Page 38 (1/2)

In truth Terry did have doubts about reinstating Crow and halfway regretted having done it on the spur of the ly exhausted and less off-​kilter he ood cop, and had been sober and going to AA s without a break for years, but it had also been a long tie and--as much as Terry hated to adoofball that it was hard to iht noith the proper seriousness But he didn’t see what good ad it would do now Especially not in front of Gus and these other officers

Turning back to Ferro, he went on, "I reinstated hio shut down our Haunted Hayride It gives him double authority as a contract employee for the hayride and a law officer That way he’ll have the clout to handle any arguet touchy, you know"

"Mns on the way into town Chief Bernhardt tells me that you own it"

"Yes, and I’est in the East Coast," Terry said with one of his few genuine smiles of the day, "but it’s full of kids, and I felt it was best to shut it up for the night and send the kids ho, sir," said Ferro "Is this Mr Crow the man for the job?"

"Crow," said Terry firmly, "is the man for any job Believe me"

Gus, it was clear, did not, but Ferro and LaMastra saw the look in Terry’s eyes, and they both nodded "Fine," Ferro said, "can we keep hi is over?"

"I think he can be persuaded"

"Good, good, anyone else?"

Gus cleared his throat "I suppose we could h unifores and shotguns Or have the replace off-​duty"

"Well, sir," said Ferro, "I’ll leave you to work that part of it out for yourself For et so to call in a request for additional officers fro from the FBI soon"

"Why would the FBI bother with this?" asked Terry

"Well, sir, according to your map there, A-32 cuts back and forth over the Delaware River just here, and again here"

"Yeah? So?"

"Well, that side of the river is New Jersey, this side is Pennsylvania"

"Again…so?"

"Ah," said Gus "Soht?"

"Uh-​huh," said LaMastra "Interstate flight is a federal rap, and that means the FBI can be asked to step in But we probably won’t ask" He directed this last comment to Ferro, who nodded

"Federal involveht now My captain has promised us at least a dozen officers"

"Get all the help you need," Terry said "I said it twice already, and I’, call in the National Guard if it’ll help Let eant, I surely do not need Jack the Ripper slicing people up in Pine Deep It’s bad for business, and it’s bad for me personally because I am friends with darn near everybody who lives around here Please, do whatever--and I et them the heck out of ave Terry a curt nod "We will do our very best, Mr Mayor"

Terry nodded Turning to Gus, he said, "C’et on the phone and see if we can’t raise some kind of posse"

"Hi-​yo, Silver," Gus muttered sourly and followed his boss over to the desks

Ferro and LaMastra stood looking at them, and then turned to stare up at the map, at the immensity of area that had to be covered in order to run Karl Ruger to ground It was staggering

"What d’you think, Sarge?"

Ferro shrugged "Honestly?"

"Uh-​huh"

"I think this town is hip deep in shit"

"Yep Pretty much hoould have put it"

2

"Christ, you three look like a hockey teah Val sat with a dish towel full of ice cubes pressed to her forehead; her father sat next to her with a sihtly goggle-​eyed fro at her face with an antier had dashed in her face to wake her up

Across frolass of Early Times

"You do realize," he said in his cold whisper, "that all of this was unnecessary If you would just follow the rules of et along?" he said, and laughed The joke was lost on theood humor "So, I think by now the rules should be clear I will ask each one of you a question, or perhaps questions, and that person will answer No co societies Just questions and answers That’s pretty si hi into the words

"Yes," they each said

"Nice" He sipped the sour mash and hissed with pleasure at the burn "Okay Now, Miss Val, I believe you were about to tell me about your various boyfriends"

Val shat felt like a cantaloupe in her throat "I…don’t have any boyfriends"

"What? None at all? What about the one that lives in town?"

"No That’s been over for weeks There’s no one"

Ruger smiled a slithery s piece like you What’s the deal? Didn’t you give hih?"

Val just looked at hied what she hoped was a casual and diser’s dark eyes glittered like the glass eyes of a stuffed shark "So nobody new, huh?"