Claire Wilson had spotted Betty and Paul across the room. As usual, her and Sam were late to the party it seemed. She had a firm grip on her husband's elbow as she practically dragged him through the room to make their way to Betty. The woman had saved two seats, just as she always had for them. Sam looked bored out of his mind and a little resigned to his fate. He seemed used to his wife dragging him every which way.<br/><br/>When they had finally gotten in their seats, Betty was covering her face. Claire couldn't help but smile. Paul was likely being Paul. "Hey there!" Claire whispered and Betty looked up, "Ah, hey Claire. What took ya so long?" Claire had the decency to blush, "Uh, ya know...the usual," she replied, waggling her eyebrows and Sam looked away as if distracted by something. Betty let out a small snort, not surprised in the least by Claire's lecherous answer.<br/><br/>The group fell quiet as they felt the room's mood change. It seemed to be in a constant state of flux as information was spilled onto them. Claire was pretty sure it was an isolated incident, but it seemed the town folk wanted to make a spectacle of the murder. Sarah was a nice girl--and boys liked nice girls. Sarah had been mostly single and Claire had seen a good amount of men turned down by Sarah. She had always been nice about it, but in Colton boys were awful into drinking and who knows what they ever thought about when they were drunk. It was probably just a passion murder.<br/><br/>So why did she feel as if she had lead in the pit of her stomach? "We don't have an exact time of death," the Sheriff started, and her stomach clenched some in anticipation. "But an early estimate is that she was murdered between 10 p.m. yesterday and 1 a.m. this morning," he finished. There was a moment of silence and Claire could see Betty turning a little green. In her shock she thought about how she had never seen someone literally turn green before.<br/><br/>"Oh god..." Betty choked out in a whisper. Paul looked equally upset and was holding Betty's hand as if he would never let go of it again.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>"So are you saying....prisoner...recently murdered..." the words of the journalist floated in and out of Betty's ears as she felt a bit dizzy. She felt absolutely sick and it wasn't the usual morning sickness she had become familiar with. For the second time that day, she felt complete horror in her soul. She was just glad that Paul was with her, because she was pretty sure she was about ready to lose a few of her marbles.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>Mary hung up and was almost instantly greeted with tea by Sue Ann. She seemed a bit pale and Mary wondered who may have called to create such a palor. "Mary, if you need anyone else to come over, I'm totally cool with that," Mary said, clearly distracted by the phone call. Mary shook her head in the negative, "No...It was just Michale and I don't care to see him. He only wants to get stoned anyway," Mary replied truthfully. There was no sense in hiding it.<br/><br/>Mary let the cup warm her hands as she made her way back to the kitchen, feeling a bit uneasy. "Who called?" she asked as she eyed the window. She felt as if someone was watching them. She set the tea down and stood quickly, paranoia taking over. She began to lock the windows frantically starting with the kitchen, then worked her way around the house. Sue Ann seemed to stand in stunned silence, but maybe she was just letting Mary work out whatever demons had possessed her.<br/><br/>Bo trailed after her and Tink watched with mild curiousity from her favorite spot on the couch. She made sure that every single lock was turned. There were three locks on the front door and the quick, rhythmic click of each one left her feeling a little better, but not by much. She made her way to the back door, where Bo had suddenly darted. He was barking and jumping around, and Mary told him to hush.<br/><br/>The back door had the same amount of locks and when the first one was in place, she heard something shift outside. Bo's ears perked up and he cocked his head to the side. Mary also paused, wondering if she was hearing things. There was another scuffling sound and she knew she hadn't been. Bo let out a low growl. 'It's probably an animal...' she thought silently to herself.<br/><br/>Mary carefully peeked out the small window and saw a figure run across the back yard and into the woods, disappearing quickly. She stumbled back in surprise then rushed forward immediately to finish locking the door. She quickly made her way back to where Sue was, snatched her wrist, and began to drag her up the stairs. "Okay, okay. Let's just tuck away for now. It was probably just an animal, but let's just go to my room just in case..." Mary said to Sue Ann, planning on grabbing her late father's shotgun. Tink and Bo followed, as they usually did when Mary went upstairs.<br/><br/>Mary wondered if she really had seen someone. She knew she definitely had heard something, as Bo had responded to the noise as well. But, maybe the stress of the day had her seeing things. She didn't know and didn't care to find out. What was most important was that her and Sue stayed locked up in the room until Phil or the Sheriff came by to check on them.