I let tears flow down my cheeks. “I need to go, Tolliver,” I said softly. “Please take me to the motel.” I threw my arms around his neck. I loved hugging Tolliver, who was bony and hard and warm. I loved to listen to the air going in and out of his lungs, the swoosh of his heart.

He raised me up out of the chair and walked me to the front door, one arm wrapped around my shoulders. The few people in the outer office eyed us curiously as we made our way to the door.

When we were safely back in the car and on our way, Tolliver said, “Thanks.”

“Was it going bad for you?” I asked, taking my hands from my face and straightening in my seat. “The sheriff thinks I made up everything I said, but the motel receipt was pretty conclusive.”

“Hollis Boxleitner has a thing for you,” Tolliver said. “He can’t decide if he wants to go to bed with you or slap you around, and he’s full of anger like a volcano’s full of lava.”

“Because of his wife getting killed.”

“Yep. He believes in you, but that makes him mad, too.”

“He’s gonna burn himself up,” I said.

“Yes,” Tolliver agreed.

“Did he tell you anything about Helen Hopkins’ murder?”

“He said he found her. He said she’d been hit on the head.”

“With something there, something already in the house?”

“Candlestick.”

I remembered the glass candlesticks flanking the Bible on the coffee table.

“Was she standing when she was hit?”

“No,” he said, “I think she was sitting on the couch.”

“So the killer was standing in front of her.”

Tolliver thought about it. “That makes sense,” he said. “But the deputy didn’t say one way or another.”

“Being suspected of a murder isn’t going to help business,” I said.

“No, we need to get out of here as soon as possible.” He parked in front of the motel and went in to get our rooms.

I really did want to lie down by the time we were in our rooms, and I was glad when Tolliver came through the connecting door and turned on my television. I propped up on the pillows while he slouched in the chair, and we watched the Game Show Network. He beat me at Jeopardy! I beat him at Wheel of Fortune. Of course, I would rather have won at Jeopardy!, but Tolliver had always been better at remembering facts than I was.