Valley of Lights by Gallagher Stephen

Author:Gallagher, Stephen [Gallagher, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Brooligan Press
Published: 2011-03-04T05:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

They made a radio check and told me that the helicopter had taken Loretta to the Lincoln Samaritan hospital in the north-west of the city. The patrolman had to wait around for his incident team to arrive and start taking photographs and measurements, but the Deputy gave me a ride down to the nearest truck stop so that I could ask around for someone to take me the rest of the way. They let me have my gun back, as well. Technically it was now up to the bus company if they wanted to pursue the matter — I had, after all, identified myself as a police officer before showing the revolver, and showing it was all that I'd done... no pointing, no threatening, just a hurried attempt to establish my identity at a time of emergency.

It was bullshit and we all knew it, but it would probably get me by.

He took me as far as Rock Springs, just short of the county line, where he flagged down a silver-blue Fury that had a loosely bouncing trunk lid. The driver was in stained kitchen whites, and before he got out I saw him slip on a little paper hat as if to say Hey, I'm a working guy too. The result of the negotiation was that the driver got a warning but no coupon in return for taking me on to the hospital. He drove all the way from there at a steady fifty, and I don't think that we exchanged more than four words in all of that time.

The Lincoln Samaritan was a new hospital, built right out on the northern edge of town to serve the expanding fringe of the city. I walked in the wrong door and couldn't find my way, but was eventually directed towards the surgical facility. Loretta was still in the operating room, I was told by the nurse on desk duty, but I was welcome to wait around. I didn't know whether to take this as good news or bad. Now that I knew she'd come through the helicopter lift, I had to wonder what kind of mess she was in. A part of me didn't even want to be told.

There was a little waiting area with low chairs and unread magazines. I got a coffee from the machine, set it down, and forgot all about it.

I had to face the possibility that he'd taken Georgie. I only hoped that he was bright enough to see that she' d be of more use to him safe and in one piece; maimed and dead, she'd be useless as bait or leverage. If he'd taken her. There could be some other explanation, but I sat there and I tried and I couldn't come up with one.

Where had I gone wrong?

After a while, I wandered back over to the desk. The nurse on station, a trim-looking middle-aged woman, gave me a smile. Things seemed quiet, so it seemed like a good time to get her to talk.

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