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talk to her.”
    “I’m going to call the police if you do not leave my property.”
    “I want to talk to her about the ghost. About the little girl.”
    Robinette closed his mouth and just stared. Brian saw recognition in his eyes. It was recognition of something that maybe Robinette wasn’t sure he believed himself. Then he changed when he saw the ploy.
    “The police told you,” he said.
    “No, the police wouldn’t talk to me. I know because I saw her, too. When I was here I saw her.”
    “I don’t care what you think you saw, I want you out of here.”
    He started to close the door but Brian put his foot over the threshold and stopped it.
    “Her name is Lucy. I saw her, too, and I need to talk to your daughter.”
    “Why? She’s been through enough. First she lost her mother, now this. What can you possibly say to her?”
    “I can tell her who Lucy is.”
    Brian pushed on the door and Robinette moved back without resistance. Brian walked by him and headed to the stairs.
    “Where is she?”
    “In her room.”
    Brian went up the stairs and found all the doors in the upper hallway closed. Robinette called from below.
    “The second room on the left.”
    Brian went to the door, knocked, and then opened it when he heard someone call, “Come in.” The girl he had seen in the police station was sitting on a bed, her legs folded beneath her, her back against the wall.
    “Teresa, right?”
    “Who are you? Did my father send for you?”
    “No, I just came. I’m the one who opened the safe. I saw the girl that day. She talked to me. She said her name was Lucy.”
    Teresa’s eyes widened.
    “Then you believe me?”
    Brian nodded.
    “I believe you. Have you talked to her?”
    Teresa nodded.
    “What did she tell you?”
    “She, um, doesn’t know what is happening. She said she came through the door. That’s all she says about that.”
    “What about what happened to her? Does she know?”
    “She said there was a pool and she didn’t know how to swim.”
    Brian closed his eyes for a moment.
    “She’s confused,” Teresa continued. “I said, when did it happen? and she said it didn’t happen yet. She didn’t make sense.”
    Brian nodded. It did make sense to him.
    “When does she come?” he asked. “When do you see her?”
    “I don’t know, anytime. It’s not like there is a schedule. Sometimes I close my eyes and when I open them she’s there.”
    “Do you know where she goes when she isn’t here?”
    “I think she must go back through the door she talks about.”
    “Would that be where she is now?”
    “I don’t know. I guess. I don’t see her.”
    “Thank you, Teresa.”
    Brian turned toward the door.
    “Who is she?” Teresa asked.
    Brian looked back at her.
    “She’s my daughter. She’s coming in a few weeks.”
    “You mean she’s not born?”
    “Not yet. I think she came through the door to warn me. Now I have to go close the door.”
    Robinette was standing in the upper hallway when Brian came out. It was as if he couldn’t venture into his daughter’s room.
    “We have to put the door back on the safe,” Brian said. “This all started with the safe.”
    “We can’t. The trash was taken yesterday. You put—”
    “I have the door. It’s in my van.”
    Brian headed to the stairs and started down. As he went, he looked up at Robinette.
    “Do you want me to bring it in through the service door?”
    Robinette looked at him as if not comprehending the question. Then he spoke in a quiet voice.
    “No, that won’t be necessary.”

    They were on the back porch of the house. It was a warm night—summer was coming on strong. And Laura with the extra weight and the extra heart beating inside her had to get out of the un-air-conditioned house. They sat side by side in lawn chairs, holding hands. Brian had forgiven her. There were more important things to concentrate on. Besides, he knew the cops could convince anybody of anything. Years back, they had done it to him with his