I started to snap at him, to remind him that it was me that would be doing the unpleasant task; that he would be standing by, as always. Fortunately, I shut my mouth before those awful words came out. I was horrified at how I could have ripped up our relationship based on a moment’s peevishness. How many times a week did I thank God that I had Tolliver with me? How many times did I feel grateful that he was there to act as a buffer between me and the world?

“Harper?”

“What?”

“You’re looking at me weird. What’s the matter?”

“I was just thinking.”

“You must have been thinking some bad thoughts.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you mad at me for some reason? You think I should have argued more with the sheriff?”

“I don’t think that would’ve done any good.”

“Me, either. So why the mad face?”

“I was mad at myself.”

“That’s not good. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

I tried not to heave a sigh. “I do wrong things all the time,” I said, and if my voice was morose, well, I just couldn’t help it. I knew I wanted more from Tolliver than he could or should give me, and I had to hide that knowledge from everyone, especially from him.

I was definitely on a “my life sucks” kick, and the sooner I got off of it, the better life would be.

We called Sheriff Rockwell on our way back to the station so she could meet us outside. We parked our car and climbed into hers. “He doesn’t need to come,” she said, nodding her head at Tolliver.

“He comes,” I said. “That’s not a negotiation point. I’d rather talk to the reporters for an hour than go somewhere without him.”

She gave me a very sharp look. Then she shrugged. “All right,” she said. “He comes along.”

As she turned out of the parking lot, she turned yet again so she wouldn’t drive past the front of the station. I’d wondered if she might be a glory hound, yet she was avoiding the media. I couldn’t figure her out at all.

Even though I’d had some food and some time out, by the time we reached our destination at the very edge of town I was realizing my body was far from healed. There were some pain pills in the pharmacy bag back in our car. I wished I’d brought them with us, but I had to admit to myself that I wouldn’t have taken one before I worked. I didn’t know what would happen if I fiddled with the procedure. For a moment, I entertained myself with a few possibilities, but the fun of that palled pretty quickly. By the time Sheriff Rockwell pulled to a stop, I was leaning my head against the cold glass of the window.