بخش 01 - فصل 18

18

The table where he and Pete ate their lunch has been cleared of everything but his halffinished glass of water, yet Hodges goes on sitting there, staring out the window at the parking lot and the overpass that marks the unofficial border of Lowtown, where Sugar Heights residents like the late Olivia Trelawney never venture. Why would they? To

buy drugs? Hodges is sure there are druggies in the Heights, plenty of them, but when you live there, the dealers make housecalls. Mrs. T. was lying. She had to lie. It was that or face the fact that a single moment of forgetfulness had led to horrific consequences. Suppose, though–just for the sake of argument–that she

was telling the truth.

Okay, let’s suppose. But if

we were wrong about her

leaving her Mercedes unlocked

with the key in the ignition,

how were we wrong? And what

did happen?

He sits looking out the

window,

remembering,

unaware that some of the

waiters have begun to look at

him uneasily–the overweight

retiree sitting slumped in his seat like a robot with dead batteries.