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“ ’Cause they’re crazy,” Cody said.
“Sometimes. And when we hear about this scary, terrible stuff it makes us all feel like the world isn’t a safe place. You know what I mean?”
Cody nodded slowly. The fat terrier nosed its way into the room, jumped on the bed, sniffed the boy up and down, then went to the foot of the bed, and turned around five times before curling into a ball.
“Is that how you feel?” A
He thought about that one for a long time and chose not to answer her, which was an answer in itself. She couldn’t blame him. He had caught a glimpse of the worst thing one human being could do to another. Like ripples in a pond, that violence touched everyone who heard of it. Every woman in Oak Knoll would be locking her doors and windows tonight. How could A
And why would he trust her anyway? She barely knew him. If she had to admit it, she knew him less than she knew Tommy or Wendy. He wasn’t a good or enthusiastic student. The only attention he drew to himself was when he got caught up in De
“That chicken smells really good,” she said, pushing to her feet. “Think you’ll eat some di
Once again he didn’t answer her. She felt his mind was still on the last question she had asked him, that he was still wrestling with something, but she couldn’t pull it out of him. He had to want to give it to her.
“If you decide you want to talk about it,” she said, “don’t be afraid to come to me, Cody. Or tell your mom. You don’t have to keep all those feelings bottled up inside you.”
A
“De
A
“What do you mean, Cody? He said that yesterday? After you found the body?”
Cody Roache was as white as a sheet, his dark eyes huge behind the too-big lenses of his taped-together glasses.
“Before that,” he said in a tiny voice.
A
“A while ago. We were in the woods playing commandos and he told me there were dead bodies buried there.”
If he had told her this two days ago, A
Maybe De
“Do you think De
“No,” she said. “No, of course not. What exactly did he tell you, Cody? Did he tell you he had seen a body?”
“He said there were bodies buried there and they were rotting in the ground and we were ru
She needed to call Detective Mendez. If there was a chance De
“I’m scared,” Cody said.
A
“What are you scared of, Cody?”
He swallowed hard. “De
“De
“How do you know?”
Because De
“Because. I just know,” she said. She took a deep breath and let it out, trying to decide what to do next.
“Thank you, Cody,” she said, standing up. “You did the right thing telling me this.”
Cody didn’t look so sure about that. “Don’t tell De
“Don’t worry about De
She spent another few minutes with Renee Roache discussing what had happened and the fact that Detective Mendez would probably want to speak to Cody. Then she left the Roache home and the smell of chicken roasting, to go in search of De
17
The Farmans lived not far from the Roaches in a two-story house painted battleship gray. Everything about the exterior was neat and tidy, squared off and symmetrical. No frills. Very military, she thought.
One of the Farman daughters answered the door. Both girls were in junior high school, enough older than De
There was no sign or sound of De
De
Sharon Farman came into the hall, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She appeared to be still dressed from work in a skirt and blouse with long sleeves puffed at the shoulder and a ruffled stand-up collar. She had the kind of looks that had probably been quite pretty in high school, but were now worn down by years of smoking cigarettes, raising children, and the disappointment of being married to an asshole.
“Mrs. Farman,” A
“We haven’t eaten yet,” Sharon Farman said shortly. “We’re waiting for my husband. Why are you here?”
“I wanted to check on De
“Check on De
“De
Sharon Farman looked incredulous and exasperated at the same time. “That little shit! His father took him to school this morning.”
“Hmmmm,” was all A
The woman looked up the staircase and screamed, “DENNIS! Get down here!”
At the same time, the front door opened and Frank Farman walked in. His wife went right to him.
“De
“I got a call,” Farman said as he took off his giant cop belt hung with all ma
Sharon Farman rolled her eyes, turned on her heel, and headed back to the kitchen where one of the daughters was yelling, “Mom, it’s burning!”
A
“I’m A
“You came here to tell us De
“Actually, I came to see how De
“He’s fine.”
“I thought he might be upset-”
“He’s not.”
“Has De
“The kids were playing and they found a dead body. What else is there to talk about? He’s a kid, for Christ’s sake.”