Dead Man's Song (Pine Deep 2)

“Then we’re screwed. ”

Vic sat in silence while the light turned yellow and then red again. A smile grew on Vic’s face like the slow spread of a disease. “Maybe not,” he said softly.

The light turned green again and Vic drove them both back home.

(3)

Crow’s cell rang while the paramedics were examining Val. He saw that it was Saul Weinstock and flipped it open. “Saul—thank God it’s you. I guess you heard…”

“I know, it’s horrible,” Weinstock said, sounding ragged. “I just can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. ”

Crow hesitated. “What do you mean? How could you have foreseen something like this?”

“Well, come on, Crow,” Weinstock said, “we’ve all been watching him come apart for weeks now and—”

“Saul—what the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Terry. What are you talking about?”

Crow told him.

“Holy shit!” Weinstock yelled. “My God. I didn’t know—I’ve been in the ER for the last hour working on Terry. ”

“Terry? What the hell happened to him?”

“Crow…about ninety minutes ago Terry Wolfe threw himself out of his bedroom window. I’ve got a team of residents picking glass out of him, and he has forty broken bones, including a skull fracture. ”

Crow took a wandering sideways step and sat down hard on the fender of his car. He looked wildly across the driveway to where Val was being tended to, and over at the bodies that crime scene investigators were examining. And at the thing that Val had shot fifteen times. Then he looked up at Newton, and all of that hit him, too.

“Crow? Crow—are you there?”

“Y-yeah, Saul…it’s just all…it’s too much. ”

“You don’t know the half of it. ”

“Believe me—I think I do. ”

“Believe me,” Weinstock insisted, “I think you don’t. We have to talk. ”

“Not now, Saul…Val…I—”

“No, not now—but soon, Crow, as soon as we can. I need to talk to someone about what’s happening around here. I was going to tell you tomorrow morning. Crow, I’ve never been this scared before in my life!”

“I have,” Crow said hoarsely. “But not recently. ”

“Crow—Pine Deep’s in real trouble,” Weinstock said softly.

“Ye

ah,” Crow agreed. “I think so, too. ” Crow cleared his throat. “Look, they’re getting ready to bring Val in. I’m going with her. I’ll…see you at the ER. ”

“Okay,” Weinstock said, and hung up.

Crow tried to walk calmly, normally, over to Val, but every third or fourth step he staggered, just a little. The paramedic was reaching down to help her up, but Crow gently pushed him to one side. “I got it,” he said and drew Val to her feet and then pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. “Let’s go. ”

There was a look of hurt and panic in her eyes. “Mark—”

But Crow shook his head. “Sweetie, they’ll take care of him. We can’t do anything here, and Connie’s going to need us at the hospital when she wakes up. ”