He caught his breath, pinching his eyes shut, as she peeled back the first thick plaster. It made a sickening sound that made Purdue cringe, but he was not ready to satisfy his curiosity just yet by opening his eyes. She stopped. “Is that okay? Want me to go slower?”
He winced, “No, no, just hurry. Just make it quick, but give me time in between to catch my breath.”
Without a word in response, Nurse Madison suddenly ripped the plaster off in one jerk. Purdue yelped out in agony, gasping from the instantaneous flight of his breath.
“Jee-zuss Cha-rist!” he shouted, his eyes wide open in shock. His chest heaved rapidly as his mind processed the excruciating inferno in the localized skin.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Purdue,” she apologized sincerely. “You said I must just go ahead and get it over with.”
“I–I know-w w-what what I said,” he stammered through mild recovery of his breathing abilities. He never expected it to feel like interrogation torture or pulling nails. “You are right. I did say that. My God, that almost killed me.”
But what Purdue never expected, was what he would see when he looked down at his wounds.
4
The Dead Relative Phenomenon
With haste, Sam tried to unlock his car door while Nina wheezed wildly by his side. She had learned by now that it was futile to question her old comrade on anything while he was focused on serious matters, so she elected to catch her breath and hold her tongue. The night was freezing for the season and his legs felt the burning chill of the wind curl in up under his kilt, with his hands equally numb. From the direction of the pub, voices were clamoring outside the establishment like hunters poised to commence on the tracks of a fox.
“For fuck’s sake!” Sam hissed in the dark as the point of the key kept scraping the lock without finding its way in. Nina looked back at the dark figures. They did not advance away from the building, but she could discern an altercation.
“Sam,” she whispered in hastened breaths, “can I give you a hand?”
“Is he coming? Is he coming yet?” he asked urgently.
Still perplexed at Sam’s flight, she answered, “Who? I need to know who to look out for, but I can tell you that so far that nobody is trailing us.”
“Th-th-the… the fu—,” he stuttered, “the fucking bloke that attacked me.”
Her big dark eyes scanned the area, but still, as far as Nina could see, there was no detectible movement in the space between the fight outside the pub and Sam’s jalopy. The door creaked open before Nina could figure out who Sam was referring to, and she felt his hand grasp her arm. He flung her into the car as gently as he could and pushed in after her.
“Jesus, Sam! Your stick shift is hell on my legs!” she complained as she made the arduous shift onto the passenger seat. Normally Sam would have some quip to the double entendre she uttered, but he had no time for humor now. Nina rubbed her thighs, still wondering what the fuss was about as Sam started the car. Performing her habitual locking of the door came just in time as, no sooner, a loud thump against her window started Nina into a cry of terror.
“Oh my God!” she shouted at the sight of the saucer-eyed man in the trench coat, suddenly appearing from nowhere.
“Son of a bitch!” Sam seethed as he threw the stick into first and revved the car.
The man outside Nina’s door was shouting furiously at her, slamming on the window with rapid blows. While Sam was getting ready to speed off, time slowed for Nina. She took a good look at the man whose face was distorted in intensity and recognized him at once.
“The virgin,” she muttered in astonishment.
As the car leapt from its parking space, the man screamed something at them in the red glow of the brake lights, but Nina was too shaken to pay attention to what he was saying. Agape, her lips waited for the right explanation to give Sam, but her brain felt scrambled. Through two red lights they sped in the late hour of the high street of Glenrothes, heading south towards North Queensferry.
“What did you say?” Sam asked Nina when they finally got on the main road.
“About?” she asked, so flabbergasted by it all that she had forgotten most of what she had remarked on. “Oh, the man at the door? Is that the keelie you are running from?”
“Aye,” Sam replied. “What did you call him back there?”
“Oh, the virgin,” she said. “Been watching him in the pub while you were in the bog, and he does not drink alcohol, I have noticed. So, all his drinks…”
“Virgins,” Sam surmised. “I get it. I get it.” His face was flushed and his eyes still wild, but he kept a firm eye on the winding road under the high beam lights. “I really have to get a car with central locking.”
“No shit,” she agreed, wiping her hair back under her knitted hat. “I would have thought that had become evident to you by now, especially in the business you are in. Getting your arse chased and accosted this much would require better transportation.”
“I like my car,” he mumbled.
“It looks like a bug, Sam, and you are loaded enough to afford something in keeping with your needs,” she preached. “Like a tank.”
“Did he say anything to you?” Sam asked her.
“No, but I saw him go into the restroom after you. I just did not think anything of it. Why? Did he say something to you in there or did he just attack you?” Nina enquired, taking the moment to brush his black tresses over his ear to clear his hair from his face. “Good God, you look like you have seen a dead relative or something.”
Sam looked at her. “Why would you say that?”
“Just a manner of speaking,” Nina defended. “Unless he was a dead relative of yours.”
“Don’t be silly,” Sam scoffed.
It dawned on Nina that her companion was not exactly adhering to the road laws, what with a million gallons of neat whiskey in his veins and a helping of shock for good measure. She gently ran her hand from his hair to his shoulder as not to startle him. “Don’t you think I should rather be driving?”
“You don’t know my car. It has… tricks,” Sam protested.
“No more than you have and I can drive you just fine,” she smiled. “Come now. If the cops pull you over you will be in deep shit and we do not need another sour taste from this evening, hey?”
Her coaxing was successful. With a soft sigh of surrender, he pulled the car off the road and changed places with Nina. Still agitated by the incident, Sam combed the dark road in their wake for signs of pursuit, but was relieved to find the threat absent. Inebriated as he was, Sam did not sleep it off on the drive home.
“My heart is still pounding, you know,” he told Nina.
“Aye, mine too. You have no idea who he was?” she asked.
“He looked like someone I once knew, but I cannot put my finger on it,” Sam revealed. His words were as confused as the emotions coursing through him. He ran his fingers through his hair and softly raked his face before looking at Nina again. “I thought he was going to kill me. He did not lunge or anything, but he was mumbling and shoving me, so I got pissed off. Bastard did not bother with a simple ‘hello’ or anything, so I took it as a nudge for a brawl or thought maybe he was trying to rib me in the shitter, you know?”
“Makes sense,” she agreed, keeping her eyes keenly on the road before and behind them. “What did he mumble, though? That might clue you up on who he was or what he was there for.”
Sam recollected the hazy incident, but nothing specific came to mind.