dealership, and just two miles away from the center of town was the very latest thing in movie multiplexes.
So Ryan's Bluff was staring the coming millennium right in the eye.
It was also, on most levels, a small Southern town, so the politics were largely conservative, church on Sunday was the norm, you couldn't buy liquor by the drink, and until the previous year the same sheriff had been voted in at every election since 1970.
In 1998 his son got the job.
It was, therefore, a predictable town by and large. Change came as reluctantly as heaven admitted sinners.
There were few surprises, and even fewer shocks.
That's what Ben Ryan would have said. What he believed, after a lifetime of knowing this place and with generations of family history at his back. This town and its inhabitants could never surprise him.
That's what he believed.
'Judge? Someone to see you.'
Ben frowned at the intercom. 'Who is it, Janice?'
'Says her name is Cassie Neill. She doesn't have an appointment, but asks if you can spare a few minutes. She says it's important.'
Ben's very efficient secretary was not easily persuaded by people without appointments, so he was surprised to hear a note almost of appeal in Janice's voice. Curious, he said, 'Send her in.'
He was still jotting down notes and didn't look up immediately when the door opened. But even before Janice announced 'Miss Neill, Judge,' he felt the change in the room. It was as if an electrical current had been set loose, making his skin tingle and the fine hair on his body stir. He looked up and rose to his feet in the same instant, noting Janice's disconcerted expression as she gazed warily at the visitor.
They were all three disconcerted.
The visitor was functioning under an enormous level of stress. That was his first realization. He was accustomed to weighing people, and this young woman weighed in as someone carrying a burden too heavy for her.
She was of average height but too thin by a good twenty pounds, a fact obvious even under the bulky sweater she wore. She might have been pretty if her face hadn't been so thin. Her head was bowed a bit, as if her attention were focused entirely on the floor, and her shoulder-length, straight black hair swept forward as if to shelter her face, the long bangs all but hiding her eyes.
Then she looked at him through those bangs, a quick, surprised glance darting warily upward, and he caught his breath. Her eyes were amazing – large, dark-lashed, and a shade of gray so pale and clear, they were hypnotic. And haunted.
Ben had seen suffering before, but what he saw in this woman's eyes was something new in his experience.
He found himself coming around his desk toward her. 'Miss Neill. I'm Ben Ryan.' His normal speaking voice had softened, so much so that the uncharacteristic gentleness startled him.
Something else startled him. Ben was a Southern lawyer, a one-time judge, and had been for years involved in politics at the local and state levels; shaking hands with strangers was as natural to him as breathing, and sticking out his hand during an introduction was automatic. Yet somehow this woman not only managed to elude shaking hands with him, she did it so smoothly and with such perfect, practiced timing that there was nothing obvious in the avoidance of physical contact, and nothing at all awkward. He was not left with his hand hanging in the air, and was conscious of no slight.
She simply circumvented the gesture by moving promptly toward his visitor's chair and glancing casually around at his office. 'Judge Ryan.' Her voice was low and beautifully modulated, the accent not Carolina. 'Thank you for seeing me.'
When she looked at him doubtfully with another of was the norm, you couldn't buy liquor by the drink, and until the previous year the same sheriff had been voted in at every election since 1970. In 1998 his son got the job.
It was, therefore, a predictable town by and large. Change came as reluctantly as heaven admitted sinners. There were few surprises, and even fewer shocks. That's what Ben Ryan would have said. What he believed, after a lifetime of knowing this place and with generations of family history at his back. This town and its inhabitants could never surprise him. That's what he believed. 'Judge? Someone to see you.' Ben frowned at the intercom. 'Who is it, Janice?' 'Says her name is Cassie Neill. She doesn't have an appointment, but asks if you can spare a few minutes. She says it's important.'
Ben's very efficient secretary was not easily persuaded by people without appointments, so he was surprised to hear a note almost of appeal in Janice's voice. Curious, he said, 'Send her in.'
He was still jotting down notes and didn't look up immediately when the door opened. But even before Janice announced 'Miss Neill, Judge,' he felt the change in the room. It was as if an electrical current had been set loose, making his skin tingle and the fine hair on his body stir. He looked up and rose to his feet in the same instant, noting Janice's disconcerted expression as she gazed warily at the visitor.
They were all three disconcerted. The visitor was functioning under an enormous level of stress. That was his first realization. He was accustomed to weighing people, and this young woman weighed in as someone carrying a burden too heavy for her.
She was of average height but too thin by a good twenty pounds, a fact obvious even under the bulky sweater she wore. She might have been pretty if her face hadn't been so thin. Her head was bowed a bit, as if her attention were focused entirely on the floor, and her shoulder-length, straight black hair swept forward as if to shelter her face, the long bangs all but hiding her eyes.
Then she looked at him through those bangs, a quick, surprised glance darting warily upward, and he caught his breath. Her eyes were amazing – large, dark-lashed, and a shade of gray so pale and clear, they were hypnotic. And haunted.
Ben had seen suffering before, but what he saw in this woman's eyes was something new in his experience.
He found himself coming around his desk toward her. 'Miss Neill. I'm Ben Ryan.' His normal speaking voice had softened, so much so that the uncharacteristic gentleness startled him.
Something else startled him. Ben was a Southern lawyer, a one-time judge, and had been for years involved in politics at the local and state levels; shaking hands with strangers was as natural to him as breathing, and sticking out his hand during an introduction was automatic. Yet somehow this woman not only managed to elude shaking hands with him, she did it so smoothly and with such perfect, practiced timing that there was nothing obvious in the avoidance of physical contact, and nothing at all awkward. He was not left with his hand hanging in the air, and was conscious of no slight.
She simply circumvented the gesture by moving promptly toward his visitor's chair and glancing casually around at his office. 'Judge Ryan.' Her voice was low and beautifully modulated, the accent not Carolina. 'Thank you for seeing me.'
When she looked at him doubtfully with another of those guarded, darting glances, he realized that she had probably expected him to be older. More… judgelike.
'My pleasure.' He gestured to the chair, inviting her to sit, then looked toward the doorway with a lifted brow. 'Thank you, Janice.'
Janice took her gaze off the visitor finally and, still frowning slightly, backed out of the office and closed the door.
Ben returned to his chair and sat down. 'We're pretty informal around here,' he told her. 'I'm Ben.' His voice, he noted in some surprise, was still gentle.
A faint smile touched her lips. 'I'm Cassie.' Another quick glance at his face, and then she stared down at the hands clasped in her lap. Whatever she had come there to say, it was obviously not easy for her.
'What can I do for you, Cassie?'
She drew a breath and kept her gaze fixed on her hands. 'As I told your secretary, I'm new in Ryan's Bluff. I've lived here a little less than six months. Even so, that's long enough to get a sense of who's respected in this town. Who is apt to be… listened to, even if what he says is unbelievable.'
'I'm flattered,' he said, very curious but willing to let her get to it in her own time.
