The River Sorrow by Craig Holden

Author:Craig Holden [Holden, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-49023-0
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1994-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

ancaster tells the same story he told Storm. It's a good, true story and he can see it makes an impression. Brandon sits silent for a minute when Lancaster finishes.

Finally he nods. “That's a start,” he says. “Now let's deal with the present.”

“I want her to rest,” Lancaster says. “She was in shock. She has some recuperating to do.”

He looks hard into Brandon's watery blue eyes, and can see that the detective understands what Lancaster wants him to understand—there are things to be discussed in private, away from Storm.

“Sure,” Brandon says.

“Stay,” says Storm. “I want to hear too.”

From his medical bag Lancaster takes the envelope of the six remaining Meprospan capsules he got from the pharmacy after Holt called him, removes one, and hands it to Storm. She swallows it with some of the bottled water. Then he locks himself in the bathroom, where he looks at himself in the mirror. His hair shocks him at first. He'd forgotten about it. He looks one way, then the other, realizing he looks different but not really because of the hair. There's something else, something in the eyes and in the mouth, a desperation that hasn't been there for a long time. The desperation of a man who needs something and isn't sure he's going to be able to get it.

He does not know what to do. He has escaped only to find himself shackled with a strange and dangerous girl and a cop who seems to be making up his own rules as he goes along. He needs to free himself of these people. He was mistaken, he realizes, to think he could follow the maze back from Morgantown, to figure it out here. It has nothing to do with this place. It's himself he has to find, and no one here can help him anymore.

His hands have begun to shake again. The panic he felt at Kevin's house, then after Holt's call, then after receiving the letter, and again when Seth approached them outside Red's has gripped him once more. The violence of the accident last night comes back, images of what the victims of car wrecks look like, how incredibly lucky he and Storm were to walk away, how when it happens again, whether it's a car or a gun or a fall out a window, he probably won't be so lucky. And there's little doubt that something else will happen. Violence lives where he is going, with the people he must try to find. Violence is the only language they all share.

He must be as calm as he can be. He must not panic again. He cannot tremble. He has to be able to find what he needs to find, and regard it, horrible as it may be.

Once again he removes two of the capsules and looks at them lying in his hand. Six years it has been since he last narcotized himself, six years since he has used. But he cannot face it alone anymore.

Afterward, I can stop again, he tells himself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.