“Thar’s thar mother.”
“How old are you, Deborah?”
“Eleven.”
“Do you go to the public school here in Black Mountain?” I asked, shocked to think she was Emily’s age. She nodded again.
“Did you know Emily Steiner?”
“Thar was ahead of thar.”
“You weren’t in the same grade?”
“No.” She let go of my hand. The car, an ancient heap of a Ford with a headlight out, rumbled past, and I caught a glimpse of the woman looking our way. I would never forget the weariness of that flaccid face with its sunken mouth and hair in a net. Deborah loped after her mother, and I shut my door.
I took a long hot bath when I got back to the motel and thought about getting something to eat. But when I looked at the room service menu I found myself staring mindlessly and decided instead to read for a while. The telephone startled me awake at half past ten.
“Yes?”
“Kay?” It was Wesley.
“I need to talk to you. It’s very important.”
“I’ll come to your room.”
I went straight there and knocked on the door.
“It’s Kay,” I said.
“Hold on.” His voice sounded from the other side.
A pause, and the door opened. His face confirmed that something was terribly wrong.
“What is it?” I walked in.
“It’s Lucy.” He shut the door, and I judged by the desk that he had spent most of the afternoon on the phone. Notes were scattered everywhere. His tie was on the bed, his shirt untucked.
“She’s been in an accident,” he said.
“What?” My blood went cold.
He shut the door and was very distracted.
“Is she all right?” I could not think.
“It happened earlier this evening on Ninety-five just north of Richmond. She’d apparently been at Quantico and went out to eat and then drove back. She ate at the Outback. You know, the Australian steakhouse in northern Virginia? We know she stopped in Hanover at the gun store–at Green Top–and it was after she left there that she had the accident.” He paced as he talked.
“Benton, is she all right?” I could not move.
“She’s at MCV. It was pretty bad, Kay.”
“Oh my God.”
“Apparently she ran off the road at the Atlee/Elmont exit and over corrected When the tags came back to you, the state police called your office from the scene and the service got Fielding to track you down. He called me because he didn’t want you to get the news over the phone. Well, the point is, since he’s a medical examiner he was afraid of what your first reaction would be if he started to tell you that Lucy had just been in an accident” — “Benton!”
“I’m sorry.” He put his hands on my shoulders.
“Jesus. I’m not good at this when it’s… Well, when it’s you. She’s got some cuts and a concussion. It’s a damn miracle she’s alive. The car flipped several times. Your car. It’s totaled. They had to cut her out of it and Medflight her in. To be honest, they thought by the look of the wreck that it wasn’t survivable. It’s just unbelievable she’s okay.”
I closed my eyes and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Was she drinking?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Tell me the rest of it.”
“She’s been charged with driving under the influence. They took her blood alcohol at the hospital and it’s high. I’m not sure how high.”
“And no one else was hurt?”
“No other car was involved.”
“Thank God.” He sat next to me and rubbed my neck.
“It’s a wonder she made it as far as she did without incident. She’d had a lot to drink when she was out to dinner, I guess.” He put his arm around me and pulled me close.
“I’ve already booked a flight for you.”
“What was she doing at Green Top?”
“She purchased a gun. A Sig Sauer P230. They found it in the car.”
“I have to get back to Richmond now.”
“There isn’t anything until early in the morning, Kay. It can wait until then.”
“I’m cold,” I said. He got his suit jacket and put it over my shoulders. I began to shiver. The terror I’d felt when I saw Wesley’s face and felt the tension in his tone brought back the night when he had called about Mark.