Brain Child by John Saul Read Free Book Online Page A

there?”
    Marsh nodded. “But they don’t know how many people might have been hurt. They might need me, and I
am
on call.” He gently disengaged her hand, but Ellen followed him into the bedroom.
    “I want to go with you,” she said while he began dressing.
    Marsh shook his head. “Ellen, there’s no reason—”
    “There
is
a reason,” Ellen protested, struggling to keep her voice level, but not succeeding. “I have a feeling, and—”
    “And it’s only a feeling,” Marsh insisted, and Ellen flinched at the dismissive tone of his words. He relented, and once more put his arms around his wife. “Honey, please. Think about it. Automobile accidents happen all the time. The odds of this one involving Alex are next to nothing. And I can’t deal with whatever’s happening if I have to take care of you too.”
    His words hurt her, but Ellen knew he was right. Deliberately she made herself stop shaking and steppedaway from him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that … Oh, never mind. Go.”
    Marsh offered her a smile. “Now, that’s my girl.”
    Though her husband’s smile did nothing to alleviate her pain, Ellen picked up his wallet and keys from the dresser and handed them to him. “Marsh?” she asked, then waited until he met her eyes before going on. “As soon as you know what’s happened, have someone call me. I don’t need details—I just need to know it’s not Alex.”
    “By the time I know what’s happened, Alex will probably be home,” Marsh replied. Then he relented. “But I’ll have someone call. With any luck, I’ll be back in an hour myself.”
    Then he was gone, and Ellen sank slowly onto the sofa to wait.
    “Jesus Christ,” Sergeant Roscoe Finnerty whispered as the spotlight on his patrol car illuminated the wreckage at the bottom of the ravine. “Why the fuck didn’t it burn?” Grabbing his flashlight, he got out of the car and started clambering down the slope, with his partner, Thomas Jefferson Jackson, right behind him. A few yards away, Finnerty saw a shape move, and trained his light on the frightened face of a teenage boy.
    “Far enough, son,” Finnerty said quietly. “Whatever’s happened, we’ll take care of it.”
    “But—” the boy began.
    “You heard him,” Jackson broke in. “Get back up on the road, and stay out of the way.” He flashed his light on the knot of teenagers who were clustered together. Most of them had wet hair, and their clothes were in disarray. “Those your friends?”
    The boy nodded.
    “Musta been some party. Now, get up there with them, and we’ll talk to you later.”
    Silently the boy turned and started back up the hill, and Jackson followed Finnerty down toward the wreckage. Behind him, he heard car doors slamming, and thesound of voices issuing orders. Vaguely he became aware of other people beginning to move down the slope of the ravine.
    The car lay on its side, so battered its make was no longer recognizable. It appeared to have turned end for end at least twice, then rolled until it came to rest against a large boulder.
    “The driver’s still in it,” Jackson heard Finnerty say, and his stomach lurched the way it always did when he had to deal with the victims of automobile accidents. Stoically he moved forward.
    “Still alive?”
    “Dunno,” Finnerty grunted. “Don’t hardly see how he can be, though.” He paused then, well aware of his partner’s weak stomach. “You okay?”
    “I’ll throw up later,” Jackson muttered. “Anybody else in the car?”
    “Nope. But if someone wasn’t wearing a seat belt, they’d have gone out on the first flip.” He shone his light briefly on Jackson’s sweating face. “You wanna help out here, or look around for another victim?”
    “I’ll help. ’Least till the medics get here.” He approached the car and stared in at the body that was pitched forward against the steering wheel. The head was covered with blood, and it looked to Jackson as if Finnerty