Matt and Mr. Tanner arrived for work at eight sharp and only a few minutes later, the house was filled with the rumble of the dumpster being delivered to the property, which took both Frank and Ella outside, with Mr. Tanner in tow. Clydie took that opportunity to run into the kitchen for a fresh bucket of water, finding Matt setting up the wallpaper steamer, preparing to get back to fighting the layers and layers of wallpaper that refused to yield.

"Hey, Clydie," he greeted her with a grin. "My dad stopped and bought some doughnuts on the way in. They're in the truck, if you're hungry."

"I'm good, thanks," she said, going to the sink and dumping out the filthy water. "So, you're on wallpaper duty—"

"Clydie! Are you bleeding?" Matt suddenly exclaimed and Clydie jolted, quickly looking down at herself.

She didn't see anything on her tee shirt and jeans, but Matt hurried over to her, taking hold of the neck of her shirt and pulling it to the side. "What happened?" he asked, but in a tone that implied he already knew.

Glancing down at her shoulder and chest, she caught a glimpse of the long scratch that ran from her collarbone down to her underarm. It wasn't that deep, but it was angry looking and oozing droplets of blood in several spots.

Matt winced as he assessed her. "When did this happen?" he asked, turning to grab a dishtowel from the counter top and run it under the tap.

"This morning, I guess," she answered as he turned back to her and began to carefully dab at the mark, causing her to flinch as it began to sting.

"You...you saw them this morning?" he wondered, lifting troubled eyes up to meet hers.

"Just one of them," she stated. "It was just the blonde girl this time."

Matt pushed out a breath, irritated. "I wish they wouldn't do this to you. Don't they get that it doesn't accomplish anything besides hurting you?"

"I don't think they care," she suggested.

Matt gave her another look. "Well, that's an ugly thought."

It was also an ugly feeling. "Matt...I-I tried to talk to her this time," she revealed, sounding timid for some inexplicable reason.

His brows shot upwards. "Really? Did...did she...respond?"

"Not with words. But, I'm pretty sure she wanted me to follow her."

"Follow her? How do you know that?" he questioned, still dabbing at her flesh.

"Because I know that," she responded plainly. "She was trying to get me to follow her toward this room."

"Did you follow her?"

"I-I was following her, but then my parents showed up and she...was gone."

Matt fell quiet for a moment. "Well, that's a good thing, right? I mean, if they can hear and interact with you, maybe you'll eventually figure out what they want?"

That would be the best thing that could ever happen to her. Unless what the three girls wanted was to drag her down into hell with them...

"Did you find more pills in your room this morning?" Matt wondered seriously.

She gave her a head a shake. "No. But, I...I didn't want to come home, so I hung out at Julian's last night."

Matt's jaw tightened a fraction upon hearing that. "Were you afraid to sleep here last night?"

She lifted the shoulder that Matt wasn't tending to. "Kind of.  I just...I didn't feel very safe."

"I wish I could help you with this, Clydie," Matt intoned, shaking his head.  "It seems really unfair, all this falling onto you."

"It is unfair," she whispered and a heavy silence dropped over them.

It was so unfair...

Matt let out something of a helpless sigh. "Well, I think you're all cleaned up," he declared, tossing the towel into the sink.

Clydie righted her shirt, acknowledging that she was beginning to feel like someone's scratching post. "Do you have anything planned for tonight?" she asked outright, shifting the subject away from the abject misery that was her life.

"I have to work at the pub until eight," Matt responded. "Why? Do you want to go do something?"

"If there's anything to do?" she replied, getting back to filling up her bucket. "I've been thinking its time for me to try and take a little of my life back."

Matt hit her with a smile as he went back to his steam machine. "I can help with that! Let's see...its Friday, so if the weather's good, there's Movies on the Green. Or we could just grab something to eat someplace and then play it by ear?"

"What's Movies on the Green?" she asked, adding a squirt of dish soap into her bucket, because she could.

"Eh, the Citizen's League rolls a giant movie screen into the park beside the library and people bring lawn chairs and blankets and...watch movies," Matt shrugged.

"That sounds...fun," she offered.

"There's popcorn and food vendors," he added, as if that might sweeten the pot. 

"Would you like to go?" she asked, hefting the bucket up out of the sink and plopping it down on the floor, feeling the weight in her achy muscles. "And its really okay if you don't. I can go by myself."

"No, no! Of course, I'll go with you!" Matt eagerly assured.

"What time does it start?"

"Usually about eight thirty. But, they only play old family type movies. Like...The Goonies old," he said by way of warning.

"That's okay. I don't care what movie it is. I just want to get out of the house for a while. I think...my parents need some time away from...me," she admitted.

Matt shot her an incredibly sober look. "That's what we'll give them, then. Come by Two Points and we'll walk over from there. I have some camping chairs, so you can bring some blankets, just so you don't freeze to death."

"I'll do that. And I'll spring for the food," she told him.

"Aw, you don't have to do that. I can buy popcorn and corn dogs," said Matt good-naturedly.

"I'm forcing you to hang out with me. The snacks are on my dime," she stated firmly.

"You aren't forcing me! Who in their right mind would need to be forced to hang out with you!" Matt scoffed at her.

Well, if he wanted the real answer, she'd have to say...anybody who actually knew her at this point.

"It was my idea, so I'm springing for the food," she firmly stated, heaving her bucket up and heading for the door, effectively cutting off any further sass from Matt Tanner.

And with that, she went back to her own job in the front parlor, which kept her busy for the next few hours because trying to scrub the burlap backing off the floor was about as useless as trying to scrape the stuff off the floor. Neither method was working in any way, shape, or form.

She didn't even look up from her work until her cell phone rang, startling her so that she nearly jumped out of her skin, which swept her with annoyance.  Really, when did she become as skittish as a mouse! Snatching the thing from her back pocket, and fully expecting to see that it was one of her parents summoning her to join them outside, she was surprised to find Julian's name on the screen.

"Hello?" she greeted, finding that it was a bit addling answering a call from someone other than Frank and Ella. It had been so long since anyone else had phoned her...

"Clydie? Its Julian. Are you busy, love?" Julian responded, his gravelly voice and cowboy accent tightening her stomach.

"Not really. I'm just working in the parlor," she replied, forcibly trying to shove away memories of what they'd done in his kitchen only a few hours before.

"In that case, do you think you can come over to the house? I've got something to show you," said Julian. "I'll order us up some lunch while you're here."

Clydie felt a waft of confusion. What on earth could Julian possibly have to show her? "Sure. I can be there in a few minutes."

"Great. You can bring Matt, if he can get away. He might want to be in on this," came the statement, which only furthered her confusion.

"Uh, I'll see if he can come."

"Alright. I'll see you in a shake," Julian said, disconnecting.

Sliding her phone back into her pocket, she dropped her scrub brush into the bucket and got to her feet, making her way into the kitchen where she found Matt busily steaming the wallpaper, which was serving to clean and brighten it, but not really loosen up its grip on the wall.

"Matt, I just had a call from Julian. He says he has something to show us, so he wants us to drop by for lunch," she stated, bringing Matt's attention around to her.

"Something to show us?" Matt repeated. "That's....weird. He wants me to come with you?"

"If you can."

"I can if you'll wait just a few more minutes," he told her. "What do you think this is about?"

"Beats me. I guess we'll find out," was her word on the matter.

Fifteen minutes later, after telling the people in charge of their luncheon plans, she and Matt headed down the beach toward Julian's house. And for the first time since she'd arrived in Cedar Cove, some of the grey clouds had parted, allowing the sun to shine through and providing glimpses of blue skies. Though, oddly enough, the sunlight seemed more pale and muted than any sunlight she'd ever seen. And those pale rays and peeks of clear sky did absolutely nothing to warm up the chill wind that was whipping in off the water, forcing her to huddle into Julian's sweater in an effort to stave it off.

Julian was waiting for them at the sliding glass door, giving her a crooked grin as they crossed the patio. "There you are," he intoned, taking her right into his arms and crushing her to his chest.

She was immediately swept by a wonderful wave of familiarity and relief as those large arms closed around her and she couldn't stop the sigh that escaped her. Julian's scent and his warmth were lovely, but the sense of security that curled through her was even better.

"Why did you leave this morning without waking me?" he asked in a soft tone, pressing his mouth to the top of her head.

"It felt like it was time to go. And I didn't see any reason to bother you," she said into his shirtfront.

"Walking you home wouldn't have been a bother, Clydie," he scolded, kissing the top of her head again. "And I'm very sorry that I didn't call to check on you, but my brother rang me up first thing and I had to head over to Bishop's Bay for a while."

She lifted her shoulders in answer, leaning into Julian and feeling her belly tighten and a bit of heat sparking across her flesh. But, just as she felt Julian's muscles begin to tense, a very discreet sounding cough wafted on the air, reminding her of Matt's presence.

"Matty, I forgot about you fer a minute," Julian said, stepping backward into the house and taking her with him. Once inside, he tucked her beneath his arm and led her over to the table, pulling out a chair for her. "The food should be here in a minute. I hope you both like pizza."

"Pizza's good," Matt replied, though he remained just a step over the back door threshold. "But, I don't want to be the third wheel. I can go back to the house if you two'd rather be alone."

"I asked you both here, Matty. Grab a seat," stated Julian, waving the boy over.

Matt, however, simply stood frozen, looking so uncomfortable that Clydie was beset by a severe attack of conscience and found herself hurrying back over to him, taking him by the hand. "If I hadn't wanted you to come, I wouldn't have asked you to come."

That so stated, she forcibly pulled Matt across the kitchen and over to the table, where she had to practically strong arm him down into a chair. Once he was seated, she dropped down into the seat beside him, wanting to stay within arm's reach just in case he decided to try and bolt.

"Here you go, Matty. Pour the lady a drink," said Julian, bringing over a couple of glasses and a large bottle of soda, placing them on the table just as the doorbell rang, which prompted him to stride from the room.

Matt obeyed, cracking open the bottle and glugging some into the glasses and still appearing so uncomfortable and out of place that Clydie was hit with another pang of guilt...though she couldn't exactly explain why that was.

"Matt, you can relax. We were both invited over here," she pointed out.

"I know," he sighed, looking suddenly rather dejected. "But, I don't want to get in between anything with you two."

"What do you mean? You're not...getting in between anything?" she assured, finding that notion almost laughable.

"Are you sure? Because it looks like you two are together. I don't want Julian to think—"

"Matt, I've been in town less than a week. I am not...together...with anybody," she stated plainly.

"Well, you seem pretty comfortable with a guy that you're not...together...with," was Matt's retort.

She paused for a second. She couldn't deny that hug had probably appeared a bit...overly friendly. "I'm not with Julian. We're just...we're just..."

What the hell were they?

"Right," Matt said, as if her lack of a label proved his point. "So, will Julian be okay with me taking you to a movie tonight?"

"Why on earth would he care?" she asked, thinking that Matt really was reading a bit too much into a simple hug.

"Trust me, Clydie. He'll care," Matt stated knowingly.

She suddenly wasn't sure that she and Matt Tanner were even discussing the same subject. "Matt, I am not with Julian. I don't see why he'd give a crap what I'm doing or who I'm doing it with."

"Clydie, he'll give a crap," Matt re-affirmed.

"Who'll care about what?" Julian's voice sounded out as he came walking into the room, his arms laden with pizza boxes.

Matt shot her a look that she really didn't appreciate. "Clydie and I are going to a movie tonight. I just wanted to make sure that's okay with you."

Julian dropped the boxes onto the table, keeping his gaze on Matt. "Why wouldn't it be okay with me?"

The statement was made with ease, but there was...something...underlying the words that caused Matt to glance at Clydie with a lifted brow and rather an I told you so expression. Frankly, the expression, and Julian's tone, were neither appreciated, so she decided to skim right past them both. Whatever was playing out between the two males in the room was none of her business. Nor was she and her doings any of theirs.

"So what did you want us to come over for?" she questioned, moving things forward.

"Let's eat first and then I'll fill you in," said Julian as he handed out napkins and slices of pepperoni. "I don't want to upset your appetite."

Again, awash with confusion, she took the offered slice and went about filling her belly. And it didn't take them long to put away most of the pizza, thanks to Matt, who seemed to have a bottomless pit where his stomach should have been.

Once lunch was out of the way and the table was cleared, Julian exited the room only to return a minute later, holding a file folder. "I want you to look at something for me, will you, Clydie?" he asked, taking his seat beside her.

He then opened the folder and began placing pieces of paper in front of her, laying them out in neat rows. There were nine papers in total and on each paper was a picture of a young girl and beneath the picture, a physical description of her and what she was last seen wearing. Clydie felt her stomach clench hard as she looked down at the faces before her and within barely a split second, she'd already found a face that she recognized. She'd seen that face that very morning.

"My brother went through all the databases, searching for missing young girls around this area and he found these—"

"That's her," Clydie cut him off, pointing to the second picture in the bottom row. "That's the girl who's with Sam and Jessica Hyatt."

There was a moment of silence in the room before Julian spoke. "Are you sure, Clydie?"

"I'm absolutely sure. That's the girl," she stated firmly, picking up the paper with a trembling hand.

The photograph looked almost exactly the same...the boyish haircut, the facial piercings. The only difference was that the girl in the picture had large blue eyes, unlike the version she was seeing. She glanced at the words written beneath the photograph of that smiling girl. Tessa Wright. Her name was Tessa Wright. She'd been missing for six months...and she was last seen wearing black boots, a skirt...a black sweater...

Clydie felt her heart beginning to thud inside her chest. Tessa Wright. Her name was...had been...Tessa Wright. And she'd been a real person. She wasn't an imagined vision conjured up by a broken mind. She had been a living, breathing person. A person with a real life and a real family....

"Clydie? This is the girl you saw this morning?" Matt asked quietly.

"You saw her this morning?" Julian repeated a bit...urgently.

"She had an encounter," Matt answered for her. "Look at her left shoulder. Whoever it was left their mark."

Julian was instantly reaching for Clydie, pulling the sweater and her tee shirt aside, his eyes widening as they fell on the mark there. "Clydie, what in hell is happening to you?" he asked, his voice rough and his expression tense.

She wished she could give him an answer to that question.

"Its nothing. I'm okay," she croaked out, shrugging his hands off her and pulling her clothes back over the angry red line marring her flesh.

Julian looked at her for a long minute, his jaw working hard. He clearly wanted to say something, but he was refraining.

"Are all these girls missing?" Matt wondered, breaking the tense silence.

It took Julian a beat to answer the query. "No. Two girls are missing, the others have all been found."

Hearing that caused Clydie to stiffen and she felt herself shrinking back into her chair, trying to move away from Julian. "Why did you want to show me girls that are okay? Were you...were you...trying to test me?"

And what better way to do that than toss in a few faces that were still alive and well, just to see if she might pick one of them.  Surely, that would prove that she was...what?  Lying?

Julian must have sensed that she was on the verge of getting up from the table, because he reached out and laid a hand on her arm. "Clydie, there weren't many girls from this area who'd gone missing and stayed missing and only two that fit the description you gave me. My brother printed out the other bulletins just to give you more choices, to make sure that—"

"That I'm not full of shit?" she offered.

"Clydie Weston, I do not think yer full of shit," he asserted, reaching for her shoulders and turning her in her chair so that she was facing him. "Its standard procedure to add a few photographs to a lineup that don't belong. It widens the field and helps to ensure a more pure, accurate identification."

Clydie looked him, feeling a shard of betrayal slice through her. "I might be crazy, but know what's right in front of my own eyes. And if you'd showed me a picture of a hundred girls, I'd still be able to pick her out."

"I don't think you're crazy. Not in any sort of way," he said seriously, those grey eyes burning into hers. "And please, don't think I'm doubting you.  Because I'm not."

He seemed sincere in what he was saying, but it still felt as if he was trying to...trip her up somehow, trying to prove to himself that she wasn't seeing what she was telling him she was seeing.

"I do not doubt you, Clydie. Not for one minute," he proclaimed, leaning forward in his chair and giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze. "I swear it."

After a stalled moment, she felt herself cave, allowing all her ire to seep away. How could she blame the man for wanting to test her? She was claiming to see dead people. Who in their right mind would just take her at her word.

"I believe you," she told him.

"Good. I want you to trust me. And I want you to trust that I'm only trying to help. I'm on your side in this," he stated, leaning a bit farther forward and pressing his lips to her forehead...and lingering there for a few seconds.

She nodded, really hoping that she could trust him to be on her side. She'd been alone in this for so long...