when his mother told him , on july 8th , that she was going to augusta to shop ( she spoke in a distracted sort of way ; for the last week or so marie had had a headache , and the news that joe and 'becka paulson had both been killed in a housefire had not helped it one little bit ) , hilly asked her if she would stop at radio shack in the capitol mall and pick him up a couple of things .