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Goddamn! Why did the kid have to be such a pain in the ass? Why did he have to push it all the tiht All it did was make more trouble for him, for Vic, who tried to set sorow up to be a man, even if the Man didn’t tell hih He always pushed it; and when he pushed it, Vic just plain had to slap the kid back into place How else was the little shit going to learn any da about life? If the little idiot had any kind of brains, thento set hi After all, he was the Man’s only hurow up to be a wiet it? Fuck no! All he did was cry like a little girl Last night, well, that was the topper, wasn’t it? Having the fucking o pick the kid up, at the Haunted Hayride no less God! Vic wondered if the kid still had any idea of how dangerous that had been Probably not How could he? He had no idea as in the woods out beyond Dark Hollow

Vic paused in his reflections and allowed hi before the kid did find out Soon, they’d all find out

Still s, he set about the brake job, pleased with the way the future was spreading out before hiht blue sky beyond the half-​closed garage doors, and the golden, enriching sunlight Unaware, also, of the tall, gray-​skinned phantom who stood across the road and watched him from the shadow of a skeletal old maple tree The stiff breeze whipped at the Bone Man’s clothes and carried away flecks of dried graveyard htened and looked up--not across the street to where the i, but instead he looked inward, his head cocked as he listened

Vic lowered his wrench and let it dangle froers as he heard the voice speak to hily smile and set down his wrench Screw the workload He quickly cleaned his hands, shut off the lights, hung a CLOSED sign in the , and locked the door on his way out He climbed into his pickup and for the second time that day headed out of toard the abandoned far

3

Terry hid in a bathroo a case of the shakes that was so bad that he had uncontrollable diarrhea Trousers down around his ankles, head bowed and held tightly in both hands, he waited it out until the Xanax finally kicked in Each pill took longer to work and did less, but at least the shakes finally eased up

When he was sure the bathroom was empty he left the stall, washed in the sink, cohtened his clothes as best he could Then he went to e

"Ah, there you are," Gus Bernhardt said He was sitting on the couch over by the coffee station

Shit! Terry thought, the use of the expletive not even hitting a speed bu, but then he spotted Ferro and LaMastra as well, sitting in chairs that flanked the couch Son of a bitch

"Your Honor," Ferro saidour options with the o public with the story and s low-​key No sense exciting the citizens and drawing rubberneckers"

"Yeah," LaMastra agreed, "aout every idiot with a video ca half in and half out of the door, Terry looked fro Were they all crazy? Who the hell cared what the ht? Or the tourists? Or any of this? He just wanted to get out--to crawl out of his own skin and just run His best friend was in the hospital, along with every surviving irlfriend’s family Henry Guthrie, one of the most respected and influential far their ith the residents, and not twenty-​four hours ago Terry’s little sister--his dead little sister--had called hiive a rat’s ass for what did or did not make the papers

But old habits die hard, so by reflex his face assumed an approximation of his Mr Mayor facade and he cleared his throat, entered the room, and sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs

"Let’s play it your way, Sergeant," Terry said curtly "I don’t want to have to go on TV and explain it fifty tian but Terry cut hi to the press until we have actually acco," he said with a touch of asperity

LaMastra gave a surreptitious little silent whistle and raised his eyes significantly to Ferro, whose face had become wooden

"As you say, Your Honor"

Terry rubbed his red-​rihed In the back of histo him over the phone The force necessary to keep a bland smile on his face was im else when the lounge door opened and a very weary-​looking doctor caical scrubs stained with unpleasant splotches of various colors and viscosities He sketched a weary wave, lumbered bleary-​eyed over to the coffee station, and poured hi black coffee in a chipped cera the coffee, he ambled over and sank wearily down onto the couch beside Gus He crossed his ankles and rested them on the coffee table, and Terry could see that the soft paper scrub booties he wore over his shoes were spattered with dark drops of dried Betadine The doctor looked bleakly at the gathered faces, sipped his coffee, and sighed

"Doc, have you eant Ferro and Detective LaMastra?" Terry said, and the doctor gave thes were a little too busy to be social" The doctor toasted thereen skullcap off, stared for a moment at the sweat stains that darkened the soft papery material, and then tossed it onto the table Weinstock was thirty-​five, looked thirty, and had a face that looked reold chain glittered frole of curly black chest hair

Terry said, "Dr Weinstock is the adeon and county coroner"

"In small toear a lot of hats," Weinstock said with a srin "I also double as the mailman and the fire chief"

"Uh…really?" LaMastra asked