She had always been advanced in school, challenging and eclipsing those students who were older than she. Inevitably, some of them had closed ranks ag...inst her socially so that she was isolated, both from those in her class and, because of her advanced placement in the schools, those of her own age group.When I reached out to her with my link and probed her mind as she knelt beside my chair, I literally jumped back as if I had been shocked by a bare electrical wire. My reaction was visible to. And her 18th birthday was on Tuesday.Last Tuesday, unfortunately. I had called her, wished her a happy birthday. I had a whole collection of gift-wrapped presents for her, too. More clothes -- clothing appropriate for wearing in the coming fall months. Beautiful, carefully selected clothing -- a dress, a skirt, a blouse, a scarf, even a winter coat -- all of it gift-wrapped.Winter, I was thinking, might be a bit colder in central New Mexico than Margarita had been accustomed to back home. Well,. .. a good guy. Everyone said so. "Larry? He's a good guy." He exuded genial confidence and unshakable good humor. He rarely offended anyone and effortlessly enchanted many.If Larry had been born a girl, he might have uncharitably been called 'a pretty face;' as in... form over substance. Larry wasn't stupid. But consciously or not, his good looks and likeability projected more depth than was actually there.I came to think of Larry as the character Chance the Gardner in Jerzy Kosinski's novel. ” Mandy said softly.“But she knew?” Beatrice asked.“Yes, I tried to help her, I tried to keep her from them but there was too many and it happened too fast and…..” Mandy said and trailed off into a sob.Beatrice stood and hugged her cousin, absorbing the pain and hurt. She felt the power enter her, Mister J had taught her how to feed off deep emotion, especially the negative. She leaned back a little to look at her sweet cousin.“There is more.” Mandy whispered.Tony was now hammering my ass.