Inform me in regards to the guy you're employed for, then,” I acknowledged. She flared her nostrils. “Maddie informed you approximately Jon. ” “She stated you have been concerned. ” “It’s complicated,” she acknowledged. “Jon is a genius. He’s actually the neatest man or woman I’ve ever met. He’s so charismatic and sort and clever. if you consult him, it’s like there’s not anyone else within the room. He simply has this magnetism approximately him. ” I tired my glass. “How outdated is he? ” A shadow fell throughout her face. “That’s a impolite query. i assumed you have been surely attracted to my paintings. I haven’t requested who you’re seeing now. ” “I apologize,” I acknowledged. “I bet it proves I’m no longer as grown-up as my beard. ” The waitress should have been staring at us heavily. while she spotted me end my drink, she got here again to work out if i needed one other now. I acknowledged no, yet Sarah did whatever that stunned me: She downed the rest of her darkish and Stormy in a single huge gulp and ordered a moment cocktail. “Wow,” I acknowledged. “It’s been a protracted week. ” She begun absently fidgeting with the head button of her shirt, buttoning and unbuttoning it. “So, who're you seeing? ” “At the instant, i'm single,” I stated. “There’s bought to be an individual. ” In my mind’s eye, I observed Stacey’s face, however it used to be the giggling, blueberry-lipped model I had noticeable in my dream, now not the true individual; only a figment of my mind's eye. “The courting techniques in Washington County should not what you’d name optimum. ” “Maddie stated there has been a lady on the inn that you just have been observing all evening. ” “That’s simply anyone i do know from the dept. She’s a natural world biologist. ” The waitress back with the darkish and Stormy. She set a bowl of miniature pretzels among us after which departed. once more, Sarah took a significant pull from the cocktail glass. “You will need to sluggish down,” I stated. “Listen to you,” she stated. “The voice of moderation. you actually have replaced. I stay within the West finish, so that you don’t have to fear approximately me using. Maddie stated that you simply and this girl acquired right into a lovely passionate argument at one element. ” I couldn’t cease myself from giggling. “Maddie proposal Stacey and that i have been concerned simply because we have been arguing? ” “You and that i used to argue. ” “I’m now not relationship Stacey Stevens,” I stated, attempting to sound insistent. She gripped the glass by way of the ground and had it midway to her mouth. Her hand hovered in midair. “This girl is Charley and Ora’s daughter? ” Sarah and that i have been residing jointly while I first met the Stevenses, and she or he knew what a mentor Charley were to me as a rookie warden. “Yes. ” She took a drink after which set the glass down back at the circle of condensation it had left at the mat. “Huh,” she acknowledged. *   *   * We talked because the shadows lengthened. The environment solar grew to become the western facets of the constructions less than us to gold. around the mouth of the harbor, the lighthouses started to wink on, one by one: computer virus gentle, then Spring element Ledge gentle, and eventually Portland Head gentle, commissioned by way of George Washington himself, on the a long way front to Casco Bay. Sarah’s temper was once erratic. She pulled details out of me approximately Jimmy Gammon’s dying after which the evening Kathy was once shot.