The kids at school are right — I'm just a slut." She sobbed brokenly against my chest.This was going to be fun. I love problems this easy to solve. ... lifted her head up, looked into her eyes, and wiped her tears away, kissing her gently."Katie ... look at me. You are not a slut. Sluts sleep with multiple guys at once. You're not two-timing me are you? And you said you were seducing me behind Victoria's back. Would it help it I told her about it?" I teased, trying to get her to laugh.She smiled. Oh, I don’t know. I felt bad for her, because Brian was starting to be a dick to her by then. I tried to be nice to her, maybe trying to offset the shit he gave her, just a little...” I picked at one of the pillars of the gazebo, as dark shame continued to cast a longer shadow over my mind. “Yeah ... I actually hated it when Brian would make fun of her, so I tried. I wasn’t into her, though. It was ... like, pity, I guess ... But she took that to mean I liked her.”I swallowed, as the harder. I'd given Dad the names of five members of Melville's coven we didn't know before, and he'd contacted our P.I. firm to start the dossiers on each of them.What I need, I thought as I toweled my body dry, is some goodness, some of Jason's tender loving care. Expecting to locate him out around the pool, I donned my new bikini and went searching for him.He was missing.At first I wasn't concerned. Earlier that day when informed that we intended to stop the dirty-tricks campaigns against the. For once, it seemed ignoring the most obvious problem was the best choice.As David turned off the main road onto a rough unpaved private drive, a large sign proclaimed where they were heading:Deerbrook FarmsGrowing Food for AmericaCorn Potatoes Wheat AlfalfaThe drive there had taken them on a route familiar to both Alice and Mattie, as it took them beyond Mattie's former home. She'd stared out the window as they passed by, but didn't say anything. What David was afraid would be an awkward.