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Getting up and going to work the next htin the shower and I put on more eye shadow than usual, but my denim skirt, striped blouse, and braided hair felt like a co books in a less back roo recipes or discussing the acadeh oodness," or "Ooh," at the appropriate ht have children iants with fla hair? And I would certainly tell everyone I et up fro ho up I&039;d had a scanty breakfast, so I was pretty hungry and trying to visualize as in erator as I twisted my key in the lock When a voice booravated that I wasn&039;t going to get to eat

"Roe! Teentsy said you&039;d be coot a little proble

I turned around, resigned to postponing food "What&039;s the little problem, Mr

Crandall?"

Mr Crandall was not eloquent about anything but guns, and finally I realized that if I was to understand the proble with hiht to feel put-upon; after all, this waswithout Lillian&039;s voice droning in my ears, and since it was Wednesday, there should be a new Tied across the patio in Mr Crandall&039;s wake The Crandalls&039; washer and dryer were in the basement, of course, as they were in all four units There was a straight flight of rather steep stairs down to the base I clopped down the Crandalls&039; stairs, Teentsy Crandall right behindme about the washer catastrophe inwater stain With a sinking feeling of doom and dis down a pluold with ly as I talked Ace Plu my tenants a call in the next hour Since Ace was one of the two plu firms my mother used for all her properties, perhaps it wasn&039;t totally aet theht away - now that was a! When I was off the phone and Teentsy put a plate with country fried steak, potatoes, and green beans in front of er "Oh, you don&039;t need to do that," I said weakly, and dug in Calories and cholesterol did not factor in Teentsy&039;s cooking, so her food was absolutely delicious with that added spice of guilt Teentsy and Jed Crandall seehted to have someone to talk to They were quite a pair, Teentsy with her bountiful bosoray curls, and Jed with his hard-as-a-rock seamed face While I ate, Teentsy frosted a cake and Mr Crandall - I couldn&039;t bring myself to call him Jed - talked about his farm, which he&039;d sold the year before, and about how convenient it was for therandchildren were He sounded unconvinced though, and I could tell he was spoiling for so ht," Teentsy said archly "Did you two have a good ti to bet Teentsy knew exactly when Robin had brought me home "Oh, yes, it was fine," I said in as noncolanced around their den and kitchen area Mine was lined with books; Mr Crandall&039;s was lined with guns I knew next to nothing about firearms, and was fervently content to keep it that way, but even I could tell these guns were of all different ages and types I started wondering about their value, and fro concerned about e of these units; ould her responsibility be in case of theft, for exalar to atte of hazards and security in general led hts in another direction I looked at the Crandalls&039; back door Sure enough, they&039;d added two extra locks

I laid down my fork "Mr Jed, I have to talk to you about those extra locks," I said gently

Yes, he had read his lease agreeh old face went sheepish in an instant

"Oh, Jed," chided Teentsy, "I told you you needed to speak to Roe about those locks"

"Well, Roe," her husband said, "you can see this gun collection needs more protection than that one lock on the back door" "I can appreciate how you feel, and I even agree," I said carefully, "but you know that if you do put on extra locks, you ive me all the keys if you ever decide to ive ruoing against the grain to give anyone else keys to that castle - even a nice gal like h a drawer in the kitchen She ca through them with a troubled look on her face

"Now I&039;ve been proh these and throay the old ones we didn&039;t need, and since we&039;re retired I should have all the time in the world, but still I haven&039;t done it," she told me "Well, here are two that I&039;m sure are the spares for these lockshere, Jed, try them and make sure" While her husband tested the keys in the locks, she stirred the others around with a helpless finger "This looks like the key to that old trunk I don&039;t know about this one you know, Roe, now that I think about it, one of these keys is to that apartment next door that that Mr Waites rents now I know you reave us an extra key because she said she was always locking herself out and it was alhen you were at work"

"Well, when you find it, just bring it over sometime," I said Mr Crandall handed ht ones, and I thanked Teentsy for the delicious lunch, feeling even uilty that they&039;d fedconscientious, sometimes I felt much better when ing solely by his appearance - two-day beard stubble, bandanna over long ringlets of black hair, and Day-Glo overalls - I wouldn&039;t have trusted hi in an authoritative way and actually wrote it dohen I told him to billI&039;d performed a service

I almost literally ran into Bankston onhis golf bag, and looked shining clean, right out of the shower He&039;d obviously been out at the country club having a few rounds He looked surprised to seeproble towards the plulancing at my watch "Your washer and dryer okay?"

"Oh, sure Listen, how are you doing after your troubles of the past few days?" Bankston was being nice and polite, but I didn&039;t have the time or the inclination to chitchat

"Pretty well, thanks I was glad to hear that you and Melanie are gettingto courtesy "I didn&039;t have the chance to say anything the other night e ratulations"

"Thanks, Roe," he said, in his deliberate way "We were lucky to finally really get to know each other" His clear eyes were glowing, and it was apparent toI was a little envious, to tell the truth, and bitchily wondered what two such stolid people could have to "really get to know" I was also late

"Congratulations," I repeated sunnily, and pretty ot to run" I rabbited away to my place to put the keys to the Crandalls&039; aparth I needed to hurry back to the library, I took an extra minute to label them

I would&039;ve been late anyway

I drove north on Parson Road to get back to the library The Buckleys&039; house was along the way, to my left

By sheer coincidence, out of all the people who could have been driving by when Lizanne calanced to my left to admire the flowers in the Buckleys&039; front yard, and the front door opened, and a figure stumbled out I kneas Lizanne by the color of her hair and her figure and because her parents owned the house, but nothing about her posture and attitude was like Lizanne She slu that ran down the red-brick steps

God forgive me, half of o back to work, in blessed ignorance; but the half that said my friend needed help seemed to control the car I pulled in and crossed the street and then the lawn, dreading to reach Lizanne and find out why her face was so contorted and why there were stains on her hose, especially at the kneesShe didn&039;t knoas there Her long fingers with their beautifullyat her skirt, and her breath tore in and out of her lungs with a horrible wheeze There were tear stains on her face, though no tears were co now From her smell she had vomited recently The sloeet, casual beauty had vanished

I put et the sour sin to lurch uneasily The Crandalls&039; delicious lunch threatened to coht back up I shutat ers were clenched instead of restless "They&039;re both dead, Roe," she said clearly and terribly "My mama and my daddy are both dead I knelt down to make sure, and I have my own daddy&039;s blood on my clothes"

Then she fell silent and stared at her skirt, and knowing I was inadequate, could not rise to this ghastly situation, I let ood at: the pattern, the terrible i forced to fit This time it was Lizanne plus dead stepht plus bloody demise

I wondered where the hatchet was

"I just walked to the back door to eat lunch with them like I do every day," she said suddenly "And when the door was locked, and they wouldn&039;t answer, I unlocked the front here - this is the only key I have They were - there was blood on the walls"

"The walls?" Ito say until it ca an incredible truth, "the walls Daddy is on the sofa in there, Roe, the one where he sits to watch television, and he&039;s just all he&039;sand Mauest bedroohtly as I could and she bent and clung to me

"I shouldn&039;t have had to see them like that," she whispered