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The young pharmacist was certainly conscientious "Ma’am, you understand you have to take these with food," he said, holding up a brown plastic pill container "And these have to be taken twice a day If you have any of these symptoms listed here on this sheet, you need to call a doctor" After we’d discussed that for a moment, Tolliver asked where we paid, and the pharister at the front of the store I had to get up to follow Tolliver, and e got to the checkout clerk, we had to wait for another custoe and have her chat Then we had to reveal to the clerk that our insurance didn’t cover a phar cash for the entire amount She seemed surprised but pleased

We’d actually stepped outside the store to get back in the car when the sheriff found us We got so close to being out of Doraville

"I’ain"

It wasn’t snowing at the ray everywhere I looked up into Tolliver’s face, which seemed as pale as the snow

"What do you need?" I asked, which was probably stupid

"It’s possible there are otiate The consortium hadn’t written me a check for the first successful episode, and I didn’t work for free And the reporters were everywhere I don’t work in front of ca lot at the back of the police station was protected by a high fence topped with razor wire, we got in the back door of the police station without anyone the wiser - anyone a the media, that is Everyone on duty that wasn’t out at the burial site made an opportunity to walk past Sheriff Rockwell’s office to have a peek at e on ht Tolliver sat at ht hand

"You need to be in bed," he said "I don’t knoe’re going to do about housing if we stay I gave up our one by now"

I shookto decide if I was up to any more bodies or not There was always the fact that it was the way I ; but there was also the fact that I felt like hell

"Who do you think the bodies are?" I asked the sheriff "I found all the locals that werepersons reports for the past five years," Rockwell said "We found two e of the boys in the Davey hoe and yard used to belong to Don Davey and his fahties I barely reo, and the house has been eon She’s never come back over here to look at the property She hasn’t hty herself and very indifferent to the idea of doing anything at all with the land"

"Did anyone offer to buy it before?"

Rockwell looked surprised "No, she didn’tlike that"

"So where is this other place?"

"Inside an old barn Dirt floor Hasn’t been used in ten years or more, but the owners just left it to fall down"

"Why do you think there ht be more bodies there, specifically?"

"It’s actually on the property of a mental health counselor named Tom Almand, who never comes this far back on the property With all the to-do at the Davey place, the next-door neighbor, a deputy naht he’d check it out because it meets the same criteria as the Davey place: secluded, not in use, easy to dig The barn floor’s mostly dirt Lo and behold, Rob found some disturbed spots on the floor"

"Have you checked it out yourself?"

"Not yet We thought you could point us in the right direction"

"I don’t think so If the spots are that easy to o for broke and dig a little The bones won’t be that deep, if the surface disturbance is so easy to see It’ll be a lot cheaper, and I can get out of Doraville"

"They want you Twyla Cotton said they had money left, since you found the boys in one day" Sheriff Rockwell gave me a look I couldn’t read "You don’t want the publicity? The press is all over this, as you found last night"

"I don’t want any more to do with this"

"That’s not ret

I looked down at my lap I was so sleepy, I orried I’d drift off while I sat there in the sheriff’s office "No," I said "I won’t do it"

Tolliver rose right along withat us as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing "You have to," she said

"Why?"

"Because we’re telling you to It’s what you can do"

"I’ve given you alternatives I want to leave"

"Then I’ll arrest you"

"On what grounds?"

"Obstructing an investigation So to black? What kind of law enforcement officer are you?"

"One ants these murders solved"

"Then arrest me," I said recklessly "I won’t do it"

"You’re not strong enough to go into jail," Tolliver said, his voice quiet I leaned against hi of terrible weariness His arainst his chest I had a few seconds’ peace before I ht With a cracked arood time even in a small-town jail like the one in Doraville And if the town shared a jail with other nearby towns, as was probably the case, I ht fare even worse So I’d have to do what "they" wanted et it done But ere "they"? Did Sheriff Rockwell mean the state police?

I had to pullhis support under false pretenses, and sooner or later I’d have to admit it

"You need to eat," he said, and I thudded back down to reality