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"Did they believe that?" I said

"They did," he said, with an air of surprise "They don’t believe you killed Arlene, strictly from a practical point of view They said you’re smaller than Arlene and they didn’t think you could have either gripped her neck hard enough or gotten her into the Dumpster And the only person they could think of ould help you is Sam, and he wouldn’t have put the body behind his own bar"

"I hope a lot of people have figured that out," I said

"I said Arlene hadn’t called ot out of prison They told , either, which hat I wanted to know She’d just shown up on their doorstep three days before her death"

"What did they observe about her dehtened? Secretive?"

"They thought Arlene looked kind of nervous when she came by to see the kids She was excited to see the She told Chessie she had to meet some people and she wasn’t supposed to talk about it, that soet back on her feet and take care of her kids"

"That would have interested her, sure," I said "Maybe applying for a job at Merlotte’s wasn’t her idea Maybe these mysterious men put her up to it Maybe she did kno unlikely it was that she’d be hired back"

"The Johnsons don’t know anything more specific than that? They didn’t see the people she was going to talk to?" Amelia was impatient This didn’t seem like much information to her

"It confirms what I heard fro with two ht before we found her body"

A shadow crossed Amelia’s face at the mention of Tray Dawson They’d been close, and she’d hoped they’d get closer, but Tray had died

"Why there?" Bob said "It would have been a lot easier to meet at an isolated place rather than out back of someone’s house, especially someone ould definitely ask questions"

"That house is ee next to it, too," I told him "And I don’t know if Arlene had a vehicle or not Her old car was parked at the Johnsons’ house, but itPlus, as the crow flies, Tray’s place is not far fro to take her They didn’t want her to have ti pause while h

"Possible," Bob said, and everyone nodded

"How are Coby and Lisa?" I asked Barry

"Stunned," Barry said shortly "Confused" Froes of the kids’ bewildered faces I felt horrible every tiht about those kids

"Did their ?" A to take them away to live with her in a cute little house - that they’d be able to get nice food and clothes without her having to work such long hours She told theoing to do that?" Amelia said "Did she tell thee of self-disgust, and I didn’t blanoble to read theoftheree, I toldso," Barry concluded

"When is your touch psychic co here to her ani" Bob reached out for another piece of country-fried steak He narrowlystabbed in the hand by Mr Cataliades, as after the saot your scarf, Sookie," said Diantha, as eating very slowly Her voice and demeanor were pale shadows of her norh to be understandable

Silence fell around the table as we all regarded her with awe Mr Cataliades was looking at his niece fondly "I knew she could do it," he told us, and I wondered if he’d actually had a foreseeing or if he just had a lot of faith in Diantha

"How?" A a direct question)

Diantha said, "I went in the police station after I saw the big woman cop"

Everyone else looked at her blankly

"She turned herself into Kenya Jones," I explained "Kenya’s a patrolwo"

"We waited at the police station a long ti, Sookie," Mr Cataliades explained "I had to interview Detective Bellefleur personally, and Detective Beck, too, since I a our long, long e had ti information Like where the evidence locker is and who can check out items from it Diantha is so quick and devious!"

Diantha se it?" A

"I had a scarf inIt was pretty close to Sookie’s description We found it at Tara’s Togs I turned e area I told the policeht it toI looked at it, and when he went to the bathrooht I handed it to hilass of tea in a weary way

"Thank you, Diantha," I said I was both happy she’d done such a ballsy thing and sorry she’d done so half was kind of appalled that ere screwing around with real evidence in a real ht find out so, now that we had the real scarfif the touch psychic lived up to her billing

Diantha perked up after receiving a good helping of praise fro slowly, after she ate everything on the table that wasn’t on so step toward restoring her strength Obviously, the transformation she’d accoy