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RAIN PELTING AGAINST ht
A hand on my wrist
Mitch, are they--
My God, Elet back in the car Fear in his voice
Footsteps A door sla ain before he finally backs away and leaves
His voice raises in a shout, then a curse
The wet rush and roar as a car drives quickly past
Rain
Wind
Another car The road under ain This tihtless eyes
Voices
get to a phone Trent place, just up the road police first, it&039;s too late for More lights, more voices Questions
An eternity of rain and wind
thought so so we stopped Johnnie Banks, don&039;t knoho the other fella Hands probe my pockets
out of town Must be his car behind Johnnie&039;s The light gets stronger It beats on me like the rain Hands turn my body Rain strikesWant to scream Can&039;t
multiple bloith a blunt instrument, both of &039;em That&039;s as much as I can tell, burning, killing daylight
Want to scream Want to screah fabric covers , they carry my body out of the wind
The blanket diffuses the light a little
Can&039;t move or talk
A car ru, pulling at me, atwhite light cuts into my brain Cold air onwith it They turn my head
The water drains away
Hands probe my broken skull
Can&039;t scream
we&039;d like to respect it, but in the case of a houuely faht-blind eyes Red and black patches drift under the lids
notify his fa for me, it&039;s my job to The voices fade They throw a heavy sheet on ht Out of mind
The sun works free of the clouds It beats silently against the covering
Someone lifts the sheet The sun flashes overis shoved under me, firmly pushed under the srave
Out Out Out
Sweet night
A voice A question
And pain Far too much pain
"hear me? Jack?"
My head feels like a boet worse
The voice whispers anxiously
I remember the rain and the road and yes, I can hear you, so shut up
A hand touchesme awake It movesexhalation
"Jack?"
Dear God, stop the pain
"Can you hear me?"
More bubbles The taste of hs Someone whimpers
The questions stop He carefully turns my head to the left It eases the pressure on the cracked and broken plates of bone He&039;s as gentle as possible
It&039;s tooA heart beating Both are nearby
"Jack?"
The pain had subsided a fraction This was heaven by comparison
"Can you hear me?"
Leave me alone
"Can you understand o away for a feeeks
"Please answer me, Jack"
I inhaled to speak, but couldn&039;t get the mouth to work
"What&039;s my name?"
If you don&039;t know, you&039;re in worse trouble than I am
"Answer h of relief Not from me He&039;d been afraid Of what?
"Do you knohat happened to you?"
"Roadrain"
"Yes, you were driving"
And then I stopped An accident?
"You found the taxi," he prompted
John Henry Banks Johnnie Banks Slu nonsense His head smashed inno more, I don&039;t want to think
"Do you knoho did it?"
God, was thatme? I really couldn&039;t tell
"Did you see them?"
"Hurt, I hurt"
"I know Do you need blood?"
I needed so, like an aspirin the size of a boxcar "Try"
He put a thin rubber tube to my lips like a straw I drew the stuff in
It was no longer war in the anih , and then I didn&039;t think about anything until it was gone
"Better?" he asked, his voice faint
"A little"
He pulled the tube away and ran sos clean and neat The water stopped
"Can you open your eyes?"
Why not? The darkness seeped away for an instant Escott&039;s worried face hovered close to ?" he asked
"Yeah Fine"
F-fine The last thing Banks had said and then--
"Try it again"
I did They stayed open a few seconds longer "Okay?"
"Excellent They&039;re a nice healthy red"
The white-hot ha quite so hard
"Think you&039;ll be able to travel soon?"
He had to be out of his mind I didn&039;t want to et you out of here before ood reason "No Rest"
"Yes, at least for now Do you knoho did it?"
That question again "Banks knew They get me?"
"You were struck from behind The doctor found wood splinters in your scalp"
Multiple blows froh my brain like an echo from a dream Wood Deadly, deadly wood No wonder I was so helpless "How bad?"
"You&039;ve a hell of a fracture, they hit you several tiht not be--did you see theeneral darkness, or rather the absence of artificial light for the first ti his voice low, alh, uncurtainedThe dihost white and simplified his features
As I drew air to speak, the smell crashed in: formaldehyde mixed with the sweetness of old death A chill shuddered all throughto do with the cold air
"Where?"
"I&039;m afraid we&039;re at the local funeral parlor," he explained, as though embarrassed by the fact "It doubles as the coroner&039;s examination room in the case of questionable deaths or hoo into details when you&039;ve rested You&039;re much better than you were, much better than I&039;d hoped After that fresh blood has had a chance to work in you we&039;ll see about getting you out"
"Out?"
"My position with the local authorities is anything but cordial, and I&039;ve no wish to be arrested for body snatching It will be much easier for both of us if the body in question is able toand ihonly an old sheet "I&039;m dead--I mean, more so than usual?"
"As far as the law is concerned, yes"
I had a nightmare flash inheaped on top
"Not yet" He&039;d stopped ht, if you need it" He found a chair and sat down to wait
Well, if he was in no hurry, neither was I I rested and felt my battered head ache and listened to the clock tick For so up to thirty before losing track This went on for as ers since I curled one up whenever I lost the count When I&039;d twice s responded, but the head wasn&039;t ready to coordinate anything more complicated than that
The clock ticked and Escott breathed, and one by one, I curledI used to do to trick hts Sleep would have been a better way to pass the tier really slept I s off the table and was trying to push ot up to help
"Shoulders only," I told hi the base ofposition I wobbled dizzily like a baby, but didn&039;t fall The sheet slipped down a little and I wrinkled ust
"Christ, don&039;t they ever wash this stuff?"
He took n "I&039;ve some fresh clothes for you
The ones you were found in are a bit of a write-off"
"My wallet?"
"The police have your personal effects" He produced a sack, pulling out some pants, a clean shirt, and soht only one pair
"They&039;re locked in that room over there" He nodded at a closed door
"How&039;d you get in?"
"Through a rear ith a glass cutter," he said casually
The dizziness froradually passed I felt the back of my head with supreme care--even my hair hurt It was still fiery and tender, but the ha
"What&039;d they do tohands on iven a preliht you here for-- &039; He stopped
"Jesus, Charles, an autopsy?"
He could only nod, looking as queasy as I felt
The doctor&039;d make a fast Y-incision and scatter pieces of me over the counters in jars full of preservative Dear God
My arhtly around my chest and stomach in reaction
"What stopped them?"
"I did I said I had to notify your family first, and then I told them you were a Christian Scientist"
My jaw dropped of its own accord, as it usually does when I don&039;t understand so "Huh?"
"I said they were like orthodox Jews in that their religion absolutely forbade autopsies"
"Does it?"
He suddenly smiled "Actually, I haven&039;t the least idea, but it worked for the ti, and that&039;s all that matters"
"Why didn&039;t you say I was an orthodox Jew?"
"I could not because you were out driving round after sunset on a Friday, the beginning of their Sabbath; so Jeould have avoided" He offered ed it on It was clean and crisp with starch, but I still felt soiled I wanted a scalding hot tub and a long vacation--in that order He steadied me as I slid off the table to pull the pants up overat the inn?"
"Officially, I am We&039;ll just have to sneak you in somehow"
"They think--"
"You&039;re dead Yes, I&039;ve received much sympathy, at least in some quarters"
"What d&039;ya mean?"
"The police have told me not to leave town for the moment They&039;re probably strapped for suspects It was fortunate forto the radio with so the critical time the crime took place or I would be in a very aard position"
"Why should they suspect you?"
"Why not? Many people are murdered by their friends"
"And Banks?"
"I&039;er in town and Mr Bankscronies" His head went down and he leaned tiredly against a counter "I should have beenthe Franchers and that fireI blundered badly and poor Banks paid for it"
"It ht not even be connected to us"
"Can you believe that?"
I didn&039;t answer that one "You couldn&039;t have knoould happen"
He shook his head, not really listening "I am very much to blame for this, Jack The police are not far off in their suspicions The investigating officer is no fool, he knows I&039;"
"And you can&039;t, can you?"
"Not so that I would be believed and not without solid evidence If Barrett is behind this, we need proof, and if we obtain proof, how ht to justice?"
"If?"
"I auilt"
"After all this? Why?"
"I shall be glad to tell you, but elsewhere, if you please Preferably at the inn so I can establish an alibi for part of this night When they come in tomorrow andMy strong objections to the autopsy will not have been forgotten in so short a time"