seen it.'
She gulped hungrily at the cocoa. 'A mask...some kind of costume.' By the interior light, she studied his face. He reached for her shoulder, then held something up, and she took it from him, wondering. 'My jacket.' Between two fingers, she held a strip of shredded cloth.
'Are you hurt?'
'I don't think so.' She shook. 'Nothing broken.'
'Why are you sitting like that? Where does it hurt? This side? Let's get you home so I can look at your shoulder.'
'I can drive.'
'No, you just...' He shifted into first and swung the headlights toward the boardwalk. The jeep bounced. Snow completely layered the beach, and the tires spun.
'Slow down.' She leaned forward. 'Can you see anything?'
'Kit?'
'Do you see any footprints?'
'You really are a cop, aren't you?' He grunted with a sort of sad admiration, and the tires crunched slower.
'Are the wipers on high? Damn, I can't see. What's that over there?' She caught at his arm. 'On the left. Can you...?'
'I can't tell. It's coming down so hard. Might be tracks.'
'They go over that way. No, the other...that's it. Under the boards.'
'This isn't such a hot idea. If we get stuck...' The jeep jerked over a mound. 'I think I came through the fence right about here.' He eased them into a blot of shadow. Pillars leapt and dodged in the rushing glow, a row of cement columns vaulting. Almost no snow had found its way beneath the boardwalk, but a hill of sand rose steeply before them.
'What in hell...?' He hit the brakes. The headlights poured up the hill, its mountainous shadow concealing everything behind it. 'This wasn't here. I could swear it.'
'I lost my weapon,' she said quietly. 'Do you have a gun?'
He nodded, staring straight ahead at the mound. 'Who could have done this?'
'We have to check.' She unlocked her door.
He grabbed at her. 'Kit!'
The door hung open, and she waded into the flood of the headlights, her shadow washing across the mound.
'Kit, get back.' He clambered out. 'You're hurt.' Around them, in the light's periphery, a curtain of snow defined the edges of the boardwalk.
The mound heaved.
'Get away from it!' Sand cascaded down the sides, and he leveled the revolver. 'Kit!' Near the bottom, something squirmed.
She stepped closer, and a shout clogged in her chest.
A black hand scratched up out of the dirt; crusted fingers clutched, fluttering.
'Lord.' He shoved the gun under his coat then threw himself at the hill. Sand flew, as he furiously dug.
'I don't understand.' She began to help him. 'What kind of dream is this?' It felt like digging in powdered ice. 'What kind of nightmare?'
The arm moved, then a torso wobbled beneath them. Darkened sand clumped thickly on the naked chest, crevices of white flesh showing through black rivulets. The throat gulped, headlights turning the smears of blood a deep purple.
With a fierce tug, Steve yanked the slender body up out of the dirt and into a sitting position. Mist swirled around clotted flesh.
'Is it on fire?'
He stooped, hefting the body up against his chest. 'Steam from the wounds.' He grunted as he rose. 'Get the car door.'
'Where are his clothes?' Liquid still oozed black from the head, mingling with the grit that clung to the neck, streaking down the chest to the rib cage. 'I...don't...understand. How did he...?' Legs dangled. Splotches caked on the calves, completely covering one foot.
'Kit! Move!'
She threw the doors open and shoved the seat back, then clambered in and pulled the body in by the shoulder. The white legs looked so long, but the body weighed surprisingly little. Darkness still leaked from gashes on the shoulder and the chest, and clots of sand rained from the sticky mass of the hair and face.
He squeezed in behind them. 'My God.'
'You know him?' she asked. Through the clinging thickness, the sheen of brown curls resembled bubbles in a pool of oil.
'Where's the nearest hospital?' They secured him with bungee cords, one across his chest and the other around his legs. 'Can you stop the bleeding on his head? Is there a blanket?' He tore off his coat and threw it over the pale form, then scrambled behind the wheel.
The tires whined, but the jeep didn't move. He gunned it again, until it lunged forward. She steadied herself against the roll bar, and he jerked the steering wheel sharply, plowing through a fence. She gasped as they plunged down a steep embankment, bouncing onto a narrow street.
'That way! No! Go right! Just follow it out to the highway.'
He leaned forward, twisted the heat up as far as it would go. 'He's in shock. We've got to get him warm.'
'Straight ahead here.' She coughed, pain and cold seizing her chest. 'Who is he? How did he get there?'
For a long moment, he didn't answer, just concentrated on driving. 'You know how he got there,' he said at last. Jerking at the wheel, he floored the gas pedal, and the jeep veered through highway slush.
'Look out!' They swerved into the far lane. 'His pulse is so weak I can barely...'
No other lights moved. The engine droned, and the wipers squealed, and only a few thick flakes plunged straight down, heavy and wet. In a quiet monotone, she directed him to the medical center two towns away. 'Oh my God,' she whispered. 'It's the Lonzo kid, isn't it? You can barely see his face under all the blood. Dear God.' They seemed to crawl, yet the jeep slipped at every turn, the tires spinning with a sharp whir.
Wind whistled at the gaps in the windows, and the steering wheel fought him. 'Like an animal burying its meat,' he muttered.
'Don't.'
'You saw it.'
'Please.' They seemed to catch up with the retreating blizzard now, and their headlights glinted from the flurry, creating a heavy curtain that billowed around them. Windshield wipers left a curving trail of frost on the glass.
Icicles made the highway overpass look like some fanged maw. On the highway ahead, a behemoth growled, and the snowplow lumbered past them, the orbs of its headlights gleaming with malevolence.
XXI
The fluorescent glare reflected off wired glass; beyond the window lay blank fog. 'But I thought you were going home today?' Steve tried to smile, his attention wandering uneasily around the room. 'No?' Rapid tapping began at the hospital window, and suddenly raindrops the size of quarters splattered on the glass. 'Well, you look a lot better than you did yesterday.'
'He sure does.' Kit stared at her leather boots, mottled with slush. 'Got some color coming back and everything. I mean, that night in the jeep, I didn't even recognize you. Oh, listen, here are the clothes you wanted. Steve, uh, I mean, Barry went and picked them up at your place. Was there anything else you needed?'
From the bed, Tully stared vacantly. A broad bandage hid his forehead. 'I'm sorry,' he said at last, trembling. 'I know you want me to remember.' Purplish bruises bloomed from his left temple to his jaw, accentuating both the
