Free A Grant County Collection by Karin Slaughter Page A

tickling the back of her thigh. 'Too bad we don't have some tea.'
    She tried to ignore his hand. 'We could stop for some.'
    'Maybe.'
    He pinched her leg and she slapped at his hand, saying, 'Hey.'
    He laughed good-naturedly at the rebuke. 'Do you mind if we take a detour?'
    'Sure,' she said, finding the Tupperware under a pillow. She dropped back into the seat as he passed a Winnebago. 'Where to?'
    'Sylacauga.'
    Sara stopped in the middle of removing the plastic lid. 'Sill-a-what?'
    'Sylacauga,' he repeated. 'My hometown.'

FOUR
    10:15 A.M.
    'Matt?' Someone said, more like a stutter. 'M-a-a-a-a-att.'
    His ears held on to the echo, stretching the 'a' even more.
    'M-a-a-a-a-a-a-att.'
    He tried to move but his muscles would not respond. Inexplicably, his fingers ached. They were cold. Everything was cold.
    'Matt,' Sara said, her voice suddenly sharp as a tack. 'Matt, wake up.' She put her hands on either side of his face. 'Matt.'
    He forced open his eyes, his vision blurring, then doubling. He saw two Saras looming over him. Two Marias. Two kids he had never met before in his life. They were all huge, like giant versions of themselves. The ceiling tiles above their heads were even larger, like flying saucers with mammoth fluorescent lights.
    He tried to sit up.
    'Matt, no,' Sara stopped him. 'Don't.'
    He put his hand to his head, feeling like his brain was in a vise. His right shoulder burned as if someone was grinding a hot poker into the flesh. His moved his left hand to touch it, but Sara stopped him.
    'Matt,' she said. 'Don't.'
    He felt around his mouth with his tongue, trying to find the blood he could taste in the back of his throat.
    She pushed back his hair and he saw a glint of gold on her finger. She was wearing his Auburn football ring. Why was she wearing his ring?
    'Matt?'
    He blinked, hearing a distant ringing in his ears. Jeffrey squeezed his eyes shut, trying to orient himself. The ringing came from the phone on Maria's desk. The blood he tasted was from a cut somewhere on his head.
    'Matt?' Sara repeated. 'Can you hear me?'
    He said, 'Why are you –'
    She put a bottle of water to his lips. 'Drink this. You need water.'
    Jeffrey drank, feeling the cool liquid opening up his parched throat. Water pooled down his neck as Sara tilted the bottle too far to keep up with his swallowing.
    'Okay,' he said, pushing away her hand.
    He squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to clear them. When he opened them, the two Marias melded into one. Her cheeks were sunken, her eye bruised and bleeding. There was actually a pair of kids, but their expressions were identical. A third was leaning against Sara, the young girl's breathing more like gasps as she tried to control her fear.
    Jeffrey turned back to Sara. He had never seen her so frightened. She met his gaze pupil to pupil, staring a hole into him like she was trying to force a thought into his brain. Slowly, he nodded his understanding. He was supposed to be Matt.
    She still asked, 'Okay?'
    'Yeah.' He looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. They were on the floor in the back of the squad room, the area cleared out around them. Brad was stacking filing cabinets in front of the fire door. Jeffrey's office window and door were similarly barricaded. Bodies were scattered around with the debris. Burrows, Robinson, Morgan. Morgan had five kids at home. Burrows was an avid animal lover fostering a pair of rescued greyhounds. Robinson . . . Robinson was new. Jeffrey could not even remember the man's first name, though he had hired him less than a week ago.
    Jeffrey's vision blurred and he closed his eyes as the vertigo brought on a wave of nausea.
    'Breathe,' Sara coaxed, smoothing back his hair. His head was in her lap and, judging by the blood on her skirt, had been for a while. He tried to move, but found that his feet were tied together with his own belt.
    Suddenly, a man stood over them, pointing a shotgun at Maria while keeping a military-issue Sig Sauer trained