June 20, 1996

I heard her talking to him again last night. I've known for a while now that she was talking to someone, even before she and my dad decided to split. She has no idea that I saw them together and I need to keep it that way if at all possible. I'm afraid that she may know what happened to my dad. I've been so angry with her for so long but, as much as I despise her for all she's done, I'm struggling with the possibility that she could be involved with this. I just need more time. Please, God, let me be wrong.

The silence that fell over the room after Gloria's statement was deafening. Melanie's hand flew to her mouth. She turned to Cameron and Andra unable to properly articulate words for her emotions.

Andra felt as if she were outside herself watching all of this happen. An icy numbness had spread throughout her limbs. Conrad had suggested that the events surrounding Donald's death were questionable. Andra had suspected as much herself, but to have her suspicions confirmed was another thing altogether.

Gloria, completely unaware of the turmoil she had just caused, was sitting up in bed singing quietly to herself. She had pulled her long hair over one shoulder and was slowly running her fingers through it taking no notice of her visitors. She only looked up when a pretty brunette nurse with dark skin and an infectious smile glided into the room. She had a tray of food in one hand and a blood pressure cuff in the other.

"Well hello, Ms. Miles?" She said in a cheery voice. "I see we have some new faces with us today. How exciting!" She exclaimed as she set the tray down by Gloria's bed and picked up the nearby water pitcher. "Are these your children Melanie?" She asked as she poured a glass of water and then passed it and a tiny paper cup containing two small white pills to Gloria.

"Um, What? I mean um, no. This is my niece and nephew." She stammered gesturing in their direction obviously still flustered. "Cameron and Andra this is Mia. "

Cameron waved a little sheepishly. "Nice to meet you." Andra smiled and nodded.

"Nice to meet you too. " Mia replied. "It's so nice of you to come with your aunt. Gloria doesn't get too many visitors and it's good for her to see some new faces from time to time." She said all of this while wrapping the blood pressure cuff around the older woman's bony arm. Gloria was still stubbornly ignoring all of them and studiously examining the pills Mia had given her. Apparently satisfied with what she had seen she tipped the cup up and swallowed both pills dry. She then handed the paper cup and the untouched water back to Mia.

"So she's doing well?" Melanie asked as the young nurse began scribbling things down on a chart by the bed.

"She's as healthy as a horse physically but not much of a change anywhere else." She said giving Melanie an apologetic smile and then patting Gloria's shoulder gently. Turning she pulled a small table around and placed Gloria's breakfast on it. "She's eating a little late today. I came by earlier but she was still asleep so I decided to let her rest a bit since it wasn't time for her meds. She's been having some trouble sleeping lately."

Melanie's head came up at that. "Is that normal for her?"

Mia shook her head. "Not usually but for a lot of the patients here dealing with what Gloria's dealing with it's not abnormal for their sleep rhythms to be disrupted. If it continues we'll talk to her attending to see if there's something he can prescribe for her."

Melanie threw a glance over her shoulder at Andra. The look on her face suggested that she wasn't convinced Glorias' declining mental health was the reason for her insomnia.

Andra had to agree. Fate and destiny were not concepts that Andra had ever taken seriously. The only other possibility was that someone was trying their best to tell them something and working overtime to do it.

As if proving her point Gloria who had up until that very moment been humming quietly suddenly began to sing. Her singing voice was as soft and angelic as Andra would have imagined after hearing her speak. There was no mistaking the song she sang. Andra had heard it often enough in the last few days. Savannah had been here alright.

Cameron's fingers tightened around hers. "This is not happening." He hissed his mouth just inches from her ear. Andra shivered but for once it had nothing to do with Cameron. She had read those same words in Savannah's own handwriting just a few nights ago.

Mia who was too busy checking Gloria's vitals to notice the obvious distress around her smiled down at the tiny woman in the bed. "You have a beautiful voice love."

Melanie seeing the stunned looks on Cameron and Andra's faces now turned to Mia. "Does she sing a lot?"

"For the last couple of weeks yes. I don't where she heard it but she has quite the voice doesn't she?"

"She does." Melanie agreed. "I guess we should probably be going. I need to get these kids back to their parents."

Leaning forward she kissed Gloria on top of her head and whispered something to quietly for the rest of them to hear. Cameron was already moving toward the door pulling Andra along behind him.

"Have a good afternoon Mia."

"You too," Mia called back as she opened a small carton of juice and set it on the table she had pulled over Glorias' bed.

As they exited into the hallway Gloria's voice could be heard one last time. "Be careful Melanie. It's a weeknight so make sure you and Savannah are back by ten. No later."

Andra started to say something but Melanie, already moving in the direction of the lobby, shot her a warning glance. "Not a word till we're in the car." she hissed under her breath. They left the same way they had entered the two teens following quietly as Melanie stalked a few steps ahead of them. Andra could see that Stacy was still stationed at the front desk but the two nurses who had greeted them earlier were gone. The lobby was silent. "Bye Melanie. Have a good afternoon." Stacy called her shrill voice echoing across the lobby. Melanie never slowed up but gave a small wave and a curt smile as she passed. Once they were through the doors and in the parking lot she made a beeline for the car.

Andra and Cameron stayed silent as they took their seats, Andra in the passenger seat and Cameron in the back. Melanie slid into the driver's seat and cranked the car. Once the
A/C was running she leaned forward resting her forehead against the steering wheel. The interior of the car remained silent as they gave Melanie time to compose herself.

"Did I really just hear Savannah's mother confess to murder?" Melanie asked finally without raising her head.

"To be fair she didn't really confess," Cameron answered from the backseat. "She suggested that the Colonel did it."

"Yeah and then there's that," Melanie said sitting up and turning to face them. "You guys have been putting so much time into researching all this. Do you have any idea who the Colonel is? And what is the deal with that song? I was watching you two. The look on your faces when she started singing," She trailed off here watching their reactions. "What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing in any of the research we've done has turned up anyone by that name. I can't even begin to imagine who that would be." Andra said thinking briefly of Savannah's last night at the bluffs. She wondered if one had anything to do with the other. Could the Colonel be the person Savannah met with that night?

"The song on the other hand isn't something I thought I needed to tell you about. We don't understand it yet."

"What is there to understand?" Melanie asked

Cameron sighed from the backseat before quickly recounting Rob's story about his first time visiting Pinewood Drive. He told her how Rob and Drew had seen Savannah in her room and about them hearing that song. "Rob swears she was singing it." He told Melanie.

"I had almost the same experience," Andra said. "The first time I encountered Savannah was in a dream. I was in her house outside her bedroom door. I could hear her singing that exact same song. We have no idea how it fits in but Gloria has obviously heard it somewhere. I'm assuming it means Savannah has been here."

"You two can't continue with this," Melanie said her voice taking on the same tone that Denise's often did when she really meant business. "This is way too dangerous and you guys are already in over your heads."

"We have to keep going," Cameron said quietly from the backseat. "We don't have a choice."

"Oh yes, you do. There's always a choice. I'm assuming neither one of you has told your parents what you're up to. This stops today or I'll have to talk to them myself."

"No, you won't," Andra said loudly her voice reverberating in the small enclosed space. "You're going to tell them that their kids came to you with some wild tale about solving a murder and a haunted house and you as the lone adult not only went along you drove two minors across county lines to see a dead girl's mentally unstable mother. Really? How's that going to work out for you?" Andra watched as Melanie's face began to turn from pink to red knowing that Andra had her. "Cameron's right." Andra continued. "We can't stop. Do you think Savannah is going to stop just because we're tired of playing whatever little game she has in mind for us? She's not going to just wait around for a few more decades till someone else shows up. We started something. I wish we hadn't but we did and now we have to finish it."

"There's no other way?" Melanie asked.

Andra and Cameron shook their heads at the same time.

"What now then?"

"We go home," Andra answered. "We have a few more people we need to talk to. If you can put us in touch with Jennifer we can handle the rest."

"No promises but I think I can get her to talk to you," Melanie said as she put the car in reverse and began backing out of the space.

Andra glanced in Melanie's direction. " I apologize if I was rude. I didn't mean to upset you. We do appreciate all you've done to help us."

"Yeah well, I'm starting to wish I hadn't. It feels a little like I've just helped you guys dive headfirst into the lion's den." No one answered her as Melanie pulled the car onto the highway and turned toward home.