A bullet in the heart

Chapter 9 A Bullet in the Heart

What a fool I was.
Somebody found her body the next day on a dirt road in the
forest. She had made a fire and burned the papers about Stanton’s
bloodtest. Then she had shot herself in the heart.
The police asked me questions because I was the last person to
have seen her alive. “If I knew, I would have tried to stop her,” I told
them.“But with Libby, you never knew and you could never stop
her.” Then I started to cry. “She was a very close friend of mine.”

“You saw what they did,” Libby said.
“They didn’t even thinkabout it.”
The funeral was held in a church in North Mammoth Falls. Jack
Stanton stood up and made a speech.
“Libby Holden was the older sister that I never had,” he said. “It
seemed thatwhenever I had a problem, she was there to help me.
The bullet that went into Libby’s heart broke all of our hearts.”
I walked back to my apartment with Daisy. I told her about
Libby, Itold her about what we had found in Florida, and I told
her about the blood test.
“Do you think Stanton will win?” she asked.
“Maybe,” I said, “but he’ll have to do it without me.”“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to the Governor’s house to quit.”

I found Jack Stanton in his kitchen eating a sandwich.
“Hi, Henry,” he said. “I’ve called Picker. I’m goingto fly to
Florida in about fifteen minutes and give him all the information
that Libby had. I know you want to quit but, please, will you go
to Florida with me?”

We flew to Florida ina small airplane and landed at an airport just
north of Tallahassee. Freddy Picker’s driver was waiting for us.
When we arrived at Picker’s house, one of his sons let us in.
Pickerserved us drinks.
“I’ve decided to quit the election,” said Stanton.
“That’s what I heard on the news.”
“You heard about my friend?” asked Stanton. “The one who
died?”
Picker...