Ravenous Read Online Free Page B

we’re going out.”
    They whined in response, annoyed to be dragged away from the television.
    â€œCome on, get your coats on, let’s go,” he said. Then he remembered Vanessa in the car outside. “Oh, shit,” he muttered. He hurried out of the house, went to the car, and opened the door. “You’ve gotta get out of here,” he said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œEmily’s in the hospital, I’ve got to go to her.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œI’m sorry, I—”
    â€œThanks, but you should just go, okay?”
    She scooted across the backseat toward him, and he stepped back so she could get out. Vanessa stood taller than Hugh. Auburn hair cascaded over her shoulders and part of the way down her back. She bent down to kiss him.
    Hugh pulled back and hissed, “Not out here, dammit!”
    She frowned as she stood up straight, then turned and got back in the car, behind the wheel. “Okay, I’m going.”
    â€œI’m sorry, I’m a little, you know, I’m—I don’t know what’s wrong with Emily, and I’m upset.”
    Vanessa pulled the door closed, started the car. She lowered the window and he bent forward, gave her a quick peck on the mouth.
    â€œI’ll call you, okay?” he said.
    â€œOkay. I hope it’s nothing serious.”
    She raised the window again.
    Hugh hurried back into the house to get the kids and his black leather jacket.
    Â 
    * * * *
    Â 
    Sisters of Mercy was a small hospital on a hilltop overlooking Big Rock. There were a couple broad weeping willows in front of the hospital, a patch of lawn, a huge statue of the Virgin Mary in front of the entrance.
    Hugh drove the blue RAV4 around to the Emergency Room entrance in the rear of the building. Back at the house, he’d told the children that Mommy was in the hospital, and they had not stopped grilling him ever since. They wanted to know why she was there, what was wrong, what had happened, and he kept telling them he didn’t know, until finally, he’d snapped at them and told them to be quiet for the rest of the ride or they all were gonna get it. They fell silent. He could hear Donald and Annie whispering in the backseat, while Jeannie sniffled quietly in her safety seat.
    Inside, he went to the front desk, carrying Jeannie, with the other two trailing along, and told the woman there who he was and why he was there. She told him to come into the back. Hugh herded the children through swinging double doors in the Emergency Room, where a tall doctor with dark hair and a mustache approached him.
    â€œYou’re Mr. Crane?” the doctor said.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI’m Dr. Lattimer. Look, your wife has been—”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with her? What happened?”
    â€œCalm down, Mr. Crane, please. She needs you to be calm right now, okay?”
    â€œOkay, okay. What happened?”
    â€œIt seems your wife’s car broke down on Seaside Trail. She was attacked there. By a man. She was not too badly beaten. But—” He took a step closer to Hugh and lowered his voice to a murmur. “—she’s been raped, Mr. Crane.”
    â€œOh, my god. Is she—what was—do you know who attacked her?”
    â€œWell, she managed to defend herself quite well. She killed him.”
    â€œShe what ?”
    â€œHer attacker is dead.”
    Hugh clenched his teeth as he felt rising up in his chest a warm swelling of pride for his Emily, then he said in a hoarse whisper, “ Good .”
    â€œIt might be a good idea to put the children in the waiting room for now.”
    Hugh took them out to the waiting room and told them to sit still and wait for him. There was a television suspended high in a corner, playing the news. He went to the front desk and asked the woman behind the frosted-glass window if it would be possible to change the TV to cartoons, or