six-inch stuffed black bear called TR. He must have been there since last Friday night when she had baby-sat for Little Katie. He was one of the girl's favorite toys. She pulled the bear out and stuffed him into Little Katie's hands. The child took him eagerly. She immediately began sucking on the bear's ear. He was as good as a bottle to the toddler. That way Katie kept herself occupied while Bianca tried to make her way through the morass of tombstones and underbrush. Most of the graves dated back centuries. Tombstones had fallen over and were lying flat on the ground, crumbled into bits. Others had partially collapsed and stood as sharp, jagged ruins to snag the clothes of the unwary. Still others lay flat on the ground, half sunken into the earth. Their surfaces were slick with the night mists. Bianca slipped and nearly fell when she skidded over them. The child was lying in her arms, calmly sucking on her toy. The two-year-old trusted Bianca to get her safely back to her crib. Bianca couldn't give up for Little Katie's sake. She couldn't give up though she wandered until daybreak, not even if the darkness made her lose her mind with fear. A white mist hung around the back fence of the cemetery. Her subdivision was on the other side. She had only to crawl over the fence then she'd be in somebody's backyard. Once she found one backyard, she could find others. The Shipleys had the biggest backyard, the one closest to the cemetery. Their house was probably located just on the other side of that fence. Bianca stumbled and fell. She rolled over a bulging live oak tree root and nearly tumbled into a gaping black hole in the ground. What on earth could that be? It was far too deep to be a hole dug by a squirrel or a dog. It was too geometric to be a hole left by the roots of a tree that had been pulled up from the ground after falling over during a violent thunderstorm or hurricane. She drew back from the edge. This had to be a hole dug for a grave for an upcoming funeral. She'd almost fallen headfirst into it. She could have broken her neck and gotten killed. Bianca peered down into it as mists floated over the top, sometimes revealing its blackness, sometimes concealing it. There was a quality to its blackness that was darker than anything she'd seen — darker than midnight, darker than a room with no light, darker than fear itself. Cold beads of sweat formed on Bianca's forehead. She shook. She couldn't make her arms and legs obey her. She couldn't run away. She couldn't move. "Help me!" Bianca pleaded. "Somebody help me!" Tears rolled down her cheeks. "If only I could see! If only there was a light somewhere!" Maybe Doc was right. Maybe her case was getting more serious. Katie started to fuss. The toddler sensed that something was wrong. Bianca heard footsteps approaching. "Harry?" She asked hopefully, spinning around. A big, lumbering form lunged at her out of the darkness. "Where in the hell did you go, bitch? Trying to give me a run for my money, huh?" She screamed and tried to escape, but he leaped on her first. She couldn't get away. "What — what have you done to Harry?" Bianca gasped. "Let's just say that he won't bother us any more tonight." Mike pinned Bianca down on all fours. Little Katie rolled out of Bianca's arms. The child sat there, fussing a little but mostly sucking on her bear. "I took what I needed out of his wallet. He owes it to me. After all, he's got a job and gets paid. I don't." Mike flashed some cash as he sat on top of her and stuffed it back into his pocket again. "But — but you didn't hurt him, did you?" Bianca pleaded. "You know, he doesn't have a job any more. He got fired tonight. The manager told him to turn in his uniform." "I didn't hurt Harry as much as I'm going to hurt you and that bratty baby if you keep on yapping about him!" Mike growled. "You've already caused me enough trouble snitching to the police so they're hot on my trail." He reached into her pocket