“Is she there?”
“No. She went to find her friend. She says he’s late.”
“Do you know her friend’s name?”
“She called him Rick.”
“Is he one of the high school boys?”
“No. Tammy say he’s older.”
“Older, huh? How much older?”
“I dunno. But I wish they’d hurry up because Kimmie’s almost finished with her Slurpee and she wants to know where Mommy is.”
“Okay, let’s go forward again. Push the yellow button and jump ahead a little.”
“Okay.”
“Where are you now?”
“At McDonald’s. Rick took us there in his Mustang.”
“He drives a Mustang, huh? What color is it?”
“Black. With an orange flame on the side. It’s really cool.”
“Are you inside McDonald’s or out in the car?”
“In the car.”
“Are Kimmie and Tammy there, too?”
“No, they went to get burgers and fries.”
“So it’s just you and Rick, then, huh? What does he look like?”
“Tall. Really tall. With black hair and a ring in his eyebrow and a tattoo of a dragon on his neck. Him and Tammy were holding hands and kissing and stuff, but he looks like he should be her uncle or something.”
“Is he Tammy’s boyfriend?”
“I dunno; I guess so.”
“Okay. So what are you and Rick doing right now?”
“Talking.”
“What about?”
“All kinds of stuff. Baseball, video games…”
“Anything else?”
“He says he’s been wanting to see me and Kimmie for a really long time.”
“Oh? Has he told you why?”
“Yeah, but I think he might be playing a joke or something. Like April fools.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I dunno. I just do.”
“You must have a reason.”
A pause.
“It’s okay, Evan. Just stay relaxed. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”
“If it was true, he’d be kissing Mommy, not Tammy.”
“If what was true? What did Rick tell you?”
A longer pause.
“Evan?”
“He says he’s… He says…”
Another pause.
“Evan?”
It came on without warning.
Evan uttered a small cry of distress; then suddenly his entire body went rigid.
“Oh, shit,” Pope said.
Then the boy began to convulse, bucking violently on the bed, chest heaving, legs kicking.
McBride moved toward them, face full of alarm.
“-what’s happening?”
“Grand mal seizure. He must be epileptic.”
His breathing uneven and labored, Evan sucked in air, then stopped breathing altogether as foam began to gather at the corners of his mouth, his face darkening.
Pope reached down and grabbed the boy’s jeans, working to unfasten the button, loosening the waistband as Evan continued to buck and kick, making the task more difficult than it should have been.
“He’s turning blue,” McBride said.
“He’ll be fine. We just have to let it run its course.”
“What about his tongue? Shouldn’t we stick something in his-”
“No. That’s TV bullshit. Just let him be.”
Evan let out a loud, shaky breath-some of his color returning-then suddenly sucked in another, uttering short animal-like grunts as his body continued to convulse.
“We have to do something.”
“There’s nothing to do,” Pope said. “Trust me. My grandfather was epileptic; I’ve seen this a hundred times.”
Eyes still shut, mouth foaming, Evan bucked and kicked, his small body violently shaking the bed, reminding Pope of Linda Blair in full possession mode — then, finally, thankfully, the convulsions began to subside until the boy was still.
Pope quickly turned him on his side, letting the fluids drain from his mouth onto the bedspread. Sweat had formed on Evan’s forehead and McBride crouched next to him and carefully wiped it away with her hand, smoothing his hair back.
He opened his eyes then and blinked up at them, his voice high and thin and shaky.
“I want my mommy,” he said, and burst into tears.
1 1
“ Evan had a seizure. Looks like epilepsy.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Worthington muttered. His voice sounded as if it were coming through a wire stretched between two tin cans.
Anna hated cell phones.
She had considered calling Royer, had known it was proper protocol, but hadn’t felt like dealing with the inevitable headache. She figured she was sparing him one as well.
Instead, she’d dug out the business card Worthington had slipped her just as she and Evan were climbing into the cruiser, and had called him directly.
“I’m sure glad we had that medic take a look at him,” Worthington said sourly.
“It’s not like he was wearing a sign. But Pope told me if he’d known, he never would’ve put him under.”
“I wouldn’t think so. Is Evan all right?”
“I’m sure he’s been better. The hotel doctor is checking him over.”
“Hotel doctor? At the Oasis?”
“I have a feeling it’s one of Pope’s poker buddies.”
“Figures,” Worthington said. “What about the session? You have any luck?”
“Not much, but it may be enough. Turns out the babysitter broke the house rules and took the kids on a surprise field trip. Introduced them to a guy Evan thinks was her boyfriend-only he’s probably twice her age.”
“That sounds promising. You get a description?”
“Adult male, first name Rick. Dark hair, eyebrow ring, dragon tattoo on his neck. Drives a black Ford Mustang with a flame on the side.”
“Should be easy enough to track. I’ll put out an alert and we’ll check with Tammy’s friends, but it doesn’t sound like anyone from around here.”
Judging by the neighbors who had stood gawking in the street, Anna wasn’t surprised. Ludlow was more Travis Tritt than Tommy Lee.
Then she remembered the photo on the Fairweathers’ camera and a thought struck her.
“Didn’t you say the carnival’s still in town?”
There was a pause on the line, Worthington’s silence filled by an annoying digital static. Then he said, “A carny. I should’ve thought of that. Those lowlifes are always hitting on the high school girls. They’ve got an encampment on a vacant lot next to the campus. If he’s still around, ten to one that’s where we’ll find him.”
“Whatever you do,” Anna said, “approach with caution. If he’s our guy and he’s got Kimberly with him…”
“Don’t worry, we’ll do a little reconnaissance before we strike. You want to be part of this?”
Anna felt a sudden rush of adrenaline. “Definitely.”
“Then you’d better get back here ASAP. We’ll need time to organize, but I don’t want to drag this thing out. Not if there’s a chance the girl’s still alive.”
“What about Evan?”
“Sounds like he needs to stay put for a while. Leave him with Danny.”
Anna looked around the hotel corridor, noting the stained carpet and faded wallpaper. This was no place for a seven-year-old boy.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“He’ll be fine,” Worthington said. “I’ll make some calls and get someone from social services out there as soon as possible.”
“And if Pope objects?”
“He won’t.”
“He didn’t seem too thrilled about this whole proposition in the first place. And to be honest, I’m not sure he’s entirely stable.”
Worthington laughed, but it was a dry one, with little humor attached. “I’ve known Danny Pope for nearly forty years. Considering what he’s been through, he’s about as stable as they come.”
Anna thought about this and, despite her initial misgivings concerning the entire enterprise, decided Worthington was right. Evan had fallen asleep shortly after his seizure, and social services would probably be out here before he even woke up. It didn’t make much sense to sit around and stare at him.
There was Kimmie to think about.
A killer to catch.
And… something more.
Call it fate, a feeling, just a sliver of intuition, but Anna suddenly felt as if what had happened out here in the desert was somehow related to her visions.