When artist, Nicole Jeffords, learns that a reputable psychic who often works with the police has had a vision that the remains of a fifty-year-old male may be buried under an artist's studio in Austin, she becomes convinced that the studio in quest...
In the heat of the moment Janet agreed to sneak out and meet Roy two nights later. He would be waiting for her just outside her house – she'd see him from her window. They agreed on 1 a.m. Janet's mother was a night owl, but she would be safely in bed by then. Janet was a night owl, too, so there was no problem with her staying up, but the whole idea of slipping out into the darkness to meet a boy filled her with such fear that she wasn't sure she could go through with it. The only reason she did was Roy had dared her, and thirteen-year-old Janet Lamar could not resist a dare; her honor was bound up in it and she had to prove herself, no matter how much difficulty it might cause. At the appointed time, she looked out her window and saw a glimmer of white – Roy's shirt – and the red tip of his cigarette.
Steeling up all her courage, she tiptoed through the dark house and out the back door. It was a spring night, warm and muggy, the sky a deep starless purplish black. She shivered, drew herself up to her tallest, tightened her arms around herself, and ventured out of the shadows and across the lawn toward Roy, who stood waiting beneath a thin, young pecan tree that didn't give him much cover. When she arrived beside him, he chuckled – what a sexy sound in the dark! – and drew her into his arms. "Not here," she whispered. "My mother could wake up and see." They decided to sneak through the backyards to Roy's where they could hide behind the greenhouse. Holding hands and giggling, they raced across the grass, jumping over flower beds and ducking beneath trees. Janet's fear was gone and she was filled with heady excitement: this was the most adventurous thing she'd ever done and all the little nerve ends in her body seemed to be standing at attention, her legs moving smoothly as a leaping deer's, her breasts taut, her heart pumping with joy and anticipation.
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They got to the greenhouse and immediately fell to the grass, both of them out of breath. Roy lit a cigarette which they shared back and forth, lying on their backs and staring up at the sky. Janet couldn't believe she was there, outside, in the middle of the night, next to Roy, the handsomest boy in the world. Just the sense of his body so close made her head pound with wild, crazy thoughts, and her stomach tighten with butterflies. She couldn't think of a thing to say to him, but that didn't matter because in a minute he was going to put out the cigarette and kiss her. And he did that, took a last deep drag, extinguished the cigarette in the grass, rolled over and took her in his arms. But just as he placed his lips over hers and she floated off to delirium, they heard a sound – voices coming from the greenhouse.
