“And you’ve had training?”
“Yes,” the man said slipping the bottle into his pocket and bending over Megan so that he could begin his work.
“First,” Blake said, dousing his hands with a little of the whiskey and then gently easing his forefinger into the wound. “I must be sure that there are no fragments of lead in her body.”
“Shouldn’t you use forceps?”
“Probably,” Blake said, “but I prefer my own methods.”
Longarm held his breath, and Thaddeus Blake actually closed his suffering eyes so that he could concentrate better on his fingertip.
“Ah,” he grunted softly, “the slug is still inside of her.”
“Can you …”
“There,” Thaddeus whispered, “I’ve got it!”
And sure enough, the doctor did extract the misshapen hunk of lead, saying, “It’s obscene, isn’t it, what a small piece of lead can do the human tissue.”
“It’s not that small,” Longarm told him.
“Give me the needle and suture,” Blake ordered, his face now bathed in the sweat of his own fevered anxiety. “I am quite sure that this lovely young girl cannot stand this blood loss for more than a few more minutes.”
Megan flinched the first time the curved needle entered her torn flesh, but then she mercifully fainted. Longarm kept sponging away blood so that the doctor could see where he was stitching.
“You’ve also done this a time or two before, haven’t you,” Blake muttered as his brow was creased with intense concentration.
“That’s right.” Longarm studied the man. Thaddeus Blake might have been sixty, but Longarm was willing to bet that he was, in actuality, at least ten years younger. Sweat was beading on his forehead and he looked very unwell.
“Do you need more whiskey to steady yourself, Doctor?”
“Yes!” Blake almost cried.
Because the doctor’s hands were all bloody and filled with needle and suture, Longarm had to reach into the man’s pocket and extract the bottle again, then uncork it and put it to Blake’s lips. The surgeon threw back his head and gulped four times.
“Ahh! Thank you!”
“Mind if I finish the bottle?” Longarm asked. “There isn’t much left and I could use some for my own nerves.”
“By all means, help yourself!”
Longarm emptied the bottle, but was immediately sorry. The whiskey was raw and burned a river of fire right down to his belly. It was about as bad as horse piss.
“Jezus!” Longarm choked. “Doc, you gotta start drinking something else. That stuff will kill you!”
“No one lives forever,” Thaddeus Blake replied.
“Hell of an attitude for a doctor to take,” Longarm growled.
Blake mopped his brow with the back of his sleeve and kept suturing. His work wasn’t the prettiest that Longarm had ever seen, but it was effective and the bleeding was already greatly diminished.
“How come you want to kill yourself, Doc?”
“Long, boring story that you don’t want to hear,” the man replied. “Who is this girl?”
“My friend.”
“Your lady friend shouldn’t have come to Bodie.”
“I know.”
“She’s going to live,” the doctor said, “but she won’t be able to travel for at least two weeks. Move her even by stage or private buggy and you would run the risk of these sutures breaking loose. It’s going to take her months to fully regain her strength.”
“She lives in Reno.”
“She should have stayed in Reno instead of coming to this hellish place,” Dr. Blake flatly stated.
Longarm felt terrible. Here he was being crowded on all sides by enemies, and now he had Megan to worry about. And if he were gunned down in ambush, what would become of her until such time as she was able to leave Bodie? Just the thought of Megan Riley being bedridden and at the mercy of this town was enough to make Longarm curse the decision he’d made to allow her to accompany him. What in heaven’s name had he been thinking of at the time?
“We’re done,” the doctor said. “I suggest we get her up to your room.”
Longarm glanced over his shoulder and yelled at the desk clerk, “We’re going to need a new room!”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Jefferson!” A minute passed and then the clerk hurried over with a key in his fist. “Room 206, but I’ll have to charge you for the damages, cleaning, and …”
Something in Longarm’s eyes killed the man’s wheedling voice. He dropped the new room key on the carpet and hurried away.
