Joe pulled on his street shoes, and spent a few moments combing his wavy blonde hair, then walked – very carefully – out to the parking lot. When he opened the Aztek’s door, he grinned, seeing an envelope addressed to him in Vanessa’s familiar handwriting, balanced atop a small box, lying on his seat. He picked it up and slid behind the wheel, already hurrying to open the box.

A picture frame emerged, and Joe smiled again, seeing what it contained. It was a photo of himself and Vanessa, one which Andrea had taken one evening when he and Van were watching a movie on TV. Vanessa’s head rested on his shoulder, her blue-gray eyes half-closed as Joe lazily – tenderly – stroked her hair. They both looked as drowsy and contented as the Benders’ cat, Thistle, who lay stretched at Vanessa’s other side, his golden eyes shut and one furry white paw extended towards the camera. Still smiling reminiscently, Joe opened the accompanying card.

When I woke today

I saw your smile.

When I woke today

I heard your laugh.

When I woke today

I smelled your hair.

When I woke today

I tasted your kiss.

When I woke today,

You were there.

I dream of you.

I know you.

I see you.

I hear you.

You are my dream.

For now.

Forever.

V.

Joe’s laugh became a grin…and then softened to a contented smile as he reread the words. He’d evidently started something, with his poem a few months ago. Who’d have thought?! He didn’t often see this wistful, tender side of Vanessa…and he liked it. He liked it a lot.

With a regretful sigh, Joe returned the card to its envelope and the framed picture to the little box, then set them on the passenger seat. Buckling up, he started the engine, pondering what they should do with the rest of the day. He wasn’t sure he was up for another trip to Stone Point. But you promised Van we’d go, and hopefully finish up all our research! his mind argued. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to stay away from the place…he just knew he did.

Face it Hardy, it’s all that ghost nonsense, going to your head….and nonsense it was! Oh? That maddening little second voice was in his mind again. You saw her yesterday, didn’t you? You saw her, yourself. Oh hush. It doesn’t make sense. Joe heaved a sigh. At this rate, pretty soon I’ll be convinced that vampires exist, and zombies roam the earth…yeah, right.

The sudden ringing of his cell phone made Joe jump, startled. He picked it up, feeling his heart race slightly as he answered.

"This is Joe."

"Hi, baby." Vanessa’s welcome voice came through from the other end. "Are you going to be ready to go out to the lighthouse soon? I’d really like to get out there and get done, before it gets too dark. Maybe we could finish up today, do you think?"

Maybe I’m not so crazy after all, Vanessa doesn’t want to be out there either! "Babe, that sounds like a plan. I really like the idea of finishing with it. Maybe we could get a pizza after?"

"That’s my Joe, always thinks with his stomach." Vanessa laughed softly.

"Hey, I’m a growing boy, remember? I need lots of nutrition – and my weekly allotment of Mr. Pizza’s Pizza! Or, for that matter, anybody’s pizza…." Joe let his laughter trail off. "Babe? I found your present. And the poem. Thanks, beautiful. It means a lot."

He could practically see the color rising in Vanessa’s face. "I certainly did….Babe, where do you want to meet? I think I’d like to thank you in person. Soon."

"How about the library? We can leave from there, and then you can drop me afterwards, and I can pick up my car." Vanessa, carefully disregarding the tone of Joe’s last comment, was all brisk business once more, blushes temporarily forgotten.

Thirty minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot at Stone Point lighthouse. To Joe’s surprise, Matt’s pickup was still there. He’d never expected that – he figured Matt would have run out of things to photograph long before.

"That’s odd, wonder why Matt’s still here?" Joe got out of the car, frowning slightly.

"I hope nothing’s happened." Vanessa sounded a little worried too; memories of that near-fatal slip down the cliff face were still too recent to be comfortable with.

"No, there he is." Joe caught sight of Matt, standing before the entrance, talking to someone. "Who’s he with…? Oh, it’s Mr. Carter, the caretaker!" The two of them walked up to join Matt and the caretaker, smiling. "Hey, Matt – hi, Mr. Carter."

"Joe!" Matt turned and grinned a welcome. "You have got to interview Mr. Carter for your project, dude; he’s like a total anthology of stories about the lighthouse! I’ll bet he could be a real help to everyone!"

Vanessa gave Mr. Carter a wide smile. "I’d be more than happy to interview Mr. Carter," she announced cheerfully. "That could be one of our ‘people perspectives’ for the project. We’re supposed to have at least two, and we planned on using Cherise LeGault for one. Mr. Carter, would you mind being interviewed?" Again the charming smile. Joe could have told the caretaker that when Vanessa smiled like that, there was no fighting it…whatever Ms. Bender wanted, Ms. Bender got.

"Well, guess not." Carter shrugged, then inclined his head in affirmation. "I’ve got no problem with it – so long as I don’t have to be in no pictures." He chuckled dryly and indicated Matt…and his cameras. "World’s gotten along just fine so far without any pictures of me, and it’ll get along just fine after I’m gone."

"That’s all right; we won’t make you be in any pictures," Vanessa assured him, and Joe nodded his agreement. "Could we do it right now, please?"

"Joe!" Matt tugged at the younger man’s arm as Vanessa swept Mr. Carter off to conduct her interview. "I gotta tell you something! You’re not gonna believe what I got, dude!"

Joe stared at him. "What is it?"

"I was taking pictures, you know – all kinds of pictures, all over the place." Matt bubbled. "I took a whole lot, and I’m sure you’ll like them; you’ll be able to use some—"

"That’s good; I’m glad you had such a good time, and I’m sure the shots will be great." Joe was about to head for the lightkeeper’s cottage himself, but Matt’s hand gripping his arm stopped him.

"Listen! That boat was back! The one that nearly drowned us yesterday, me and Frank, I mean," Matt continued. He motioned to the water, pointing to where the boat had been before. "It was back, and it was closer than before, and I’ll bet it’s going to be back again, man. Those guys are up to something, I’m sure of it! They were watching the lighthouse and taking notes."

Joe was listening intently now, frowning and nodding agreement.

"But that’s not the best thing!" Matt’s grasp tightened. "Joe, you’re not gonna believe this, but…but I got a picture of the ghost!"

Joe stared at him, mouth agape. For a moment he waited, anticipating a punch line and a cackle of laughter from Matt, but the other man didn’t say anything, merely waited, bright hazel-green eyes fixed on the younger Hardy. "The ghost?"

"Yes!" Matt nodded emphatically. "She was standing right there—" He pointed, indicating where she’d been standing, looking out over the water. "I took more than one shot of her, dude, I’m sure I got her!"

"How do you know it was our ghost, Eckersley? You hadn’t seen her. Maybe it was just another tourist!"

Matt shook his head, his hair flopping over his forehead. "Nope! She was no tourist. She was definitely a ghost. Joe, man, she like disappeared! Right in front of me!"

Joe frowned doubtfully. He still wasn’t positive that Matt wasn’t putting him on, but he was willing to humor his friend for the moment. If he got pictures of the ghost, he got pictures of the ghost…strange as that sounded! "Well, if you say so….Maybe you should get back to the house and develop the film, Matt. Why don’t you go ahead and do that, while Vanessa and I finish up here? I’m sure Mom will have dinner ready around six, and she’ll want somebody there to eat it. I think Van and I are going to grab a pizza instead, since we’re not sure when we’ll be done."

Matt’s eyes lit up at that suggestion. "Dude, you are so right – and I totally appreciate your mom’s home cooking! I’ll get that film started – and I’ll see you back at the house. Tell Mr. Carter goodbye for me, okay, and thanks for all the stories?" He headed for his pickup, waving a casual hand in farewell as he pulled out of the parking lot.

Vanessa emerged from the lightkeeper’s cottage just as Joe approached it. "Oh good, there you are. I was wondering if you could continue the interview with Mr. Carter, and use your mini tape recorder. You have it with you, don’t you?"

"Sure, I can do that. And the recorder’s in the glove compartment; it’ll just take me a couple minutes to get it. But what are you going to be doing?"

"Oh good. Please record Mr. Carter’s stories; I want them to be exactly correct for the report. I have to run into the lighthouse; I think I left my penlight there. I remember taking it out to read some tiny little numbers on a plaque over there, and I must have laid it down."