“Okay.Go check on her.Let her know what’s going on.Ask her where the bodies are, and if she knows where the Stephens went.Or if she’s killed them already.God, I can’t believe I just said that out loud.”
“You’re dripping,” Tyler said.
“Fuck me with a carving knife,” I said.“I gotta patch myself up.If we get through this it’ll be a fucking miracle.If you see him coming, you better keep him out of the churchyard, the basement, and the barn.”
“Ten-four,” Tyler said, rushing off.
“You can do this, Stace,” I said to myself.“You can do this.”
10.
The Sheriff stayed indoorsfor most of the morning.Which was not great, I thought, but it was something.It meant Tyler could be his personal chaperone.This Tyler had taken to with aplomb, acting as the Sheriff’s shadow, and adopting—brilliantly—a ‘dumb teenage boy obsessed with guns’ persona.Really, I thought he ought to be an actor.
I’d gone and talked with Patti.Her wig was on the table, and her makeup was gone.Now she just looked like a huge man reclining in a four-poster bed, arm around her husband.
“How’s your thumb?”she asked me.
“Holding on,” I said.
“I keep remembering things,” she said.“I wasn’t always in control.Oh, I was some of the time.Sometimes I even felt like I wanted to do those terrible things.But now all I feel is sick.”
“We have a problem,” I said.“There’s a Sheriff that’s checked in.”
Her face was pale.
“Tyler said something about that.”
“Tyler’s watching him.Listen.Do you remember a family checking in.Name of the Stephens?Everyone’s first and last name was a variation on the theme.Steffie, Stephanie, I don’t know.”
“Yeah, sounds familiar,” she said.
“Did you kill them?”
“What kind of question is that?”she asked.
“Come on,” I said.“You know I’m not trying to dig in.I just need to know what happened to them.The sooner we get through this, the better.”
“If they were here, and if I killed them, JJ or Sawyer would have driven their vehicle behind the barn.There’s a temp lot back there.You’ll know it by the tire tracks.Check back there.Sawyer drives them down to a chopshop in the city.”
“Has he made any deliveries since yesterday?”
“No,” Patti said.
“Well, that’s something,” I said.“Make sure you rest up.Those kids need you.And you’ve got a lot to make up for.”
Patti lit a cigarette and laid back, nodding.
“We all good in here,”I asked Brother Al when I came back through.
“Yes,” he replied.“The Sheriff appears to be a very incurious individual.”
“Well, let’s hope that stays,” I said.“I’m going to go check out behind the barn for the Stephens’ car.”
“It was an SUV, remember,” Brother Al said.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said.
There was a wide-openchasm behind the Barn.Bull skulls and other assorted detritus were stacked in a pile.I stared at the bone pit, buzzing with flies, and tried not to hurl.It was even worse when I noticed something else.It was a white SUV.
