HATCH gives him a thumbs-up and climbs into the truck. He revs the engine, then pulls slowly around so he's headed back toward the market, all four wheels whirring and spuming up snow. The Sno-Cat, with ROBBIE at the controls, follows.
43 INTERIOR: THE CAB OF THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH HATCH.
HATCH (on the radio) Ursula? Are you there, Ursula? Come on back?
152 STEPHEN KING
44 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE.
There's a good-sized crowd, very anxious, grouped around URSULA. Among them is FERD
ANDREWS, now out of his coat, sipping a hot drink and wearing a blanket. Also prominent are MOLLY, CARLA, and SANDY, who now has DON with her, for comfort.
HATCH (staticky radio voice) . . . sala? . . . Come on ... ack . . .
URSULA ignores the voice for a moment, holding the mike against her shoulder and looking uneasily at the crowd, which is hemming her in even more closely now, eager to hear any fresh news. These are her neighbors, sure, but . . .
MOLLY sees the incipient agoraphobic reaction and turns to the crowd.
MOLLY
Come on, folks, give Ursula some room. Back off ... If we hear anything, you'll know.
TESS MARCHANT
(joining in)
Move back! Move back! If you don't have anything else to do, go on downstairs and watch the storm on the Weather Network!
UPTON BELL
134
Can't! The cable's out!
But they move back and give URSULA some room. She flashes MOLLY and TESS a look of thanks, then raises the microphone and pushes the transmit button.
URSULA
You're weak, but I've got you, Hatch. Talk slow and loud, come on back.
45 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH HATCH.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 153
HATCH
Robbie and Henry are fine. Thought you'd want to know that, come back.
46 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL, FEATURING URSULA.
SANDRA BEALS and CARLA BRIGHT both register relief. DON, never one to rest for long when there are toys to be destroyed and peers to humiliate, tears free of his mother and hurtles back downstairs.
DON BEALS
My dad's okay! He's the town manager! He can pass a football nine miles! Last year he sold a billion-billion dollars of insurance! Who wants to play monkey?
URSULA Is Lloyd Wishman really dead, Hatch?
47 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH HATCH.
He hesitates and exchanges a glance with KIRK FREEMAN. No help there. HATCH knows he must be careful; deciding what information to give out and what to sit on is really MIKE'S job. He checks the rearview, just to make sure the Sno-Cat's still behind him. It is.
HATCH
Uh . . . I don't know all the details yet, Urse. Just tell Sandy and Carla their boys'll be a while longer. Mike wants 'em over to the store for a little bit.
URSULA (very staticky voice) Why . . . ore? Is that . . . ocked up? Molly wants . . . know . . .
HATCH
Can't hear you very well, Urse you're breakin' up. I'll try you again in a little while. This is Island Services, 10-60 by.
He hangs up the mike with an expression of guilty relief, sees KIRK looking at him, and gives KIRK a little shrug.
HATCH
Hell, / don't know what to tell 'em! Let Mike do that part it's what they pay him for.
154 STEPHEN KING
KIRK
Yeah grocery money, with a few bucks left over for lottery tickets.
48 INTERIOR: MIKE AND LINOGE, IN THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.
135
MIKE is sitting in the chair he dragged over. LINOGE is sitting on his bunk with his back to the wall and his knees apart. They look at each other through the bars. In the background, by the desk, JACK CARVER stands watching them.
MIKE
Where's your cane?
(no response from LINOGE) You had a cane I know you did where is it?
(no response from LINOGE) Sir, how did you get to Little Tall Island?
(no response)
MIKE holds up the Polaroid that shows the message over MARTHA'S living room door.
MIKE
"Give me what I want and I'll go away." Did you write that? You did, didn't you?
(no response) Just what is it you want, sir?
No response . . . but the prisoner's eyes gleam. The tips of his teeth show in that creepy little smile. MIKE gives him time, but there is no more.
MIKE
Andre Linoge. I take it you're French. There are a lot of people of French descent on the island.
We've got St. Pierres . . . Robichauxes . . . Bissonettes . . .
(no response)
What happened to Peter Godsoe? Did you have something to do with that?
(no response)
How did you happen to know he was running pot out of his warehouse? Always assuming that he was?
STORM OF THE CENTURY 155
LINOGE
I know a lot. Constable. I know, for instance, that when you were at the University of Maine, and in danger of losing your scholarship over a D in chemistry during your sophomore year, you cheated on the midterm exam. Not even your wife knows that, does she?
MIKE is rocked. He doesn't want LINOGE to see it, but he can't help it.
MIKE
I don't know where you get your information, but you're wrong on that one. I was going to I had a crib sheet, Mr. Linoge, and every intention of using it but I threw it away at the last minute.
LINOGE
I'm sure that over the years, you've convinced yourself that's the truth . . . but right now we both know better. You ought to tell Ralphie sometime. It would make a nice bedtime story, I think. "How Daddy Got Through College."
(shifts his attention to JACK)
You never cheated on an exam in college, did you? Never went to college, and nobody bothers you for pulling D's in high school.
136
156 STEPHEN KING
JACK is staring, wide-eyed.
LINOGE
They still put you in jail for assault, though ... if you get caught. You were lucky last year, weren't you? You and Lucien Fournier and Alex Haber. Lucky boys.
JACK Shut up!
LINOGE
That fella just rubbed you guys the wrong way, didn't he? Had kind of a lisp . . . and that blond hair, curly like a girl's hair . . . not to mention the way he walked . . . Still, three against one . . .
and pool cues . . . well . . . hardly sporting
LINOGE makes a tsk-tsk sound. JACK takes a step toward the desk, and his Ests CLENCH.
JACK
I'm warning you, mister!
LINOGE
(smiling)
The kid lost an eye how about that, huh? You could go and see for yourself. He lives in Lewiston.
He wears a paisley eye-patch his sister made him. He can't cry out of that eye the tear duct is toast. He lies in bed late at night and listens to the cars on Lisbon Street and the live bands from the bottle clubs, the ones that can play anything as long as it's "Louie Louie" or "Hang On Sloopy," and he prays to St. Andrew to bring back the sight in his left eye. He can't drive anymore; he lost his depth perception. That happens when you lose an eye. He can't even read for long, because it gives him headaches. Still, he had that swishy way of walking . . . and that lisp . . . and you guys kind of liked the way his hair looked, all around his face like it was, although you'd never say that to each other, would you? Kind of turned you on. Kind of wondered what it would feel like to run your hands through it
JACK grabs the gun off the desk and points it at the cell.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 157
JACK
Shut up or I'll shut you up! I swear!
MIKE
Jack, put that down!