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She was still wearing the same baggy brown coat sweater and her eyes were still pinched into an uncompromising squint. |
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It was exactly two o'clock when Madden rapped the table with a gavel, and the already somber crowd grew even quieter. |
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''I think everybody knows why we're here," he said. |
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It wasn't one of those situations where the crowd responds vocally. Instead, the only indication of involvement was the way they seemed to collectively stir in their seats and incline forward. It wasn't the kind of meeting where a person wanted to miss too much of what was said. |
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"For those of you that don't already know, we found Percy Kramer's body in the Carson woods late yesterday afternoon." |
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Apparently the word of Percy's fate hadn't leaked out after all. The news was greeted with an audibly nervous murmur, as though the assemblage took a collective breath. |
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"He was mutilated, just like those two kids we found yesterday morning on that little strip that runs out off of Tacker Point. Now, I ain't sayin' they're one in the same, mind you, but we got four cases of this kind of thing now. Less 'an a week ago this all started when Barry Harrison's boy found those two ewes of his all butchered up and half-eaten. The next day Ruby Carson found that old work mare of hers the same way. |
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