hard now, and dense, washing down on her upturned face. The wind was warm no longer. Candy didn't care. My clothing was soaked, my hair plastered flat against my skull. Rain running off my forehead blurred my vision. Candy's mascara had run, streaking her face. I stared down as the rain washed it away too.
'Some bodyguard,' I said.
I left her there in the rain with the headlights shining on her and walked back.
The still waters began to roil slightly. The pellucid silence began to clot. I became distinct from the lake.
'Human voices wake us,' I said, 'and we drown.'
CHAPTER 45
'What's he saying?' Linda said.
'He's still drunk from anesthesia,' a nurse said.
'I want to get out of here,' I said.
'How long will he babble like that?' Linda said.
'He's had a real jolt,' the nurse said. 'It will take a while. If you need me, ring that bell.'
'How long have I been in here?' I said.
Linda patted my cheek. 'Yes, honey, yes.'
My right side felt as if it had been scraped raw. I put my left hand out to Linda. She smiled and took it.
'He's awake,' she said.
'Alive,' I said.
Linda leaned toward me, 'What, love?'
'Alive,' I said.
'Yes,' she said. 'Yes. Alive.'
'Hot damn.'
Linda leaned over and kissed me. 'You are going to be fine,' she said. 'There's a policeman here.'
I turned my head carefully. Frank Belson was sitting on the window ledge in his shirt sleeves, his gun butt forward on his belt, a cold cigar in his mouth.
'They won't let me smoke,' he said.
'They spoil everything,' I said. 'How long I been here?'
I held Linda's hand as hard as I could. Which wasn't very hard.
'Three days,' Linda said. 'You had no pulse when they brought you in.'
'They were worrying about brain death,' Belson said, 'but there was no way to tell.'
'You're darling to wake up to, Frank.'
'He's been here every day,' Linda said. 'He and another policeman and a man named Hawk.'
'Quirk?' I said. Belson nodded.
'Marty's been curious about the three stiffs plus you.' He grinned. 'Almost four.'
I nodded. The nod was a mistake. It made my whole right side hurt.
'We'll talk about it later,' I said.
Belson said, 'Sure.'
'The girl dead too?'
'Yeah. Somebody broke her neck. Hawk brought you in.' Belson chewed the cold cigar butt into a better position in his mouth. 'Hawk don't shed a lot of light on things.'
Linda's hand was motionless in mine. Her eyes were fixed on my face. This was the part she didn't like. The part Susan knew about and didn't like.
'You okay?' I said to Linda.
She took in a deep breath and let it out and nodded.
'Susan know?' I said.
'Paul was going to call her,' Linda said. 'Hawk said no. He said you'd decide when you woke up.'
I was slipping again. Sleep would feel a lot better than my right side. I let myself sleep and in a little while my side stopped hurting. I could feel Linda's hand in mine a long time after my side stopped hurting, well after I was otherwise asleep.
The next time I woke up Linda was gone and so was Belson. Hawk was there and Paul. As I came out of the sleep I heard Paul's voice, softly.
'No, like this, shuffle, ball, change. You see, shuffle, ball, change.' I heard his feet move lightly on the hospital floor. 'How can a man with your heritage not be able to tap-dance.' I heard Hawk's gliding chuckle. 'My ancestors busy eating missionaries, boy. We didn't have no time for no fucking shuffle ball change.'
'Well, you wanted me to show you.'
