"Is that what you think happened?"Sylviaasked softly.
"I said, I don't knowwhat happened!" Maggie feltdizzy suddenly, and fought it, glaring into Sylvia's strange eyes. "Maybe you had a fight or something.Maybe you've got some other boyfriend. Maybe you weren't even out climbing on Halloween in the first place. All I know is that you lied and that there's no body to find. And I want to know the truth!"
Sylvia looked back steadily, the candlelight dancing in her purple eyes. "You know what yourbrother told me aboutyou?" she asked musingly."Two things. The first was that you never gave up.
He said, `Maggie's no rocket scientist, but once shegets hold of something she's just like a little bull terrier.' And the second was that you were a complete sucker for anybody in trouble. A real bleeding heart."
She added a few fingernail-sized chips of smoothbark to the mixture that was smoking in the incense burner.
"Which is too bad," she went on thoughtfully."Strong-willed and compassionate: that's a real recipe for disaster."
Maggie had had it.
"What happened to Miles? What did you dotohim?"
Sylvia laughed, a little secret laugh. "I'm afraidyou couldn't guess if you spent the rest of yourshort life trying." She shook her head. "It was toobad, actually. I liked him. We could have beengood together."
Maggie wanted to know one thing. "Is he dead?""I told you, you'll never find out. Not even whenyou go where you're going."
Maggie stared at her, trying to make sense ofthis. She couldn't. When she spoke it was in a levelvoice, staring into Sylvia's eyes.
"I don't know what your problem is-maybeyou're crazy or something. But I'mtellingyou rightnow, if you've done anything to my brother, I am going to killyou."
She'd never said anything like this before, butnow it came out quite naturally, with force andconviction. She was so angry that all she could seewas Sylvia's face. Her stomach was knotted and sheactually felt a burning in her middle, as if therewere a glowing fire there.
"Now," she said, "areyou going to tell me what happened to him?"
Sylvia sighed, spoke quietly."No."