Page 58 of The Bride Wore White

“I told you, I’m keeping an open mind.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Want to help me trim the asparagus?”

“Okay. But just so you know, I have never trimmed asparagus in my life.”

“It’s easy. I’ll demonstrate.” She picked up a stalk of asparagus and snapped off the end. “After you do a couple you’ll get the feel of it.”

He set his wine aside, washed his hands, and went to stand in front of the pile of asparagus. Experimentally he picked up a stalk and gently bent it. He snapped off the end.

“You’re right,” he said. “You can feel the break point.” He reached for another stalk. “Think you’ll ever risk marriage again?”

She picked up her wine and watched him work on the asparagus. “After the disaster with Julian, I decided I was not cut out to be a wife. My plan is to be a professional committed flirt.”

He blinked and started to laugh. “Is that an actual career?”

“I see it as a hobby or a pastime, like golf or tennis. Mycareergoal is to open a bookshop focused on the literature of the paranormal. I was working in the Adelina Beach College library to get some experience and develop my knowledge of the field. What about you? Think you’ll take another chance on marriage?”

He was trying to deal with the concept of flirting as a hobby ora sport. Her question caught him by surprise.Should have seen it coming.After all, he had just asked her the same question.

“I don’t think marriage is in my future,” he said. “Not with this face.”

“You don’t get to use your scars as an excuse, not with me.” She smiled. “I’m psychic, remember? I know perfectly well that the real reason you’re afraid of marriage is because of your talent.”

“I’m not afraid of marriage. I’ve studied the odds and they are not good, at least not in my case.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I don’t have atalent. I have a certain ability to observe the actions of others, and I am able to interpret what I observe in ways that allow me to assign a statistical probability to the actions an individual is likely to take under certain stressful situations.”

“What’s the difference?”

He thought about that as he snapped off the bottom of the last stalk of asparagus. “Damned if I know.”

Chapter 26

Raina called back later that evening. Jack was at his desk. He reached for the phone.

“This is Wingate.”

“This is Raina, Jack. I’ve got some information for you.”

“Terrific,” he said. He picked up a pencil and opened his notebook. “I’m listening.”

Prudence was curled up in the big reading chair in the library, working her way throughThe Wingate Crime Tree. She was almost finished, he noticed. She lowered the page she had been reading and waited.

By the time he hung up a few minutes later, the chimes were clashing so loudly he was amazed Prudence did not hear them.

“As Rollins Dover told us, the Bennington Academy was a small private boarding school,” he said. “What he did not mention was that it was a school for the troubled youth of the wealthy.”

“Troubled youth?” she repeated. “That covers a lot of territory.”

“It does. Apparently Bennington was known for its strict discipline. The boys were locked in their dormitories at night.”

“It sounds like a prison.”

“Yes, it does. The academy was located in a small rural town in the mountains. Raina managed to track down the former sheriff. He remembered the school very well. It was the source of his biggest problems. Some of the boys were known to be violent, and occasionally they escaped the dorms. He confirmed the place burned to the ground years ago. The headmaster died in the fire. Evidently he was locked in his office and unable to escape.”

“Lockedin his office?”

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