Chapter 12
They found Evette Warwick in the stand of pine trees near the lover's lane in the Heights.
Thornton was not ready for it. Editorials, some written by Paul Moran, attacked society as a spawning ground for the kind of mind capable of such an act.
Privately, Paul knew full well that it wasn't society that spawned such viciousness, but Evette Warwick herself.
Officially, the law enforcement agencies of Thornton swung into action. But as Chief Bowers pointed out to King Virdon: "That bitch caused more bad blood than any woman that ever lived. Dozens of men in this town-some of them pretty damned respectable-had a good reason to see her dead. But anybody asks you, you tell 'em: We're workin' on it. Inside of a year or two, no one'll even remember."
The McPhersons, stunned with grief, sold their home and moved to San Francisco. Later, Paul Moran heard that Evette's mother had overdosed on booze and tranquilizers, and died.
Otto Kramer suffered a stroke two days after Evette's funeral. He was discovered by his wife, lying in the dust on the old shed in back of the store. She didn't know he was back there, and he had not been found for twelve hours or so after his attack. She never did figure out what Otto was doing back there.
Roy dropped out of sight, and it wasn't until two years later that he reappeared in Thornton. When told of his daughter's death, he seemed strangely unmoved. Everyone put that down to the effects of rotgut on the brain.
Peter joined the Marine Corps, served with honor, and was honorably discharged. He married Sarah Thompson, some say, just to get King Virdon's goat. Sarah had been engaged to Virdon at the time, and she broke it off to marry Peter.
King Virdon was eventually run out of town for sexually assaulting a high-school girl, and that same year Sheriff Bowers lost his first bid for reelection.
And by then, no one really cared about Evette Warwick anymore-no one except one. It was his flowers on her grave on the anniversary of her death, but no one knew, for no one else was there.