“You didn’t want her to tell you anything,” said Blackwood. “That doesn’t mean you didn’t want to know.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I need to know your weaknesses,” said Blackwood. “It is good to know where the seams are. Weaknesses can be exploited.”

“By these Hollow Ones?”

“By any aggressive, malevolent spirit. That is how they work. That is what they feast upon.”

Odessa shook her head, backing into the padded chair below the silent television. “It’s not a weakness. I made it a strength.”

“Did you?” said Blackwood.

She knew he was baiting her. It didn’t matter. Something inside her wanted him to know what happened.

“My father was a lawyer in the small town I grew up in. He had an office for years next door to the library in an old converted farmhouse. A real family practice, like a doctor. He always had butterscotch candy in a jar on his desk when I’d come by. He had this ancient secretary named Polly, worked there forever. I was the youngest, his last child. We were close.

“He was a real man about town, on a lot of boards, the school board, the zoning board. Part of the job, I guess. Everybody’s friend and counselor. He really liked what he did, which was mostly estates, property transactions, and wills. He especially liked visiting with and spending time talking to aging clients, even taking them to lunch, befriending them. I had To Kill a Mockingbird images in my head, but he never got anywhere near a criminal case. Still, unlike my brothers and sisters, I was determined to go to law school, to be just like my dad…only not in a small-town setting. I wanted out of there. Take those values with me. And though I would have denied it completely then, I wanted to make him proud.