All right, then, I'll go in. And there's no point intrying to be stealthy; she's going to notice.
So I'll just do it.
It helpedthat she was so keyed up. She didn't even need to brace herself; her body was at maximum tension already. Despite her sense that therewas something menacing about this whole place, she wasn't frightened, or at least not in a way that felt like fear. It felt like rage instead, like being desperately ready for battle. She wanted to grab some thing and shake it to pieces.
She took hold of the knob and pushed the dooropen.
A new smell of incense hit her as the air rushedout. It was stronger than the living room smell,more earthy and musky, with an overlying sweetness that Maggie didn't like. The bedroom was even darker than the hall, but Maggie stepped inside.There was tension on the door somehow; as soon as she let go of it, it whispered shut behind her.
Sylvia was standing beside the desk.
She was alone, and she was still wearing theGore-Tex climbing outfit she'd had on at Maggie'shouse. Her shimmering fine hair was starting todry and lifting up like little angel feathers awayfrom her forehead.
She was doing something with a brass incenseburner, adding pinches of powder and what looked like herbs to it. That was where thesickeninglysweet smell was coming from.
Maggie had plannedas far as she'd plannedanything at all - to,rush right up and get in Sylvia'sface. To startle her into some kind of confession. She was going to say, "I need to talk to you." Butbefore she could get the first word out, Sylvia spokewithout looking up.
"What a shame. You really -should have stayedhome with your .parents, you know." Her voice wascool and languorous, not hasty and certainly notregretful.
Maggie stopped in her tracks.
Now, what's thatsupposed to mean? Is it athreat? Fine. Whatever. I can threaten, too.
But she was taken by surprise, and she had toswallow hard before speaking roughly. "I don'tknow what you're talking about, but at least you'vedropped the weepy-weepy act. You were really badat it."
"I thought I was very good," Sylvia said andadded a pinch of something to the incense burner."I'm sure the officers thought so, too."
Once again, Maggie was startled. This wasn'tgoing at all as she expected. Sylvia was so calm, somuch at ease.' So much in control of the situation.
Not anymore, Maggie thought.
She just admittedit was an act. All that chokey stuff while she was talking about Miles...
Fury uncoiled in Maggie's stomach like a snake.
She took three fast steps forward. "You knowwhy I'm here. I want to know what really happenedto my brother."
"I told you"
"You told a bunch of lies! I don't know what the truth is. The only thing I do know is that Miles would never make a stupid mistake like not buckling his harness. Look, if you did somethingdumb-if he's lying out there hurt or something,and you were too scared to admit ityou'd bettertell me right now." It was the first time she'd putinto words a reason for Sylvia to be lying.
Sylvia looked up.
Maggie was startled. In the light of the singlecandle by the incense burner, Sylvia's eyes werenot violet but a more reddish color, like amethyst. They were large and clear and the light seemed to play in them, quivering.
"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."
Before Maggie quite knew she was doing it, shehad reached out and grabbed the front of Sylvia's green Gore-Tex jacket with both hands.
Something sparked in Sylvia's eyes. For a moment, she looked startled and interested and grudgingly respectful. Then she sighed again, smilingfaintly.
"And now you're going to kill me?"
"Listen, you..."Maggie leaned in. She stopped."Listen to what?"
Maggie blinked. Her eyes were stinging suddenly.The smoke from the incense burner was rising directly into her face.
"You..."
I feel strange, Maggie thought.
Very strange. Dizzy. It seemed to come over herall at once. There was a pattern of flashing gray spreading across her vision. Her stomach heavedand she felt a wave of queasiness.
"Having a problem?" Sylvia's voice seemed tocome from far away.
The incense.
It was rising right in her face. And now...