CHAPTER TWOTuesday, October 20, 1987
ONE—Bib (1)
As Anna heard the car pull up and come to a stop behind her, and saw the shadow of the gumball machine on top of the vehicle, she thought, Why me, huh? Terry Von Kemp two days in a row is too much to—until she heard a different, more nasal voice ask:
“You’re Tina Miner’s girl, aren’t you?”
Anna’s hand stopped in mid-grasp around a half frozen grapefruit in the IGA dumpster. Bib Stanley was speaking. He was Ewerton’s chief of police, up until now only a disembodied voice to Anna, whose prerecorded warnings about skateboarding on the sidewalks and driving through the city parks played daily on WERT, AM and FM. Anna hadn’t even realized that he pulled patrol duty like the other officers.
Not thinking it proper to turn around to face the c
