Reverend Fergusson, who probably had degrees up the wazoo, didn't blink. "There's a lot of seasonal work come summer. Agricultural work, construction. All the places in Lake George hire waitresses and chambermaids. But right now?" She frowned. "Shape's not hiring. The Reid-Gruyn mill is letting people go, now they've been bought out. Let me ask around and see if anyone I know has a position open. What did you do in… where are you from again?"

" California. LA."

"Ah."

"What?"

The Reverend pinked up. Embarrassed. "I was thinking you don't look as if you come from around here. Your tan, for one thing. And your hair."

Hadley ruffled her short hair. "What about it?"

"Well, it's… trendy. We don't have a lot of trendy here in Millers Kill."

Hadley almost laughed. "It's a cosmetology school special. Fifteen bucks. Twenty if you want the shampoo and blow-dry. Which I didn't."

"Were you"-the rector paused, as if she were searching for the tactful word-"an actress? Or a model?"

Hadley thought for a moment before answering. "I wanted to be when I first went to California. I discovered when I got out there that gorgeous girls are literally a dime a dozen." There wasn't any bitterness in her tone anymore. It had been so long ago, it seemed as if those days were something she had seen in a movie rather than something she had lived. "The past few years I worked for a company that took inventories, I waited tables, stuff like that. Before that, I worked for the state department of corrections."