Pulp Crime (Jerry eBooks) (2015) by Jerry eBooks

Author:Jerry eBooks [eBooks, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jerry eBooks
Published: 2015-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

SQUEALER

John D. MacDonald

When Browden came off duty he stopped by the hospital on his way home to find out how the boy and the girl were doing. It was not out of his way. The girl’s father was near the main desk, and Browden was trapped. They crossed the lobby and sat on a bench to talk. The father was named Nichols and he was an accountant. There was a sickness in his eyes.

“Sergeant, I don’t understand how a thing like this can happen,” he said. “They gave Betty Lee a sedative. She’s asleep now. Her mother’s with her.”

“Do you know how the boy is?”

“I don’t care how that damn Reilly boy is,” Nichols said hotly.

“Maybe you should care. I saw his hands. He put up a good scrap. There were three of them. He did what he could. They put him out by hitting him with a tire iron or something.”

“He shouldn’t have taken Betty Lee there.”

“Maybe it wasn’t smart. But they’re kids. He has a car. They go to a place to park. That’s normal. They go to the place where other high school kids go. You don’t get anywhere blaming the Reilly kid.”

Nichols looked down at his tensely clasped hands. “All right. I’m sorry. I heard he’s okay. Maybe a concussion. And he lost some teeth. How can a thing like this happen?” Browden felt tired. It was a question he had heard many times. It was a question that never failed to move him. How can this happen to me? How can this darkness come into my life?

“It happens, Mr. Nichols. It happens all over the country. It has probably happened everyplace since the beginning of time.”

“Betty Lee’s life is ruined.”

“If you and your wife get all dramatic about it and go around wringing your hands for the next few years and telling her her life has been ruined, maybe it will be. You know the policy on this sort of thing. Her name won’t be in the paper.”

“Everybody will know. We ought to move away. I can get work some other place.”

“I don’t want to give you advice. That will just make it that much more important to your daughter. The best thing to do is get her back in school just as soon as you can and go right on as though nothing much happened. Then it will all blow over. And that’s the same thing your doctor will tell you.”

“But suppose she’s . . .”

“Don’t ask for trouble. If she is, it can be fixed. It can be legally fixed. Listen, I know kids pretty well. I know this is a terrible and shocking thing for a young girl, but it’s up to you two as her parents to keep her from making too much drama out of it. Keep your wife under control. Be balanced about it.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Nichols said bitterly.

“And it’ll be damn hard for you to do, I know. But people can do very hard things when it’s for their kids.

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