Crow's Landing by Brad Smith

Author:Brad Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner

SIXTEEN

Virgil had put the number in his pocket before leaving for the hospital and since then he had gone back and forth in his mind about calling her. There was no question that his arm was broken, but he’d left home thinking that he could go into emergency, have a cast put on, get a scrip for some painkillers, and be back home by midnight or so. It hadn’t worked out that way. The doctor on duty had taken one look at the X-ray and told Virgil he was going to need surgery, and probably a rod inserted in his arm to keep the bone in place while it healed. That wouldn’t happen until the next day so they stitched together the cut in his scalp and admitted him, loading him up with Demerol for the night. The doctor who did the stitching, an attractive young woman named Stone, asked how he injured the arm and when Virgil told her he fell out of the hay mow she shook her head in disgusted dismissal and walked away. Virgil got the impression she’d been lied to before.

He had surgery at nine the next morning and an hour or so after his head cleared from the anesthesia he called the woman named Dusty on the phone in his room. He had decided against it at one point, thinking he didn’t want to involve her any further, but he was worried that she was already in deeper than she knew. After all, they had shown up at his place looking for her.

Her cell rang once and went to voice mail. That was fine by Virgil; he could give her the bare bones of the thing and avoid going into detail. He left a short message, telling her that the three men had paid him a visit and advising her to be on the watch. He hoped his tone would convince her that these guys meant business, but at the same time he didn’t want to scare her too much. Virgil didn’t think she scared all that easily anyway. He didn’t mention the fight, or the fact that he was in the hospital with a broken arm. The information wasn’t going to do her any good.

The surgeon came in around four o’clock in the afternoon to check on him. Dr. Stone was with him. After the surgeon examined the arm and left, she told Virgil he could probably go home the next day. What she didn’t know was that Virgil had a herd of orphan horses and three dozen head of beef cattle that needed tending. Not to mention another fifteen acres of wheat to come off. When she left, Virgil got out of bed and found his clothes in a locker and got dressed. He was sharing the room with a kid of about ten or eleven who’d had his appendix removed the day before. The kid watched as Virgil tossed the gown on the bed.

“You can’t leave,” the kid said. “The doctor said.

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