“He is the Lord’s, and in his name I command you to leave. Be gone!”
At that moment the tightening around Buck’s neck loosened. He exhaled as muscles all over his body relaxed.
“It’s gone,” Dobbs said.
“What happened?” Buck said, keenly aware of his surroundings.
“Step one.”
“Step one?”
“Yes. The Lord has delivered you from a pest. You’ve been made clean, and now you need to be made whole. How do you feel, my son?”
Buck thought for a moment. “Lighter,” he finally said, with a smile that had been missing from his face for longer than he could remember.
“Good. So, do you want it?”
“What?”
“God’s plan for your life, remember?”
With a newfound sense of well-being and confidence, Buck nodded. Dobbs smiled.
The old man spent the next few hours with Buck, praying for the anointing of God’s Spirit. In the following days and months, Buck spent much time with his new mentor and was soon ministering deliverance at Jedidiah Dobbs’s side. He had continued doing so even after Dobb’s death, for many years, until… Krogan…
“Grandpa!”
Buck’s thoughts were suddenly wrenched back to the present. Samantha had been speaking to him. “Hmm?” he said.
“I said I’m going next door to play with Michele and Jackie. Is something wrong with you? I was calling and calling.”
“I’m fine sweetheart,” Buck said with a forced smile. “You run along and have fun.”
Samantha gave Buck a big kiss on the cheek, then ran toward her friends’ house. He watched her until she was out of sight, then looked back toward the long road back to Hamden. It was empty.
37
Gavin was out of view of the farm before he eased up on the gas pedal and turned to Amy. “I figure one of three things is true,” he said.
“One, he’s crazy,” Amy volunteered.
“Yes, but you don’t believe that, do you?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. You were so polite and attentive I was wondering if you thought he was your grandfather.”
“Nonsense. I’m always polite,” Amy said unblinkingly.
“Of course you are, but I still think number one is number one. He sees evil spirits and knows them by name. There are certain institutions where that gift isn’t very uncommon, you know.”
“Yeah, but he also knew things about Karianne he couldn’t have known, lucky or not.”
“I’m sure there’s an explanation, but for now let’s move on to number two.”
“Which is?”
“That he’s not who he says he is and he knows a lot more than he’s telling us and all this demon stuff is either a clever cover-up or just the inevitable perception of a burnt-out preacher. Or maybe he does know Krogan, the man in the sketch, but he’s too scared to admit it. I think maybe Katz should hypnotize the Reverend Buck next.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Next.”
“What?”
“I said next.”
“There is no next.”
“You said three.”
“Okay. Number three is he’s for real.”
“And you don’t think that’s a possibility?”
“No.”
“And why not?”
“Why not? Look, Amy, you’re great at collecting data, but…” Gavin paused cautiously.
“But what?”
“‘When you eat meat you have to throw out the bones.’ You can’t believe everything you hear.”
Amy gave him a look. “Do me a favor: leave the old sayings to me.”
“What are we supposed to do, go after Krogan with crosses and silver bullets?”
Amy turned her gaze toward the road before them for a moment, then said, “I wish we could have spent more time with him.”
“More? We’ve wasted enough time already. The eight hours of driving time would have been better spent sleeping.”
“I knew I should have come up here alone,” Amy said quietly.
Gavin heard her but didn’t respond. Her words saddened him and made him wish he’d kept his mouth shut. Without further comment he continued driving for a couple of miles before turning off the main road in search of a private spot by the river where they could take a nap, which was the only advice Buck had given them that made any sense, at least to Gavin. He glanced at Amy several times. She sat slumped in her seat staring into the polished wood grain of the dashboard.
After crossing the river by way of an old wooden bridge, the road turned right, parallel to the flow of water. Soon the road turned from asphalt to gravel to dirt. Gavin pulled the car off to the side of the road under a cluster of pines that bordered a sandy bank. He rolled to a gentle stop, quieting the crunch of pebbles under his tires.
“You okay?” he said, waving his hand by Amy’s eyes.
Amy blinked as though Katz had just counted to three and snapped his fingers. “No,” she said. “I feel weird.”
“Sick?”
“No! Scared. I’m not sick, I’m afraid,”Amy snapped. “I’m afraid for my sister, I’m afraid for you, and I’m afraid for me. Why aren’t you afraid?”
“Because I don’t believe Krogan’s an adrenaline-junkie demon.”
“Then what’s your logical explanation?”
“I don’t have one… yet. But if I were to believe what Buck says is true, I’d have to change what I do for a living. Trade my gun in for a water pistol full of holy water and squirt it in the face of every psycho that comes down the pike. And believe me, it’s a wide road.”
“Krogan isn’t every psycho,” Amy said, shaking her head. “He’s different and you know it.”
Gavin looked into Amy’s molten-emerald eyes and knew there was no point in trying to convince her. How could he? In their short relationship he hadn’t once won an argument with her and now was no time to try.
“Hey, I’m too tired to fight,” he said softly, covering her hand with his. “Let’s see if we can catch a few Z’s so we can make it home in one piece. Okay?”
Her gaze fell as she nodded in agreement, giving Gavin a sense of distance between them he hadn’t known. She climbed out and walked toward the river, leaving Gavin to scrounge a blanket from the trunk. He caught up with her at a shallow embankment that had probably been carved during the springtime when the water was high, fast, and cold. They slid down to a small sandbar peninsula, Gavin giving Amy a hand although she didn’t need the help and didn’t appear to want it. He pushed up a small mound of sand in a shady spot to use for a pillow, then flapped out the blanket over it. Without saying a word they both lay down.
The lulling sound of the water, the perfect weather, the little puffy white clouds slowly passing by, and the sweet song of a nearby bird weren’t needed. Right now Gavin could just as easily have fallen asleep standing sandwiched on the subway in rush hour.
“You’ll feel better when you wake up,” he said awkwardly, feeling the need to say something.
“No I won’t. I just found out there really is a devil, and if there’s a devil, then there’s a God.”
“So what’s wrong with that?” Gavin said, eyes closed, not really wanting an answer right now.
“I don’t really know God. I know I’m not on the devil’s side, but I don’t know if I’m on God’s side, either. I feel like I’m in the middle. Is there a middle?”
Why couldn’t she have just gone to sleep? At this point anything he said was going to sound abbreviated and uncaring.
“When we wake up we’ll call the Reverend Buck. He’ll know.”
“We’ll probably just get the machine,” Amy said.
“Then we’ll drive back and ask him.”
“Yeah, right. After the way we left?”
“Can I have a little more time to think about this?” Gavin said, begging whatever God Amy was referring to, to please let him sleep.
AMY CALLED HIS NAME SWEETLY as her hand warmly car
essed his cheek. Again she said his name, her voice so gentle it seemed far away, yet close. He didn’t want to open his eyes because he could see her beauty better with them closed. She took his hand in her own, splitting his fingers with her own, pulling him toward her. Everything was so peaceful—so right…
“Aghhh!” He yelped as cold water hit his face.
“I said get up.”
Gavin opened his eyes to see Amy standing in front of him with two large Styrofoam coffee cups, taken from the trash in his car. Before he could react, the second cup, filled with cool river water, emptied into his face.
“Okay! Okay! Stop! What’s going on?” he yelled, hoping she didn’t have a third cup ready. His eyelids felt like cement blocks. He desperately wanted to go back to sleep. The Amy in his dreams might even be waiting for him.
“We have to leave now,” she said. “My sister woke up and she’s freaking out, calling for me.”
“How do you know?”
“My beeper woke me up. I knew it was the hospital’s number the second I saw it. I had to walk halfway down the road before I could get even a weak signal on my cell phone. They told me she woke up about two hours ago. About the same time we fell asleep.”
“Does she know?” Gavin asked.
Amy’s instant tears not only answered Gavin’s question, but did more to wake him than the water had. He jumped to his feet. In the past week, Amy had not talked much about this moment, but Gavin knew she had been praying for it and dreading it at the same time. With her sister back in the picture, he would lose Amy as a partner; Amber was going to require enormous support. Gavin wondered if that support would get in the way of retrieving information from the only witness he had yet to question: Amber Clayborne herself.
“Your partner, Chris, broke it to her,” Amy said between hard sniffs. “I’m sure my parents are there, but it’s my name she’s calling.”
“Then let’s not keep her waiting,” he said.
Gathering up the blanket, they headed back to the car. A moment later Gavin was downshifting into second as he screeched around the turn, then flooring it over the bridge. He wondered how long the trip would take at a hundred miles an hour. He glanced at his watch. It was just after two-thirty. After being awake for the better part of two days, he’d just had a whopping two hours of sleep.
38
Amber Clayborne released her mother’s hand in order to catch Amy, who had just burst through the door. Amy kissed her on the cheek several times as they both cried. Gavin, who had followed Amy in, was out of breath from the sprint from the front entrance. Across the room he saw Chris sitting in a chair. His partner discretely waved hello with the rise and fall of his right index finger. He was no longer wearing the bandage around his head, but the cast that climbed up his arm and around his left shoulder was still there. His eyes were wet.
“Thank God you’re back,” Amy cried. “That’s all that matters right now.”
Amber’s loud moans were evidence she did not agree. What was painfully clear was exactly what Gavin had expected: as far as Amber was concerned, her newlywed husband had been brutally murdered just moments ago. The horrible act that had already been realized and digested by everyone else had only now dug its tormenting claws into Amber’s soul. Gavin understood the intense need for what was no longer there. He wanted to help, to somehow ease the pain. But what could he say?
Chris slowly got up from his seat with the help of a crutch and made his way toward Gavin, each step clearly difficult. This was the first time Gavin had seen him walk since the accident.
“I’ll see you outside,” Chris whispered, then continued out the door.
The twins were embracing, with one parent on either side of the bed. Gavin did not feel needed, but their sorrow beckoned him. What could he do? He wanted to join them and tell them everything would be all right. But that would be a lie. Amber’s life would never be the same. And to a lesser degree, neither would Amy’s. After a few minutes of watching helplessly he slowly backed toward the door, then turned, knowing he’d return as soon as he was done with Chris.
He found Chris on a window seat just down the hallway and sat beside him.
“I’m outta here tomorrow,” Chris said.
Gavin was surprised. He wondered if the doctors knew.
“I’m going to see the Giants play the Bears from my own couch. I can’t wait.”
“It’s good to see you out of the wheelchair,” Gavin said.
“Yeah, just in time for Amber to wake up. I was hoping it would be your job. It… wasn’t a pretty scene.”
“I owe you one,” Gavin said.
“You owe me two. I not only told her about her husband, but I questioned her about the crash.”
“You did?”
“It was Dr. Fagan’s idea. He thought a strong diversion might help. He was right—for about thirty seconds. It was bad, Gav. As bad as I’ve ever seen. The nurse had been helping me with my exercise, walking the hall, when she woke up. We were right there,” he said, pointing to a spot on the floor by Amber’s doorway.
“What did she say?”
“The first thing she said was her husband’s name. As soon as I heard ‘Mitchell, Mitchell’ coming from her room, my heart sank.”
“No! I mean, what did she say about the crash?”
“Oh. Not much. The last thing she remembered was the sunset reflecting off the front windshield of the car like it was a mirror. She couldn’t see in. The next thing she knew was waking up here.”
“Had she ever see Krogan before the crash? He has a habit of going after people that rub him the wrong way. Did you show her the sketch?”
“It never got that far, Gav. Like I said, the distraction idea didn’t work very long.”
Gavin looked back at Amber’s door. He could hear the crying. If she were anyone but Amy’s sister, he would give her about an hour and then begin inching his way in.
“Forget it, Gav. Give her at least till tomorrow. She’s been through an awful lot and her mind has some clearing out to do. A little time will do wonders.”
Gavin sighed. “Yeah, ‘Time heals, then it kills,’ ” he said, then looked at Chris, whose expression begged for an explanation. “One of Amy’s Japanese sayings.”
“Oh. By the way, Gav. You look like garbage. What did you do, sleep in those clothes?”
Gavin snorted. “I wish. In the last couple of days, sleep has been harder to find than Krogan.”
“Speaking of Krogan, where’re we at with him?”
Gavin looked at Chris for a long moment without speaking. If his heart hadn’t been so wrenched from Amy’s anguish, he’d have laughed. His injured partner was probably the only sane person he’d talked to all week. Everyone else, including himself right now, could be ruled “out of their minds.” But not Chris. Chris had always been Gavin’s voice of reason. The logical one.
“Where are we at? If we includes Katz, we’re at book signings and talk shows. If we includes Reverend Samuel J. Buchanan, we’re on a witch hunt.”
“Who?”
“Buck is what his friends call him. Amy and I drove up to the Catskills to see him this morning, after staying up all day and night with Karianne. Oh, I almost forgot the breather I got when Krogan took out the Learjet Gasman was on. Who needs a cup of coffee to keep you on your toes with this guy around?”
“I heard,” Chris said.
“I told him not to go. I practically spelled out for him he was a dead man if he took the flight. Chris, this guy’s bad—real bad—but he’s not smart. Why don’t we have him yet? There must be something we’re not seeing. I know when this is all over I’m going to look back and laugh, or more likely cry, that what we’re looking for was right before our eyes.”
“Ain’t that the way it always works?” Chris said. “It’s just that this time you’re so personally involved and worn out you can’t see straight.”
“Thanks,” said Gavin sarcastically. “Words of wisdom from the brother I’ve never had.
”
“That’s right, smart guy. Go home and get some rest. Take tomorrow off, like the rest of the world. Watch the football game and get your mind off the case. Monday we’ll both lay everything out on the table and dissect it all with fresh minds.”
“This time I’m gonna surprise you. I’m gonna take your advice.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“No, you’ll see it when you believe it,” Gavin said, shaking his finger mockingly in the air as he got up.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Gav.”
Gavin turned. “What?”
“Ten bucks says you work tomorrow.”
Gavin shook his head. “I can use the ten bucks. You’re on.”
Back at the room nothing had changed. Amy, who was still sitting on the bed next to her sister, noticed his entrance and immediately waved him over. Amber was sitting up, rocking, with her knees tucked up and her head planted between them, her movement echoing her low moans. Their grief was raw and open.
He didn’t even remember telling his legs to move. He just suddenly found himself at their side. He knelt on one knee and took Amber’s left hand. He didn’t know if she even knew he had it. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder. Amy’s mother, he thought, but didn’t turn to see. Amy’s father sat on the opposite side of the bed, staring tearfully at his ravaged daughter as if he could not find the words to express his anguish. The pain in the room was frighteningly thick.
It was then Gavin knew Amy could no longer be a part of the manhunt. Buck had scared her good and Gavin was almost glad for it now. He would not try to dispel her fears. Krogan would be as vindictive toward her as he had been to anyone who had raised a hand against him. Now at least she was alive and safe from him; Krogan still didn’t know she existed. And he wouldn’t. She had to be cut off from the case. Amber needed her alive.
The thought of Krogan as the source of Amber’s grief fanned his rage. Effortlessly he envisioned his hand around Krogan’s neck, his fist pounding his face. He imagined throwing a handcuffed Krogan at the feet of the Reverend Buck and emptying his gun into the back of his captive’s head and shouting into the preacher’s face, “Go on. Tell me the cretin’s not dead, dead, dead.”
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