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"At least we could go sit out in our car That would be better"

"We can do that"

We washed the coffee s we’d used earlier and put theear As quietly as though ere burglars, we stepped out of the kitchen door into the carport, and got in our car A big pickup was parked behind Twyla’s Cadillac, and I was relieved eren’t blocked in Tolliver turned on the engine, and the temperature was barely tolerable after fiveany warrayer

After tena word, Tolliver backed out of the driveway and ent back to the motel

Our room was blessedly warm I fixed us sos, drinking the watery stuff I got the book I was reading, and stretched out on et away froht of the in one of the chairs, his feet propped on his bed

"Yeah," I said "It was really, really awful"

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"It’s almost too bad to talk about, Tolliver They were tortured with knives and beatings and all sorts of stuff They were raped They were killed slowly It took a while I got the impression that there was more than one person there"

Tolliver looked sick

"I’m sorry for Twyla, then," he said "This will be worse than just finding hi at the bottoet even worse before it gets better" We’d found plenty of accidental deaths - particularly in the mountains Most people didn’t understand that the terrain could kill you, or perhaps they became corew so used to carrying guns outdoors that they grew lax about the basic safety rules They carried their rifles carelessly They let their cell phone batteries die out They didn’t tell anyone where they were going to hunt They didn’t carry any first aid equipot to wear orange

But these deaths were far froain "And there’ll be someone to blame Someone around here did this"

Tolliver stared at ht," he said finally "No one but soether"

"Yeah, no one from out of toould ht times" That seemed like a reasonable assumption to me

"Were they killed there? Do you know?"

"I didn’t read all of therave - yeah, he died in the old house, or in the shed Without looking inside, I can’t be sure which"

"He took theh the rush of iotten "Yeah, I think so," I said doubtfully There was so a little off

"Definitely someone local," my brother said

"In a small community like this, how is that possible?" I asked

"You mean, how could a man conceal from other people the fact that he wanted to torture and kill boys?"

I nodded "And how come the people around here haven’t been up in aruess, if no bodies are found, it’s a little easier to explain away," Tolliver said

And then we sat, thinking dark but separate thoughts, pretending from time to time to read, until the early darkness fell Then Sheriff Rockwell knocked on our door Tolliver ushered her in Her dark green uniform pants were covered with stains, and her heavy jacket was s," she said "You were right All our boys are there, and even a couple extra"

Chapter 5

SHE sat in one of the two chairs Tolliver and I sat on the side of his bed facing her She was already holding a cup of stea coffee from McDonald’s, so I didn’t offer her hot chocolate She didn’t bring up our departure from Twyla’s She looked exhausted but wired up

She said, "We’re going to get a lot of attention in the next few days The TV stations are already calling the office They’ll be sending crews The State Bureau of Investigation has taken charge, but they’re letting me stay in it They want ht you in The supervising agent, Pell Klavin, and Special Agent Max Stuart ant to talk to you

"You knohat I wish?" she said, e didn’t speak "I wish I could write you your check, and you could just leave town This thing is going to focus attention on Doraville Well, I guess you-all knohat it’s like Not only are we going to look like ere so uncaring we let sooing to look credulous in the extreht

"We’d leave noe could," Tolliver said, and I nodded "We don’t want to be around for the circus" Soood for my business; a lot of media attention was not

Sheriff Rockwell sat back in the motel chair, a sudden e look

"What?" Tolliver asked

"I’d never have believed you two’d pass at the chance for free publicity," she said "I think the better of you for it Are you really ready to go? Maybe I can ask the SBI boys to drive to the next town to talk to you, if you want to switch ht," I said I felt like a huge weight had been shifted off my shoulders I’d been sure the sheriff would insist we stay I hate police cases I like the ces Get to the town, drive out to the cerave, tell the survivors what you saw Cash the check and leave the town Sheriff Rockas at least allowing us to get out of the i," Tolliver said "You’re still pretty shaky"

"I can rest in the car," I said I felt like a rabbit one jureyhounds

"Okay," Tolliver said He looked atup on my almost frantic anxiety to leave Doraville

"Good," said the sheriff She still sounded faintly surprised at our agreeive you a check and talk to you again"