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Most of the sickness had passed Sour waves of nausea still rose in her stomach, but if she forced herself to breathe slowly, Caroline could ain, breathed deeply, and waited for Burke Truesdale to coo in with him She supposed he&039;d taken one look at her face and known she wouldn&039;t have made it ten feet Even now, as she sat on the top step of the porch, her hands alotten from the pond back to the house

She&039;d lost one of her shoes, she noted absently One of those pretty navy and white flats she&039;d bought in Paris a few lazed eyes she stared down at her bare foot streaked with dirt and grass Frowning with concentration, she toed the other shoe off It seemed important soht think she was crazy, sitting there on the porch with one shoe on And with a body floating in the pond

When her stomach pitched, rolled, and threatened to expel even the tap water, she dropped her head between her knees Oh, she hated to be sick, hated it with a passion only so illness could feel The weakness of it, the shaky loss of control

Clenching her fists, she used all her concentration to pull herself back froht did she have to be sick and scared and dizzy? She was alive, wasn&039;t she? Alive and whole and safe Not like that poor woman

But she kept her head down until her sto faded froain when she heard the sound of a car buht a weary hand up to her face as she watched the dusty station wagon squeeze through the overgrowth

She&039;d have to cut those vines back, she thought She could hear theainst the already scarred paint of the car Must be so, before the day heated up

Dully, she watched the station wagon stop beside the sheriff&039;s cruiser A wiry man with a red tie knotted around a turkey neck climbed out He wore a short-sleeved white shirt, and a white hat atop a full head of hair he&039;d dyed as densely black as coal and slicked into a modified pompadour Pouches of loose flesh dipped below his jaw and his eyes, as if the skin had once been full of fat or fluid and had stretched under the weight

His black slacks were hauled up with sassy red suspenders, and he wore the heavy, shiny black tie shoes Caroline associated with thehe carried announced his profession

"You h-pitched voice would have made her smile at any other time or place He sounded eerily like a used-car salesht before "I&039;m Doc Shays," he told her as he propped one foot on the bottorandfolks near to twenty-five years"

Caroline gave him a careful nod "How do you do?"

"Fine and dandy" His sharp physician&039;s eyes scanned her face and recognized shock "Burke gave me a call Said he was headed on down here" Shays took out a huge white handkerchief to h he could move fast when he had to, his slow and easy pace was more than bedside s "Hell of a hot one, ain&039;t it?"

"Yes"

"Why don&039;t we go on inside, where it&039;s cooler?"

"No, I think" She looked helplessly back toward the shielding trees "I should wait He went in there to see I was throwing stones in the water I could see only her face"

He sat beside her, took her hand in his Fingers still nimble after forty years of medicine monitored her pulse "Whose face, darlin&039;?"

"I don&039;t know" When he reached down to open his bag, she stiffened Months of vigilant doctors with their sli "I don&039;t need anything I don&039;t want anything" She jolted to her feet, and though she tried, she couldn&039;t keep her voice froht You should try to help her Thereat a tiain "Why don&039;t you sit on down here and tell ure out what&039;s what"

She didn&039;t sit, but she did gain enough control to take several long breaths She didn&039;t want to end up in the hospital again Couldn&039;t "I&039; much sense"

"Well, now, that don&039;t worry me none Most people I know spend about half their livestheir jaw You just tell me how it occurs to you"

"I think she must have drowned," Caroline said in a calm and careful voice "In the pond I could see only her face" She trailed off, forcing back the iain "I&039;m afraid she was dead"

Before Shays could question further, Deputy Carl Johnson came out of the trees and started across the sun-bleached lawn His usually spotless uniform showed traces of dirt and streaks of wet Still, he walked with ure, six foot six of taut lossy skin was the color of chestnuts

He was a man who enjoyed his authority and prized his control Just noas fighting to maintain his professional aura hat he wanted to do was find a secluded spot to lose his lunch

"Doc"

"Carl"

It needed only that for the twoan oath, Shays ed to use your phone"

"Of course Can you tell aze was draard the trees, her mind to as beyond the off his cap to reveal tight black curls cut as close and neat as a newly mowed lawn "Yes, ma&039;am The sheriff&039;ll talk to you as soon as he can Doc?"

With a weary nod, Shays rose

"There&039;s a phone right here in the hall," Caroline began as she started up the steps "Deputy"

"Johnson, ma&039;am Carl Johnson"

"Deputy Johnson, did she drown?"

He shot Caroline a quick look as he held open the screen door for her "No, , turned away from the body A Polaroid camera sat beside him He needed a minute before he slipped back into his law-and-order suit A minute for his head to clear, for his stomach to settle

He&039;d seen death before-had known the look and the s with his father First they&039;d gone out for the sheer pleasure of it Then, when crops and investments had failed, they&039;d hunted to put meat on the table

He&039;d seen the death of his own kind as well

Starting with his father&039;s suicide when the farm had been lost And wasn&039;t it that death that had led hi children to support, he&039;d signed on as town deputy, then as sheriff The rich man&039;s son who had detested the futility of his father&039;s death, and the cruelty of the land that had caused it, had chosen to channel his talents, such as they were, toward law and order

But even finding his father hanging in the barn, hearing the quiet creak of the rope rubbing over the thick beam, hadn&039;t prepared him for what he&039;d found in McNair Pond

He still had much too clear a picture of what it had been like to wrestle that body froround

It was funny, he thought, drawing hard on a cigarette, he&039;d never liked Edda Lou There had been a coarseness about her, a sly look in her eyes that hadunfortunate enough to be kin to Austin Hatinger

But just noas reo Christmas when he and Susie had come across her in town She&039;d have been nodown her back, patched dress hiking up too far at the side he at the front And her nose pressed up to Larsson&039;sas she stared at a doll with a blue cape and rhinestone tiara

She&039;d just been a little girl then, wishing there was a Santa Already knowing there wasn&039;t

He turned his head when he heard the rustle of brush "Doc" He blew out a stream of smoke on the word "Christ"

Shays laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, squeezed once, then er to him, and he had come to know that death wasn&039;t only for the old, either He could accept that the young were taken, through illness, through accident But thiswas beyond acceptance

Gently, he picked up one of the lins braceleted the ankles It hurt hi of broken skin and the hopelessness it represented, than the vicious slices on her torso

"She was one of the first babies I delivered when I cah he did what Burke had not been able to do He reached down and shut Edda Lou&039;s eyes "It&039;s hard for parents to bury their children By Jesus, it&039;s hard for doctors, too"

"He ed to say "Just like the others"

He picked up the camera They would needbefore the coroner caer

"She was tied to that tree there There&039;s blood dried on it You can see froainst it Used clothesline Pieces of it are still there" He lowered the caht with fury "What the hell was she doing here? Her car&039;s back in town"

"Can&039;t tell you that, Burke Can&039;t tell you a hell of a lot She was hit on the back of the head" Shays&039;s hands were as soothing as they would have been had his patient been alive to feel them "Maybe he hauled her out here Maybe she ca to hold on to his nerves, Burke nodded He knew, just as everyone in town kneho it was Edda Lou had riled up

Caroline paced the porch If she could have worked up the courage, she&039;d have marched into the bayou and deer she could stand this waiting But she knew she&039;d never make it past the first stand of trees, not when she kneas beyond them

She saw the dark sedan creep down the drive, followed by a white van Coroner, she thought When the , she turned away That bag, that long black bag not so different in shape and size froer wanted, that bag reminded her much too forcibly that it wasn&039;t a person in the pond, it wasn&039;t a woman, it was only a body that wouldn&039;t suffer fro piece of plastic

It was the living who suffered, and Caroline wondered who the worieve and mourn and question

Her heart ached to make music, toelse She could still do that, thank God she could still do that Escape there when there was nowhere else to run

Leaning against the post, she closed her eyes and played it in her head, filled her mind with melody so rich she didn&039;t hear the next car jolt down the lane

"Hey there" Josie sla off the last of a cherry Popsicle, started toward the porch "Hey," she said again, and offered a friendly, curious sot a coue "Saw all these cars turn in while I was heading hoave her a blank look It was odd, al with life when death was still hovering "I beg your pardon?"

"No need for that, honey" Still s, Josie walked up the steps "I&039; to be going on and not know about it Josie Longstreet" She held out a hand still a bit sticky from the melted ice

"Caroline Caroline Waverly" After she&039;d shaken hands, Caroline thought how innate ot trouble here, Caroline?" Josie set the sticks on the porch rail "I see Burke&039;s car Gorgeous, isn&039;t he? Hasn&039;t cheated on his wife, not even once in better than seventeen years Never seen anyone take o Doc Shays, too" She glanced back at the crowded lane "Now, he&039;s a character That shoe-black hair all puffed up and slicked back like a fifties rock and roll singer? Sounds a little like Mickey Mouse, don&039;t you think?"

Caroline nearly smiled "Yes I&039;m sorry, would you like to sit down?"

"Don&039;t worry about hted it with a gold butane "You got all these visitors, but I don&039;t see a soul"

"They&039;re" She looked toward the trees She sed hard "The sheriffs co her body slightly, lifting her shoulders The sassy smile she offered Burke faded when she saw his eyes Still, her voice was bright "Why, Burke, I&039;m jealous You hardly ever come to pay calls on us at Sater, and here you are"

"Official business, Josie"

"Well, well"

"Miss Waverly, I need to speak to you Could we go inside?"

"Of course"

As he started by, Josie took his arone out of her face "Burke?"

"I can&039;t talk to you now" He knew he should tell her to leave, but he thought Caroline ht want another female around when he&039;d finished with her "Can you wait? Maybe stay with her awhile?"

The hand on his arets Why don&039;t you go in the kitchen, fix us soed if you&039;d stay in there until I call you"

Caroline settled him in the front parlor, on the striped divan The little cuckoo clock that she had wound faithfully since her arrival tick-tocked cheerfully She could smell the polish she&039;d used on the coffee table just that , and her oeat

"Miss Waverly, I&039;m awfully sorry to have to ask you questions nohen you et to all this quickly"

"I understand" How could she understand, she thought frantically She&039;d never found a body before "Do you know do you knoho she is?"

"Yes, ma&039;am"

"The deputy-Johnson?" Her hand was up at her throat, rubbing up and down as if she could stroke the words free "He said she didn&039;t drown"

"No, ma&039;am" Burke took a notebook and pencil from his pocket "I&039;m sorry I have to tell you she was murdered"