"The four what?"
Johanna didn't answer. She was looking at Lauren with those pale washed eyes, and there was something in them now that had not been there before, something sharp and frightened and clear, the look of a person who has been carrying something heavy a long way and has just realized she is going to drop it.
"They're coming," Shirl said, from the phone. "Ten minutes, they said. They said the rig's slow to start."
"Ten minutes," said Lauren to Johanna. "You hear? You just lie there. Stevo, get her some coffee, get something hot. Somebody give me a coat."
The man from the courthouse took off his overcoat and gave it to her, and she put it over Johanna like a blanket, and Johanna's hand came out from under it and caught Lauren by the wrist. Her grip was weak, and her fingers were so cold they burned, but she held on.
"Listen to me," she said.
"I'm listening."
"You have to listen. You're the one I'd pick. I've been watching you. I would pick you."
"Okay," Lauren said. "Okay. Pick me for what?"