[Oxrun Station] The Bloodwind by Charles L. Grant Read Free Book Online

"Is she all right?"
    "Oh, you know how it is," Kelly said, a practiced twist of her right hand flipping her air-fine hair back over her shoulder. "She thinks she's in love with this guy from Hartford. Insurance, yet, if you can believe it. She spent the weekend with him up at Stowe, and now she's trying to decide if she's going to marry him."
    "She certainly works fast."
    "She thinks that about every man she meets, al most," Kelly said sourly. "And every time it happens I have to bail her out. It gets pretty tiring after a while, you know what I mean? I mean, she's like a kid, for god's sake."
    Pat's nod was carefully neutral, remembering as she did the intense infatuation the woman had with Greg Billings only last summer. Greg had taken her out a few times, and each evening Kelly (or so she claimed) had been kept up until dawn with a blow-by-blow descrip tion of every move Greg had made, every word he had said. Pat, too, had grown weary of the affair by the time it had ended, and angry with herself for even hinting at the notion she might be jealous.
    "So how are the Musketeers?" Kelly asked.
    Pat grabbed the edge of the seat when the station wagon hit a small patch of ice and its tail swerved alarmingly.
    "Coming along," she answered when her voice returned.
    "Nice people."
    "Sure are. A little frustrating, though."
    Kelly laughed. "I can imagine. Y'know that cowboy one, Oliver? I think he has the hots for Abbey."
    "Like hell."
    Kelly looked at her, surprised. "Hey, no kidding! Whenever you're not around that pickup of his is always at the curb. In fact, he even tried to take her to work a few times."
    A pause. "Well, did he?"
    "I don't know," she said, shrugging. "I'm not her jailer, you know."
    Another moment's silence, another patch of ice.
    "Handles nice," Kelly said approvingly.
    "Yes."
    "Guess she was drunk or something."
    "What? Who?"
    Kelly glanced over, back to the road. "Oh, sorry. Thinking out loud, I guess. About that accident last night."
    Pat squirmed into the corner, as much to look at Kelly more easily as to avoid watching the road speed ing dangerously at her. "What accident?"
    "Honestly, Pat," Kelly said with a tolerant grin. "Don't you ever listen to the radio up there? For heav en's sake, how do you know what's going on in the world?" She shook her head slowly. "Well, last night, out on Mainland, some girl wrapped herself around a telephone pole." Her voice lowered in a parody of mystery. "In a little car just like this, in fact. At least, that's what I gathered from the report I heard. Right smacko into a pole, killed her right away. The way I figure it, she was over to Harley and fell asleep or something, see. The guy on the radio said it happened just after midnight." She gave an exaggerated shudder. "It was dumb, you know. I mean, who goes out drink ing on a Wednesday night, anyway? In the middle of the week. Stupid. Poor kid."
    Pat looked away, distantly sorry for the accident victim and feeling her own mortality much closer to home. She sniffed, felt herself relax somewhat as Kelly slowed to take the college entrance.
    " Kelly, did you . . . that is, I was going to stop by this morning on the way out to work, but I guess you and Abbey had already gone. I, uh, wanted to apologize for last night. I mean, for the noise I must have made coming home."
    "Noise?" Kelly frowned, wrinkling her nose as if a distasteful odor had suddenly invaded the car. "I didn't hear a thing, Pat, not a thing. I was dead to the world, if you want to know the truth. I didn't hear you at all." She glanced sideways, her face grey-shadowed by the trees that closed overhead. "Pat. Oh, Pat, you got tanked up again, right?"
    "Slightly."
    "Great. Open mouth and insert foot. Hey, if I'd known I would have said —"
    " It's okay, Kelly, it's okay. Meant or not, I deserve it."
    The overcast deepened, and she knew the next snow fall would not be a mere dusting.
    " Y'know ," Kelly said, "you oughta try smoking now and then instead of