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Tolliver had been reading the paper, and he shoved it over to e behavior of the night before, apparently "Notcold"

"About tied to get the edge of the cup tosip, set the cup doith just as much care Tolliver had kept the sports section, and he was involved with a basketball story, so he didn’t witness this e weakness I exhaled, felt soood thing I got a croissant out of the basket, knew I’d regret it later, and ate the whole thing in about forty-five seconds

"Good," was Tolliver’s only comment "You could use some body fat"

"You’re just a bundle of co," I said tartly I felt e of optiround than I’d felt ht before I’d been overly dra would be the same

I ate another croissant I even buttered it

"Are you going to run?" Tolliver asked mildly

"No," I said

"You’re just a party ani today?"

"Fine Just fine"

There was a long pause

"You were acting kind of weird last night," he said

"Ah Lot to think about," I said vaguely, waving the last piece of croissant in an arc to indicate the breadth of ht

"I hope that worked out for you," he said "You scared ht and airy "A sudden attack of thoughtfulness will do that to you"

"Uhtfulness

The cell phone rang when he’d gone back to his newspaper story, and I reached over to answer it Somehow his hand was there beforewith hi ," he said

"All right," he said, after a ht, we’ll be there in forty-fivethe phone shut

He looked at ave perot up and walked into et dressed without another word

When I came out twenty minutes later, I was clean and my clothes were fresh, but that was about all I could say Despite Tolliver’s advice, I didn’t fool with h my hair I wore it short, since I couldn’t have dealt with a lot of hair to arrange, some days; today was definitely one of those days I’d pulled on the top sweater in my suitcase, which was cream-colored, and the top pair of jeans, and the top pair of socks Luckily, I only carry things that can coordinate, because otherwise I would have looked like I’d dressed in the dark

Tolliver was about on par with o I was so surprised that I hugged hirateful for hi, and I froze, every e in hi between us

"What have I done?" he asked, pulling away, looking down at me "What have I done to you?"

I couldn’t et this over with"

The car was full of an uneasy silence as we followed the directions Tolliver had been given Before I had tiue There were so many dead inside, and they were so fresh, that the vibrations gathered in intensity and strength When I got out of the car, I was already feeling a little light on my feet I knoent in, and I knoe talked to a few people, but later I re By the ti from my head to s as we followed the very heavy, very young wo rear swayed in front of me as she walked, and her lank dark hair switched from side to side She hadn’t bothered with makeup, and her clothes were strictly thrift shop Thiswoman knocked at a door that looked no different from any of the other doors She must have heard a reply, because she held the door open and ent inside A sandy-haired ainst the wall There were two gurneys in the rooer than the luhed fro the bodies, the odor was pervasive

I said, "Tolliver, you can go," but I kneouldn’t

I introduced myself and Tolliver

"Dr Lyle Hatton," the awky, and he had a way of looking down through his glasses that registered as contenore in the face of the overwhel

I started to lift the plastic so I could touch Tabitha’s body directly, but Lyle Hatton said, "Gloves!"

He was annoying I had aso loudly that I could hardly comprehend what he wanted It seeh the plastic sheet, or putting on plastic gloves I wasn’t aware I’d ever thought about the barriers between me and a corpse, and classified them Cotton would have been better than plastic for iven that option So I lay my hand on the plastic sheet, over the area where her heart should have been; of course, the shape under the sheet was not a full shape anyround Immediately, I fell into Tabitha’s lasta blue cushion, descending Feeling betrayal, disbelief, horror, NO NO NO NO Mama save me save me saveher any down erous indulgence, but I needed him so much I looked at the masked man in his medical scrubs "You collected evidence frouardedly

"Did you find any threads in her nose and mouth? Blue, they would have been"

"Yes," he said, after a notable pause "Yes, we did"