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toward Carrie's school. I was sandwiched in the front

seat between Paul and Chris. My brother had his bag

so he could catch a bus and go on to his school after

he found out what had happened to Carrie. He had my

hand squeezed tight in his to reassure me that this

child of ours was going to live! "Stop looking so

worried, Cathy," said Chris as he put an arm about my

shoulder and drew my head to his shoulder. "You

know how Carrie is. She's probably hiding and just

won't answer. Remember how she was in the attic?

She wouldn't stay even when Cory wanted to. Carrie'd

take off to do her own thing. She hasn't run away.

&nbsp

; She'd be too afraid of the dark. She's hiding

somewhere. Somebody did something to hurt her

feelings and she's punishing them by letting them

worry. She couldn't face the world in the dead of

night."

Dead of night! Oh, God! I wished Chris hadn't

mentioned the attic where Cory had almost died in a

trunk before he went on to meet Daddy in heaven.

Chris kissed my cheek and wiped away my tears.

"Come now, don't cry. I said all of that wrong. She'll

be all right."

"What do you mean you don't know where my

ward is?" fired Paul in a hard voice as he coldly eyed

Miss Dewhurst. "It was my understanding the girls in

this school were properly supervised twenty-four

hours a day!"

We were in the posh office of Miss Emily Dean