Gargantua by K. Robert Andreassi Read Free Book Online Page B

Kulani are a couple of kids,” Doctor Hale explained as they walked briskly toward the clinic, along with a few dozen others, both from Manny’s and elsewhere. “Dak’s in one of the local bands. He and Kulani were gonna be married in a few weeks.”
    “Damn,” Jack muttered.
    As they approached, Jack heard a trembling voice. It was the woman in the passenger seat—Kulani—sounding like she was in a daze.
    “Something . . . pulled him backwards . . . something in the water . . . some thing . . .”
    Jack and Doctor Hale held back, Jack holding Brandon’s hand. They were outsiders here, after all, and he could see fine over the heads of the others. He and Hale would just get in the way of the professionals if they tried to get involved any more.
    Speaking of whom, Alyson ran out of the clinic, two orderlies on her heels. The police chief indicated the body in the back. The doctor pulled the sheet back.
    Jack held down a gag reflex as she did so. The body looked like it had been chewed.
    “What do you think, Jack?” Hale asked. “Dolphin? Whale?”
    Hale spoke in a detached, professional manner, for which Jack was grateful—it gave him a chance to get his bearings. “Either one would be way off course for this time of year.”
    “Which would be consistent with your theories about the impact of the seismic activity, yeah?”
    Before Jack could answer, he noticed Brandon trying to stand on tiptoe to get a better look. “I can’t see. What’s going on?”
    Unbidden, images of that horrible day over a year earlier flowed into Jack’s mind: Doctor Bottroff telling Diane Ellway why she was having those awful headaches; Diane telling Jack in that stoic manner with which she always imparted bad news; trying to make their eleven-year-old son understand, using words like inoperable and brain tumor, that Mom wasn’t going to be around much longer, never quite able to use the word dying ; watching as Diane deteriorated, her hair falling out from the chemotherapy; trying to wake her up that one morning and realizing she wasn’t breathing . . .
    Jack shook his head to clear the images. The last thing Brandon needs is to be exposed to more death. He put his hand on his son’s shoulder and said, “I think you’d better go back to the hotel, Brandon.”
    “Nah, I’m okay,” Brandon said with the self-assuredness of the twelve-year-old who’s already seen everything.
    In fact, he’s already seen this, after a fashion, which is exactly why I want him out of here. “I wasn’t really giving you a vote,” he said gently, giving Brandon’s shoulder a squeeze. “Go on, I’ll be there soon.”
    Brandon looked extremely unhappy, but said nothing and obediently headed back toward the Ritz.
    Once Brandon was out of sight, Jack started to move in closer to the crowd surrounding Dak’s body, Hale close behind. Alyson had done a quick examination of the body and replaced the blanket. As the two orderlies carried the bodies inside, Alyson put her arm around Kulani, who still seemed to be in a daze.
    “Kulani?” Alyson said gently.
    At this, Kulani looked up and fixed Alyson with an expression that made Jack’s heart crumple. He knew that face. It’s the same face that looked back at me in the mirror for months after Diane died.
    Alyson led Kulani inside. He hoped that she would show Kulani the same compassion that she showed to a twelve-year-old with a cut finger.
    “D’you know what happened?” Hale said. Jack was about to ask the geologist how Jack could possibly know when he’d spent most of the last five hours with Hale himself, when he realized that the question had been asked of Paul Bateman, who was walking over from the police jeep.
    Paul’s presence was hardly a surprise. The third death in two nights certainly qualified as news. “Joe told me that something grabbed Dak’s surf skis and pulled him backward. Dragged him through the water. He also told me earlier that, according to their investigation,