Skin Privilege

thing that happened to the woman in the car could happen to you.'

'She'd say just about anything to get us out of here.' Jeffrey frowned at the phone in his hand. 'Number withheld. It's probably listed on my call records, but it'll take a day or two for it to show up.'

'Jeffrey

'Let's deal with the missing schoolteacher first,' he suggested. 'It'll be fine. Okay?'

She nodded, though it was far from okay. Unbidden, that same flash of Jeffrey on an autopsy table came to mind. Her stomach twisted into a knot as she preceded him down the hallway, Lena 's words of warning ringing in her ears.

Do you want the same thing to happen to Jeffrey?

Back in Valentine's office, the sheriff was on the business side of his desk. He was writing on a sheet of paper, probably filling out the missing persons report, as the man in front of him gave the details.

'She's just average,' the man said, sounding frightened and angry at the same time. 'I don't know, Jake… describe your wife. I don't know her height. I don't know her weight. She's just average.'

'That's okay, Larry,' Valentine soothed. 'Listen, I've seen her at church about a million times. I could tell you blindfolded what she looks like. No offense, buddy, but she's a good-looking woman. Am I right?'

The man gave a surprised laugh, as if he'd forgotten that detail. With a pang, Sara recalled the autopsy she'd performed on the man's brother. What if the woman in the Escalade was Larry Gibson's wife?

'Guy can't help but notice a good-looking woman,' Valentine said. 'I'd guess she's around five-six in height. For weight we'll put one-twenty. License probably says one-ten, but you know how women are.' He looked up from his form, saw Sara was watching and winked at her. It wasn't a suggestive wink, more like his way of letting her know that he was just doing his job. Whatever he was doing, it was working. Larry Gibson seemed to be calming down.

Valentine asked him, 'That weight okay with you?'

Larry started to nod. 'Yeah, she's about one-twenty, I'd guess. And I remember now – last time I saw her was around two o'clock. She dropped off the kids at the movies, and when she came back, she got on the phone with her mama. I heard her say she needed to go check on her.'

'Well,' Valentine said. 'Sounds like we need to check with her mama.'

'She didn't go,' Larry countered. 'She was taking a bath, and I asked her was she going to her mama's, and she said no, that she'd told her she'd come by tomorrow.'

Valentine tsked, shaking his head. 'Can't make up her mind.'

'Right, that's what I said,' Larry agreed. 'And then she told me she might still go for a walk and I said maybe later because there was a game on at two-thirty and did she need me to do anything before because I wanted to watch the game.'

'Georgia-Alabama?' Valentine asked, probably to confirm the time. 'Man, that was a good game.'

'Yeah.'

'Did you hear her leave?'

'Yeah,' he repeated. 'Just before halftime I heard the door close. I figured she was going for her walk.'

'Couldn't have been the kids?'

'They were at the movies for that Halloween horror special they advertised in the paper last week.'

Valentine made a note on his sheet. 'Halftime, then. That'd put it at around four, don't you think?'

'Four. Yeah.'

Sara looked at Jeffrey, but he was intently following the interview. She wondered if he was as impressed as she was with Valentine's ability to draw out the details from the concerned husband. The sheriff certainly liked to keep his talents hidden.

'What's that you got there?' Valentine asked.

Larry put a small metal box on the desk. It was old, the cadet blue paint chipped off, showing the gray primer underneath. A rusty lock held the top closed, but Larry easily opened it. 'I wanted to show you,' he said, indicating the contents. Sara leaned forward, seeing a tarnished silver spoon with the handle bent and several unused hypodermics. Tin foil, a few cigarette filters, and a butane lighter rounded out the drug kit.

Larry turned around, as if he'd just realized that Sara and Jeffrey were standing there. He explained, 'She's been clean about six months now. I just brought this to show you' – he turned back to

Valentine 'to show you, Jake. If she was using again, if that's why she left, then she would'a taken this. There's a pack in here.' He reached in and held up a small jeweler's bag of dirty white powder. There's no way she would'a left this if she was using again. You know that.'

Jeffrey asked, 'Mr. Gibson, I don't mean to interrupt, but why did you take so long to report that she was missing?'

Larry blushed, looking down at his shoes. 'I didn't want to get her into trouble. First thing I thought was she was back on the drugs. I started looking around the house, trying to see if she'd taken anything. All her clothes were still there. She'd even left her purse.' He looked at Sara when he said, 'She always took stuff when she ran off before – usually stuff she could sell. TVs, DVD player, iPod… she never left her purse. Women don't leave their purses.'

Sara nodded, as if she could speak for the man's wife.

Larry turned back to Valentine. 'I called around, talked to her mama, her aunt Lizzie. I guess I was just waiting for her to come back home. She always came back. She didn't want to leave the kids. This drug-' He indicated the bag of dope in his hand. 'It does things to your brain. You don't think right. She didn't know what she was doing sometimes. That's all it was. She just needed to let it run its course and then she'd come back and everything would go back to normal.'

Valentine asked, 'Where's her car, Larry?'

'See, that's the other thing. Her car's still in the driveway. If she just took a walk…' He rubbed his face with his hands. I called into the school and told them to get a sub, that she had the flu. I don't think Sue believed me.' He gulped, tears filling his eyes. 'It can't be her in that car on the football field, Jake. I mean, she's run off before. It can't be her. I don't know what I'd do if…' his voice was high-pitched, pleading. 'We're gonna put Boyd in the ground tomorrow. I thought for sure she'd come back when she heard about him. Boyd had his problems, but he was taking care of himself. He helped Charlotte get through her bad times…'

'Mind if I look at this?' Valentine asked, but he was already picking up the box.

Carefully, the sheriff emptied the contents onto his desk blotter. He used the tip of his pen to push the hypodermics to the side, then the bag of meth and other paraphernalia. Sara didn't see anything of value unless you were a cop or an addict. Valentine obviously agreed. He tapped his finger on the inside of the box, then picked up his letter opener and used the edge to pry out the plastic lining. The box was so old that it came out in pieces.

'Well,' Valentine said. 'What's this?'