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"Magda," I say "You’re hysterical You’ve got to calh, I haul off and slap her

And why she, in turn, slapsmy cheek "What did you do that for?"

"You hither own cheek

"Yeah, but you were hysterical!" Magda has soet you to snap out of it You didn’t have to hit me back"

"You aren’t supposed to slap hysterical people," Magda snaps back "Didn’t they teach you anything in all those fancy first-aid courses theyin tears "Tell da says, and holds out the hand she hadn’t used to se-looking object Made of gold, it reseer, and curved There’s a diaed up, like it’s been chewed on

"What is that?" I ask, gazing down at it

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?"

Both Magda and I are startled by the reaction of Cheryl Haebig as she and her boyfriend Jeff pass us on the way out of the cafeteria Cheryl’s eyes are wide, her gaze glued to the object in Magda’s hand Pete, who is trying to herd everyone out of the place, looks frustrated

"Cher," Jeff says, tugging on his girlfriend’s arm, "co her head, her gaze still fixed on what Magda is holding "Where you did get that? Tell h it’s obvious from her reaction that she does Also that I probably don’t want to knohy "What is it?"

"It’s Lindsay’s navel ring," Cheryl says Her face has gone as white as the blouse she’s wearing "Oh, God Where’d you get it?"

Magda presses her lips together And closes her fingers "Oh, no," she says, in the singsong voice she only uses when students are around "Never o to class now, or you’ll be late--"

But Cheryl takes a step forward and says, her eyes going hard as the lances at me, then says, in her nore disposal The one that hasn’t been working right all week The building engineer finally got around to taking a look at it And he found this"

She flips it over On the other side of the gold, the word LINDSAY is engraved--hard to asps, then seems to find it difficult to stand Pete and Jeff help her to a nearby chair

"Tell her to put her head between her knees," I tell Jeff He nods, looking panicky, and , honey-colored hair is sweeping the floor

I turn back to Magda and stare down at the ring "They put the rest of her down the disposal?" I whisper

Magda shakes her head "They tried But bones won’t grind up"

"Wait, so…they’re still down there?"

Magda nods We’re whispering so Cheryl won’t overhear "The sink was stopped up No one thought to wonder why--it’s always stopped up We just used the other one"

"And the police didn’t look in there, either?"

Magda wrinkles her nose "No The water was all…well, you kno it can get back there Plus they served chili Monday night…"