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I could have laughed, but that, of course, was iela came over to see for herself "What killed him?"
"Hard to say It&039;s funny, but he looks better than when he was alive He eating buckets and his color was all gone and now look at hiot to get rid of hilish friend, then"
"Sure, and he&039;d have the cops out here tearing the place apart There&039;s tire tracks all over the place, holes in the ground frorenades, and the mess Vic left of himself"
"Okay, okay, I take it back Do what you like"
Angela paced rapidly a few tiot it, but the boys will have to hurry if we&039;re going to et so sections of the hall carpet The stuff&039;s going to be ripped out anye&039;ll get a start on things Make &039;erin in his voice "Yeah, I know, that old rug bit"
"I want theh so that the ends can be tied off and roohts You&039;ll need plenty of rope or soot it now You wanta sink &039;es on &039;e"
Chuckling, Lester got out
"Tn, one to go," said Angela
"What one?" asked Doc
"The English guy I still expect him to raise a stink e don&039;t turn over his friend, so he&039;ll have to be shut down, too"
"Angela"
"No lectures, Doc, I knohat I&039;o help Newton and I&039;ll check on Lester We&039;re running out of time"
She whisked off one way, Doc ae where I lay None of itlike an overgrown hot dog caused no alarm I was already co and couldn&039;t care less about the things that happened beyond its li around me were no more important than some radio left on to make noise in an otherwise empty house
So I drifted and dreamed without sleep on Sheldon&039;s poisoned blood while he was carried out and tended Neas then drafted to help with the carpet cutting Their voices blended together in a pleasant, ela&039;s urgings to hurry They were all easily ignored as I floated in and out of the black and purple hts, no needs, no probleela and Newton returned and dropped soe on the floor near me It made a mushy thump and I was treated to a puff of stale, dusty air They took a e it properly, then knelt next to me and rolled me over onto it I didn&039;t resist, couldn&039;t resist, didn&039;t care
"He hasn&039;t lightened any," Newton gru hiela "Help hts"
"Easy, now, that one&039;s too heavy for you"
"I&039;, you can carry it How many e need?"
"At least three of the fifty-pound ones for Vic Maybe four for this guy It&039;s gotta be ht or they can float once they start to rot"
"Okay Start taking &039;em out to Mac and Lester, I&039;ll roll these over to this one"
"But that&039;s too-"
"No, it&039;s not I can handle fifty pounds if I have to Gethard as he carried out Vic&039;s share of iron Angela worked to unlock the weights from their crossbars and rolled therunt and a heave, she got the first one placed high on my chest, just under my chin
I didn&039;t like it
She placed the second one just below it By the time she was ready with the third, Newton had come back and was able to take over
I didn&039;t like any of it The discomfort was an unwelcos away, but nothing happened
Angela lifted her side of the rug, flopping it over ainst ht and discomfort
With no need to breathe, I couldn&039;t suffocate, but no one, sootten or suppressed The pressure on htly around htmares and even a few fresh ones of pain and death
"Tie it up good," cahts slipping out e drop hi, busy with his work They tied off the top end of the rug just above s The latter made me think of my last, my very last, ht to ?" asked Newton
"Like what?"
"I heard so from him? Doc may be a drunk, but he knows a stiff when he sees one I&039;ve never seen him so cross-eyed that he-"
"But I was sure I heard uy had some kind of fit He could still be alive"
"And so what if he is?" she asked pointedly
"Okay," he said after a et you"
They finished the job without further talk
Lester walked in "We got Vic loaded into the truck, Angela"
"Good Where&039;s Mac?"
"On his way"
"Soon as he&039;s here, the three of you get this one out and wait for me I have to find my coat"
"What about Doc? Is he co after Daddy e get him back Your job will be to look after Doc Keep hih as she dashed out
Mac came in and the three of thehts to the truck Throughout, I said nothing, did nothing I was totally helpless, a bundle of bone and muscle unable to respond to my chaotic brain They dropped me onto the metal floor of the truck The fifty-pound disks had each slipped a little out of place The one onand I&039;d have a crushed windpipe
A long wait and then a strea ears lurched away I caught the full effect of the uneven road and was unable to protect myself frohts ca strictly on eer Each added a certain strength toany workable ideas for escape Had I been able to vanish, no doubt I would have done so Had I been capable of led But my body was quite separated froh of it worked to acknowledge danger, but that was all
Newton&039;s voice was pitched to be heard above the ruuy&039;s really croaked?"
"You sure you haven&039;t been into Frank&039;s home brew? Course he&039;s dead"
"But what about what I heard?"
"Probably just sos When you move a body around that can happen Spooky the first tiht that he ht still be alive, but just had souess"
"No, he didn&039;t have those symptoms or he&039;d have been stiff as a board when you found hins of epilepsy, either"
"Then why&039;d he die?"
"Still worried that it ?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Good question, my friend Wish I had an answer for you I don&039;t knohat killed him: catalepsy, concussion, or cussedness, and I&039;ela if I can perform a quick autopsy just to satisfy your curiosity None of it reallyinto the lake and the fish can worry about him for you"
"But the way he just dropped dead"
"Newton, sooner or later we all drop dead, &039;specially in this business My advice is not to think about it and drink enough of this stuff down so you don&039;t give a darowled a dissatisfied disagreeers suddenly twitched Since , I didn&039;t notice at first, and attached little ionna haunt you, Newton?" asked Lester with a laugh
"Don&039;t be a wise-ass"
"That it, Fleedsound that only I could hear escaped I tried to turn fro the pressure a little
"I think Newton reads too much"
"And you don&039;t read at all"
"Yeah, that&039;s why I ain&039;t gonna be haunted like you What&039;s the point wasting your ti that ain&039;t real? You won&039;t catcharound with that kid stuff"
"Knock it off, Lester," ordered Doc "Everyone knohat you noodle around with"
"What&039;s that supposed to mean?"
"What do you think? And if you keep it up you&039;ll go blind Did you know that?"
"You drunken lush I oughta-"
"Lay off, all of ya," complained Mac "My head&039;s killin&039; me"
"Then have a drink," said Doc They passed the flask around, which helped restore peace
My hands had progressed fro As far as was possible within the s of carpet and rope, I formed fists and flexedin my brain ebbed away
"You see that?" asked Newton
"More haunting, huh?"
"Can it, Les I saw his feet move"
I went very still, which was a conscious decision, the first real one I&039;d made in what see," said Doc
"But did you see it?"
"Yeah, and it was the truck and this lousy light playing around"
"You wanna really be spooked, you shoulda helpedup with old newspapers to keep the blood froh"
"Les, will you shut the hell up about it!"
"Sorry, Mac," he snickered
The gears ground and we slowed and turned The road got worse, distracting them from their conversation I took the opportunity and chanced a limited stretch
No one noticed
"This is it," said Newton "Everyone check your hardware"
The truck rolled to a stop, the brakes squealing crankily The motor cut off and the front doors opened and slaht"
The back doors were also opened and the men filed out Their voices beca?"
"Yeah, he&039;s already here There&039;s the running lights of the yacht"
"For e are about to receive"
"They&039;re putting out a boat"
" may we be truly thankful"
"Can it"
Their attention elsewhere, I flexed and stretched again, reveling in the return of feeling Because of the weights and rug, it wasn&039;t at all pleasant, but I kneas still alive
"Wish they&039;d hurry"
"Spread out and check the place for anybody who don&039;t belong"
Then their voices faded altogether I was alone in the stuffiest, most claustrophobic darkness that I&039;d ever known Oddly enough, I no longer ela&039;s co an
Without Newton and the others bickering around me, it was easy to lose track of time I lay quietly and waited forawake from a thick and restless sleep, the illusion compounded by the stuff I rapped in
"Sez you, I want to see for htened
"And I want to see
"Don&039;t worry, he&039;s in good hands"
"He better be or I&039;ll-"
"First things first" He clian tugging at the ropes Then I heard the snick of a knife and a snap as he sawed through one
"You&039;re ela complained "We had him all ready to-"
"Save it, babe If this is him, I&039;ll do you a favor and take him off your hands"
"What?"
He cut quickly and forced apart the top half of the folded-up rug I wisely ree stains flickered over ht The cold, da in from the lake felt absolutely wonderful
"It&039;s hilove and checkedthere, of course
"Satisfied?" she asked
"More than you think Ever since I laid eyes on this sob he&039;s been nothing but trouble How&039;d you get him?"
"I didn&039;t We found him like that"
"Like what?"
"Dead, lame brain"
"Just like that?"
"Uh-huh"
"You mean he just waltzed into your house and dropped dead?"
"That&039;s how it looked to Doc"
"That quack Listen, Angela, nobody just drops dead It&039;s too convenient"
"Miracles happen"
"Coed him and just don&039;t want to say"
"I didn&039;t and if I had, I wouldn&039;t need to hide it frood-awful for a while, said he had a bad stomach, and then he must have keeled over"
"A bad stoives a da "We&039;re here to et on with it"
But he was still digesting the news and tapped ela, but I owe you one"
"Then get ot him and welcome to him Who&039;s the other stiff?"
"Never mind him"