Chapter 17

10:30 AM Sunday: I’d have liked to have seen the faces of the good Christians in church, but I'd been up till three in the morning, so it didn't really seem worth the trouble.

Gas wasn’t the reason I was up so late. He told me to call the hospital in Knoxville and go home; he said he could always question me later. I kept myself up till midnight trying to get him to let me look around with him, in Moore’s home and on the roof of the warehouse opposite it. The only reason I gave up then was that he threatened to arrest me for obstructing justice. I wanted to be free, for some reason.

Now, it was the sniper who was to blame for my being awake the next three hours. You wouldn't think I'd let things like having someone die in my arms affect me anymore, but there you are: I was up till three.

So I slept in until ten-thirty, when I realized that I couldn’t just lay there. Having nothing else to do, I made breakfast.

I then threw it away.

Suddenly, anything seemed better than a day facing the inhabitants of Testament County. I didn’t worry whether I was feeling frustrated by their closed-mouthed-ness, or guilty about the deaths of Lawson and Moore. I couldn’t deny that they might still have been alive if not for me, but I couldn’t quit now.

Suddenly I had an idea. I crossed to the phone and dialed a number I didn’t have to look up.

A woman answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Janet. This is Stephen."

"Stephen! How are you?"

"Fine, how ‘bout you and the kids?"

"All right, we’re all fine. What can I do for you?"

"Is Jack there?"

"Not business!"

" ‘fraid so. Can I talk to him?"

"Just a minute." She sighed. "I ought to hang up on you."

"I’d just call back."

She set the receiver down. In a minute a man came on.

"Stephen?"

"Hello, Jack. Sorry to disturb you."

"It’s all right. What you need?"

"Could you meet me at your office today? Say noon? No, twelve thirty?"

"Well—"

"It won’t take long. I’ll buy you lunch."

"Now I know it must be important. All right, I’ll meet you there."