Page 4 (1/2)

We were parked on the shoulder, and if I took a step I’d roll down the slope of a deep ditch The driveway into the plot ran over a culvert so the flow of rainwater wouldn’t be ih the remains of a fence Noith all the leaves fallen, the stands of weeds were golden or brointer’s death, and the occasional young pine looked startlingly green The weeds and s up the fence

The house had been a humble one The roof wasn’t caved in, but there were holes in it, and the porch was sagging There wasn’t any glass in the s There was a listing two-car garage off to one side, ide doors that hung ajar Once it had been painted white, like the house The whole thing was southern gothic picturesque decay personified

The water in the drainage ditch was dark and would be very cold There’d been a lot of rain the past couple of weeks And I felt the raw chill of

I could tell from the inclination of Tolliver’s head that he expected me to walk down the side of the road to where the hill leveled into the valley He expected that soround and had tossed its accessories off while driving upward into the mountains And under other circumstances, that’s exactly what I would have done

But there wasn’t any need

The oing to have news for Twyla Cotton The buzzing was intense, increasing as I stepped closer to the eroded driveway This was not the signal fro, an awful feeling, and I was scared to look at Tolliver He took my hand, wrapped it around the crook of his elbow He could tell I’d decided to go into the tangled area that had been the yard of the old house

"The ground is rough in there I e’d worn our high boots," he said But I couldn’t register what he was saying I watched a blue pickup pass, slowing down for the curve, fading away from view It was the only other vehicle we’d seen on this road

After the sound of its ly irrelevant registers of the two live people and the increasinglyTolliver with oing, because this was my moment - my connection with the power, or ability, or electrical short, that s," I said, and he went back to get the lengths of wire topped with red plastic flags

In the cold damp I stood in the middle of the former yard, between the fence and the ruined house I turned in a circle, feeling the buzzing rising all around me, as they clamored to be found That’s all they want, you know They want to be found

I tried to speak, choked, gasped

"What’s wrong?" Tolliver asked distantly "Harper?"

I sturandson? Jeff’s there?" Twyla had forged her way onto the property

I moved six feet northwest "Here, too," I said

"He’s in pieces?"

"There’s more than one body," Tolliver told her

I held ain, ht," I said

"Oh, my Lord in heaven," Twyla said She sat down heavily on an old stuiven Tolliver a glance of sudden , because he said, "You can bank on it Harper’s right" I heard the little beeps as she began punching in numbers

"What happened to thehIt was time for me to find out, but I didn’t want anyone else to watch while I did it "Okay," I said, to steady myself "Tolliver?" I wanted hiot a hold" I could feel his grip on round above the corpse, and I looked down through the soil and rocks, caught a gli I reonna wake up?" The speaker was Sandra Rockwell I ree and strained

"Harper?" my brother said "Harper?"

I didn’t want to do this, but I had to

"Okay," I said, and it came out as wobbly as I felt "You found them yet?"

"Tell me what to do," Sheriff Rockwell said She sounded as if she didn’t want to be there

I had to open my eyes, and I had to look at the anxious brown eyes under the hat Sheriff Rockas in a padded coat that e

"They’re all there," I said "If you can wait a ht of the in the back seat of Twyla’s car, ar," Tolliver said anxiously, working a piece of candy out of his jeans pocket He unwrapped it for me, and popped it in my mouth I knew from experience that I would feel better in a fewto believe ," I said "Have a little , your ass will end up in jail," she said

"And I would deserve it"

With a lot of effort, I turned my head to look out the carThere were a couple of deputies standing on the site Tith them The expression on her face would have made the most jaded con man weep - or maybe not In our travels, in my line of work, we’ve met a few con men, and they almost all have no empathy It’s just not in their emotional repertoire

"Come show me," Sheriff Rockwell said, and Tolliver helped me out of the car Sloe h I was shaking all over because I would have to feel the death again, I stood on the spot where I’d sensed the ht down I kneho it was, too This was the body of Jeff, Twyla’s grandson Tolliver got out a spiral-bound notebook he had zipped in his jacket He’d sketched a very rough outline of the site "This is Jeff, Jeff McGraw," I told Tolliver "He was strangled" Tolliver stuck a length of wire in the ground The red flag flapped a little in the stiff breeze He put his left arht hand in his I nodded in the direction we should go, a little uphill and to the north, and I centereddown"Here," I said "Chester" Two yards farther, we had a boy Sheriff Rockwell hadn’tlike - Chad, Chad so in her own notebook The deputies were listening, too, but they were cory I couldn’t do anything about that They’d learn soon enough