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The silence was undercut by the interhway An erratic breeze, asthe tree branches With the strong odor fros in the air, it was difficult to discern any other scent I’ve been known to find bodies with my nose, but not in this case

The spa had a bi-fold insulated cover pulled over it with a plastic handhold along the rim I hesitated for a moment and then lifted it A dense sulfurous cloud wafted into my face The water in the redwood tub was pitch black, as still as glass Mist hovered on the surface I could feelto put earound to detered in the depths I experienced a nearly physical sensation of undulating hair, soft and feathery, at ertips At the back of my mind, it did occur to me that if Shana’d been killed and then du by now, buoyed by accuases… sort of like a pool toy I could feel hts

At knee height, there was a wooden door that apparently opened onto the heater and puht I pulled the door open The body had been jammed in feet first She unfolded froainstup at me A sound came up inaround, a hand againstheart

Elva Dunne was standing there, flashlight in her left hand

"Jesus, Elva You scared the shit out of lanced briefly at Shana, not nearly as startled by the sight as I had been Belatedly, I noticed that she had a little22 seut Gun buffs are dismissive of a22, apparently convinced that a weapon doesn’t count unless it’s capable of blowing a fist-sized hole through a board Unfortunately, Elva hadn’t heard about this and she looked as if she was ready to drill ht above the first Let a little22 slug rip around in your gut and see how good you feel It’ll bounce oft" bone like a tiny buot a phone call frouy who said Bailey Foas up here," she said "Just stay where you are and don’t move or I’ll shoot"

I raisedto reassure her "Hey, no Bailey It’s just estured at Shana’s body "I hope you don’t think I did that"

"Bullshit Of course you did Why else would you be here?"

I could hear the siren now in its winding approach on the road down below Somebody must have called the cops as well Mention Bailey’s naun down Honest to God, I saw Shana’s keys in the lost-and-found box this afternoon I figured she ht I’d check it out"

"Where’s the weapon? What’d you do, hit her with a baseball bat?"

"Elva, she’s been dead for days She was probably killed Wednesday night If I’d just done it, the blood would be bright red and, uh, you know… spurting" I hate it when people can’t coaze jumped around and she shifted nervously Dr Dunne had said she was a paranoid schizophrenic, but what does thatout on Thorazine these days, as placid as rocks This wo, one of those ham-shouldered Nordic types I already knew she was as weird as they cooing to do with a gun in her hand? Two deputies, with flashlights, were zigzagging up the path froood

I let my eyes drift toward her pants, and lifted my eyebrows a bit "Oh ouldn’t worry about it, but there’s a spider the size of a "

She had to look How could she not?

I kicked upward, ht out of her hand I saw the22 do a high, tu somersault and disappear into the dark I raht after it She yelped as she tu down the hill

The first of the deputies had apparently reached the ht in oing, but I hoped to get there quick I angled up through the trees, headed for the fire lane, figuring I could run for a while unirown lane, so even if they et a sheriff’s car up here, they’d have trouble getting through I wastoo much noise to hear if anyone was behind me, but it seemed smarter to assume the cops were close onover the trunk of a tree in my path