Mike was nearly dancing with happiness when he left Crow’s room. All the way down the hall and in the elevator he kept breaking out into grins. Working for Crow at the Crow’s Nest would be the coolest! He could quit his paper route, which was okay money but a real pain in the ass, especially in bad weather. And he’d get his comics at a discount. Crow said that he could start at eight dollars an hour, which was huge! Anything he wanted to buy from the store would be at cost. Crow even said that they could maybe do a little jujitsu when things got slow. If Mike wasn’t in so much pain he would have thought he was dreaming.
His face was locked into a broad happy grin as he exited the elevator and headed across the broad hall to the exit doors, passing nurses who saw his smile and returned it automatically. Mike passed two police officers who were heading into the hospital — one medium-sized and skinny and one huge and muscular. The skinny one grinned at him, but the big one gave him a flat, wide-eyed stare and as Mike passed he craned his head all the way around to watch him go. Mike barely noticed the cop’s attention as he pushed through the doors and jog-limped over to his bike.
In the lobby, the cops stopped and the bigger officer stood staring with total intensity out through the glass.
His partner said, “What’s up? You know that kid?”
Temporary Officer Edward Oswald stared slack-jawed, not even hearing his partner. His heart had suddenly started hammering in his chest.
His partner, Norris Shanks, tapped him on the arm. “Yo! Tow-Truck. What the hell’s with you?”
Tow-Truck Eddie Oswald blinked, becoming aware of his partner. He cleared his throat and forced himself to turn away from the sight beyond the glass doors of the Beast — the very much alive Beast — unchaining his bike.
“No…” he said absently. Then recollecting himself, he said, “No. It’s nothing.”
Inside his brain the voice of God was telling him: Wait! Wait until you are alone!
“Yes,” he murmured.
“What?” asked Shanks.
“Nothing,” Tow-Truck Eddie said and moved on into the hospital.
Val was awake when Crow came in and she felt her heart lift when he poked his head through the doorway.
“You order a pizza?”
She held her good arm out to him. “Come here and kiss me this instant, you idiot.”
With as much consideration for their mutual injuries as he could manage, Crow gathered her in his arms and showered her face with kisses. Val could feel his heart beating against her chest as he held her close, and she leaned into him, kissing his neck, inhaling the scent of him — sweat, anesthetic, a hint of chocolate — and the reality and familiarity of him, even in so unfortunate a place as this hospital, made her feel more human than she had all day.
Val touched his hand, where the nub of the IV port was still taped to the skin. “You playing copycat?”
“Yep. I waited until they started a new IV bag, popped it out, tied a loop in the plastic thingee, and snuck out. The cop on duty is Norris Shanks and he’s an old bud. He played lookout for me while I snuck in. If we get caught, though, we have to say he was on a bathroom break.”
He settled himself on the side of the bed and his eyes were searching her face. “I’m okay,” she said, forcing a smile. “No more bad dreams.”
“Did you sleep much?”
“For a bit. They must have really knocked me out, because I don’t remember anything. If I dreamed it wasn’t—”
“It wasn’t about him?”
She nodded. “No, thank God.”
“Me neither. I had just that one about him sneaking into my room. I wonder if everyone who goes through stuff like this has these kinds of dreams.” He kissed her forehead. “Well, whether or no, I don’t think we’ll need to worry about him for real.”
He told her about his conversation with Head, and how the officer confirmed that he had seen Ruger take several hits.
“Most likely he’s dead out there in the fields, or at best made it across the road to the Passion Pit.”
Val’s eyes were hot but her voice arctic as he said, “I hope he fell over the edge of the pit all the way down into Dark Hollow and is lying down there in great pain, bleeding to death.”
The venom in her words did not shock Crow in the least; he couldn’t help but agree, but it was a conversation stopper and for a while they held each other and thought ugly thoughts of revenge as the bedside clock ticked closer to midnight. In half an hour it would be October 1. Maybe the season of bad luck would end with September and the Halloween winds would blow their usual good fortune into the town.
“I had a long talk with Saul,” Crow said at last. “He said that we could both get out of here tomorrow. Connie and Mark, too.”
Val nodded, said nothing. Crow could imagine how little she wanted to go back to that farmhouse now. The whole place would probably have the feel of violation and grief about it. While Val had slept Crow had called her farm foreman and instructed him to replace the front door — the one with the bullet holes was to be turned over to the cops if they wanted it or otherwise burned — and the living room put back to rights. Crow had been very clear when he said that there were to be no signs at all of the events of the night before, including the removal of all of the crime-scene tape and any mess left by the hordes of officers and lab technicians who had been swarming over the place all day. The foreman, a smart and capable fellow, had entirely agreed and said that he would see to everything.
Even so, Crow had no intention of taking Val there when they were released in the morning.
“I have a plan,” he said.
“Oh?”
“The cops say we can’t go back to the farm yet,” he lied. “So instead I’ve booked a room at the Harvestman for Mark and Connie. It’s where the cops are staying, so they’ll be safe, and it’ll be easier for them to come back here for treatment and, um…therapy.”
Val just nodded. Saul Weinstock had explained to her the kind of treatment Connie would need. Mark, too, in all probability.
“What about us?”
“We’ll be moving into the Pine Manor Inn for the next night or two.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Wow!”
“A little elegance won’t hurt us, baby. Sunken tub, Jacuzzi to massage away our aches and pains. Great food. A nice bottle of wine for you and an equally nice bottle of Pepsi for me.”
She closed her eyes and leaned against him. “God, it sounds wonderful, but—”
“No buts, sweetie. I ran it by Saul and he approved, so this is on the level of doctor’s orders.”
“But the Pine Manor costs an arm and a leg! That’s too much to—”
“Not at all, not at all,” he said smoothly. “Nothing’s too good for my fiancée.”
He felt her stiffen against his chest as she processed the words. Then she opened her eyes and raised her head, staring with puzzled uncertainly into his eyes. “What did you…?”
Then she saw what he had taken out of his bathrobe pocket while her eyes were closed. He held it flat in the palm of his hand. A square blue-velvet box.
Val’s eyes were as wide and huge as any painting by Keene, and her mouth formed a perfect O.
Since she had only one arm free, Crow opened the box for her and showed her the diamond ring.
“I wanted to do this over dinner at some fancy restaurant in New Hope, but things got a little crazy and…well…I want this whole thing to end on a happy note. For me it would be the happiest note of my life, Val, if you would agree to be my wife. I love you more than anything in the world and if you say yes I’ll be the happiest man who ever walked the planet.”