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Frohtened his torso so that he could look over the edge of the counter The store was e There was traffic outside, people and cars Mike leaned his hands on the counter to steady himself, and the touch of the solid wood and For effect on the whole roo effect on his sto up and he gave that a shot, using both hands to pull hireeably, did not start dancing around again

There was a horrible taste in histo drink He saw the trash can, saw that he’d thrown up in it

"Swell," he said and carefully walked over to the small bathroonize, but this time it was not an hallucination of his own, older face; noas just his norreenish and there was puke dried on his chin, throat, and upper shirtfront "Swell," he said again, and reached for the tap

When he had cleaned hier He emptied the trash can and washed it, then mopped the floor behind the counter, which was stained with vomit and sweat He removed all traces of what had happened, e what had happened or if there was any shauilt was a reflex for hin on the door was hung the wrong way A lucky break, he thought as he went over to flip it to OPEN

Still no sign of Crow He thought about calling hi inside told hiot a bottle of Yoo-hoo froe, pulled the stool to the end of the counter, picked up the copy of Ce The entire encounter with Tow-Truck Eddie was buried down deep, buried along with a lot of other things that were stored in the shadows in the back of his brain Stored out of sight, but not gone

2

Crow sat in the plastic visitor’s chair, sloshing around the cold dregs of hospital coffee in a cardboard cup and watching the sky outside thicken froray to purple as another storm front pushed in from the west Val was finally asleep, her face turned away from hies that covered the right half of her head Her hands twitched as she slept Bad dreaht now there were no other kinds of drea

Boyd’s body wasExhausted as she was, the news had nearly broken her She dissolved into frustrated, horrified tears and went on and on until Crow began to fear that she was having a breakdown Howthe nurses could do; she was pregnant, so sedatives were out of the question, and there’s only so et from a cup of chamomile tea So, Crow had held her while the stored in her heart, and it was close to three o’clock before pain and exhaustion dragged her down into a rough and troubled sleep He doubted she would find ht of what shapes luhtmares

Just after five there was a soft tap on the door and Crow got up quietly and padded over, opening the door softly to see Sarah Wolfe standing there She looked as s, but he put a finger to his lips as he stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him

"Sarah…how’s Terry?"

She offered him a brave s"

"You know Val and I are praying for the big guy"

A quick nod, then, "Crow, I need to speak to you about so and I don’t want you to hate "

"It’s about the Halloween Festival" When he looked blank, she said, "The party, the etbut…who the hell cares anys if he couldn’t He’s been telling otten…well, sicker"

Crow just looked at her "Sarah, do you knohat’s been happening lately? Mark and Connie are dead"

"I know, and I heard that soe broke in and stole the body of that horrible man--"

"Sarah…with all that’s happened to Val and her faht now"

She took his hand and held it in both of hers "Crow, this is hard for me to ask because I kno stupid and trivial it sounds, but please hear ht is for the far--their farms, their homes Terry loaned out soed our house, his businesses, and even the Hayride up to the hilt And there have been a lot of deals made between the farmers and the businesses in town, a lot of loans swapped back and forth, and what the banks couldn’t guarantee, Terry did"

"Christ, Sarah…why the hell did he do that?"

"Because he loves this town, Crow He loves it so much that he feels responsible for it, that if he lets it fail, then it’ll be a personal failure I think that’s why he’s been seeing his sister You know he nearly died trying to save Mandy when they were attacked I think on soain by trying so hard to save the town"

"Maybe," Crow said cautiously He had other thoughts on Terry and Mandy