he problem with Palm Beach estates was that many of them, including Noah's, had electric gates at the street that prevented unwelcome visitors from getting to the front door.

As Sloan feared, she had become one of those visitors. Mrs. Snowden informed her of it as Sloan waited in her rented car outside the gates. In a tone as frigid as her last name implied, Noah's secretary said, "I am to tell you that if you ever come near this house or anything else belonging to the Maitland family, Mr. Maitland won't bother with the police. He will deal with you himself." She paused, as if uncertain that a personal warning was necessary, and then obviously decided it was: "I wouldn't put him to the test if I were you. Good-bye."

Unwilling to cry where Mrs. Snowden could see her on a closed-circuit monitor, Sloan started to put her car in reverse; then she saw Courtney bounding down the front steps toward her.

Sloan got out of the car and walked over to the gates. Courtney stopped on the other side and raked Sloan with a contemptuous glance. "How could you!" she demanded with bitter fury. "How could you do this to us when we were never anything but nice to you!"

"I know how it looks," Sloan said achingly. "I don't expect you to believe this, but I had no idea any of that was going to happen." She swallowed before she could go on. "I—I loved your family, every one of you."

Courtney's gray eyes were so like Noah's that Sloan was unconsciously memorizing the color of them in the sunlight, even though they were glaring at her with cold animosity. "I'm not stupid enough to believe any of that."

Sloan accepted her condemnation with a nod. "I don't blame you." She started to turn; then she realized something so poignant that she had to blink back tears before she could turn back. "Thank you for not accusing me of being a murderer as well as a spy."

Courtney dismissed her gratitude with an indifferent shrug. "I'm not stupid enough to believe you killed Edith."

Sloan turned away because there was nothing more to say, but Courtney wasn't quite finished. "I stayed home from school because I figured you'd come here, but you'd better never come back. Noah's gone and you're lucky. He isn't just mad. He hates you."

Sloan nodded. "I understand. Do you think, if I waited awhile and wrote him a letter, that he'd at least read it?"

"Not a chance," Courtney said as she turned her back on Sloan and walked away.

Courtney waited until Sloan was pulling out of the drive; then she turned and walked backward slowly, watching her leave. She lifted her palms to her eyes and pressed hard to keep the tears back.