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Looking at the reenery from the forestland and the farms, the town of Pine Deep seemed small and remote Certainly it was nofarmers from the most distant spreads, was just a little under twenty-​five hundred, but considering how e the town covered, the people were pretty thin on the ground Most of them lived in the town proper, on a handful of quaint cobble-​stoned streets Don, as it was apocryphally knoas actually situated on a high saddle between two higher peaks, and though the peaks made the town look like it was in a valley, it was nearly a thousand feet higher than some of the farms

Doas where all the "action" was That here the tourists flocked in the thousands from the first moderately tolerable day in late March until after the Christmas sales Antique buyers ca merchants drove all the way up from Florida to sell truckloads of Seminole quilts, or mock Navajo blankets Every fifth store sold Pennsylvania Dutch woodcrafts, fros with aoods fro, and in the evening, the breeze blowing past Winifred’s Incense gave the place an aroic Almost everywhere were the delicate tinkles of wind chimes, the rattle of rain sticks, the clack-​clickety-​clack of hand-​carved weather vanes Windoere filled with rare books, exotic , and crystal balls for seeing into any reality of choice, iest selection of fa but Pine Deep souvenirs and oddities such as the Fireballs, a kind of bright red pinecone unique to the area; countless books detailing, either in lurid prose or scholarly wordiness, the ghost stories of the region; calendars with twelvewith the incredible colors of Pine Deep in autureen of the summer forests, or the stark and ancient beauty of the snointers; and the fifty-​odd varieties of locally put-​by jellies, ja a famous spicy cinnaal Gourmet one year and had caused a run on the local supply

In all that vastness of land, with the roves of fruit trees, the undeveloped forest land and the fields left fallow, the estates overgrown and gone wild, the cliffs and caves and hollows, there were threefrohed, rubbing at his eyes and half s the three psycho-​bastards had chosen so breath, held it, and then sighed again It was going to be a very, very long night

Terry looked away froeant Ferro and Detective LaMastra standing at his elbow "Where do we stand?" Terry asked

"Well," the detective said, "with all of your people, sir, and with the officers loaned to this jurisdiction fro townships, ere able to put more than twenty cars on the road, each with two officers apiece I split the tea within the town boundaries have at least one Philly officer I felt that it would be unduly risky to require the local officers to try and apprehend Ruger and his buddies without experienced help"

Terry nodded He could tell froive offense, but at the same time make clear the point that the local cops were rubes and this ork for real professional law enforceht have been offended, but in Pine Deep Ferro’s estiet Gus Bernhardt was a rube, and because of him the police department was little better than the Keystone Cops Terry loved his town, but he really had no opinion of the department Gus had built Look at who Gus had hired Shirley O’Keefe, who looked like a skinny twenty-​two-​year-​old Meryl Streep, got sick to her stomach every time she had to help with a bad traffic accident Officer Golub was smart but had no balls Jim Polk was an alcoholic and was as likely to arrest pink elephants as criminals, and his crony, Dixie MacVey, was on the force just so he could pull traffic duty outside the high school, giving hiirls bounce along The rest were just as useless

Until now there hadn’t really been any desperate need to change that, which gave Gus his co had Terry thinking about initiating soht about putting up some money to try and attract one of these Philly officers to try their hand at rural law enforcement

"So I think we’re as well deployed as we can be," Ferro said "Unfortunately for those of us here in the office it’s kind of a hurry up and wait situation Until we have o on, there’s not a whole lot eant" Terry picked up the coffee cup, looked into its eain, and set it down "Is there any more of this, Ginny?"

"Well…" she said doubtfully "I could make a new pot" She made no move to do so

Terry favored her with a smile "Would you et the big urn and h for everyone?"

"The instant would be easier"

"Yeah, but I think the officers would appreciate brewed coffee, what do you say?"

"Tastes the sa the ile her

Gus tapped her chair with a thick toe "Shift your ass, Gin Make some coffee"

Ginny stood up, and with all the self-​sacrificing grandeur of Sydney Carton uillotine steps, she turned and headed for the kitchen

The four o When she was out of earshot, Terry said to Gus, "I’ to shoot her"

"I’ll load your gun for you"

"She’s a royal pain in my butt"

"Mine too, but we’re stuck with her Who else could do her job?"

"A trained onna find one that’ll work for e pay her?"

LaMastra cracked up but, catching sight of Ferro’s unsh and then busied hi up, Ferro tapped the o up and down A-32 in a kind of squeeze pattern, checking both sides of the roads for any place where theyYou know, fire access road, fareant asked, "how many officers are scheduled for the next shift?"