“Oh?”
“You and Joel in the hall that day. I saw the ring.”
In the hospital Caroline had felt the line of stitches for the first time, drawing her finger from her cheekbone across her eye to her hairline, along the four-inch gash that Lenny Ryan had given her. The doctor said she would have to wear the eyepatch for a month.
“So,” Dupree said, “have you set a date?”
There was no catch or hesitation in her voice. “No,” she said. “Not yet.”
She parked in front of the Bright Shining Day treatment center, grabbed the boxes of her mother’s clothes and carried them to the door. She leaned on the doorbell and a teenager wearing a Walkman answered, easing the earphones off her head. She stared at Caroline’s eye. “I have some things for Rae-Lynn Pierce,” Caroline said.
A few seconds later, the counselor she’d met before, Chris, came to the door and looked down at the boxes in her arms. “Rae-Lynn left,” he said. “Last night.”
Caroline nodded and wished she were more surprised. “Do you know where?”
The counselor just shrugged.
“Can I leave these anyway?” Caroline asked. “Maybe there’s someone else…”
The counselor took the boxes, thanked her, and closed the door.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
These pages were puzzled over by some fellow writers and friends, chiefly Dan Butterworth, whose enthusiasm was inspiring, his criticism invaluable. Jim Lynch shared pages as well as angst, and Terry Morehouse researched my cop questions and took me skiing once.
My deep thanks and respect to Cal Morgan, the kind of incisive, insightful editor I’d heard doesn’t exist anymore, and of course to Judith Regan, for her energy, her vision, and her patience with flaky writers from remote corners.
Finally, I have the great fortune of being married to my favorite editor. Like everything I do, this book is dedicated to Anne, and to my children, Brooklyn, Ava, and Alec.
OTHER BOOKS BY JESS WALTER
In Contempt (with Christopher Darden)
Copyright
OVER TUMBLED GRAVES. Copyright © 2001 by Jess Walter. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walter, Jess, 1969–
Over tumbled graves / Jess Walter
p. cm.
ISBN 0-06-039386-6
1. Police—Washington (State)—Spokane—Fiction. 2. Spokane
(Wash.)—Fiction. 3. Serial murders—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3573.A4722834 O94 2001
813'.54—dc21
00-045826
01 02 03 04 05 /RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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