SOUND I heard was snoring. I woke up in a strange room, hearing snoring. That and a hammering inside my skull. I slowly turned my head to see Frank sleeping in a chair behind bars. I gradually realized I was in a hospital bed, and the bars were the bed railing. My head hurt so bad, it was easier to shut my eyes. I fell back to sleep.
When I woke up again, there was a woman’s face looking down at me. “I think she’s coming around now,” the voice said, and I realized it was Sister Theresa. Soon I saw Frank standing next to her.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi.” He took my hand. That felt good.
“Your sister has been asking about you,” Sister Theresa said. “I think I’ll let her know you’re awake.”
Frank sat down, but kept hold of my hand. I let go and slipped my arm through the rails to make it easier on him.
I fell asleep.
Later that night, I finally managed to stay awake for more than five seconds at a time. Frank was still holding my hand.
“Frank?”
He sat up with a start. He looked exhausted.
“Irene? How do you feel?”
“Like hell. What happened?”
“Did you open those propane tanks in the basement?”
I was still a little foggy. Gradually I remembered where I had been just before the explosion.
“Yes. But I didn’t light them.”
“It filled the room up with propane. Elinor flipped the light switch and it sparked. It exploded. And burned.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I guess they did me a real favor sticking me in that freezer.”
I remembered seeing him put in there at gunpoint, remembered Elinor holding the gun to his head and striking his ribs hard. I felt the color drain from my cheeks.
“Irene? Are you okay? Do you want me to get the nurse?”
“No,” I said. “I’m okay. I just remembered how they treated you. I was so afraid for you.”
“Believe me, it was mutual. God, you gave me a scare. When I brought you outside—”
His voice broke and he was quiet, looking away.
“I’m okay,” I said.
“Hello there!” Barbara called from the door.
She came over to the other side of the bed. “This guy is worse than I am. Even Sister Theresa couldn’t get him to take a break.”
The memory of hearing him snore came back to me and I smiled.
“Hi, Barbara. How’s Kenny doing?”
“He’ll be in here to apologize to you any day now,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“He told me what he said to you about O’Connor. I told him either he apologized or I wasn’t ever going to have a thing to do with him. He started crying and going on about how he killed his father. I tell you, he’s delirious. I told him you and Frank knew who killed his father, and that as far as I knew, his name hadn’t come up. Do you know what he was talking about?”
Frank and I exchanged a brief look.
“No,” I said. “He probably just feels bad about what he said to me. Tell him I said all is forgiven.” I turned to Frank. “What happened to the Hollingsworths?”
He shook his head.
“Oh.”
“Longren has confessed to the money laundering and providing a false alibi for Emmet Woolsey’s wife; he claims he never knew about the other stuff, but nobody believes him. He’s washed up anyway. Elaine’s mother never found the letter. It was probably thrown away years ago. We called her to let her know what happened. Small consolation.”
My head felt heavy and woozy. I shut my eyes and it cleared.
I looked up at Frank again; there was concern in his face.
“How did you know I was out there?” I asked.
“Lydia. She called me to say you had left her that note. But we can talk about all of that later. Just get better. They want to hold that wake for O’Connor and they’re waiting for you to get out of here to do it.”
“I owe you a lot,” I said drowsily.
“Not a thing. Go to sleep.”
