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Page 264
Linda thought she heard the latch click and she glanced back quickly, wondering if she had not shut the door properly. The moon was bright in the garden, but it was too dark on the verandah to see whether the door had sprung open. Linda hesitated, then decided it didn't matter. She was certain the door would not slide all the way open, and it wasn't likely that a thief would try the house when so many lights were still burning.
A minute later, Linda was at the gazebo. Her first reaction was a twinge of disappointment because she thought the place was empty, but then a crouching shadow moved on the far side of the screened structure. Linda stopped short, her heart suddenly pounding. Why should anyone crouch in the shadows? Her immediate impulse was to run back to the house, but then she began to move softly around to where she would be able to see through the screen. Whoever it was would have to open the door on the other side and come around the gazebo to get at her, and she was sure she would have time to scream and run before she could be caught. Her curiosity was greater than her fear.
She rounded the side of the gazebo, walking softly, but the figure's head was bent and the little moonlight that got through the screens made it impossible to see hair color. What she did see was the gleam of metal in one hand. Linda's breath caught. A knife? She stepped back incautiously and a twig snapped. The head flung up, and Peter's face was white in the moonlight.

 
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