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Kara pulled the covers tight beneath her chin. For the thousandth time in her life, she convinced herself that’s all they could ever be.

Twenty-Nine

Kara leaned over her second cup of coffee, squinting down into Jeremy’s notes. Everything was perfectly arranged, lined up in order of importance and relativity. As always, he’d been thorough and meticulous.

“So do you see what I’m saying?”

He sat across from her, cleaning his glasses yet again. He was always cleaning his glasses. Kara could never tell if it was a nervous habit or if he just hated the slightest speck of dust. Maybe both.

“That the Averoigne was haunted from its inception?”

“Yes, sort of,” Jeremy replied. “That it was at least susceptible to spiritual activity, even before Rudolph Northrop got there.”

Kara yawned. She wasn’t sure why, because she’d actually slept well. And other than Logan’s visit, she’d been thankfully uninterrupted.

“So what exactly was here,” she pointed down at the table, “before the hotel was built?”

“Not sure,” said Jeremy. “But with the storm breaking the way it has, I was about to head down to the town library. The city hall doesn’t have the storage for it, so all the town records are kept there.”

Kara perked up immediately. “Really?” All of a sudden she was eager to be out of the hotel for a while. “I’d take that ride.”

Jeremy smiled and dropped his napkin to the table. “Then let’s go.”

She found Logan outside the dining hall, leaning against one of the lobby’s tall columns. Kara spotted him easily from across the big room, talking with a group of three young women.

“Hey,” she said, completely interrupting their conversation. It was so abrupt Logan’s mouth was frozen open, mid-story. It was actually kind of funny.

“What?”

Kara nodded in the direction of the nearest window. “Storm broke.”

Outside, the snow had finally stopped. The sky was a fantastic blue color. The entire landscape was was almost blindingly bright; everywhere you looked there were huge drifts of snow reflecting the sunlight.

“So?” Logan asked. He was leaning casually on the column with one elbow. “And?”

“And we’re going to check out some records at the city library.”

All three women were staring at Kara like she’d just escaped from a mental ward. One of them, a pretty blonde with green eyes, spoke up:

“Like music records?”

Kara resisted the urge to flick her in the forehead. “No,” she scoffed. “Not like that at all. Not even a little bit.”

The girl’s mouth turned down in a scornful frown. She might’ve said something nasty in reply, but Kara was too quick.

“Anyway, Jeremy’s getting us a ride. Roads are still bad, but it’s only a little more than a mile away. So…”

The trio of girls shifted their gaze back to Logan, waiting on his reply. Kara had been curious as to why he’d missed breakfast. Now she knew. She wondered how long he’d been standing around here, charming them.

“No thanks,” said Logan.

Her eyebrows came together. She was struck with a sudden pang of fierce anger.

Or maybe it’s jealousy…

“No thanks?” she repeated.

The smile he returned her way said everything. It was simple, pleasant, unaffected.