The Long Wait Read Free Page B

like to die. There was a crazy, violent screaming behind me that came from Lindsey’s contorted mouth and it was the last thing I thought I’d ever hear again.
    It was, for a long, long time.
    Sound came back first. It was a voice that said, “You’re a fool for doing that, Lindsey.”
    Then another voice that quavered slightly. “I should have killed him. Honest to God, I tried. I hope the bastard dies.”
    Somebody else was there too. “Not me. I hope he lives. I’ll work him over like he’s never been worked over before, so help me!”
    I wanted to answer that and couldn’t. My head was shrieking with the pain in it and I felt my legs pulling up in a tight knot. I waited until it passed and made my eyes open. I was on a metal bed in a room that was filled with people. Everything else was white and the air had a sharp, pungent odor.
    There was Lindsey with a lump on his jaw and Tucker still faintly recognizable through a maze of bandages and two other men in dark suits, a flat-faced girl in a white uniform talking to two more white uniforms with stethoscopes around their necks. The last two were looking at a set of films and they were nodding.
    When they reached a decision one said, “Concussion. Should have been a fracture. I don’t know how he got away with it.”
    â€œThat’s nice,” I said, and everybody looked at me. I was popular again.
    Things were quiet too long. Lindsey smiled when he shouldn’t have smiled. He came over and sat on the edge of the bed like an old friend and smiled some more. “Ever hear of Dillinger, Johnny? He went to a lot of trouble getting his fingertips cut off too. It didn’t work. You’re a little smarter than Dillinger ... or you had a better job done. We can’t make them out yet, but they’ll come through. Up in Washington they have ways of doing those things, and if there’s so much as an eighth of an inch of ridging left they can prove it if it matches up. You got a little time yet, kid. With Dillinger they had Bertillon measurements and photographs and we don’t have anything like that on you. It’s a cute setup if ever I saw one ... everyone and his brother knows you and we can’t prove it.”
    Tucker made a loud noise behind his bandages. “Hell, you ain’t letting him get away with it, are you?”
    There was no mirth in Lindsey’s laugh. “He’s not getting away with anything. Not one goddamn thing. The only way he can get out of this town is dead. Walk around, Johnny. Go see all your friends. Have yourself some fun because you don’t have much time to do it in.”
    I thought Tucker was going to make a try for me right then. He would have if Lindsey hadn’t put his arm up to stop him. His eyes under the gauze were red little marbles that tried to do what his hands couldn’t do. “Damn it, we gotta hold him! Lindsey, if you let him....”
    â€œShut up. We can’t do a thing right now. If I try to book him a lawyer’ll have him out in five minutes.” He turned back to me. “Just stay in town. Remember that. I’ll be one step behind you all the way.”
    Hell, I had to get in my two cents worth. It wouldn’t be any fun if I couldn’t sound off when I felt like it. “You remember something too. Every time you put your hands on me I’ll knock you on your goddamn ass like I did before and that goes for your stooge as well.”
    Somebody choked a little.
    Somebody swore.
    The doctor told them to go and the nurse closed the door. He pointed to the closet. “You can get dressed and go if you want to. My advice is to say here awhile. There’s nothing wrong with you some rest won’t cure, though I don’t know how you got away with it.”
    â€œI’ll go,” I told him.
    â€œOkay with me. Be sure to take it easy.”
    â€œYeah, I’ll do that I reached up and felt the