Then they hurried over to Mr. Walther, while the four police officers took Murph's gun and put the handcuffs on him.
"Are you both all right?" Mr. Walther asked, hugging his wife and daughter.
"Sure," his wife said. "Tip-top."
"Mom got a nose bleed," Joyce said.
"Well, I hit the floor pretty hard."
"Nothing much," Joyce told him. "I just made up a new story, and Mom acted it out."
"That Bud was a great audience," her mother said, grinning.
Her father looked puzzled. "I don't get it."
"You tell him, Mom," Joyce said. "OK? I don't want to miss anything."
"Have you read him his rights?" Joyce asked.
"Not yet," said one of the officers.
"Would you hang on for a second, then, while I get my tape recorder? It's research, you know. I'm a writer."
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