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"Oh, good," Cleda said "Well, I’lad to know that"

I nodded

The black bag went back into the transition room

In a so lot and through the corridor back to the front doors of the funeral hoe amount of business," Tolliver said "When the bodies of the - the youngto say "victi to be pretty busy, yes, sir," she said "One of those boys was my nephew His et out of bed in the rabbed hih But to know he lived for a while, and got hurt so bad, and got used so unnatural, that just kills her"

There was no possible response that would be helpful, because I thought she was exactly right To know your loved one was cut and burned and raped wouldto be done about it I’d always figured my sister Cameron had been raped before she’d been killed, without ever having proof of either And just iht the act of rape itself was unnatural, regardless of the gender of the victim But an emotional time like this was no time to debate the issue

"We’re really sorry," I said

"Thank you," Cleda Hunity, and we let ourselves out

"She was pretty decent," Tolliver said as we got into the car "Probably the most relaxed funeral home person we’ve ever dealt with"

That was certainly true "She seee"

I nodded

Pastor Doak Garland pulled into the parking lot in histhe keys in the ignition He approached the car, so Tolliver turned the key and pressed thebutton

"Hello again," Doak said, bending down to look at us

"What are you busy doing?" I asked, hoping he wouldn’t ask us about our own visit to Sweet Rest

"Well, one of the bodies is already being released tomorrow, Jeff McGraw’s, so I’m here to talk to Cleda about the service I think we’ll need extra traffic control, so I’ve already been to the sheriff’s department, and I think Cleda needs to be prepared for an extra visitation night"

"This is going to take it out of you," Tolliver said "There are a lot of services co up"

"Well, I wasn’t the entle smile "But the whole community will turn out for each funeral, so we’re all in for a hard time And maybe we should be How could this happen in oura question for me "Wouldn’t some of that be due to the former sheriff, Abe, um, Madden?" I said "Wouldn’t so the boys were runaways instead ofto shoulder his share of the blaht"

Doak Garland looked taken aback "Maybe we shouldn’t be into pointing fingers," he said, but he didn’t say it with any force It was clear he wasn’t thinking about Abe Madden’s role in the terrible dra?" he said

"Of course," I said, surprised I didn’t know Abe Madden I didn’t have to be careful of his feelings or his reputation "If his attitude toward the vanishing boys was really the one I’ve heard described, then of course it had a bearing Possibly if the investigation had gotten under way quicker, we’d have a fewblame make this any easier?" Doak asked rhetorically

I decided to take the question literally "Yes, it will, for everyone but Abe Madden," I said "Assigning blame does help people feel better, in a lot of ways At least in my experience Plus, if you can correct the behavior that led to the probleed Maybe, maybe not

I’ll say this for Doak Garland, he didn’t just whip out a platitude, as some men of the cloth were prone to do He mulled the idea over "There’s a lot in that," he said "But really, Ms Connelly, that’s just assigning a scapegoat to bear the sins of all of us"

I thought into that, too," I adned here, and the former sheriff should shoulder at least some of it"

"As he did," Doak Garland said "In fact, it would be a good idea if I dropped by to see hi the sa to uilty in turn, but I didn’t I don’t like to see people get depressed or shunned, but I knew that in my own experience, you had to assume responsibility for your own actions before you couldwith your life

We didn’t have any more to say, I felt I raised ot to be going" Without further conversation, we rolled up our s and pulled out of the parking lot

"Where are we going?" Tolliver asked "I mean, I can drive around aimlessly, but since there are still patches of ice"

"I’ry, what about you?" I asked, and that was easy to answer All the businesses in Doraville appeared to be open now, and people were going about their affairs with an air of relief I felt relieved, too We could get out of here just about any time now

"What if we just left?" Tolliver said "We could be on the interstate going in the right direction in an hour We could find twenty restaurants"

I was surely te lot of the McDonald’s again, and I stared at the golden arches, trying to feel sonation

"We have to return the key," I said, stalling

"Yeah, a five- the SBI guys? Sandra Rockwell?"

"Any of the above"