Twice, Mackie Alarie had asked her out. Twice she had refused. If she had known that even though he was not invited, he would show up at an art school friends' picnic in the woods, she would not have gone.

On the other hand, if Mackie Alarie had known how well she could defend herself, he would not have been taken down with a perfectly aimed one-two punch, accompanied by a ferocious yell, a defense that, with minimum injury to the opponent, would give her time to run.

If she went back to the picnic, he might lurk in the woods, or return to the site of the picnic in time for cake and more beer. She sprinted to the parking lot. Got in her car and drove home.

If, Caydance thought as she contemplated the formidable "plop" art statue, she had known that Mackie Alarie was the likely creator of the book-object-without-a-key, she would not have accepted Major Knox's consulting employment.