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No sign of humor in Beau’s flat, “I take it seriously because I know you’re holding something back. Something happened outside on that terrace. Something between you and John that you don’t want to talk about.”

Well, hell.

Archie made a sound of disbelief. “You think John and I—? What? John was inside while I was still out on the terrace. Obviously, I didn’t—didn’t do him in.”

“Something happened while you were out on the terrace,” Beau repeated. “And I can’t think of an innocent reason why you’d lie about it.”

“Jesus Christ,” Archie muttered. He shook his head, looked at Beau, and gave a funny laugh.

“I don’t see anything funny,” Beau said.

“It’s not funny. It’s just...”

Beau’s black brows drew into a straight and forbidding line.

“I thought I saw ghost,” Archie said.

Chapter Eight

Swenson yelped, “You saw a ghost?”

Someone believed in ghosts, that was for sure. Though he’d no doubt deny it after the fact.

Beau said, “You think you saw a ghost? You do?”

His skepticism was understandable given their adolescent views. In fact, not even counting their adolescent views.

“I don’t know,” Archie admitted. “I didn’t think so at the time. I still have trouble believing it. But it was...weird.”

Beau continued to stare at him as though trying to decide if Archie was yanking his chain or really had lost his mind. He asked, reluctantly, Archie thought, “What was weird? What did you see?” He corrected immediately, “What do you think you saw?”

“After John went inside, I stayed on the terrace. Like I said, it was nice with all the little lights and the flowers, and I was...”

“Tired,” Beau supplied.

Archie shrugged, not denying it. “It got a little darker and after a while I noticed light flickering over at the gazebo.”

“What kind of light? A flashlight? Near the gazebo? In the gazebo?”

“Not a flashlight,” Archie said with certainty. “More diffused. More...”

“More?”

“Glittery.”

Swenson sucked in a breath like a Cub Scout listening to campfire stories. Beau gave him a level look. Swenson looked sheepish.

Beau said to Archie, “You saw lights glittering from across the garden. Could it have been reflection from the cars coming up the drive or from the lanterns shining on the pond?”

“That was my assumption, but then she—it—”

Beau opened his mouth. Swenson gulped, “She?”

“The light sort of seemed to take on a shape.”

“You are so full of shit.” But despite his words, Beau sounded less angry than he had during the entire interview.

“Why do you think I didn’t bring this up Saturday night? I didn’t believe it. No way in hell would anyone else.”