"Not much I don't know 'bout 'em," the woman agreed, the weapon lowering enough to have Dev breathing easier. "But I don't hold with people trampin' 'round my property without permission." Her glare, which swept the both of them, was fierce. " 'Specially the law."

"We're here only to see you," Ramsey emphasized. "I have just a few questions, and then we'll be on our way."

Seemingly mollified, the older woman cradled the shotgun in her arms, surveying them. The shadows cast by the cabin in the dwindling light shrouded her face.

"I'm especially interested in reasons a specific plant root would be ingested," Ramsey put in.

"Lots of reasons people might take such a thing. Like if'n they're ailin'." Rose's words were grudging. "Or wardin' off gettin' sick. Lots more reasons that have nuthin' to do with health."

"What would those be?"

"Not much some won't do to get their head buzzin'." She used the rifle barrel to gesture in Dev's direction, a gesture that caused him a moment of nerves. "This'a one here is proof of that. Used to lay out of school regular to lurk down here with his no-account cousin gettin' liquored up."

He felt compelled to come to his own defense. "Actually, it was only that one time."

Both women ignored him. "So other than medicinal purposes, some plants are used as an intoxicant," Ramsey noted.

"And there's them used in ceremonies of a sort."

"Like hoodoo? Witchcraft or dabblers with the occult?"

"Witchcraft and religion." Rose's face screwed up in an expression of disgust. "Difference 'tween the two don't 'mount to a bucket of warm spit."

Dev slid a gaze toward Ramsey. He'd mentioned as much-a great deal less colorfully-earlier today.

But if she recalled it, there was no sign in her expression. She was studying Rose intently. "Do you still practice healing?"

"Slowed down some. Can't keep up the garden all on my own."

His attention jerked back to Rose. In all the time he'd known her, he'd never heard her admit to physical weakness. "If you need some help, Rose, I'm sure I can . . ."

"Din't ask for help, now, did I?" The snap in the woman's tone was all too familiar. "Don't need you out back diggin' holes all willy-nilly. Got folks laid to rest on this property, and I won't have 'em disturbed."

"Is your husband buried here?" Ramsey asked in a voice softer than he'd ever heard from her.

"He is. Buried him myself, and din't need no preacher from town sayin' words over 'em, neither."

No doubt there were ordinances prohibiting that these days, but Dev figured the powers that be in town had turned a blind eye. Few would have been willing to take on Rose, even less so years ago than now.

Another thought struck him then, and he arrowed a look at the older woman. "Learned just recently that this cabin might've been the first structure in these parts. That it was built by Rufus Ashton, the town's founder."

"I wouldn't be knowin' 'bout that." She took a step back. "You two get on outta here now. A body's got a right to turn in at night without worryin' 'bout nosybodies pokin' 'round." She leveled a stare at Ramsey. "You need to keep your watch up, missy. Hornin' in 'round these parts is baitin' trouble. Wouldn't be a bit surprised if'n you found it."

"What do you . . ." But Ramsey's question was leveled at the woman's back. Rose walked, surprisingly briskly, toward the back of the cabin, rounded the corner, and moved out of sight.

The two of them blinked after her. "Was she actually threatening me?" Ramsey asked, clearly nonplussed.

"Warnin' you, most likely." With a hand to her elbow, Dev turned her toward the car. The conversation had been surprisingly civil for Rose. He wasn't anxious to push their luck. "It's not like you haven't heard over and over that murder 'round these parts gets some folks antsy 'bout talkin' to outsiders."

"I wasn't talking to her about murder," she pointed out. She began to move, slowly, in the direction of the vehicle. "At least, not directly."

"Close enough. Her talkin' 'bout buryin' her husband on the property put me in mind of somethin' though."

"Don't tell me." It was too dark to see her roll her eyes, but he could hear the emotion in her voice. "Not another graveyard outing. What would Jim Thornton have to do with the legend?"

"Not Jim Thornton." Headlights speared through the approaching darkness as a lone car rolled down the road before them. "I'm wonderin' about Rufus Ashton. Goes to figure that the earliest settlers here wouldn't have a graveyard, that they'd bury their dead on their property, much the way Kuempers did. And given the lights you saw yesterday, that gives me one more reason to want to check this property out further."

"You might want to consider a little thing called trespassing," she said caustically as they started up the incline toward the road. "Rose looked pretty serious with that shotgun. She'd be well within her rights to use it if she finds you on her property again without permission."

"I was gonna ask her 'bout it when she up and left." Although in this instance it just might be better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. Rose likely wouldn't even know he was there.

"You're wasting your time." Back at the car now, Ramsey followed him to his side to get in. Once she'd slid across the seat, she waited for him to get in before continuing. "I know what I saw, and it wasn't in the least ghostly. It was just . . ."

When her words halted abruptly, he shot her a look and found her staring out the window toward the Thornton place. Following the direction of her gaze, he felt a spurt of adrenaline rocket through his body.

The lights were clear from the road. Bouncing, dancing balls of illumination along the edge of the woods. They skipped and slid from side to side before darting in the opposite direction. He stared for a moment in fascination before the scientist in him clicked into place.

He was reminded of his reason for waiting until near dark to come here tonight. There was no way in hell he was leaving here without getting a closer look.

"You can stay in the car. I won't be put out if you do." He popped the trunk and was out the door before Ramsey could fashion a response. He grabbed the baseball cap he'd fitted with the camp light and donned it, his mind whirring.

It would be good to take the motion detector. Determine once and for all if someone was 'round to cause those lights. He grabbed the thermal scanner and EMF meter. He'd need the infrared digital thermometer with laser pointer, but he left the ion detector and gaussometer. He could always come back and get those if he needed to.

"What the hell?" He hadn't even heard Ramsey's approach. She stood by his side gaping down into his trunk. "You can't tell me you're going to . . . Dev!"

He headed back toward the Thornton property. "If you're comin', bring that big Mag-Lite, will you?"

"I'm not coming because I don't want to give you a reason to play doctor picking buckshot out of my butt. Dammit!"

Her voice, he noted as he jogged toward where those lights still bounced and skated about, got a little meaner when she didn't get her way. He was willing to bet it didn't happen often enough for her to get used to it.

And then all his focus shifted to the lights ahead of him. They could be some sort of reflection, he considered, shifting the strap of one bag to reposition it on his shoulder. But from what? He sent a look up and down the road over his shoulder, looking for cars. All he saw was a light on low beam heading toward him.

His mouth kicked up. So Ramsey was coming after all. Disgruntled without a doubt, but still joining him.

Rose's house as he passed by it was dark. No lights shone from within. The woman had indicated she was going to bed. Had she just been trying to get rid of them? Was she in the woods doing . . . something . . . that would account for the lights up ahead? He found it hard to fathom.

Which didn't mean someone else wasn't in those woods.

One moment the lights were there. The next they'd vanished, as if someone had turned off a switch. "Shit," he muttered, breaking into a run. But when he'd reached the edge of the woods, there was still no sign of them.

He set the bags on the ground and went down on one knee, rummaging through them for the infrared digital thermometer. He aimed the laser pointer in the direction the lights had been, but he didn't need a reading to recognize the change. Nights cooled down this time of year. But the surrounding air was frigid.

Looking down, he checked the temperature readout. Forty-five degrees. His brows rose. Definitely intriguing.

"Whoever was here, you must have scared them away."

He'd barely noticed Ramsey's approach. Dev was moving slowly around the area where those lights had been skipping and dancing in the air. There must be another explanation. He'd debunked every orb photo he'd ever been presented with, although there were a few videos that still had him wondering.

But he'd never seen orbs for himself. Was a long way from admitting that he'd seen them this time.

But he damn well had seen something.

"It's freezing this close to the woods. Since there's nothing to see here, let's go."

"Step back 'bout ten feet and you'll be a lot warmer," he instructed absently. He went down on one knee to pull his notebook out of one pack, used the illumination from the camp light on his cap to jot down some notes.

Forty-five degrees. Six inches to the right. Forty-eight degrees.

He swept the area slowly, taking frequent measurements and making notations. The contrast was stark. There was at least a twenty-degree difference between the area he thought the lights had emanated from and the space several feet away from it.

Next he set the EMF meter down and flipped it on, watched the needle sway wildly before settling well into the elevated range.

"Stryker."

He looked up absently from the notes he was scribbling to be practically blinded by Ramsey's light. "What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Checking for elevated levels in the electromagnetic fields. Need to come back here tomorrow for a control check," he muttered, scribbling another note. He'd also have to look at the proximity of any electrical wires, which could play havoc with the EMF meter. But they were a good distance away from the cabin. And he didn't see any poles in the vicinity.

"You know there are a dozen possible explanations for those lights, right?"

"At least," he agreed. He made a mental note to check how close the nearest airport or radio tower was. Although the lights had seemed to skip rather than sweep, he needed to be thorough. "What color would you say they were?"

"The lights?"

"Yeah."

"White."

He looked up then, his gaze direct. "Did they look totally white to you?"

She hesitated. "From a distance, they appeared to have a purple haze around the rims. But what possible difference does that make? They're reflections from something or someone inside the woods."

"So they're the same thing you saw here last night?"

This time her pause was longer. "I couldn't swear to it, but yeah. Seemed like it."

"At least we can be fairly certain they don't have anything to do with Rose. At her age, there's no way she could have gotten to the woods in the time it took us to walk to the car. And she wasn't carrying a flashlight."

He rose. "I'm goin' back to the car to get the gaussometer. And I really want to measure the ion activity in the area."

"Stryker."

Moving toward her, he continued, "You better come with me. I don't want you waitin' down here alone in the dark."

"Stryker."

He tried for a note of humor. "I know it's probably not the most romantic date you've been on, but you have to give me marks for originality, right?"

"Stryker!"

Close enough now to see her outstretched hand, he turned, baffled, in the direction she was pointing. Felt a spike of pure exhilaration when he saw the lights again, this time glowing from a spot deeper in the interior of the woods.

"C'mon. Let's check it out." He grabbed her arm and started toward the trees. Felt her dig in her heels like a lamb being led to slaughter.

"Not a chance."

"Well, there's no way I'm leavin' you out here alone," he countered. Dev had no way of knowing what the hell was going on here, but there weren't any scenarios that had him comfortable with stranding Ramsey while he ran ahead into the woods.

Curiosity got the better of chivalry. Grabbing her arm more firmly, he fairly dragged her into the woods alongside him, his eyes on the lights that danced ahead.

Chapter 15.

For an instant, past and present collided with enough force to make the two all but indistinguishable. Ramsey fought wildly against Dev's careless grip as he urged her into the trees. As if by breaking free she could divest herself of the hold the past had upon her, as well.

The fronds and scrub brush scraped at her naked skin as she crouched low behind the huge pine. The surrounding trees hemmed her in. The darkness wrapped around her like an inky smothering beast. She was afraid to breathe. Afraid the sound of it would give away her hiding place.

He was close enough to reach out and touch. And the thought of what awaited her if she failed turned her blood to ice. Her skin frigid.

"I know you're 'round here somewheres. I can smell yer cunny. Why doncha just come on out and you and me can have ourselves a time afore them other assholes find us. Ain't settlin' for sloppy seconds this time. C'mon, bitch, you know you want it. Quit wastin' time."

She came out. Swinging the tree branch at his head with all her might.

"There now, I've let go of you, see? Damned idiocy to go barrelin' into the woods this time of night, anyway. C'mon, now, Ramsey. We'll just walk out and get on back to the car, shall we?"

It took a minute for Dev's low soothing voice to reach her. Another before his words registered. When they did, when her wooden muscles would respond, she swung the flashlight in his direction. And what she saw in his expression had mortification firing through her.

Pity. Mingled with wariness. And why wouldn't he be wary? She'd acted like a certifiable crazy woman on her way to being fitted for a straitjacket.

Jesus. She hauled in a deep shuddering breath. Wished she could still the rocketing of her pulse. Based on her reaction, she wasn't so sure she wasn't straitjacket material. Damned if there weren't still shudders chasing up her spine, racking her body.

"I'm okay." She was. Anger finally chugged through her system, battled with the remnants of fear.

"Sure you are." Dev began edging toward the direction they'd come. "But all of a sudden, I'm not crazy 'bout chasin' through the woods. Can't do a damn thing tonight that I couldn't do in the daylight. Why don't we head back to town?"

There was an instant when everything inside her leaped at the chance to take the easy out he was offering. To allow him to pretend that it was he who'd changed his mind. He who couldn't face the thought of running deeper into the shadowy woods after night had fallen.

And the strength of that longing stiffened her resolve. Even if it failed to batten down the trembling that still shook her limbs.