“Besides, why hide for so long,   
and then all of a sudden show up?      
What’d they eat, and of course they’d  
also have to...”                       
     “I still don’t buy it,” Randy     
interrupted me, and then added, “You   
know how unreliable eye-witness testi- 
mony can be sometimes.”                
     I was about to agree, when Beth   
said, “I'd buy it,” and then explained 
herself.                               
     “I've sometimes helped Barry put  
an animal to sleep, and sometimes they 
just know what's coming. I can't ex-   
plain it. It's just a feeling I have   
from watching so many of them before   
they were put down. If Crim’s not      
right, how else can you explain it? How
do they know what's coming, unless they
can see into the future somehow, or can
* read it in our faces, or understand      
what we’re saying in front of them?    
     “Even if they're learning it from 
our facial expressions, or from our    
words, that's still an amazing mental  
feat for a dog to be able to predict   
their future from that.                
     “The one case that really sticks  
in my mind was a pit-bull I remember   
helping Barry with. It was my last,    
and Barry’s too.                       
     “I’ll never forget how she went   
down fighting every fucking inch of the
way. It took all four of the people    
that the state had sent to help us     
restrain her, and to make sure the     
execution was carried out.             
     “Witnesses, they called them-     
selves, and we were the executioners,” 
Beth said in almost a whisper. “She was
strong, but they were stronger, and the
poor dog didn't have a chance.         



CHAPTER 6: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25th
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