Well, things seemed to calm down after that for a while...maybe about two weeks. With Stephen awake Baz went back to his London townhouse and I went back to doing chores for Clem in between other things.

So I wasn't there for the start of it all, I should tell you that right up front. I just heard about it from Stephen and then Charlie. The Reverend wasn't there at the time either, so I never got his version but I don't think that matters. I can tell you that Stephen wasted no time once he understood what the Reverend and Charlie were trying to tell him though he was more interested in what Charlie was saying since for the most part the Reverend was going on about demons in the back forty like he always did and Stephen had no time for nonsense. For Marc, who happened to be in Stephen's office that day, going over staffing needs and recommended changes in operations what Charlie had to say was many things I suspect, including confirmation of what he'd probably already guessed and news that made his relationship with Stephen perhaps a bit tense again for a while, though that didn't last long. I will always be sorry I wasn't there for the events that restored harmony between them.

It all began with The Reverend and his singlemindedness. Amazingly oblivious to events taking place around him that really had no bearing on his priorities, the Reverend had quartered almost all the property during that spring and first half of the summer, mostly walking but sometimes borrowing the jeep and driving. It was on one of those expeditions that he met Charlie again. After that if the Reverend was driving the two of them would go out together, not that Charlie thought there was anything in the Reverend's obsession. No, Charlie just liked being able to get away and couldn't to any degree because his injuries had left him with a limp and he had trouble walking all that far without the pain starting; and the Reverend, to give him his due, didn't chatter much on these expeditions which was just fine with Charlie. So they'd drive off and the Reverend would pick a spot and they'd stop and Charlie would usually find a place to sit and remember Shelly and the Reverend would start testing for demon sign, or so I was told.

I don't know what it means to test for demon sign. Charlie told me that watching him do it was a lot like watching someone dowsing for water but without a rod or anything. He asked the Reverend to explain it once and the Reverend told him it was like something inside his head acted like a homing device. Once it found whatever it was, a smell, a look, an aura, he wasn't really sure what, he was drawn towards it in a way. Then, he handled it, whatever it was, or touched it and he would be sure because it would resonate with something in his head. Charlie said it made no sense to him, and it didn't to me either when he told me the story.

It was a hot day in early August when they finally stumbled onto the ruins of the house Lily built for Richard. It was overgrown by then but still clearly discernable at the edge of the meadow. Charlie walked over with The Reverend.

See, back before all this had happened to him he'd been an anthropologist, a forensic anthropologist. He'd trained and worked under Kathy Reich and then gone to DC where he worked for the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in their Department of Anthropology as the lead forensic anthropologist and curator for the Terry Collection. In other words, he told people when they asked, he played around with bones. People brought him bones and he looked at them, he put them together like jig saw puzzles and sometimes was even able to determine things like age or ethnicity or cause of death or sex. Charlie liked bones. He also had a healthy vein of curiosity and wasn't shy about satisfying it when he could.

So he poked around the ruins in the wake of the Reverend, wondering what had happened to the house, though at the time he didn't know it was a house. He sometimes heard the Reverend muttering to himself as he roamed the site doing his dowser-looking-for-demon-sign thing. Charlie ignored him, listening to bird calls and enjoying the sun. The meadow was a blanket of corn flowers and Queen Anne's lace, waving blue and white among the green. There was a high blue sky and a breeze.

All in all Charlie was at peace with the world. He'd gotten used to Shelly being gone as much as he ever would. Oh, it still hurt and sometimes he missed her so much he didn't think he could stand it. He'd visit her grave sometimes, where he'd planted some of flowers that she'd loved, when it got really bad and he needed to be close to her any way he could. When the ground settled he would get a proper head stone.

Visiting her grave and other places too, he would talk to her just like he always had. He knew she could hear him, he hadn't the slightest doubt and he always felt less lonely for her after. So he told her about the girls and how they looked like her and were growing so fast. He'd named them just as she'd wanted, Sidney and Harper. He told about how he filled his days now, working on getting his legs back in shape and trying to decide what to do next. He told her everything, just like he always had. And he told the girls about her.

Charlie was talking to her now, telling her about the ruins and speculating on what happened, and letting her know about the scent of the breeze and how it reminded him of her hair, how the feel of it was like the slide of her hair on his hands. So it was something of an intrusion when he heard the Reverend start yelling, excited as all get out, and waving something at him, signaling to him to come over to where he was.

Then he watched as the Reverend did something he'd never done before, not on all their trips together. He dropped to his knees, digging and moving debris shouting even louder for Charlie to come over.

"What is it? What did you find?" Charlie shouted it back as he moved in the direction of the Reverend. "Father Daniel, what did you find?"

"It's proof," he shouted, clearly jubilant. "I told the Abbot I'd find it and I have. Now he'll have to believe me. Come and see."

It took Charlie a while to reach him, since he wasn't in a hurry and the ground was difficult. He used a cane most of the time these days and was walking pretty well, but his leg wasn't real strong and it was getting tired. So it hurt and he was favoring it and not really paying attention to the ground. It was the cane that tripped him up, getting caught in a tangle of meadow grass. As he was laying there, getting his breath back and trying to manage the pain from his now deeply offended hip he saw what the Reverend was waving at him. It was a fibula, an adult fibula and at least from where he lay, in very good condition. What it had to do with the Reverend and his demons he didn't know and didn't really care. But he was interested in bones and so he started to struggle to his feet. By the time he reached him, the Reverend had gone back to digging, using the fibula to uncover what looked like a pelvic bone. That galvanized Charlie like a cattle prod.

"Stop!Stop right there, damn it! Leave it alone I tell you. You moron, that's no way to do that. Get outta there! You'll destroy whatever's there." He started yanking on the Reverend's arm trying to get his attention, but the Reverend was past hearing. So Charlie, in desperation, lifted his cane and thwack,! hit him on the back with it, yelling at him again to stop. The force of the blow sent the Reverend face forward into the grass, but Charlie didn't care. He'd stopped. "Get out of my way, you idiot," he ordered the Reverend. "Let me in there," he demanded waving his cane, but whether it was to further assault the Reverend or not was unclear. Charlie hadn't been this excited since Shelly told him they were having twins.

The Reverend deeply offended, in considerable pain and perhaps recalling that Charlie was an Awakened himself, scuttled away like a crab. Charlie, feeling around where the Reverend had been digging was nodding to himself, and then he expanded his field of view. After several moments he rose painfully to his feet and offered the Reverend a hand. "We have to get back to the House. I need to tell Stephen about this right away."

"Tell him? He's probably the reason that skeleton is there. I told you, it's the proof. But you're one of them. I was foolish to trust you." He yanked his hand away as soon as he was on his feet, waving it around like it was contaminated. He had grass in the front of his hair, stains on his hands, a tear at the knees of his habit and his glasses were askew. Neither noticed, each focused solely on his own priorities.

"Proof of what?You're not still going on about demons contaminating this place are you? Charlie brushed himself down and turned back to the jeep, limping more than usual but not noticing. "Come on, Father. I want to get back and see Stephen as soon as I can."

"Why do you want to see him?" The Reverend followed behind, querulous and disgruntled. "I don't think I'm going with you. Someone needs to stay here and guard this site. Those people are not to be trusted." Then he added with venom, "You're not to be trusted."

Charlie ignored that last. "Guard it from what? If nobody's bothered this place before today they aren't going to bother it now. Quit being such an ass and get a move on. My leg hurts and I want to get back to the House. Hopefully I can get everything organized and start excavating properly tomorrow or at the latest the day after." Charlie waved his cane at him again and resumed his march to the jeep." If you aren't there by the time I am," he called back, "I'm gonna leave you here and you can walk back."

"What do you mean get everything organized? What are you going to do? I found that site, not you and I want to know what you're planning to do. I will not allow you to destroy my evidence."

Charlie stopped short and turned to look at him, like he was seeing him for the first time. "Are you always such a single-mind fool? That skeleton used to be a human being and I'm going to do what I am trained to do. Dig it up and put it back together. After that we'll see but take it from me Father it is not proof of demons or satanic activity or anything else like that. And you are a bigger fool than I thought you were if you think it means Beelzebub has come to visit. Now shut the hell up and drive me back." He waved him forward with his cane which may have been why the Reverend complied. However, he didn't shut up, not the whole way back. And he refused to let Charlie talk to Stephen without him.

Lucky for all of them Stephen was in his office and the way wasn't being guarded by Tommy who had stepped out for a moment. Completely indifferent to Marc, the Reverend pushed Charlie out of his way and unceremoniously burst into Stephen's office. Charlie, more polite but as insistent lingered in the doorway. Stephen, who motioned to Marc to give him a minute, waved them in and recommended they both take a seat. Grateful, Charlie sat down and started rubbing his leg, all the while trying to talk over the Reverend.

"Wait, hold it. Quiet both of you." Stephen pounded on his desk as he said it. "Now," when they had stilled, "Charlie do you need someone to look at your leg?"

Charlie looked up and grinned at him, "Later probably, but this is more important. I've just come from the meadow at what I understand is the south west edge of your property here."

Stephen nodded. "That would be where the ruins are."

The Reverend pounced, "See I told you he knows about them and I am convinced he is responsible.' Directing himself to Stephen he went on, triumphant, "I told you that I'd get proof of what you and your people, if I can even call them that, really are and now I have it. There are traces of demonic activity all over those ruins and those bones, and all over the cemetery too come to that, and I will not let you destroy that evidence. I demand that you get the Abbot over here right away. He knew I was searching for evidence. He'll believe me."

Stephen latched onto the one word that mattered to him. Directing himself to Charlie and completely ignoring the Reverend, and forgetting Marc was even there, he said, "Bones? You found bones in the ruins of that house? What kind of bones."

Charlie, pleased to be talking to sanity at last, said, "So far only a fibula and a pelvic bone. They appear to be human, adult and in good shape. Amazingly it doesn't look like the animals got to them. My guess is that the entire skeleton is there underneath the debris and the overgrowth."

Marc sat back making his chair creak. Stephen glanced at him for a moment, his face unreadable, and then, looking back at Charile, asked. "You're sure?"

"Sure that the bones are human? Absolutely." Confidence rang in his voice. "I couldn't possibly be mistaken."

Before Stephen could speak again the Reverend said, "That's right and whatever happened to him it's as plain as it can be it wasn't natural."

"Reverend, if you don't shut the hell up and stay that way I'll gag you myself. Am I clear?" Stephen's voice was unlike anything anyone who didn't knew him well would have recognized. It was sheer power, power dripping from every word. He hadn't raised his voice and his face was relaxed. His eyes, however, made it plain that he meant it, and would relish making it happen.

"Fine" was the Reverend's only response. Then, recovering, "But I am not leaving, do I make myself plain? And I want the Abbot here before this goes any further."

"Reverend, I don't give a benighted tinker's damn in a frozen hell what you want." Then he yelled, "Tommy get in here." And Tommy appeared. "Tommy, if the Reverend says one more word without my leave I want him gagged and tied to the chair. If he gives you any trouble, get him out of here and put him in the lock ward in a straight jacket, got it?"

Tommy nodded and took a spot just behind the Reverend, who, unable to believe his ears, was goggling at Stephen.

Stephen, satisfied that he was going to be quiet, turned back to Charlie. "Why are you so sure? It's not that I don't believe you it's just that I want to know why you are so positive."

Charlie nodded. Stephen was a professional and Charlie, one himself, understood that. Charlie didn't know Marc well, only through rumor really, but apparently Stephen trusted him. "I know because it's what I do. You never asked and it never came up but I am a forensic anthropologist. I was the curator of the Terry Collection at the Smithsonian. Perhaps you've heard of it?"

"Yes, vaguely, I don't know much about it."

"Doesn't matter," Charlie replied. "The important part is that what I do is put skeletons together and figure things out from them. There's a body there, that's all I know except that it wasn't buried and it's been there a while. I can't tell anything about its condition, though as I said the fibula and pelvis I saw were ok. In fact I won't know anything at all, really, until I get it out of the ground. Even though the remains I saw haven't been disturbed by the animals doesn't mean other parts weren't."

Stephen hadn't taken his eyes off Charlie. He studied him for a moment, then "What will you need to excavate the site?"

"I can get you a list within an hour. Mostly it's digging items and screens and things. The main thing is manpower and moving the ruins. I can't do it myself unless you don't mind it taking weeks."

"I do mind. I want it done as soon as possible. How many men do you need?"

"Three, maybe four who don't mind getting dirty and like to play in the dirt. To find all the bones we'll dig and sift. At the end it'll be like digging with a soup spoon to get the small ones and then there's hunting down what might have been scattered by the critters, but with that many men I could maybe be done in a week, assuming the remains aren't scattered all over the place once the house is out of the way. Do you know anything about that site? The more I know about it the easier it'll be"

"Yes, quite a lot as a matter of fact." Then he looked at Tommy, jerking his head toward the Reverend. "Get him out of here. Take him back to Clem and tell Clem to keep him quiet until I get there. Tell Clem I'm sorry but it's important and I'll explain as soon as I can."

Tommy nodded and grabbed hold of the Reverend, zapping out of there before the argument started.

"Have you ever worked a crime scene?" Marc asked in that quiet voice of his.

Charlie regarded Marc thoughtfully. "One or two."

Stephen flicked a look toward Marc, then leaned back in his chair apparently thinking hard. Minutes ticked by. Charlie just waited, rubbing his leg and weaving plans in his head. It was always easier when you dealt with professionals.

Finally Stephen said, slowly, "That house was built by a woman you have never met for the man she loved. One day she found out that she and he had been betrayed and they left. I have always assumed that she destroyed the house before she left because it was something she created for him out of love as a reflection of love. From what you say, someone died there, possibly when the house was destroyed."

Charlie nodded.

"Could it have been someone died there or was placed there later?"

Charlie chewed on that one for a bit and finally shook his head. Then he waited some more for Stephen to ask his next question. It wasn't one he'd been expecting.

"Is it possible," Stephen asked as if he were feeling his way forward, "Is it possible that there is more than one body there? Or is it too soon to tell?"

"You think there might be more than one?"

"I don't know. It's just a possibility."

"Well, the bones are covered by debris and the forest is reclaiming the spot. It was the Reverend who found the first one. Sorry, but I just can't say right now. Do you think you know who it is?"

"I don't know. What happened that day…well after we discovered the house had been destroyed we just left it. The lady, Lady Liliana and Richard, whom she built the house for, had made it plain they were leaving. There was no reason to think anything else. And I had," he stopped for a moment, his face bleak then went on, "other things going on then that meant I wasn't as focused, perhaps, as I should have been." Stephen drew breath, containing some emotion he didn't want to reach the surface.

Charlie waited for him to go on.

"But now… it seems like maybe there is reason to think... Charlie, I need to know what's under that house, or what's left of it. I need to know as soon as possible. Because if it is Lily and Richard…well let's just leave it at that. So just tell Tommy as soon as he gets back what you need and he'll make it happen. You'll be able to start in the morning if you're up to it. Sam Watkins is over at the Compound and he can help removing the debris from the house. And if you need anything, and I mean anything, let me know and you'll have it.

The main thing you can do to help," Charlie said with a grin, "Is keep the Reverend the hell away from the site and out of my hair."

"Oh believe me when I tell you he will not be an issue at all." Stephen smiled back at him, a bit grimly, but it was better than what had been there a moment ago. Then recalling something else that he'd heard, "Do you have any idea, though, what he meant about the cemetery?"

"No, I was never with him when he was there and he's never been there when I was." Charlie shook his head. "You know, though, it was strange today. He's never started digging before and that happened, I swear, after he found the fibula and started waving it around."

"It may be that what he sensed, shall we say, was the residue of the energy used to destroy the house. But what has that to do with..." He broke off, hearing Tommy returning

"Ah, Tommy," He beckoned him back into the office, "I am sorry, but there's a couple for things I need you take care of right away. First get Cal and have him take Justin and set up a perimeter and monitoring around that house today. Tell him no one goes in or out without me knowing about it and if anyone tries that Charlie or I don't tell him about, I want them stopped and I don't care who it is, understand?"

"Yep, I get ya.'"

Tell Cal he's to handle the monitoring personally until I get him some relief. You'll have to juggle the watch schedule but I don't care."

"Right got it. What else?"

"Then and most importantly I want you to help Charlie come up with a list of what he needs and then make sure he has it all by tomorrow. You'll need to let Sam know he needs a crew out there by morning." He stopped while Tommy, who'd grabbed a pad and started writing, got caught up. Then, "Charlie, do you have any preference as to who helps you out there?"

"No, just that they'll need patience and a knack for paying attention to detail and, as I said, like playing in the dirt."

"OK Tommy, take care of getting him the help he needs and if you have any trouble let me know. Make sure they understand that they are not to discuss this job, not with anyone. After you get that sorted out find Liam where ever the hell he is this week and get him back here. If he needs some one to replace him, send Garrison, he's helped Clem out before."

Tommy, scribbling furiously, nodded. "Next?"

"Then get a hold of Melly and let her know I need her to pay a visit for a few days, tell her it'll probably be two weeks just to be safe."

"Melly?"

"Yeah, Melly."

"OK."

"Then find Fawn and tell her to start packing, she's going to the beach." He paused for a moment struggling with the image of Fawn in an almost nothing bikini and the effect that might have on the Reverend. Forcefully controlling his grin, he went on, "then get a hold of Mabel and tell her they're coming. Be sure to add I'm sending them with all my love. And," he finished watching Charlie start rubbing his leg again, "before you get started on all that get Baylee to look at Charlie's leg. Marc and I are going over to see Clem but we'll be back as soon as we can."

Tommy writing furiously and nodding in time to the words, was not in the least put out by the rapid fire orders that would keep him busy most of the evening and probably late into the night. He observed, however and to no one in particular, "It's a good thing you're heading over to see him `cause he seemed what you might call a tad put out, though I wouldn't care to say with who, when I dumped the Reverend in his lap as it were and gave him your message."

Stephen laughed. "I can imagine." And then, all humor gone, he said "Tommy, Charlie gets what ever he needs and no one goes near that site."

"Trust me, boss. I'll take care of everything."

Stephen nodded to him and was gone, joining him. Charlie, shaking his head smiled after them. It wasn't until he had his leg propped up on the desk waiting for Baylee to come check it out that he remembered to ask, "Tommy, I know it's probably none of my business and has nothing to do with me, but there's something else about that place isn't there, something to do with him personally?"

Tommy looked at him considering and finally, apparently deciding he was a suitable confidant said, "You could say that. It's where they found Doni, the same time they found the house like that and Lily and them gone."

"Who's Doni?"

"More like who was she and that's the problem. She and him, they were bond-mates, been together I don't know how long, hundreds of years anyway. When she died, well for a while there he wasn't focused on much `cept gettin' through the day if you know what I mean."

Charlie nodded. He knew exactly what Tommy meant. He still had days like that. He figured he always would.

"Now, if it turns out there's something he should have done or whatever…well if it has to do with her and what happened, I don't know what he'll do. He's never rightly gotten over it, blames himself I think, and for no reason `cause he couldn't have known. Them bastards were lying to him just like they were the Lady and her man. And anyone who says Doni was a part of it, well they just didn't know her the littlest bit, that's all. You didn't have to know her well to know that."

Charlie prodded gently, "What do you mean?"

Tommy looked thoughtful for a moment and then offered, "You want to know any more about it you ask Liam. It ain't for me to tell you, but he'll tell you if you get him at the right moment. Me, I'd only just come to work for him a year or so before it happened. But Liam's been with him longer than Doni was. He and Liam, they brought her in together is what I heard, but who knows about that."

Tommy eyed him some more. "You take my advice, though, and whatever you find out there, you better be damn sure about it before you tell him. That's my advice, `cause if you find what I 'spect he thinks you will, well, like I said, ain't no telling what he'll do and that's a fact." Tommy shook his head, "ain't no telling."

While Tommy and Charlie were talking back in the office, Stephen and Marc appeared outside on a bright sunshiney day, about halfway down the path toward the abbey. Marc was mostly looking down at the grass at their feet or off to the hills in the distance. Finally he said, "So where are we going?"

"To meet Clem. I thought it time you two got to know one another."

"Ah. And just who is the Reverend. You've done a good job keeping him out of my sight. Not that I blame you." "He would be the Reverend Daniel Dudley Day, Knight of Christ. And he was sort of the bonus prize we won on the day we met Charlie. I kept him out of things because I didn't want to muddy the waters with extraneous issues."

"Hmm.I can see your point. Listen, Stephen. I know that losing Doni was a terrible blow. And I can understand your need to find closure on that. But... I've ... I always wondered what happened to Liliana and Richard. I tried to find them, with utterly no success. So... I think the Reverend is right. And we should reach out to someone who understands investigating a crime scene. Before either the Reverend, by chance, or Charlie, interested in the bones but not much else, destroys whatever evidence might be found in that meadow."

Stephen stopped and looked at him. Then returned to walking. "Oh I agree with you absolutely. I'm sending the Reverend to the beach, but first I need to find the answer to a question I've been ignoring since I met him. Depending on what Charlie tells me I think the person we're going to want is a man by the name of Trevor Raine though I am certainly willing to calling him in sooner. As for Charlie and crime scenes, are you familiar with the Terry Collection?" "No I can't say that I am." "The Terry Collection is one of the more famous collections of skeletons around. Among other things it's used for benchmarking when they are working with skeletal remains of unknown origin. Charlie, as the curator, would then be one the experts in his field when it came to dealing with crime scenes of this sort. Charlie earned his living digging up bones for cops and then telling them what happened to them."

"Fortuitiousin the extreme then. And Trevor Raine?"

"He's been involved in law enforcement. Scotland Yard, Interpol. And a rumour about MI5 as well."

"Ah. Good choice then, if he's discreet and understands..."

"He does," Stephen reassured Marc.

Marc was silent for some time until it was Stephen's turn to ask, "What?" "My wife. It was very long ago. And still.. I do understand Stephen."

Marc's face looked bleak.

"I know." Stephen said nothing more a while. "I have been told that it becomes...easier. I can't imagine how. But I do know."

"Yes, well. Understanding how and why it happened, helps. Not knowing must be far worse."

"In some ways, perhaps.But mostly it is simply that she is gone. I can't seem to get used to it somehow."

"Like a part of your mind is dead. Yes. Well, we'd best stop wallowing in it. What does Clem have to do with all of this?"

"Well, two things actually.He took on the problem of the Reverend as a favor to me and actually had him transferred here so he can place the Reverend under obedience and make him go to Dinah's to get him out of our hair. He can also help me find out if the Reverend, who is to some degree talented, is really capable of sensing something he identifies as demons or if he's simply nuttier than hell. But for all that to work I need the Reverend to get over his idea that I am somehow related to his archenemy, Lucifer."

Marc nearly choked on that comment.

"So you are planning on proving your heavenly bonifides. This I am eager to see."

Stephen pulled the bell at the monastery door. "Remind sometime to tell you about what happened the day we met. The Reverend's main goal in life is to do God's will and God is telling him to found a new religious order dedicated to hunting down and eradicating all of the spawn of the evil one here on earth. Ah, Brother Dominic...."

Marc was grinning.