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joined hands

resting on his lap. It struck her in an odd way: his hand, large, capable,

strong, enfolding her much smaller one, confidently, protectively. For a moment,

the sight of it almost made her panic—until she took a deep breath, came down to

planet Earth, and quietly disengaged herself from his grip.

Tyber watched LaLeche carefully as he replied, "I'm grateful, Xavier, and

somewhat in awe. I never expected to receive this kind of insight this weekend.

Thank you for leading me to it."

He was playing LaLeche like a master, Zanita reflected. Tyber really was very

good. If only he could resist his penchant for teasing, he might have a second

career calling in the wings. Not that he wanted a second career. She wondered if

he had ever figured out exactly what his first career was.

"No thanks are necessary, Dr. Evans; it's my pleasure to help people along the

path to inner peace. Why don't we take a break for an hour and have some dinner?

I know I'm hungry, and those tofu burgers Marcie brought look delicious." Zanita

tried not to visibly gag.

"I don't believe I'm going to say this," Tyber murmured in her ear, "and don't

you dare tell Blooey I ever admitted to it, but I think I'd actually prefer one

of his squash surprises to tofu burgers."

"Mmm, I know. I'm not really that hungry anyway, after our lunch."

"That's good, baby." He helped her up. "Because I don't want you to eat anything

except the popcorn, potato chips, and soda, and those only if the containers are

new."

"Okay. Did you notice how happy LaLeche seemed when you had your 'breakthrough'?

I could almost see him mentally adding up his donations. Speaking of which, how

are we going to deal with that? I have a twenty in my pocket; do you think

that's too much?"

Tyber caught his lower lip between his white teeth. She really had no idea what

was expected here. "Let me deal with it, okay? If a donation has to be made, we

might as well get some mileage out of it."

She furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see. I would suggest going for a walk, but it's starting to rain in

earnest out there. I think I'll go out to the truck and get those blankets; it's

beginning to get uncomfortable in here."

"All right. I think I'll make use of the elegant facilities." The "elegant

facilities" was an ancient outhouse at the rear of the cabin.

"Brave soul." He gave her a thumbs-up.

"By the way, Tyber, you did a great acting job back there. You almost had me

convinced, even if you were ticking me off. If you didn't kid around so much,

you wouldn't be half-bad at this."

"Uh-huh. And who said I was acting?" He ducked out the door into the night

before she could respond.

Everyone settled down on the floor to have a relaxed dinner.

Since there were no other seating arrangements, there wasn't really a choice in

the matter. During dinner, LaLeche lit the fire in the fireplace, which made

Zanita immensely happy. Both she and Tyber managed to get through the meal by

munching on a few chips, explaining truthfully that they had had a large lunch

and were not very hungry.

Afterwards, Elizabeth, the elderly woman, showed everyone how to make popcorn

over the fire. Although she had been quiet throughout most of the seminar,

Zanita liked her. She seemed very nice, yet removed in some indefinable way.

Then it hit her.

Elizabeth acted much the way Mrs. Haverhill had, when she was trying to deal

with the ramifications of her illness. Zanita studied the older woman carefully.

She had noted the first night that the woman had seemed rather wan-looking. Now,

she realized, the woman looked downright pale and sickly.

The hackles on the back of her neck rose.

LaLeche was probably bleeding this unfortunate woman dry just as he had Mrs.

Haverhill. Who knew what promises he had made to her? Her experiences garnered

as a reporter told her that desperate people would often try anything, believe

anything, sometimes even do anything, as long as a glimmer of hope was held out

to them. She watched Elizabeth with a new sadness in her eyes and a growing

concern.

"What is it?" Tyber put his arm around her, drawing her close to him. It always

amazed her how observant Tyber was. From the moment she met him, little had

escaped his acuity. While the trait made him very attractive to her, the

downside was that a girl couldn't ever hope to get away with much around a man

like him.

"Elizabeth. Have you noticed—"

"That she's very ill? Yes, I noticed it last night. I hope I'm wrong, but I

think she may be his main mark."

"Oh, Tyber, what can we do? We can't just stand by and let such a nice old woman

be flimflammed. Perhaps if I talk to her in private—"

"No." His hand stayed her. "You'll completely blow our cover as well as this

story, and she won't believe you. Remember, she wants to believe him."

"We can't just do nothing!"

"We'll do something."

"What?"

"We'll shift his focus by giving him a better mark."

She transferred her sights from Elizabeth to stare up at Tyber. "Who?"

"Me."

"You've got to be kidding! He isn't going to easily trust you, Tyber. He knows

how smart you are; he'll be very leery of you suddenly falling over him, begging

to ply him with money."

Tyber pushed an errant curl off her forehead. "And who says I'm going to be

begging him to take my money? I'll be very careful with him, lead him just so.

Believe me, his greed will overcome his misgivings soon enough."

Zanita seemed concerned. "I don't know, Tyber; I didn't count on this when I

asked you to help me. You could get in over your head here."

I'm already in over my head, he mused as he gazed down at her. "I can handle

myself. Elizabeth is vulnerable to him in ways I could never be. I have no

concerns at all, Zanita. After you've faced Field Theory not much phases you

anymore."

"Huh?"

His mouth curved in a smile. "A little physicist humor. And we'd better change

the subject and mingle before we invite unwanted attention. Speaking of unwanted

attention, I wonder what Kim thought of my breakthrough? Think I'll go ask her."

He made to move away, but