I didn’t know what to say, and the fuzzy golden goodwill the pill lent me did not give me any inspiration. I decided it was best to keep silent. I looked over the crowd in the pews. Mount Ida was a larger church than I’d imagined from the outside. The pews were gleaming with polish, and the carpet was new, too. At the front of the church were easels with enlarged photographs of the dead boys, each with a spray of flowers at the base. I would have liked to look at them, since I’d touched on each of these young men in my very own way, but going up there would have seemed rude and pushy.

There was a knot of law enforcement uniforms in one of the front pews. I recognized Sheriff Rockwell’s hair, and I thought I also saw Deputy Rob Tidmarsh, who’d discovered the animal graves.

Somehow the Bernardos had beat us here. I glimpsed Xylda’s unruly red head a few pews up and to the right and Manfred’s platinum spikes beside her. From the rear view, the two didn’t stand out so much. There was plenty of dyed hair in evidence, and several spiky hairdos.

Tolliver came in, his face pinched with cold. He dropped a twenty into the slot. He was surprised to find me seated by Twyla, but he leaned over to shake her hand and to tell her how sorry he was. “We appreciate the use of your cabin,” he said. “It made a big difference, having a place to stay.” I hadn’t even thought of thanking her, and I was angry with myself.

“I’m very sorry Harper got hurt,” Twyla said, and I felt better when I realized I wasn’t the only one who’d forgotten to mention something fairly major. “I hope they catch who did it, and I’m sure it was the same bastard who killed our Jeff. This is something else I forgot,” she said, pressing a check into my hands. I nodded and slid it into Tolliver’s chest pocket. We started down the aisle to find a place to sit.

We paused by a pew with some free space in the middle, and when the pew’s settlers saw my cast, they were kind enough to all shift down to let us sit on the end. I said “Thank you” several times. It felt good to settle down on the padded pew shoulder to shoulder with Tolliver. We were far enough away from the door to avoid the effects of the constant gusts of cold air with each entrance.