her tongue so as not to say more. That got Pearl out of sorts long enough for her to slip out the back door.

To the far east of the house was a fenced-in area bordered by various trees, shrubs, and flowers where the garages and other quaint buildings were kept. She made her way through the gate, picked out the most conspicuous building and walked inside. Sure enough, there was Bruce polishing a Model T.

"Hi, Bruce."

He looked up, surprised to see her. "Kids too much for you?" he asked, his tone joking.

"No. Not at the moment, anyway. I was just wondering if you're still available to run me into San Francisco on Friday. Remember, I mentioned it a few weeks back?"

"Sure, I remember. Well, let's see, today's Wednesday. Mr. Schillings won't be back until Sunday, so I think we're set. What time did you have in mind?"

"I have an appointment around noon."

"Okay, then I guess you'd better show up, let's say, around ten thirty?"

"You're a life-saver, Bruce. Thanks."

She stood watching him, trying to get up enough nerve to ask about the letter.

It was nearly a minute before he realized she was still there. "Is there something else?"

"Yeah, there is. I was just wondering if that letter I gave you... if it went out okay?"

"Oh, yes... well, actually, Mr. Schillings noticed it and offered to mail it for me."

A cool rush of blood swept across her face and down her bare arms.