“Rowenna, so nice to see you.” Ginny’s face brightened at the sight of her.
“Rowenna, hello.” Dr. MacElroy had just taken his seat, but he rose, smiling. His given name was Nick, but he had been her pediatrician when she was a child and she could never bring herself to refer to him as anything other than Doc or Dr. MacElroy, especially to his face.
He welcomed her with a grandfatherly hug, then he held her away for a moment, studying her as if she were still a child and might have grown since he’d last seen her. “You look as lovely as always. Ginny says you’re doing well.”
“Very well, thank you.”
Doc MacElroy was slim and dignified. His hair was thinning and white, his eyes a powder blue, like Ginny’s. He held out a chair for her, and she perched on the edge, explaining that she could only stay for a second, because she was with friends.
“Nasty business, this. Very nasty business,” Dr. MacElroy said sadly, shaking his head. “You sure you’re all right? Ginny said you found that poor woman’s body.”
“I’m okay. Really.”
“Your young man came by,” Ginny explained to her, a sparkle in her eyes. “He’d been out to meet Eric, so he dropped by to see me, too. He knew I hadn’t been out there running around in the corn, but he hoped maybe I had heard something, seen a car, anything unusual. But I’m afraid I’m a homebody and never notice much of anything outside the house.”
“She watches game shows with the TV on full blast,” Dr. MacElroy said fondly. “Of course she never notices anything.”
“But I do own that land. Father left it to me,” Ginny fretted.
“Ginny, please, you can’t let that worry you,” Rowenna told her.
“She’s been upset ever since, well, you know. So I thought a nice dinner out would be a good idea,” Dr. MacElroy said, looking around the room. “I’m seeing half of my patients in here tonight—all grown up now, of course. Time does fly,” he added softly.
“And to think I’ve lived to see a time like this,” Ginny said. “It makes you wonder what this world is coming to.”
“Ginny, bad things can happen anywhere,” Rowenna said. After all, she thought ironically, the witch trials certainly counted as bad things.
“At least the harvest festival is coming up to take people’s minds off things,” Ginny said. “I’m helping out with the costumes this year, and I’ve made a beautiful dress for you.” She frowned. “You’ll have to come by soon. The festival starts in a few days.”
“Of course. Day after tomorrow, will that be all right?” Rowenna wanted to get back to her research tomorrow.
Ginny nodded. “So long as I have time for alterations, anything suits my schedule.”
Dr. MacElroy nodded toward the band. “Is that your young fellow playing the guitar, Rowenna?”
She smiled. It seemed so strange to hear Jeremy referred to as hers.
“That’s Jeremy Flynn, yes,” Rowenna said. “Well, I’ve left Brad alone at the bar long enough. I’d better get back.”
“Of course. Good to see you home,” Dr. MacElroy said.
“And it’s good to see you out, Ginny,” Rowenna said.
“We were out not so long ago. Halloween night, and it was lovely.” She frowned suddenly. “That was the night that poor woman disappeared. Your friend must be in agony, wondering if they’re going to find her in a cornfield, too. Oh!”
She broke off, staring in horror. Rowenna turned to see what Ginny was looking at, but the only thing she could see was a column.
“Ginny, what is it?” Dr. MacElroy asked in concern, clearly as puzzled as Rowenna was.
Ginny stared from one of them to the other. “Lights. I saw lights.”
Rowenna and Dr. MacElroy exchanged worried glances.
“Oh, stop it, you two! I haven’t gone daft. I just thought of it suddenly, being here, talking about that woman. I haven’t heard anything, but the other night, I woke up and looked out toward the northwest, and I swear, there were wiggly-waggly lights out there, like a UFO.”
“Ginny, there’s nothing out there but brushland,” Dr. MacElroy said.
Ginny turned to Rowenna. “You make sure you tell that man of yours what I said. He told me it was important to tell him anything—anything at all—that came to mind.”
“Of course I will, Ginny. Thank you,” Rowenna said.
She left them at last, and paused on her way back to the bar to say hello to Adam, Eve and Daniel. Eve kissed her cheek and said, “He’s really good,” as she tilted her head in Jeremy’s direction.
“A regular rock star,” Adam said, smiling, then asked, “How did Ginny seem to you?”
“Fine, why?”
Adam shook his head. “I don’t know, I think she’s starting to slip. I’m kind of worried about her. She called me at midnight about a week ago, asking about a costume, and thought it was early evening.”