He pronounced it Bouchez, but Sammy didn't bother to correct him, or to tell him that in grade school the boys had called her Bushey the Tushie. 'Yes, Doctor,' she said.
Nor did Thurse bother to correct her misapprehension. That undefined joy—the kind that comes with tears hidden in it—swelled a little more. When he thought of how close he'd come to not volunteering… if Caro hadn't encouraged him… he would have missed this.
'Dr Rusty will be glad you're back. And so is Walter. Do you need any pain medication?'
'No.' This was true. Her privates still ached and throbbed, but that was far away. She felt as if she were floating above herself, tethered to earth by the thinnest of strings.
'Good. That means you're getting better.'
'Yes,' Sammy said. 'Soon I'll be well.'
'When you've finished feeding him, climb on into bed, why don't you? Dr Rusty will be in to check on you in the morning.'
'All right.'
'Good night, Ms Bouchez.'
'Good night, Doctor.'
Thurse closed the door softly and continued down the hall. At the end of the corridor was the Roux girl's room. One peek in there and then he'd call it a night.
She was glassy but awake. The young man who'd been visiting her was not. He sat in the corner, snoozing in the room's only chair with a sports magazine on his lap and his long legs sprawled out in front of him.
Georgia beckoned Thurse, and when he bent over her, she whispered something. Because of the low voice and her broken, mostly toothless mouth, he only got a word or two. He leaned closer.
'Doh wake im.' To Thurse, she sounded like Homer Simpson. 'He'th the oney one who cay to visih me.'
Thurse nodded. Visiting hours were long over, of course, and given his blue shirt and his sidearm, the young man would probably be gigged for not responding to the fire whistle, but still—what harm? One firefighter more or less probably wouldn't make any difference, and if the guy was too far under for the sound of the whistle to wake him, he probably wouldn't be much help, anyway. Thurse put a finger to his lips and blew the young woman a shhh to show they were conspirators. She tried to smile, then winced.
Thurston didn't offer her pain medication in spite of that; according to the chart at the end of the bed, she was maxed until two a.m. Instead he just went out, closed the door softly behind him, and walked back down the sleeping hallway. He didn't notice that the door to the BABY ON BOARD room was once more ajar.
The couch in the lounge called to him seductively as he went by, but Thurston had decided to go back to Highland Avenue after all.
And check the kids.
4
Sammy sat by the bed with Little Walter in her lap until the new doctor went by. Then she kissed her son on both cheeks and the mouth. 'You be a good baby,' she said. 'Mama is going to see you in heaven, if they let her in. I think they will. She's done her time in hell.'
She laid him in his crib, then opened the drawer of the bedtable.
She had put the gun inside so Little Walter wouldn't feel it poking into him while she held him and fed him for the last time. Now she took it out.
5
Lower Main Street was blocked off by nose-to-nose police cars with their jackpot lights flashing. A crowd, silent and unexcited—almost sullen—stood behind them, watching.
Horace the Corgi was ordinarily a quiet dog, limiting his vocal repertoire to a volley of welcome-home barks or the occasional yap to remind Julia he was still present and accounted for. But when she pulled over to the curb by Maison des Fleurs, he let out a low howl from the backseat. Julia reached back blindly to stroke his head.Taking comfort as much as giving it.
'Julia, my God,' Rose said.
They got out. Julia's original intention was to leave Horace behind, but when he uttered another of those small, bereft howls—as if he knew, as if he really knew—she fished under the passenger seat for his leash, opened the rear door for him to jump out, and then clipped the leash to his collar. She grabbed her personal camera, a pocket-sized Casio, from the seat pocket before closing the door. They pushed through the crowd of bystanders on the sidewalk, Horace leading the way, straining at his leash.
Piper Libby's cousin Rupe, a part-time cop who'd come to The Mill five years ago, tried to stop them. 'No one beyond this point, ladies.'
"That's my place,' Julia said. 'Up top is everything I own in the world—clothes, books, personal possessions, the lot. Underneath is the newspaper my great-grandfather started. It's only missed four press dates in over a hundred and twenty years. Now it's going; up in smoke. If you want to stop me from watching it happen—at close range—you'll have to shoot me.'
Rupe looked unsure, but when she started forward again (Horace now at her knee and looking up at the balding man mistrustfully), Rupe stood aside. But only momentarily.
'Not you,' he told Rose.
'Yes, me. Unless you want ex-lax in the next chocolate frappe you order.'
'Ma'am… Rose… I have my orders.'
