Deputy Phil Markovic felt a mixture of apprehension and anticipation as he drove back to the gas station three hours later. He was actually looking forward to seeing Mary after what Betty Walker had said. Phil didn't lack confidence, but he was flattered that Mary might be interested in him. On the other hand, while they hadn't yet confirmed the torso was Sarah, it was obviously female.<br/><br/>"You can reveal that much," Lorenzo had said. The sheriff was going to hold a town meeting to release some information to the public. But Phil was going to follow up on Lorenzo's interview with Mary. And then at the grocery store, where Sarah was last seen. So this visit would definitely upset Mary.<br/><br/>"If we did find Sarah, Michale's an automatic suspect," Lorenzo had added. "This is why we need to re-interview her."<br/><br/>"He seemed pretty beat up," Phil had noted.<br/><br/>"But we follow procedure," Lorenzo had replied, and that was that. The sheriff hadn't needed to add why he didn't want Bob doing it. He said he'd question Michale later himself.<br/><br/>As Phil pulled into the gas station he realized his throat was parched. He got out of the car and nodded briefly to James Turnbull, the station's quiet owner.<br/><br/>"I gotta ask Mary some questions, Mr. Turnbull," he said.<br/><br/>"Fine by me," said James.  The owner didn't seem curious about what had been going on about town. It was always tough to figure what he was thinking. Phil nodded again and entered the station, picked out a bottle of water from the beverage fridge, and walked over to where Mary worked. He had to stop himself from smoothing over his hair.<br/><br/>"Hello, Mary," he said, a bit more formally than he intended. She really was very pretty. "Sheriff wanted me to follow up on his earlier interview."  He tensed, knowing she'd likely have questions about the body.