Wed been fooling around for maybe three or four weeks the first time she ever mentioned running away from home. She asked me if Id go with her. Said she wanted to go somewhere to North Carolina or something like that. I made fun of her because I didnt see the point in moving just one state away, you know? Plus, I didnt like her like that. My brother joked with me how the first guy a girl sleeps with, she gets obsessed. I guess she sort of did. Anyway, there was no way I was going to run away with her. But the way she talked about it…you could tell she had actually thought about it.

Do you think she wanted to run away because of just how much she disliked her parents? Kate asked.

I guess. I mean, its the only real reason I could think of that would make her want to leave home. I mean…my parents are assholes, too. But I didnt run away or nothing.

No, Barnes said. You just moved two miles away into your older brothers trailer. Maybe Mercy didnt have an option like that.

Still, Kate said, making sure Barnes didnt take them too far off-topic. Are you certain she was being for real when she spoke of running away? Not just filling your head with fantasies so youd stay with her?

No. But she kept talking about how her mother would go crazy trying to find hernot because shed actually want to find her but because shed feel like Mercy got one over on her by running away.

Do you know if there was any abuse in her home? DeMarco asked.

I dont think so. Not recently, anyway. She did tell me one time about how her mother hauled off and just hit her right in the face when she was like eleven or twelve.

And you swear she never actually came out and said she was going to kill them? Kate asked.

A few times, she did. She would say I cant wait to kill them. And then she talked about whether shed do it with a knife or a gun. She really liked talking about it. But I told her to shut up. When me and Mercy got together, it was just for the sex. And I didnt want to hear about her thinking about killing her parents before we got down to it, you know?

Kate considered it all as Jeremy stopped talking and looked around at all three of them. He had lied about Mercy being promiscuous. Kate wondered if everything else he had said was also a lie.

She leaned down close to a still-sitting Sheriff Barnes and whispered into his ear: Can we speak outside for a moment?