Deep in the Valley Read Online Free

off and occasionally wrote letters to the editor that were thoughtful, even insightful. He’d gotten A’s and B’s in high school, as far as June could remember, but the occasions of him acting dumb as a stump were not infrequent.
    “It must have given you a start, coming out of the shower to find you had company,” Tom observed. The corners of his mouth were twitchy.
    “You could say that. Especially since I was running for the kitchen phone, wearing my favorite towel.”
    His high, bronze Cherokee cheeks almost cracked. “What a way to start the day,” he said.
    “For them or for me?”
    “I guess that could go either way.” He didn’t even attempt to conceal his wide, toothy grin.
    “Did Ricky get that boy up to Rockport?”
    “What boy?” Tom asked, startled.
    “I called the department this morning and asked him to give a young patient of mine a lift to the hospital there. It was the boy from my living room. The parents and sister brought him. Mull family?”
    Tom frowned as he searched his mental catalog of local names. “I didn’t realize. I was preoccupied. Lee and I were at the Cravens’ at dawn, providing a little relief.”
    “Oh God, not again. Poor Leah.”
    “She’s going to get a break now. I’m sure Judge Forrest will put Gus away for as long as possible.”
    “It can’t possibly be long enough.”
    “Ricky said he was hanging around to run an errand for you, but he didn’t say what. He was still waiting as of fifteen minutes ago. And I’m afraid I don’t know of a Mull family.”
    It was not unusual for one of the deputies to be doing some errand for June or the clinic without Tom knowing the specifics. Sometimes there were patients who needed transportation, delivery of lab samples, pickup of blood or urgent need of supplies. Any number of things. The only way the clinic could exist was with the support of the local police.
    “These people weren’t from around here, Tom. They might be mountain people, or maybe subsistence farmers from another county. The father knew more than he let on, and I’m sure I saw the edge of a tattoo on his hand. Maybe he’s a vet…or possibly even a dope farmer. And Mrs. Mull has that scar George mentioned—it runs down the right side of her face. She’s terribly disfigured and probably vision impaired. If you ever saw her, you’d never forget her. But it’s the boy who needs medical attention. He got stepped on by a jenny maybe two weeks ago, and his tissue’s turning black around an infected gash. He’s warm to the touch, and a few days could make it more than a foot he loses. I worry about them not showing up at the police department. It might mean they don’t intend to go any further to get help for the boy.”
    “You didn’t pass them on your way into town?”
    “I went out to Mikos Silva’s place to take his blood pressure,” she said, shaking her head.
    “The boy’s a minor?” Tom asked.
    “Sixteen. But still—”
    “We’ll take a look around.”
    “They’re in an old pickup. They can’t go more than thirty miles per hour in it, so they can’t get far.” What she didn’t say was, “Please find them before they get away, disappear into the hills again.”
    This was not the first time someone in precarious health had ignored June’s warning and advice, but she had never gotten used to it.
    A rumble of chuckles from four old-timers at a table by the window distracted them. George leaned over the counter and tried to see out the front window. “What’s doing?” he called to the men.
    “Mary Lou Granger brought a box into the Presbyterian Church ‘round fifteen minutes ago…and here comes Pastor’s wife from the parsonage. She’s got a nose like a hound. Can smell her husband alone with a woman from across town.”
    “Here she comes!” someone replied.
    June and Tom gravitated to the front of the café and saw Mary Lou, an attractive young mother, maybe thirty years old, exit the Presbyterian Church in