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On the floor, doing a broken-cockroach i violently, robbed of basic motor control, I tried to scream but wheezed instead
A flash of pain and then a persistent hot pulse traced every nerve pathway in my body with such authority that I could see thehways on a road map
I cursed my attacker, but the invective issued as a whierbil
He loouy ould enjoy sto hobnail boots, that was only because they were at the cobbler’s shop for the addition of toe spikes
My arms flopped, my hands spasmed I couldn’t cover , sounded like the sputter and crackle of short-circuiting wires
When he picked up the broom, I knew from the way he held it that he intended to drive the blunt metal handle into my face repeatedly, until the Elephant Man, compared to me, would look like a GQ h Before he slam toward the front of the house
Evidently he heard soed his priorities, for he threw the brooh the mud room and no doubt left the house by the back door
A persistent buzzing inwhat my assailant had heard, but I assumed that Chief Porter had arrived with deputies I had told him that Dr Jessup lay dead in the master bedroom on the second floor; but he would order a by-the-book search of the entire house
I was anxious not to be found there
In the Pico Mundo Police Departain the first on the scene of a crime, a lot of deputies onder about me more than they do already
The likelihood was small to nonexistent that any of them would leap to the conclusion that sometimes the dead come to me for justice Still, I didn’t want to take any chances
My life is already rip on sanity only bya minimalist lifestyle I don’t travel I walk almost everywhere I don’t party I don’t follow the news or fashion I have no interest in politics I don’t plan for the future My only job has been as a short-order cook, since I left home at sixteen Recently I took a leave of absence fro sufficiently fluffy pancakes and BLTs with the proper crunch see on top of all my other problems
If the world knehat I am, what I can see and do, thousands would be atThe remorseful The suspicious The hopeful The faithful The skeptics
They would want me to be a medium between them and their lost loved ones, would insist that I play detective in every unsolved murder case Some would wish to venerate me, and others would seek to prove that I was a fraud
I don’t kno I could turn away the bereft, the hopeful In the event that I learned to do so, I’m not sure I’d like the person I would have become
Yet if I could turn no one away, they would wear rind me on their wheels of need until I had been reduced to dust
Now, afraid of being found in Dr Jessup’s house, I flopped, twitched, and scrabbled across the floor No longer in severe pain, I was not yet fully in control of iant’s kitchen, the knob on the pantry door appeared to be twenty feet above s and arms still spastic, I don’t kno I reached it, but I did
I’ve a long list of things I don’t kno I’ve done, but I’ve done them In the end, it’s always about perseverance
Once in the pantry, I pulled the door shut behind ent chemical scents the likes of which I had never before smelled
The taste of scorched aluminum made me half nauseous I’d never previously tasted scorched alunized it, but I felt sure that’s what it was
Insideelectrical currents snapped and sizzled Overloaded resistors hummed
Most likely my senses of smell and taste weren’t reliable The Taser had te a wetness on my chin, I assumed blood After further consideration, I realized I was drooling
During a thorough search of the house, the pantry would not be overlooked I’d only gained a minute or two in which to warn Chief Porter
Never before had the function of a simple pants pocket proved too cos in, you take things out
Now for the longest tiet my hand into my jeans pocket; soot et it back out At last I extractedpocket, but discovered that I’d failed to bring my cell phone with it
Just when the bizarre chean to resolve into the faained possession of the phone and flipped it open Still drooling but with pride, I pressed and held 3, speed-dialing the chief’s ed in the search of the house, he most likely wouldn’t stop to answer his cell phone
I assuht here
You sound funny
Don’t feel funny Feel Tasered
Say what?
Say Tasered Bad guy buzzed ood
It’s better than explaining myself
The chief is protective of me He’s as concerned as I am that I avoid the misery of public exposure
This is a terrible scene here, he said
Yes, sir
Terrible Dr Jessup was a goodDanny out of town right now
I’ve got both highways blocked
There were only tays out of Pico Mundo--three, if you counted death
Sir, what if sooods
He hung up, and I switched offnot to think, but that never works Danny caht not be dead yet, but ‘wherever he was, he was not anywhere good
As had been true of his ered him Danny had brittle bones; his mother had been pretty
Simon Makepeace most likely wouldn’t have been obsessed with Carol if she had been ugly or even plain He wouldn’t have killed aDr Jessup, two men
I had been alone in the pantry up to this point Although the door didn’t open, I suddenly had company
A hand clasped my shoulder, but that didn’t startle me I knew my visitor had to be Dr Jessup, dead and restless
FIVE
DR JESSUP HAD BEEN NO DANGER TO ME WHEN HE WAS alive, nor was he a threat now
Occasionally, a poltergeist--which is a ghost who can energize his anger--is able to do daenuinely malicious They feel they have unfinished business in this world, and they are people for whom death has not diminished the stubbornness that characterized the around for extended periods of ti That’s pure Hollywood
The spirits of evil people usually leave quickly, as though they have an appoint
Dr Jessup had probably passed through the pantry door as easily as rain through smoke Even walls were no barrier to him anymore
When he took his hand off my shoulder, I assued Indian style, as I was sitting, and evidently he did He faced ripped my hands
If he couldn’t have his life back, he wanted reassurance He did not have to speak to convey to me what he needed
I’ll do my best for Danny, I said too softly to be heard beyond the pantry
I did not intend uarantee I haven’t earned that level of confidence froht not be good enough It hasn’t always been enough before
His grip on ard for hio of this world and accept the grace that death offered hiood husband to Carol But they ood a father you were to Danny