The Devil's Labyrinth by John Saul Read Free Book Online Page B

with Tom? How could she have done it? How could she have gone out on a date—a
date
!—without knowing exactly where her son was? What kind of mother was she? If only she could trade places with him; she should have been beaten up, not him.
    If only Bill were here! He’d know what to do. Why did he have to die? He ought to be here helping her. Helping her, and helping Ryan! Tears welled behind her eyes, but she steeled herself against them; the last thing Ryan needed right now was to have her start crying.
    The hospital room door opened and a young doctor with a stethoscope hanging around his neck strode in and offered her his hand.
    “Mrs. McIntyre? I’m Dr. Barris. Your boy here seems to be a lot stronger than he looks right now. We took CAT scans of his head and torso, and he actually looks a lot worse off than he is. There’s some bruising, but he’ll be just fine.”
    Teri felt a little bit of her burden of guilt lift at the doctor’s words. “When can he come home? Tonight?”
    Barris shook his head. “It’s bad enough to make us want to keep him overnight for observation, but if nothing worrisome develops, I’ll discharge him tomorrow. Sunday at the latest.”
    “Well at least that’s good news,” Teri sighed. She gave Ryan’s hand a quick squeeze. “Did you hear that?”
    Ryan nodded, but didn’t open his eyes.
    “We’ve given him something for the pain,” Barris went on. He should be down for the night within about ten more minutes.”
    “Can I stay with him?” Teri asked. “Just sit here?”
    The doctor shrugged noncommittally, but Tom Kelly shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. Just let him sleep.”
    “But what if he needs something?” Teri pleaded and suddenly Tom understood exactly what was really in her mind.
    “He’s not going to need anything, and if he does, he’s got a whole nursing staff to take care of it for him. But I’ll bet he’d like you to be awake tomorrow, instead of passing out whenever he tries to talk to you.”
    Teri looked helplessly at Ryan. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be breathing regularly and easily. Tom was right—there was nothing she could do for him tonight. “Okay,” she said, rising shakily to her feet.
    “I’ll see you all in the morning, then,” Dr. Barris said. His pager beeped, he glanced at it, then said a quick good-bye and left the room.
    Teri leaned over the edge of the bed and kissed Ryan on the cheek, then smoothed his hair, which was still damp from the nurse washing the blood out of it. She looked down at her son, her chest tight. “Good night, honey,” she said, brushing his cheek with her lips. “Sweet dreams.”
    Ryan neither opened his eyes, nor gave any acknowledgment that he’d heard her words.

    In the car, Teri finally let her tears flow. Tom drove slowly and said nothing, letting her deal with her roiling emotions. But when he got to her house, he pulled into the driveway, killed the engine and turned off the lights. “I think maybe I’d better come in, at least for a while,” he said softly.
    Teri blew her nose, took a couple of deep breaths, and nodded.
    “I don’t know what to do anymore,” she said a few minutes later as she started making a pot of coffee. “We should be able to press charges against whoever did this to Ryan. But I know what he means—it could just make things worse for him!”
    “I have a suggestion,” Tom said, taking the milk out of the refrigerator, setting it on the kitchen table, then sitting down.
    “I know,” Teri sighed. “St. Isaac’s. But even if he agreed to go and we could get him in, I can’t see how I could possibly manage the money. Bill’s death benefits just weren’t that much.”
    “St. Isaac’s has to have some kind of financial aid program.” He hesitated, then: “And I’m not totally broke.”
    Teri’s eyes glistened with tears even as she shook her head. “That’s incredibly sweet of you, but you know I can’t take your