Bone Harvest - Mary Logue [76]
The nurse thought for a moment. “They often do. I would hope so.”
Her words were enough for now. She would be leaving Andy with someone who hoped he would wake up.
Marie felt tears rise up into her eyes, but she blinked them away. If she started she would never stop. She needed to hold them in check for a while longer. Until she got home, until she hugged her kids, until she was alone in bed.
She walked up to the bed and put her hand on Andy’s forehead. Leaning over, she said his name. “I’m going home for a while. I’ll be back.” She stopped and then couldn’t help herself. “Come back to me.”
She took his hand and squeezed it. At first when she held his hand it felt like a small animal sleeping; then it stirred. She squeezed again. Again she felt his hand move.
“Andy,” she said.
Nothing.
She leaned in closer to him. She raised her voice. “Andy, can you hear me?”
A moan came out of his mouth.
“Andy, it’s Marie.”
He coughed and his eyes flew open, then dropped shut again.
“Andy.”
He lay still.
She sank down on the floor at the side of the bed, holding on to his hand. Whatever came she would not let him go. He was coming back if she had to pull him all the way.
Then she heard her name. She lifted up her head.
She heard Andy say, “Marie?”
Claire had called to talk to Meg, but Brenda Watkins, Meg’s grandmother, told her that she was already fast asleep. “Do you want me to wake her up?”
“No, of course not. Just let her know I’ve called. She worries.”
“We wore her out today.”
Then Claire tried to call Rich, but there was no answer. It was after eleven o’clock and she wondered where he was. Maybe at a poker game. Maybe out for a beer. She wanted to hear his voice. He knew how to settle her.
After she had parked her car, she had walked by the wild rosebush and saw that the roses were no longer blooming. They had all fallen and she hadn’t even noticed. That was how fast things could change, if you didn’t pay attention to them. She needed to give Rich some attention.
She hated nights like this, when she was so tired she hardly had enough energy to take her clothes off, but she knew the moment she got into bed, her mind would start to whir. She called it whirring and it sounded a lot like worrying, but it was faster and more disorienting. Drinking helped her fall asleep, but usually she woke up a few hours later and started up anyway. The one beer she had had with dinner was enough. A hot bath might relax her, she thought, and started to run a tub.
Just as she was ready to climb into the water, the phone rang. She had set it on the toilet right next to the bathtub.
“Hello,” she answered.
“I hope you’re not asleep,” a male voice said, but it wasn’t Rich. It was Tyrone.
“What’s up?” She sat down on the toilet and grabbed at a towel. Without any clothes on, she felt odd talking to this man she hardly knew.
“We got a special delivery.”
“What?”
“From the pesticide guy.”
“Yeah, tell me.” She didn’t appreciate his fooling around.
“Well, you know how you were saying today that there weren’t enough fingers?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he must have agreed with you. He sent us another one.”
“Does it look like it could be the father’s?”
“Nope. It’s a fresh finger.”
“What do you mean, fresh?”
“It is covered with flesh. Someone lost it within the last day or so. That’s what the medical examiner thought.”
“I’m coming down.”
“No, Stewy said you would want to, but we need you to be here early. Get some sleep.”
“Any ideas whose finger?”
“Dr. Lord wasn’t sure of the sex—probably middle-aged. Whoever it was had worked hard.”
“That would match most of the people in the county.”
“Uh-huh. See you tomorrow.”
Claire let the towel drop and she looked down at her own fingers. What poor person was out there tonight without a digit? Would he or she still be alive—and be found in time?
CHAPTER 24
Earl pulled up in front of the hospital. It was after midnight, but he had decided, driving into town, that this had to be his first stop. Marie had probably gone home, but he needed