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[9]Chapter One
Sara Linton stared at the entrance to the Dairy Queen, watching her
very pregnant sister walk out with a cup of chocolate-covered ice
cream in each hand. As Tessa crossed the parking lot, the wind
picked up, and her purple dress rose above her knees. She struggled
to keep the jumper down without spilling the ice cream, and Sara
could hear her cursing as she got closer to the car.
Sara tried not to laugh as she leaned over to open the door,
asking, "Need help?"
"No," Tessa said, wedging her body into the car. She settled in,
handing Sara her ice cream. "And you can shut up laughing at
me."
Sara winced as her sister kicked off her sandals and propped her
bare feet on the dashboard. The BMW 330i was less than two weeks
old, and Tessa had already left a bag of Goobers to melt in the
backseat and spilled an orange Fanta on the carpet in the front.
Had Tessa not been nearly eight months pregnant, Sara would have
strangled her.
Sara asked, "What took you so long?"
"I had to pee."
"Again?"
"No, I just like being in the bathroom at the damn Dairy Queen,"
Tessa snapped. She fanned her hand in front of her face. "Jesus,
it's hot."
Sara kept her mouth shut as she turned up the air-conditioning. As
a doctor, she knew that Tessa was merely a victim of her own
hormones, but there were times when Sara thought that the best
thing for all concerned would be to lock Tessa in a box and not
open it until they heard a baby crying.
"That place was packed," Tessa managed around a mouthful of
chocolate syrup. "Goddamn, shouldn't all those people be at church
or something?"
"Hm," Sara said.
"The whole place was filthy. Look at this parking lot," Tessa said,
swooping her spoon in the air. "People just dump their trash here
and don't even care about who has to pick it up. Like they think
the trash fairy's gonna do it or something."
Sara murmured some words of agreement, eating her ice cream as
Tessa continued a litany of complaints about everyone in the Dairy
Queen, from the man who was talking on his cell phone to the woman
who waited in line for ten minutes and then couldn't decide what
she wanted when she got to the counter. After a while Sara zoned
out, staring at the parking lot, thinking about the busy week she
had ahead of her.
Several years ago Sara had taken on the part-time job of county
coroner to help buy out her retiring partner at the Heartsdale
Children's Clinic, and lately Sara's work at the morgue was playing
havoc with her schedule at the clinic. Normally the county job did
not require much of Sara's time, but a court appearance had taken
her out of the clinic for two days last week, and she was going to
have to make up for it this week by putting in overtime.
Increasingly, Sara's work at the morgue was infringing on clinic
time, and she knew that in a couple of years she would have to make
a choice between the two. When the time came, the decision would be
a hard one. The medical examiner's job was a challenge, one Sara
had sorely needed thirteen years ago when she had left Atlanta and
moved back to Grant County. Part of her thought her brain would
atrophy without the constant obstacles presented by forensic
medicine. Still, there was something restorative about treating
children, and Sara, who could not have children of her own, knew
that she would miss the contact. She vacillated daily on which job
was better. Generally, a bad day at one made the other look
ideal.
"Getting on up there!" Tessa screeched, loud enough to get Sara's
attention. "I'm thirty-four, not fifty. What the hell kind of thing
is that for a nurse to say to a pregnant woman?"
Sara stared at her sister. "What?"
"Have you heard a word I've said?"
She tried to sound convincing. "Yes. Of course I have."
Tessa frowned. "You're thinking about Jeffrey, aren't you?"
Sara was surprised by the question. For once her ex-husband had
been the last thing on her mind. "No."
"Sara, don't lie to me," Tessa countered. "Everybody in town saw
that sign girl up at the station Friday."
"She was lettering the new police car," Sara answered, feeling a
warm flush come to her cheeks.
Tessa gave a disbelieving look. "Wasn't that his excuse the last
time?"
Sara did not answer. She could still remember the day she'd come
home early from work to find Jeffrey in bed with the owner of the
local sign shop. The whole Linton family was both amazed and
irritated that Sara was dating Jeffrey again, and while Sara for
the most part shared their sentiments, she felt incapable of making
a clean break. Logic eluded her where Jeffrey was concerned.
Tessa warned, "You just need to be careful with him. Don't let him
get too comfortable."
"I'm not an idiot."
"Sometimes you are."
"Well, you are, too," Sara shot back, feeling foolish even before
the words came out of her mouth.
But for the whir of the air-conditioning, the car was quiet.
Finally Tessa offered, "You should've said, 'I know you are, but
what am I?'"
Sara wanted to laugh it off, but she was too irritated. "Tessie,
it's none of your business."
Tessa barked a loud laugh that rattled in Sara's ears. "Well, hell,
honey, that's never stopped anybody before. I'm sure damn Marla
Simms was on the phone before the little bitch even got out of her
truck."
"Don't call her that."
Tessa waved her spoon in the air again ...
Excerpted from A FAINT COLD FEAR © Copyright 2004 by Karin
Slaughter. Reprinted with permission by HarperTorch, an imprint of
HarperCollins. All rights reserved.
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