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“Welcome back, Justice Garrett. I’m Mayor Marsha Tilson. You probably don’t remember me.”

“No, I don’t. But it’s nice to meet you, again.”

They shook hands.

The mayor studied him. “You’ve grown up. I remember when you were a tall, skinny teenager. You were friends with Patience McGraw and Ford Hendrix. It was always the three of you, but I thought you had special feelings for Patience.”

He stared at the older woman. She was talking about relationships that had played out fifteen years ago. While the events had been important to him, he couldn’t imagine a woman in her fifties paying attention to the lives of a group of teenagers.

Her smile widened. “I can see my observations are startling. I confess I was intrigued by you from the very beginning. Your guardians did an excellent job of fitting in, but there were inconsistencies in their story. When you first arrived, it was obvious you’d suffered some kind of trauma.”

“You knew I was being protected?”

“No. I never figured that out. I thought maybe the man who claimed to be your uncle wasn’t a relative and that you didn’t want anyone to know. There could be many reasons for the subterfuge. So I watched to make sure you weren’t being abused, and when you began to settle in and make friends, I knew all would be well.”