Mary let out a breath she did not know she had been holding in the moment Phil opened the door. A black blur came rushing to the door, all happy yips and yaps until it saw Mary. It was Bo, Mary's black lab. Bo quieted and cocked his head to the side, his tail slowing down to a stop. He came up to her and nudged her with his wet nose, and Mary was filled with guilt at making Bo worry. She gave him a gentle pat on the head, and his tail began to go back and forth once more, though much slower than before. He followed her quietly inside, only stopping every once and a while to circle around Phil and sniff at his shoes.<br/><br/>"Not really. Sometimes we hung out with Sammy Mayfield and Taylor Ruckert, but not very often. Those two boys got inta too much trouble for the likes of us," Mary explained as she squatted down to hug Bo. Tink was standing warily at the kitchen doorway, her grey ears tilting everywhich way as she glared at Phil with feline observation. Mary stood back up and heard some car doors shut. Sue Ann and Phil's mother, most likely.<br/><br/>"Are ya gonna come back later tonight?" she asked suddenly, unable to stop the words. Phil was a busy man and she knew that, but part of her just needed someone familiar. Sue Ann was a good touch, but Phil was far easier on the eyes and he had always come off as capable to her.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>"But Paul! What else was I supposed ta do? I didn't know it was a body!" Betty tried to reason, but Paul was having none of it. He was a calm man and to most he would seem like a fellow just taking a stroll with his wife, but Betty knew better. He was absolutely livid. "Betty, I don't care. How many times do I gotta tell ya? Ya ain't supposed to be lifting things anyway, so you should have drove around the damned thing--and not only that, but you thought it was a deer anyhow, and you were gonna touch it! Do you know how much bacteria and all that is in a corpse of any kind?" Paul and Betty were walking through the gravel lot of the Town Hall, hands clasped tightly as they had a heated debate about Betty's earlier discovery. "I just wanted ta get it out of the road..." Betty pouted and Paul gave a sigh. He hated when Betty pouted, because she always looked so sad and put out--something Paul was always weak against.<br/><br/>He stopped walking, tugging gently on Betty's hand to get her to stop as well. His voice was soft, "Look, I know ya just wanted ta get it out of tha road, but Betty--ya can't go doin' things like that anymore, at least not right now. No one in your condition should be playin' with dead things..." If anything, Paul seemed exhausted and Betty wilted under his words. "I'm sorry Paul, I just wasn't thinkin' like that..."<br/><br/>A few weeks prior, Betty and Paul had discovered they were going to have a baby. Paul's already protective nature had kicked into high gear to the point where he was forcing Betty to eat all kind of healthy items when all she wanted was a good ol' fashioned burger. She had tried not to let it bother her too much, but her patience was wearing thin--at least when it came to food. The discovery of the body and having to tell Paul about it before they went to the Town Hall meeting had been a doozy, that was for sure. Betty had thought Paul was going to talk her ear off until their baby had graduated from high school. Thankfully he gave breaks between lectures. It seemed now, though, that the conversation was over...<br/><br/>"I'm takin' ya ta work from now on..." or not. At least she hadn't mentioned the cigarettes she had smoked in her delirious state earlier in the day. Paul would have killed her then. She just hoped it was too early in her pregnancy for those few to have done anything. She would pray to Jesus.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>Clyde sat down in a seat next to Lamar just as Betty and Paul had walked in.<br/><br/>He looked around, taking in the buzzing room that was slowly beginning to quiet down at the Sheriff's request and gave a weary sigh, "Ah...here we go..."