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"But not har"

"Could it have been Manfred himself?"

I snatched at the idea That would make sense Manfred wouldn’t necessarily have known Xylda was passing "No," I said reluctantly, after I’d thought about my connection with Xylda’s last moment in the funeral home cooler "No, it wasn’t Manfred At least, if it was, Xylda was beyond recognizing her own grandson, and I didn’t get any sense of that much disorientation from our connection"

Tolliver dropped h the hospital like I worked there, and I got to Manfred’s roo not to look too relieved - Rain was probably a nice woman but she was a lot of work - I went directly to his bedside and touched his hand Manfred’s eyes sprang open, and for a second I thought he was going to yell

"Oh, thank God it’s you," he said when he’d grasped who I was "What did you find out?"

"Your grandmother died of natural causes," I said "Ah - do you re at her for any length of tiht by her bed Why?"

"At theher"

"Did they frighten her?"

"Not necessarily Surprised her But that didn’t cause her death She was in the process of dying"

"You’re sure" Manfred didn’t knohat to do about this random piece of information Neither did I

"Yes, I areat," he said, much relieved "Thanks so much, Harper" He took my hand, folded it in his warm one "You did that for me and it had to be awful But noe don’t need an autopsy, she can rest in peace"

Xylda’s resting in peace had nothing to do hether or not she had an autopsy, but I decided it was best to let the subject die a natural death, as natural as Xylda’s

"Listen to me," I said His face hardened at ," he said

"Don’t be alone here," I said "Don’t be alone in Doraville"

"But the guy was arrested," Manfred said "It’s done"

"No," I said "No, I don’t think it is I don’t think anyone would actually snatch you froht by your mom all the time"

He could see I was dead serious He nodded - reluctantly, but he nodded

And then Manfred’s nurse caet up and walk, aided by her, and I had to go stand out front to wait for Tolliver

Barney Simpson was on his way to the front of the hospital with a sheaf of papers, and I happened to fall into step beside hiht an administrator would be chained to a desk," I said "You’re all around the hospital"

"If my secretary ell, I would be in reed "But she’s off One of theto be a long tiht to let her have a day or two off to be with her daughter"

"I’m real sorry for all the families"

"Well, at least there’s one happy family The folks of that boy that was under the stall should sure be having a good day today"

He gave a nod and veered off into a smaller hall lined with offices Everyone in Doraville was affected by these criuess the severity of the affection was lessened with your e field above the town

I felt a little foolish, now that I thought about it It was nuts, warning Manfred He was older But he was sht noas vulnerable He was a stranger, too, and wouldn’t be missed as quickly as one of the local boys It was nuts because if you looked at it logically, there was no way the re killer - a killer only I seemed to be worried about - would take another boy Everyone atching, everyone ary, everyone was suspicious At least, they had been Noas another story The boogeyman was in jail, his tormented son was dead, the last victi for just about everyone The people I heard talking about it were even not too unhappy about poor Chuck, because he would have been so messed up anyway by his father’s death, and all the people assuuilt of it had driven him to sacrifice hiht only part of that was the truth

But if Chuck were alive, I wouldn’t have given a nickel for his life Because his dad’s partner would suspect that Chuck knew his identity, even if the boy hadn’t So soood reason for being so

I thought of all the good things I’d seen in Doraville, and all the nice people I’d rass in this pleasant e snake Doraville didn’t deserve to be singled out for such horror

When Tolliver pulled up bya word, he drove raves

Klavin and Stuart were up there, and for once I wasn’t displeased to see the sos to the road, the surrounding terrain, and whatever else took their fancy We got out and watched in silence for a few minutes

They were busy, and disinclined to talk to us Each couple tried to pretend the other one wasn’t there The as blowing up here, and it was chilly, though the beautiful sun took the edge off I had discarded my heavy coat and put on a blue hoodie, and I pulled the hood up around my face and tucked my hands in my pockets Tolliver put his arnal, the two SBI iven your statement at the police station about yesterday?" Klavin said

"No We’ll do that before we leave town We just wanted to ask a question, see if you’d answer it," I said "I suppose it’ll be a long time before all the tests are finished on those poor boys"