“He’s at the station with another group,” Guy said.
Spike continued to talk on the phone and Charlotte didn’t even turn around.
“Hey,” Reb said. “I see my patients.” She went directly to Annie and Max. “Let’s take a look at you two.”
She looked closely, first at Annie’s face, then at Max’s. She opened the neck of his shirt wider, then checked their hands. Annie expected Max to protest at being ministered to, but he didn’t.
Minutes later Reb had swabbed scratches, applied a butterfly bandage to the cut on Max’s brow, pronounced the marks on Annie’s face superficial and stood back where she could look at them. “Bruises. Cuts. And you look like hell. I suggest the two of you go to bed and get some rest.”
Silence followed.
“Could be if you weren’t so tired, you wouldn’t bang into hard objects, or fall down, or whatever you’ve been doin’ to yourselves.”
“Thanks,” Annie said, casting Max a warning glance. She could almost see him trying to figure out how to ask the doctor to check her over more thoroughly.
Max cleared his throat and offered Reb a hand. “Thanks, Doc,” he said.
“I never thought I’d be the one patchin’
you
up,” Reb said, and gave him a quick grin while she tossed stuff back in her bag. “It’s always good to see you, Max. We’ll have to get you and Roche out to the house again. And Kelly, of course.” Long red hair slid from a twist at the back of her head and her green eyes didn’t miss a thing. She glanced quickly from Annie to Max and he could see her making correct assumptions.
Max smiled at her. “We’ll look forward to it.” He wanted her to give Annie a physical but this wasn’t the time to say anything. And if he did get to it, he couldn’t be sure Annie wouldn’t dig in her heels and refuse. Yes he could—she wouldn’t go for it.
Madge had taken to pacing. Now and again she opened the back door a few inches and peered outside. Then she’d wander from the kitchen and along to the front door where she repeated the process.
Annie wanted to hug her and try to make her feel better but she knew how she’d feel if Irene went missing.
“If that isn’t the dumbest thing I ever did hear, Homer Devol,” Charlotte Patin said, her voice rising. With her hands on her hips, she planted her feet apart. “You have the nerve, at a time like this when people are in real trouble, to complain because I’ve got more money than you?”
“Oh, my God,” Max said, but not quietly enough. “I don’t believe this.”
Madge ran out of the kitchen again.
“Listen up,” Spike said, he gestured with his phone and bounced on the balls of his feet.
“You listen up,” Charlotte said. “Your father says he’s not having people think he’s a kept man the way you are.” She turned to Guy. “You, too, Guy. Your wife’s got a business and you’re a hanger-on. Did you know that?”
Guy’s response was a huge smile. “Better talk to Jilly about that. I’m not havin’ any problems.”
“I told you not to say anything like that to Charlotte,” Spike told Homer. “You old fool. Listenin’ to gossip.”
Homer stood up real straight. “Old fool, huh? I guess it’s time for me to be movin’ on.”
He strode toward the door but didn’t make it before Charlotte cut him off and slammed her engagement ring into his hand. She rushed out of the kitchen, probably following Madge.
Homer stared at the ring, his face set. He put the diamond in his pocket and banged out of the back door.
“I’ve got news, dammit,” Spike said. Muscles worked in his jaws. “A woman was just taken to the emergency room at the hospital in Breaux Bridge. Sounds like Lil.”
He had the attention of everyone in the room.
Cyrus hurried into the passageway and called, “Madge, get in here. Wait please, Spike, I want her to hear this.” Then he went out back and returned with Homer who must have been hanging around.
Madge and Charlotte came running, Madge with red eyes.
“We think Lil just arrived at the emergency room in Breaux Bridge,” Spike repeated. “From the description it’s got to be her.”
Marge shook visibly. “Either it is or it isn’t. Is…did she have…”
“I don’t know,” Spike said. “I’m sorry. I’m going there now.”
Guy raised his brows at Max. “It is Lil, or it isn’t,” he said. “Or is this woman too seriously injured for them to be sure.”
“She’s injured,” Spike said. “I don’t know how badly. But she’s not talking.”
“W
hy did you make sure everyone knew you were driving with me?” Max said, swinging his car out of the upper lot at the rectory.
“You didn’t want me to?”
He looked sideways at Annie. She stared out of the window at darkness, unbroken but for the headlights of other cars leaving for Breaux Bridge or the sheriff’s offices. “You know I want you with me. You also know it may not be the best idea.”
“It’s obvious we’re friends,” she said. “Why pretend anymore? Do you think Spike would have said as much as he did in front of you if he thought you were potential enemy number one. If you were the bad guy you wouldn’t be hanging out the way you are. Why not decide things are coming to a head and they’re goin’ to change? I still think if folks see I trust you it can only help your case.”
“I want to kiss you,” he said, staring straight ahead.
Annie chuckled. “That would be nice, but I’d rather you keep this sparkly little car of yours on the road.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” He gripped her above the knee and stroked her thigh.
She caught his fingers and wound them into hers. “I guess we shouldn’t waste opportunities.”
In other words, she did think his world would fall down around his ears but she wanted him to know she cared for him anyway. “We won’t do that,” he told her.
“Your name is goin’ to be cleared.”
His lungs expanded fully for the first time in ages. “I want to believe that. Annie, I also want you to have a physical.” He knew he might be pushing his luck.
“Where did that come from?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for days. If…look, there’s some reason for these episodes you’ve been having. Put it down to professional habit but I’d feel better if I knew you were well and the aberrations will pass.”
Aberrations wasn’t a word Annie liked much. “A physical won’t—” She frowned at him. “Sometimes people have problems. Who knows why? There isn’t always a way to find out, is there?”
She had him there. “I guess not. We’re going to Spike’s offices?”
“Are we? Is that where you want to go?”
“You know it’s not. I want to find out how Lil’s doing firsthand. And I can’t stand waiting to find out about Madge’s dog.” He might as well be completely honest.
“The hospital in Breaux Bridge then. Don’t be surprised if we get kicked out.”
Max smiled at her. “We won’t get kicked out—not unless Spike flips and accuses me of something he has no proof of.”
“I see.” She slid lower in the seat. “The doors will open wide for Dr. Savage.”
“Something like that.” He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that Annie had a hidden side, that her reactions weren’t always spontaneous. “The way I figure it, if I’d done something to Lil, I wouldn’t confront her in the hospital in front of the law.”
“You’re right,” she said and laughed. “I should have thought of that.”
“When we’re done at the hospital, can we go somewhere together?”
She turned sideways in her seat and inclined her head, watched him until he had to look at her. “What?” he said.
“You don’t beat about the bush, do you?”
He smiled. “You could be jumping to conclusions. Could be I just want to talk.”
“True. Is that what you want?”
He kept his eyes on the road but with the backs of his fingers, he rubbed her cheek. “Come back to Rosebank with me.”
She put her heels on the seat and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I’d be embarrassed if someone saw me.”
“They don’t have to.”
“I don’t like sneakin’ around,” Annie said.
“Then don’t. We’re grown-ups.”
She didn’t give him an answer.
“Have you seen Bobby Colbert lately?” Max said.
She had done her best to forget about Bobby. “He was at Pappy’s one evening but that was nothing to worry about. I’m goin’ to hope he gives up on me.”
“But you worry about him? He’s been on my mind ever since he shot his mouth off at Hungry Eyes.” He knew his mistake at once.
“What did he say?” Annie said.
He gave himself a few moments to look for an escape route. “He tried to convince me you’d been a wild child.” Better to approximate the truth than outright lie. “The idea makes me laugh. I can’t see you as a drugged-out rebel.”
“I wasn’t,” she said. “Did Bobby say I used drugs?”
“No.”
Sheeit,
he should have said yes, now he’d have to look for a different exit from the conversation.
“So what did he say?”
“Nothing sensible. The main thing is that he sounded unhinged and if he does pop up again, I want to know. I’ll get him warned off officially.”
She thought about that. “I’m glad you’re on my side.”
“I hope I can always be there for you, Annie.”
Did he mean what he’d said?
Did he mean what she thought he did?
“If I ask you a question,” Max said, “will you try not to get mad?”
Which meant he was about to ask her something that would make her mad. “I’ll do my best.” She found a comb in her purse and ran it through her tangled hair. “A shower would be nice.”
“You can do that at my place.”
He wasn’t the kind to give up. “How close are we to the hospital?”
“I’m following Spike’s directions. Can’t be that much farther. I’ve wanted to say I’m sorry I went roaring out of your place that night. You didn’t deserve that.”
“I’m more or less over it now.” She was and she wasn’t. He’d said things that still raised issues for her.
“Okay, that question I want to ask. The things you’ve seen revolved around fire.”
Annie took a breath and held it.
“You’ve got to face it sometime. I talked to Roche about what little I do know. I told him the physical symptoms you showed. He wonders if you did know something about my background before the episodes started, but you’ve blocked it out.”
“I can’t talk about it.”
Max slowed down so much, other cars passed them. “You can’t talk about it. When it happens, it’s terrible, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“You described it to me—pretty much. Annie, why would you meet me, then dream up something that had changed my life? Just like that? I don’t believe it could happen that way.”
She curled into an even tighter ball. “You’ll have to because it’s true.”
“Okay. Will you talk to Roche?”
“I don’t want to.”
He felt her misery. “But will you? He’s a nice guy, the nicest guy I ever met.”
“He’s your twin. You’re biased.”
“True. Will you see him?”
A wise woman knew when to throw a man a scrap. “I’ll think about it.”
“Good. I think that’s Breaux Bridge up ahead.”
“It is,” Annie said.
“Sometimes I forget you’re from around here,” Max said. “Do you think you ever heard about, you know, a case where the victims died the way you’ve seen in your mind?”
“No.”
An explosive sensation swelled in her head. “No. Don’t talk about it again. Until last night it was days since it happened. I want it to go away. Please.”
“Okay. Okay, cher. Isn’t that what they say around here?”
She nodded. “Only you say it ‘shar.’ Look, I only want to say this once because I can’t deal with it. Some people do have a sort of second sight. I could be one of them. I don’t expect it to stick around, or I hope it doesn’t. Once before I had visions, or whatever you want to call them. They stopped. That was after a trauma. I could be super-sensitive and now I’m picking up on something else.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t believe me,” Annie said.
“I want to,” Max said. “I’m prepared to go with your theory until a better one comes along—cher.”
He made her smile at the darkest times. “There’s that word again,” she said.
“I like it.”
“So do I. Max, it’s stupid but I wish…well, I wish things could be different but then I think that you and I are an unlikely couple. You’d never have come to Toussaint if bad things hadn’t happened to you and then we wouldn’t have met at all. But I’m not really your type. You need a smart, educated woman.”
“Don’t say that again.”
His sharpness made her tingle. “It’s true.” But she felt embarrassed by his anger, then foolish because she had no proof he thought of her as other than a convenient distraction.
“You are a smart woman. And there isn’t a particular type of woman for me.”
“I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
He glanced at her once more. “Yes, I think you should. Rather that than have you dreaming up some other myth. Let go, will you? Let go and let things happen if they’re meant to.”
Another myth?
A policeman stood outside a cubicle in the hospital’s emergency department. The walls of the cubicle were half-glass and Annie saw Lil on a gurney inside with medical types moving around her. Spike and Deputy Lori stood by her, and her husband, Ozaire, hovered at her other side.
Max felt Annie tense up. “Cool it,” he told her. “She doesn’t look in bad shape to me.” Not that he could tell so much from here except that the woman had apparently found the ability to talk. He saw her mouth moving rapidly.
“Have you been in?” Cyrus asked from behind Max.
He turned to see the priest with Madge. Of course she’d want to come. Not that she’d find any little black and white dogs around here. He felt sorry for her.
“Spike’s in there,” Max said. “We’ll have to wait and see if we’re allowed in.”
Annie rubbed Madge’s shoulder, then, awkwardly, gave her a hug and held still when the other woman started to cry softly.
The door to the cubicle opened and Spike came out. He approached Max and said, “I think it would be a good idea if you talked to her. Remind her you’re a surgeon and give some sort of medical reason for being in there. Interested party or somethin’. I don’t know. I’d like to see her reaction to you.”
No kidding.
Max smothered a smile. This truly was small-town law in action. Spike came right out and told a could-be suspect how he might manage to incriminate himself.
But it could be that complete honesty ought to give a man comfort.
“Okay?” Spike said, and when Max nodded, continued, “Let me get back in there, then give me a couple of minutes. Be patient, the rest of you. She’ll be wantin’ to tell her tale to each of you.”
“What’s she been saying?” Madge asked.
Spike puffed up his cheeks. “That’s another thing. I’m not sure what to make of what she is sayin’.” He sniffed. “Maybe one of you’ll figure out what I mean.”
“Millie?” Madge said, and bowed her head. “Sorry. I know I shouldn’t be fussin’ about a dog now but she’s all I’ve got.”
“Lil hasn’t said,” Spike told them with a mildly horrified expression. He hurried back into the cubicle.
“They’ll want to give Lil time to talk things through at her own pace,” Max said, with a curious glance from Madge to Cyrus. His face had the kind of stony expression Max hadn’t seen on the man before.
“Of course,” Madge said. “I feel so stupid and weak.”
“If there’s one thing you’re not, it’s weak,” Cyrus said, and he sounded ferocious. “You’ve got more guts than most people could ever hope to have. Stay here.”
He tapped on the glass door to the cubicle and let himself in. A nurse smiled at him and shut the door again.
“Power of the collar,” Max said but got no response from the two women.
Cyrus went to Lil who immediately clutched the hand he held out. He began to talk and Lil nodded, her face relaxing a little. Cyrus pointed to where Madge and Annie stood with Max and talked some more.
Lil’s expression changed, went blank, then crumpled. Max and Annie embraced Madge between them as Lil started to cry.
“She’s gone,” Madge said softly. “Millie’s gone. I was afraid to love her so much.”
Max met Annie’s eyes over Madge’s bowed head. “You can’t love too much,” he said. “My mother is a very wise woman, and she told me that.”
Annie swallowed and held on tight to Madge’s shaking body. Platitudes rushed forward but Annie swallowed them. Suggesting Millie might still be all right wouldn’t help.
“I’d better go in,” Max said. “Spike’s giving me the eye.”
“We’ll be okay,” Annie said, and felt him take a second too long studying her before he turned away.
“I’m glad Lil’s okay,” Madge said when they’d watched the patient interacting with her audience some more. “She doesn’t look scared of Max to me.”
Annie felt briefly irritated. “Why should she? Whatever happened to her, it’s obviously nothing like the thing with Michele Riley in Toussaint. And Max wasn’t involved with that.”
“No, of course not.”
“Oh, Madge,” Annie said. “I’m sorry I snapped. What is going on around here? One thing after another. I’m so confused.”