“I wasn’t worried about you getting hurt then, and I wasn’t worried the whole town was in on some kind of conspiracy.”

“You feel that?”

“I would have felt better if the most prominent lawyer in town and the sheriff hadn’t been big buddies, and both involved in the deal that brought us up here. I couldn’t sleep in the jail; the guy in the cell with me was brought in extremely drunk, and he snored and stank. I lay awake so long I convinced myself that something would happen to me in there, and they’d say I’d slipped on a bar of soap and banged my head, or accidentally tripped with my head in a noose. And then they’d get you.”

“Phyllis says we don’t have to stay in Sarne.”

“Then we’re leaving in the morning.”

“That’s fine with me.”

Tolliver rummaged around in his suitcase for clean clothes and stalked off to the bathroom. I went out to get him some food. I even went through the drive-through so I wouldn’t have to get out of the car. My paranoia was running high; although I had to admit that I had gotten nothing but good treatment from the people of Sarne I’d run into in impersonal capacities. The drive-through girl was polite and cheerful, the woman who took my money at the gas station was civil, and the judge had been businesslike and brisk. No question but that I was getting a skewed picture of Sarne and its people.

So be it, I thought. We’re outta here.

I ate the food I’d gotten for myself with a better appetite than I’d had in days. Then I lay down and snoozed. I distantly heard the water shut off and then Tolliver eating. The paper bags made rustling noises, no matter how quiet he tried to be. Just as I was really drifting away to sleep, I heard the creak of bedsprings as he lay down on the other bed. Then there was peaceful silence, underlined by the drone of the heating unit.

I didn’t nap as long as my brother, because I’d had some sleep the night before. I parted the curtains to peer outside and looked at the sky, gray with impending rain. It was about four in the afternoon, but it would be full dark within an hour. I brushed my teeth and hair and put my shoes on, and then I sat at the little table with a sheet of motel paper and a pencil. I like to make lists, but there’s seldom any need for me to do so; I don’t go to the grocery store much, and most of our errands are undertaken on the road.

I decided to list all the facts I could recall and see what shook out.