appreciated your restraint in dealing with Jack.'
'It wasn't easy.'
'I could tell.'
'You still don't believe me about all this, do you?' She shook her head.
'As I said in your office, ' she whispered, glancing first at the monitor and then at Pearl, 'one other case, and I'll at least listen.'
'I'm going to find it.'
'You know, you are without a doubt the most headstrong man I've ever met.'
'I'm the most headstrong man I've ever met, ' he said. 'It's my finest attribute.'
She looked at him coolly. 'Well, Zachary, that may be. But unfortunately, it's also your most frightening one.'
She brushed past him and joined Pearl at the bedside. Zack stood alone at the nurses' station, fighting the hollowness in his chest, trying to cling to the notion that for the moment, at least, he had done all he could for Toby Nelms-he had done his best. 'Dr. Iverson, ' the ward clerk called to him from her desk. 'The call on line two is for you.
It's Mr. Iverson.'
'Zack, ' Frank said breathlessly, 'I'm down in the E. R. We've got trouble. Maybe big trouble.'
'What?'
'Auto accident. Two cars. Both drivers injured.'
'Bad?'
'Dunno about one of them-apparently they're still trying to cut him out of his pickup. Marshfield's in with the other one right now.'
'Let me just wash my face and I'll be right down.'
'Make it quick, Zack. The guy Marshfield's working on is the Judge.'
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Emergency Ward was bedlam. Nearly every bed was full, as was the waiting room. Nurses, some of whom Zack recognized as having been called down from the floors, were hurrying between patients, the med locker, and the supply room. EKG and portable X-ray technicians were standing by their equipment in the hallway. Several blue-clad rescue team members were assisting the nurses while several more sat perched on countertops filling out forms. Two of the rooms seemed to be the foci of most of the activity. 'The Judge is over there, in eight, ' Frank said as he and Zack crossed the lobby. 'What in the hell was he doing driving around at this hour without Mom, anyhow?'
'I don't know, Zack. You can ask him. He's all bandaged and splinted up, but he's perfectly with it. He must be. He's already told me that if we couldn't get a hold of his-son-the-neurosurgeon, he wanted to be transferred to another hospital.'
'Frank, it's okay not to be snide right now, all right?
Who's with him?'
'Not sure. Marshfield was, but I see him over there in trauma. The other guy from the accident has just been brought in.'
'Well, do you want to call Mom now, or wait until we know what's going on?'
'The later the better as far as I'm concerned.'
'Okay. Well, maybe you can call Lisette and have her go over and get her.'
'Lisette's… gone.'
Zack checked his watch. 'Well, when will she be back?'
'No,' Frank said. 'She's gone, as in, gone. It's a temporary thing.
Listen, you go ahead in with the Judge. I'll take care of Mom… And Zack?'
'Yes?'
'Too bad things aren't working out for that kid.' Without waiting for a response, Frank turned and crossed the emergency ward to where two uniformed troopers were speaking with a reporter from the White Mountains Gazette. 'Yeah, Frank, ' Zack muttered, flashing briefly on the bizarre, sub rosa interplay between his brother and Jack Pearl. 'Too bad.'
He was heading toward room 8 when the curtain drew back and the nurse, Doreen Lavalley, emerged. 'Oh, Dr. Iverson, I'tn glad you were able to get down here so quickly, ' she said. 'They called me down because I used to do E. R. work, but it's been a few years and-'
'I'm sure you're doing great. What's the story?'
'Well, I've been in there since just after they brought your father in.
The rescue people found him sitting propped against a tree about fifty feet from the crash. They suspect he was thrown out of the car and then walked or crawled over there. He almost certainly has a fractured wrist.
The rescue people also report there's a huge gash in his lower back, but nobody's had the chance yet to move him off the board to check it, Dr.
Marshfield had to go in with the fellow from the other car. From a distance, at least, that guy doesn't look good at all.'
Zack moved to a spot just outside the doorway to room 8. Through it, he could see his father, strapped to a transfer board, with his head and neck secured in excellent first aid fashion. One arm was wrapped and splinted, the other fitted just above the wrist with an IV line. A monitor was in place and chronicling a perfectly normal rate and rhythm.
'Did Dr. Marshfleld have the chance to get any films?'
Doreen Lavalley consulted a scrap of paper. 'He got a portable shoot-through of his neck and a view approximately over where that gash is. I had the lab draw a blood count and chemistries.'
'Blood bank, too?'
'Yes. I asked them to type him and crossmatch him for four units.'
'Nice going, Doreen. I'm glad to see you're still working here.'
'Just one more week, ' she said, somewhat sadly. 'I've taken a job with the Visiting Nurse Association.'
'Well, that's going to be Davis's loss.'
'Thank you. I'll miss this place. At least the way it used to be, I will. I'll see if I can get those films.'
If Clayton Iverson was relieved to see his son, he showed little evidence of it. Zack was not surprised. It had always been that way, and regardless of the circumstances, it would be that way this night. 'H'lo, Judge.'
Zack leaned against the bed rail, assessing his father-the slight pallor about his lips, the deepened creases at the corner of his eyes. The man was in some pain, and probably still bordering on shock. Reflexively, Zack reached across and increased the intravenous flow. 'Zachary…'
The Judge spoke through teeth nearly clenched by the bandages pulled tightly across his forehead and beneath his chin to stabilize his neck.
'Do you think you could get rid of this damn stuff?'
'As soon as I've seen the film of your neck, Judge. Apparently you weren't all that coherent when the police arrived. You could have hurt your neck and not know it. You in much discomfort?'
'Mostly my back-right through here…' He motioned with his unsplinted hand at a spot just above his navel. 'Does your mother know I'm here?'
'Frank went to take care of that.'
'Have him tell her to wait at home, and that I'll call her later.'
'Judge, just relax and let us take care of things. Okay? Now, what happened?'
'I don't know. I was on my way over to… ah… to talk with Frank and Lisette about some investments they're thinking of making. And just as I was passing by Cedar Street, boom. The next thing I really remember was the inside of the ambulance.'… to talk with Frank and Lisette?…
Lisette's gone Judge. Who's lying? Frank to you, or you to me? 'Did you hit your head?'
'Not that I know.'
