Fred looked at Pix and told his girlfriend to be quiet.
"No one's blaming you. Now stop bothering Mrs. Mil er."
Arlene took a mighty gulp and calmed down.
Then they waited.
Someone at the nurse's station offered them more coffee, but Pix didn't want any. The cup she had drunk was making her feel jangly. She had cal ed Sam soon after they'd arrived and he was waiting by the phone. She wanted him by her side. Hospital waiting rooms. She thought of al the hours she had spent in them: her father's last il ness, a friend's mastectomy, Sam's ulcer, Danny's broken arm. No one talked except in occasional hushed voices. Each was total y absorbed in the thoughts being directed toward the room you weren't al owed to be in.
She knew, as Earl had said, that Samantha was going to be okay, but the nature of the attack—and al that blood
—was taking her down these dark corridors in her mind.
Then, as it happened in hospitals, the time stretched out beyond anxiety into boredom, and final y numb fatigue.
Arlene suddenly got up. "The knife! I forgot al about the knife. It's in the car."
“What knife?" Fred asked.
“The one in Duncan's trunk. Thank God he didn't have it with him.”
Earl tuned into the conversation. He'd been off with Jil on the long white sandy beach out at the Point.
He came over to them and said, "You better tel me al about it—and keep your voices down. We don't want to worry Mrs. Mil er.”
If Pix noticed that Earl and Fred left soon after, it didn't real y register, nor did Fred's return alone. Earl walked in later. What did capture her immediate attention was the entry of a man in a white coat.
“Mrs. Mil er?" Pix jumped up, for once unaware of the picture she presented. It was an odd one in these wee hours of the morning—she was in her pajamas, with Earl's jacket over them.
It was a young doctor, as most of them seemed to be these days. "Your daughter would like to see you." He was smiling.
“She's going to be al right?" Her tears flowed freely.
Earl, Arlene, and Fred gathered close.
“Yes, though she's going to have a very large lump on her head and we had to do a little embroidery on her scalp
—not much. The ambulance crew said from the way she was lying, she struck a tree root or a rock when she fel , which knocked her out cold. Samantha says someone pushed her and it must have been with some force. We also did a CAT scan and I don't see anything to be concerned about. We do want to keep her overnight to be sure, but she's a very healthy specimen and should be just fine.”
The news was overwhelming.
“When can I have a few words with her, Doctor?" Earl asked. "There seems to be an assault involved and we need al the information she can give us"
“If you keep it very brief, I don't see why you can't do it now. But"—he looked back at Arlene and Fred—"that's al .
The best thing for her now is rest. She was pretty shaken up.”
They nodded solemnly.
“Tel her ... wel , tel her I'm sorry and give her my love.
And I'l be here as soon as she can have visitors.”
Pix gave Arlene a hug, her recent anger total y vanished. Samantha had been dropped off at the end of the road, as had al of them day and night, hundreds of times.
The sight of her daughter in a hospital bed threatened to unhinge her, but Pix took a firm hold of herself—and Samantha.
“I have to cal Daddy right away. He's waiting. Then I'l be right back. Earl wants to talk to you about what happened. Do you feel up to it?"
“They gave me something to make my head stop hurting and I feel a little dopey, but I can tel him what happened. It was so quick, Mom." Samantha gave a little sob. "Duncan must real y hate me!"
“Don't think about it, sweetheart. He's a very, very troubled boy.”
As Pix was leaving to get Earl, the nurse came in. "You have a phone cal , Mrs. Mil er. You can take it out here.”
Pix fol owed her and soon heard her husband's familiar voice. She told him what the doctor had said. "I just wish you were here, even though she's fine"
“Wel , I wil be in about three and a half hours tops."
"What!"
“I couldn't simply sit home. I'm a little south of Portland and wil be at the hospital as soon as I can. Nobody's too concerned about speed limits at this time of night. If I do get stopped, I'l have them cal Earl."
“Please be careful, darling." Pix was thril ed that he was on his way, but one Mil er in the hospital was more than enough.
“Don't worry, I wil .”
She hung up and went back to Samantha's room, where she intended to spend the night.
Earl had finished questioning her.
“We'l let you know what happens with the Athertons.
Duncan must have been upset that they were in his cabin and he blamed Samantha. But why he didn't confront her, I don't know. Usual y, he just yel s. I never expected violence"
Earl's lips were tight. "He's been trouble since he arrived and we've been too soft with him. Not this time."
“In his cabin?" Pix had missed the story so far.
“I'l let Samantha tel you. The doctor told me I had five minutes and they're up. Take care of yourself, Pix. I'l be by in the morning." He gave her a quick hug and left. Before the door closed, she ran over and told him, "Sam is on his way" Earl nodded. "I'm Sony this happened. Samantha's a terrific kid. Now you get some rest, too.”
Samantha was barely conscious, but for different reasons than earlier. She had heard the last part of their conversation, though.
“Daddy's coming?"
“Yes, he'l be here in a couple of hours."
“Good. I bet he wants to beat the shit out of Duncan"
Pix did not deny it. She wanted to do it herself.
* * *
The next morning, things were not so clear. Duncan Cowley had been at the nine o'clock movie that did not get out until past eleven. Two friends swore to it and Wendel Marshal , who manned the ticket booth, distinctly remembered sel ing him a ticket.
“It's hard to forget a kid with a hoop in his ear and green hair," he'd told Earl. Duncan had apparently streaked his locks with some sort of dye for the evening out. Now in the hard light of day, it looked pretty pathetic as he sat in Earl's office uneasily flanked by his parents. The state police had come to the house the night before and Jim had stil not shaken off his indignation at his stepson for being the cause of their visit.
“In al my years on Sanpere Island, the police have never had to come to my house for any reason whatsoever.
Now we want some answers here and we want them fast.”
Earl thought this was his line, but he let it lie.
“Duncan," he said to the boy in a milder tone. The kid looked like he'd been through the mil . "We just want to know what happened. No one's accusing you of anything."
“Be real," the boy shouted. "You're never going to believe a fucking word I say, so why don't you go ahead and lock me up!" Earl wondered where Duncan had found the energy. Since he'd come in with Valerie and Jim, he'd sat slumped over in the chair, dressed as usual in black and smel ing of stale beer and cigarettes. He was probably hungover from the night before. When the police had not found him at home, they'd driven around the island, turning their flashlight beams into a number of cars and soon locating Duncan in the backseat of one, trying to hide a six-pack under his scrawny frame.
Earl was pretty tired, too. This was the second time he'd talked with the Athertons and the boy himself.
Duncan's denial and alibi had left Earl in a dilemma. He'd been asking around. There were only a few other kids who had the same shoes, mostly summer people. Those things cost a fortune. But in light of Duncan's alibi, he'd have to track down every pair and owner. As alibis went, it was a pretty good one. Patrons who got up in the middle of the film, obscuring the sight of those behind them, did not go unnoticed or unremarked on Sanpere. The only possibility was that Duncan had bought a ticket from Wendel and then immediately went out by another door. Could he have been so furious at Samantha that he'd plotted the attack ahead of time, even providing himself with an alibi? Of course his friends would lie through their teeth for him. At the moment, Earl was trying to find others, less loyal, who might have seen him in the audience. The whole thing was complicated by the group's penchant for the same style and color of dress. He'd have to hope Duncan was the only one with the nifty hairdo.