“I wasn’t positive it came from behind the café, but I ran that way. Down the half block, around to the alley, and I stopped short. A light-colored sedan partly blocked the way. Trudy stood at the front of the car on the driver’s side, arms wrapped around her middle, keening.
“Trudy,” I yelled as I edged around the sedan. “Trudy, what’s wrong?”
She swung toward me, eyes wide and wild. “I didn’t hit him. I promise I didn’t. He was in the shadows between the buildings, but I saw him in time. I braked. I know I didn’t run over him.”
I reached her and caught only a glimpse of a man’s body sprawled on the cracked pavement before she threw her big-boned body into my arms, sobbing. But I’d seen the bearded face. Clark Tyler.
Other people had come to see what was happening. I heard murmuring around me. No one came close, but the crowd at the far end of the alley parted for Officer Bryant.
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