Gingerbread Man

to notice someone on a dock on the other side of the lake. As for the doctor, he didn't arrive here until around eleven thirty, just after the storm hit."
    Frowning, Vince glanced at the doctor. He nodded in full agreement. "Eleven thirty-five, or close to that, if you want to get precise. Before that I was home, watching television. I did drive past the cabins on my way here, but it was after eleven. I didn't see anyone then, for what it's worth." He glanced at Reggie, then back at Vince. "You saying you think someone put the light out on purpose?"
    Vince shrugged. "Probably not."
    "Then why did you ask?' Reggie asked.
    "I'm a cop, Mr. D'Voe. It's in my nature to be suspicious."
    D'Voe didn't look convinced.
    "So, why did you decide to come over here, in the middle of the night in a storm like this, Doc?" he asked Ernie Graycloud.
    The man sent Reginald a look. One of those,
What do you want me to tell him?
looks that Vince had seen a thousand times before. The look Reg returned was another familiar one.
How the hell should I know?
Neither man answered the question.
    But a soft voice from the doorway, said, "I can tell you why. He came over because of me."
    Three heads turned to watch Amanda come into the room, carrying a silver tea service with cups enough for all of them, and a heaping tray of pastries beside the steaming pot. It looked way too heavy for her, but Graycloud relieved her of it in short order, and set it on a nearby stand.
    "Get off your leg, Uncle Reggie. I can see it's aching," she scolded gently. Taking the older man's arm as if she were his mother, or his nurse, she urged him into the nearest chair. Then she took a blanket from the back of that chair, unfolded it, and draped it over his lap. She moved to the service, began pouring tea, and putting pastries onto tiny silver plates. "I have had a terrible fear of storms for as long as I can remember," she said. She carried a cup of tea, sweetened and creamy, and a plate of pastries to her uncle. Then she went back, and fixed a cup for Vince. "Dr. Graycloud knows I can still become quite upset. He always calls to check in on me when it storms outside." She said this with a gentle smile toward the doctor, even as she set a cup of tea and a selection of goodies on the bedside stand. Bending over Vince, her pale brown hair falling into his face, she urged him to sit up, plumped his pillows high, then leaned him back again. She put the tea and the plate in his lap, and returned to her tray. "When he called to check on me tonight, the phones were out. The storm got worse. He worries too much, so naturally he came over here to check on me."
    "At which point," Reginald put in, "we convinced him to spend the night, rather than return home in such weather."
    "Exactly." Amanda delivered the doctor's tea and sweets to him. He was still pacing, but she sent a meaningful glance at the chair, and he immediately took it. The two men obeyed the soft spoken young woman like trained bears.
    Vince was starting to see that she wasn't the meek and dependent little thing he'd at first seen. In fact, she seemed to be the caregiver in this odd little family.
    Finally, she took a cup of tea for herself, crossed the room to where Holly lay in the bed, and took her seat beside it. It was, he thought, her way of ending the conversation.
    Well, he wasn't finished. "Why are you so afraid of storms?" he asked her.
    And it was her turn to shoot that what-do-I-say-now look at her cohorts. But it was brief, a flicker, no more. She blinked it away fast, sipped her tea, and finally met Vince's eyes. "Who knows where these things get started? I honestly don't remember."
    She was good. Better than the doctor or the actor would ever be. Vince sighed, defeated. His instincts were failing him. He couldn't tell if he were in a room full of liars, or saints. There was something they weren't saying. Just what it was, he couldn't tell. Hell. He drank his damned tea.
    The doctor rose. "We should let the detective get some sleep. O'Mally, you'll call me when Holly wakes? I'll be right down the hall."
    Vince nodded, set his empty cup down on its saucer. "Thanks, Doc. And thank you, Mr. D'Voe, and you, Amanda, for your hospitality."
    "You're welcome," Amanda replied. She was tucking the covers around Holly before leaving.
    D'Voe waited for her at the door. "I wouldn't have left a stray dog out in a storm like that," he said. Then they left, the three of them. And they all knew something Vince