On the way to his car Jon listened intently as Perstow told what he knew.
"Old Mrs. Davies went to the post office at a quarter past the hour. When she entered she saw the one counter overturned and came over scary. Found the postmistress on the floor behind the counter, 'n' she turned and stumbled out. Someone noticed her about the time she screamed. It had just happened, I reckon. The blood still flowed when the first unit arrived. There was no helpin', though."
They were thirty minutes away, but they hardly spoke as Jon took curves at full speed with a honk before each turn. As their car drew closer to the old post office, they pulled to the side of the roadway and walked through the thick crowd of villagers gathered around the door of the combined county courthouse where the post off
