Three books were being written on The Cove, all with a different slant, the biggest best-seller presenting Reverend Hal Vorhees as a crazed messiah who had murdered children in Arizona, then come to The Cove and converted all the townspeople to a form of Satanism.
Since it was obvious that the murders would have continued until either all the townspeople died off or were caught, as was the case, the Justice Department and the lawyers agreed that the old people would be separated, each one sent to a different mental institution in a different state. The attorney general said simply in an interview after the formal sentencing, 'We can't trust any two of them together. Look what happened before.'
The ACLU objected, but not very strenuously, contending that the ingredients in the World's Greatest Ice Cream (the recipe remained a secret) had induced an irresponsible hysteria in the old people that led them to lose their sense of moral value and judgment. Thus they shouldn't be held answerable for their deeds. When the ACLU lawyer was asked if she would go to The Cove to buy ice cream, she allowed that she would only if she was wearing tattered blue jeans and driving a very old Volkswagen Beetle.
Perhaps, one newspaper editorial said, it was a collective sugar high that drove them all to do it.
Thelma Nettro died peacefully in her sleep before the final disposition of her friends. Martha hung herself in her cell when she was told by a matron in mid-July that young Ed had died of prostate cancer.
As for The Cove and the World's Greatest Ice Cream, both ceased to exist. The sign at the junction of Highways 101 and 101A fell down some two years later and lay there until a memorabilia buff hauled it away to treasure it in his basement.
Hikers still visit The Cove now and again. Not much there now, but the view from the cliffs at sunset-with or without a martini-is spectacular.
The End
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