Their reaction was bad enough when they thought he was innocent.
It would have been much worse if they had known the truth.
The sheriff was right. Melissa Gonzales had smashed into his windshield just like the girl last night. He could still see her face when the air bag deflated, wide, unblinking eyes that stared at him while a flood of red spread out of her hair like a halo. That’s where the image was different. The girl last night had been alive. He was sure of it.
“I know how it looks. But you have to believe me, I didn’t imagine this.”
“I’m just sayin’ I can’t find a body or evidence of one. I’m just sayin’ that it doesn’t take a shrink doctor to wonder if something’s not going on in there?” Janney tapped the side of his head.
“Did you question the guy in the car yet?” The deputy grunted and turned away. Jack turned his attention to him. The man looked to be in his mid-twenties, clean shaven with a crew cut. His uniform was starched with the pleats of his pants pointing down to polished black boots. Every thing he carried seemed to shine. Jack imagined the kid sitting in his living room at night intensely cleaning his gun millimeter by millimeter, praying for the day he’d have a chance to blow someone away. He probably polished his handcuffs too. Jack just hoped that Sheriff Janney had been smart enough not to give the kid any bullets. Jack decided he’d had enough of the deputy’s attitude. “Excuse me. Do you have a problem?”
The deputy glared back but held his tongue.
Janney jumped in and broke the staring contest. “Jack, the man you hit—”
“That I hit! You mean the man who attacked me.”
“Yeah, O.K. Like I told you, his name’s Nate Huckley. It’s not like he’s some drifter. He’s pretty well known around here. He’s a little on the strange side, sure, but nothing like this. You gotta understand it makes your story that much harder to believe.”
“O.K. So what does Nate Huckley say about all this?”
Lauren answered before the sheriff. “He’s in a coma. There’s not so much as a scratch on him but he’s not reviving. We have to do more tests.”
“Will he come out of it?”
“Hard to say. He could wake up an hour from now, a week from now…”
“Or never,” Janney said.
“Or never,” Lauren agreed
The deputy mumbled something.
“What’d you say?” Jack said.
The deputy fixed him with a hard look. “I said, ‘Another notch in the belt’.”
“You son-of-a-bitch.”
Janney grabbed his deputy by the arm and pulled him toward the door. “All right, that’s enough of that. You wait outside.” He waited until the deputy was gone. “Sorry about that. He’s a damn fool sometimes. Don’t let him get to you. Listen, I’m gonna keep looking into this and try everything I can to figure it out. A lot of folks are gonna wonder if Nate Huckley getting a fair shake here.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m just saying I’ve got to look into the possibility that Huckley’s the victim in this mess.”
“I don’t understand.” Jack said.
“You’re driving home, had a few drinks…”
“I wasn’t drunk.”
Janney started to say something but seemed to think better of it. He tucked his hat under his arm and headed for the door. He paused, a little too dramatically Jack thought, and stared at Lauren. “See, funny thing is, when you were brought in they didn’t check your blood for alcohol. That’s standard policy, isn’t it Dr. Tremont?”
Lauren was tight lipped. “It should have been done. I’ll check into it.”
Janney smiled. “Oh, I checked. Wasn’t done. Nurse’s say you treated him when he came in and said it wasn’t necessary.”
“It wasn’t. I could tell if he was intoxicated or not.”
“I’m sure you could,” Janney said. “Just looks a little funny, you know? Any way, I know this sounds like some bad cop line, but don’t be leaving town for a while, O.K.? It might take a little time to figure this out and I’d like to have you both around to answer questions.”
“We’ll be here,” Lauren said.
“All right, then. I’ll be getting along now.” Janney nodded to Jack as if he’d just stopped by to wish him a speedy recovery. Jack and Lauren watched the sheriff leave, both of them silently wishing he’d never come at all.
FIFTEEN
Jack changed into the fresh clothes Lauren brought from the house. As he sat on the edge of the bed to button his shirt, Lauren slid behind him and rubbed his shoulders.
“I know what I saw, Lauren.”
“I believe you. Focus on the fact that you and the kids are safe. Focus on that.”
Lauren the calm. Lauren the wise. How many times had she filled that need for him? A hundred times? A thousand? He still couldn’t believe he had almost lost her. He leaned back into her and she wrapped her arms around him. “You should have seen the girl’s eyes. She was so scared.”
She held him tight and then kissed him on the cheek. “I have about an hour of stuff to do around here and then we can all go home. Why don’t you go down and hang out with the kids?”
Lauren started to pull away from him but Jack pulled her back close. He still hadn’t told her about Sarah’s strange behavior in the car. That their daughter somehow seemed to know about Melissa Gonzales. The words had been replaying in his head all day.
He said I should open the door or I’d end up like Melissa. Who’s Melissa, Daddy?
Then there was Albert James’ bizarre warning about Sarah being in danger, a warning that turned out to be right only hours later.
Jack wanted to tell Lauren, have her rationalize it all so he could put it aside, but he didn’t know where to start. Besides, he knew how it would sound. Especially now with everyone doubting there was a body in the back of Huckley’s car, he couldn’t afford to look like he was losing it.
He kissed her hand and let go. But as she started to get up, he said, “Why didn’t you let them do a blood alcohol test done when I came in?”
Lauren hesitated. “When they told me you and the kids were on the way in to emergency from a crash scene, I ran down to be there. It was horrible to wait there, not knowing what was going on. Testing you for alcohol was the last thing on my mind.”
“It wasn’t because you smelled alcohol on my breath.” Lauren didn’t answer. “I wasn’t drunk. I had one beer and a shot over a four hour time frame. I would never put the kids in danger, you know that.”
“Yeah, I know. Listen, I’ve got to run. I’ll see you in an hour.”
Jack could tell he’d rubbed her the wrong way. With everything going on, the last thing they needed was a fight. He called after her, “Hey, sorry. I’m a little on edge. It’s just…”
“It’s just what?”
“I love you.”
She flashed him the same smile that made him fall for her ten years earlier. “You’re just kissing up. Angling for that sponge bath when we get home,” she said with enough playfulness enough to let him know everything was all right between them.
He reached up and rubbed his neck. “I am a little sore.”
“If you’re a good boy. Maybe.” She gave him a wink. “See you in an hour or so.”
Jack spent most of the next hour in the room with Becky and Sarah watching T.V. and brushing their hair. They amazed him. The whole ordeal was like a movie to them, something scary while they watched it happen, but quickly forgotten once it was over. The cast on Becky’s right arm was already covered with signatures from the nursing staff and she brandished it about with pride. She only had a hairline fracture so the cast wouldn’t be on for long, but she was making the most of it. Jack couldn’t help laughing when Sarah asked if she could get one too.