life was the faint stirring of his chest, rising and falling as he breathed. His face was as white as bone; his lips were a bruised purple that made him look like he’d been drinking grape juice. Jeff had not doubt he didn’t look any better than Evan.
“You with me, bud?” he asked, giving Evan a feeble poke that made his head loll from side to side. “Don’t punk out on me now. Not after what I’ve been through to save your sorry ass.”
“My sorry ass?” Evan said in a low, choking gargle. “Who saved … whose … sorry ass?”
“Okay. Maybe you got me there.”
Jeff chuckled and then took a deep breath as he settled his head against the headrest again. He tried to ignore the pain that made every muscle and joint ache at the slightest motion. It felt like he was being torn apart by some incredible torture device that was grinding his bones to powder.
“I can’t believe you ran my car into the lake,” Jeff said after a while. “It’s gotta be fuckin’ destroyed.”
“Yours was closest to the ramp,” Evan said weakly, not bothering to open his eyes. “I’m surprised neither one of you heard me when I broke the side window to get inside. That’ll teach you to lock your car.”
Jeff shook his head but didn’t say anything.
What could he possibly say?
Even though Evan had totaled his car, he was right. He had saved his life, and he was grateful for that.
“We gotta get you to a hospital,” Jeff said after a long silence punctuated only by the steady sound of rain on the car and the two men’s heavy breathing. If anyone had seen the car, steamed up like that, they would have assumed a couple had driven out here to make out during the storm. Jeff found the sounds almost soothing, now that he was at least warm, if not dry.
He thought they should rest here first. Maybe sleep if they could. It was all too easy to imagine letting himself slip away into unconsciousness now, but a small, rational corner of his mind was telling him they had to get help if they both were going to live. He couldn’t get this far and then die of hypothermia.
“How’d you do it?” Jeff asked, listening to his voice drag like an old-time record on slow speed.
There was another long silence. Jeff would have been convinced Evan had died if it wasn’t for the low, soft hissing of his breathing.
“How’d I do what?” Evan finally asked. He kept his eyes closed and his head titled back.
“How in the hell did you get to the mainland before either me or Ben?”
Evan snickered softly, his shoulders shaking loosely beneath his drenched clothes.
“When he shot at me, when I was taking the boat, I dove into the water, hoping he’d think he had killed me.” Evan sounded totally exhausted. His teeth were chattering even though the car was as hot as a sauna.
“I must’ve gotten disoriented in the dark, and once I started swimming, I figured I’d be better off staying away from the island.”
“But you could have drowned. Christ, I can’t believe you didn’t drown. The water’s gotta be close to freezing.”
“I thought I was gonna drown, too,” Evan said with a shrug.
Jeff patted the pockets of his raincoat, felt the bulge of his cell phone, and took it out. The light didn’t come on when he flipped it open, and the screen was half-filled with water, making it looked like a carpenter’s level.
“No way this sucker’s gonna work,” he said as he clicked it shut and dropped it to the car floor.
Evan moaned and, opening his eyes to slits, indicated the glove compartment in front of Jeff’s knees with a feeble wave of his hand.
“Mine’s in there,” he said. “Hand it to me.”
Jeff was stunned. He gave Evan a long, slow look before he leaned forward and opened the glove compartment. The cell phone was lying on top of a registration folder and some Dunkin’ Donuts napkins.
“Why’d you leave it here?” he asked.
He didn’t like the faint stirring of suspicion he felt. As he closed his hand around the cell phone, he turned and eyed Evan carefully.
“I knew it wouldn’t work on the island,” Evan said simply. “The reception’s shit out there, but sometimes it works here.” He held his hand out and shook it impatiently. “Come on. Give it to me.”
“No,” Jeff said as he flipped the phone open and looked at the lighted screen.