WATCHERS by Dean R. Koontz

Nora sensed that the stories about Einstein had so completely won the vet Over

that, if he did spot the tattoo and knew what it meant, he might conceivably put

it out of his mind and might let them go in peace once Einstein was recovered.

If Einstein recovered.

But as they were gathering up the dishes, Keene said, “Sam, I’ve been wondering

why your wife calls you ‘Travis.’

They were prepared for this. Since assuming new identities, they had decided

that it was easier and safer for Nora to continue calling him Travis, rather

than trying to use Sam all the time and then, at some crucial moment, slipping

up. They could claim that Travis was a nickname she’d given him, that the origin

was a private joke; with winks at each other and foolish grins, they could imply

there was something sexual about it, something much too embarrassing to explain

further. That was how they handled Keene’s question, but they were in no mood to

wink and grin foolishly with any conviction, so Nora was not sure they carried

it off. In fact she thought their nervous and inept performance might increase

Keene’s suspicions if he had any.

Just before afternoon office hours were to begin, Keene received a call from his

assistant, who’d had a headache when she had gone to lunch, and who now reported

that the headache had been complicated by an upset stomach. The vet was left to

handle his patients alone, so Travis quickly volunteered his and Nora’s

services.

“We’ve got no veterinary training, of course. But we can handle any manual labor

involved.”

“Sure, “Nora agreed, “and between us we’ve got one pretty good brain. We could

do just about anything else you showed us how to do.”

They spent the afternoon restraining recalcitrant cats and dogs and parrots and

all sorts of other animals while Jim Keene treated them. There were bandages to

be laid out, medicines to be retrieved from the cabinets, instruments to be

washed and sterilized, fees to be collected and receipts written. Some pets,

afflicted with vomiting and diarrhea, left messes to be cleaned up, but Travis

and Nora tended to those unpleasantnesses as uncomplainingly and unhesitatingly

as they performed other tasks.

They had two motives, the first of which was that, by assisting Keene, they had

a chance to be in the surgery with Einstein throughout the afternoon. Between

chores, they stole a few moments to pet the retriever, speak a few encouraging

words to him, and reassure themselves that he was getting no worse. The downside

of being around Einstein continuously was that they could see, to their dismay,

that he did not seem to be getting any better, either.

Their other purpose was to further ingratiate themselves with the vet, to give

him a reason to be beholden to them, so he would not reconsider his decision to

allow them to stay the night.

The patient load was far greater than usual, Keene said, and they were not able

to close the office until after six o’clock. Weariness—and the labor they

shared—generated a warm feeling of camaraderie. As they made and ate dinner

together, Jim Keene entertained them with a treasure of amusing animal stories

culled from his experiences, and they were almost as comfortable and friendly as

they would have been if they had known the vet for months instead of less than

one day.

Keene prepared the guest bedroom for them, and provided a few blankets with

which to make a crude bed on the floor of the surgery. Travis and Nora would

sleep in the real bed in shifts, each spending half the night on the floor with

Einstein.

Travis had the first shift, from ten o’clock until three in the morning. Only

one light was left on in the far corner of the surgery, and Travis alternately

sat and stretched out on the piled blankets in the shadows where Einstein lay.

Sometimes, Einstein slept, and the sound of his breathing was more normal, less

frightening. But sometimes he was awake, and his respiration was horribly

labored, and he whimpered in pain and—Travis somehow knew—in fear. When Einstein

was awake, Travis talked to him, reminiscing about experiences they had shared,

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