Specter (9780307823403) Read Online Free Page B

that they ought to drive in the Indy 500? And if the red clover has faded and the long grass smells dusty-sour in the noon sun?
    I’m startled when the door bangs open again and Julie’s cart is wheeled through. Her doctor is following. He’s a long, thin man whose body dangles through his clothes. He waits until Julie is tucked into bed, and he tries to talk to her; but she gives him the same answers she gives everyone else.
    Finally he leaves. Lunches are brought in and slapped on the rolling tables that fit over the beds. Julie’s bed is rolled up this time, but she stares at the tray without moving.
    “Hey, it’s like a big surprise,” I tell her. “You take off those metal lids to find out what’s underneath.” I hop out of bed and pull the covers from the plates. It’s an improvement over breakfast, which is a good sign they think she’s basically okay.
    “How about that! Red Jell-O!” I try to sound enthusiastic. “Everybody likes red Jell-O. Right?”
    Julie picks up a spoon. “I like Jell-O. But what’s that stuff?”
    “Broccoli. Haven’t you ever eaten broccoli?”
    She shakes her head.
    “Well, try some. I think you’ll like it.”
    “No.”
    “You can’t just eat the Jell-O,” I tell her. “You have to eat the chicken and the broccoli and the lettuce salad because it’s good for you.”
    I sound like a mother, and I cringe. What am I doing, taking on this little kid?
    She obediently takes a mouthful of broccoli, and I climb back in my own bed and eat my lunch before it gets any colder than it was when it was brought in.
    Maybe now is a good time to tell her. So I talk about what my doctor said about leaving the hospital, and what I said to him.
    She studies me carefully. I can feel her tension.
    “It’s going to work out all right, Julie,” I say. “My doctor’s a good guy, and he’ll really try to get us a home together.”
    “When?”
    “I don’t know. It depends on who they can find. Someone has to want us.”
    I flip on the television again. I can see Julie trying to keep her eyes open. When the orderly comes in to pick up the trays, I point to Julie’s bed, and he slowly rolls it down again.
    In a few moments she’s asleep. Mrs. Cardenas sticks her head in the door, looks at us both and winks at me. “
Pssst
,” she says, crooking her finger.
    I put on my robe and join her in the hall. She’s going to retire soon because she says being on her feet so long makes her back hurt. I’m going to miss her.
    “I’ll walk with you,” she says.
    “I’ve been strong enough for a while to walk by myself,” I tell her, surprised that she doesn’t remember.
    “I know,” she answers, and she looks both ways before she continues in a conspiratorial voice. “But I got some news about that little girl. The police checked on the driver’s license. They found out that William Kaines served time eight years ago in Illinois for assault and rape.”
    I stop walking and stare at her. “That’s awful!”
    “For the last few years there wasn’t anything on him, and there was nothing left in the car because it burned.”
    Mrs. Cardenas squeezes my elbow and pilots me down the hallway again. “They may have been the kind who keep one step ahead of the people they owe money to.”
    It makes me think. “Or ahead of someone who is after them,” I say. I look at Mrs. Cardenas, whose round cheeks are red with the excitement of the story she’s telling me. “Where did you get this information?”
    She begins to look huffy, so I quickly say, “I mean, did the information come from newspapers or the radio news or where?”
    She chuckles, her good disposition restored. “Straight from my brother-in-law, Arturo.”
    “The policeman.”
    “He ought to know what he’s talking about.”
    “Then, listen. Could he find out something forme?” I glance down the hall, and one of the nurses is staring at us, head cocked like a banty hen. I grab Mrs. Cardenas’s arm and say, “Come on.