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Decker said with amusement and then added, "I plan to tear it down eventually and build new. I'm just waiting for my neighbors to decide to sell so I can buy their land and spread out a bit."
    Mortimer raised his eyebrows at the ambitious plan. "Do you intend to help your neighbors decide to sell? If not, it could take a while."
    "I have time," Decker pointed out dryly.
    He couldn't argue that point, Mortimer supposed. Barring murder or an incredibly rare accident, time was the one thing they all had a lot of.
    "The heat up there didn't help me sleep either," Bricker commented, and then added enviously, "It's much cooler down here."
    "The air conditioner must not have kicked in," Decker said with a frown. "I'll have a look at it."
    "It can't kick in; there's no power," Mortimer announced, forestalling him.
    "No power?" Decker asked with surprise. "It was on when I left last night."
    "It wasn't when we arrived," Bricker informed him.
    "Christ." Decker turned to stride away across the room to a refrigerator. He pulled the door open and groaned when the light didn't come on. Even without the light, it was bright enough in the rec room to see the neat rows of bagged blood inside. Blood that would now be useless.
    "It'll be tainted," Decker said with disgust. He bent to feel the bags anyway, but apparently wasn't pleased with their temperature. Straightening, he closed the door with a slam. "The storm must have knocked it out. I should have checked when I came back. The tiniest rainstorm can knock out the power up here."
    "Don't worry, we brought plenty of blood. You can share ours," Mortimer told him.
    "Well, it won't be any good either if you put it in the refrigerator upstairs," Decker pointed out.
    "We didn't," Bricker assured him, and quickly explained the special cooler they'd brought.
    "How long will it run on battery?" Decker asked.
    Mortimer frowned. "I think they said twenty-four hours."
    "Well, there's no need to run it down. I have a generator. I'll go turn it on and we can trade the bad blood in the refrigerator for your good blood." He started for the stairs, muttering, "This means another trip to the dump tonight."
    "I didn't see a generator when I looked around last night," Bricker commented.
    "It's out behind the cottage in a shed," Decker explained, disappearing up the stairs.
    The sudden silence as the growl of the lawn mower next door died reminded Mortimer of the women. He was swinging toward the window to peer out again when the racket that had woken him was replaced with the blare of music.
    It seemed they were done mowing the lawn. Alex was pushing the mower back toward the garage and Sam was moving toward the deck stairs. She paused abruptly, however, when the third sister, Jo, rushed out of the cottage with three clear bottles with golden liquid and lime slices floating in them. Despite the distance, he could make out the name Corona on one of the bottles. Mexican beers then.
    "It's starting to look like the neighbors are party animals," Bricker commented, moving up beside him to peer outside. "I hope they don't keep us up every day with loud music."
    A burst of laughter slipped from Mortimer's lips. "Three women do not constitute a party, and having a beer at…" He paused to glance around until he found a clock on the wall. The fact that the second hand was still moving told him it was battery operated and—hopefully—correct. It wasn't as early as he'd supposed. "A beer at four p.m. after mowing the lawn in this heat hardly makes them party animals."
    "If the power's out, how are they playing music?" Bricker asked.
    Mortimer didn't comment, but glanced toward their neighbors. Alex was back from the garage sans the lawn mower, and she and Sam had each taken one of the bottles of golden liquid. Jo was now only holding one bottle. She was also doing something of a dance and trying to get the other two to join her.
    "It must be a battery-operated CD player or something," Bricker said after moving to the