to make the best of the situation for Sherry and myself.
“I don’t know,” I lied. “I think my friend just woke up and freaked or something. Your buddy here was giving her something to drink and she just woke up and started clawing at him. He got scared and jumped back when she started screaming and it surprised the hell out of me too.”
Buck looked down at Sherry, who now collapsed off her elbow and was lying flat again with her eyes closed. I stepped over to her and went down on one knee and he let me. Wayne started to whine: “She said she was a cop, Buck. She ripped that necklace off me and said I stole it and she was a fucking cop.
I tipped the water bottle to Sherry’s mouth and had to pour it through her parted lips just to get any of it in.
“That true, Mr. Freeman?” Buck said behind me. “She’s a law enforcement officer?”
“She used to be,” I said. “Long time ago up north somewhere. Some little town in Michigan but she retired down here years ago.
“Look, Morris,” I said. “She’s delirious. She’s dehydrated, lost blood, is in some deep pain and isn’t making a whole lot of sense. I just need to get her some help, get her in to land, the state park boat ramp where we can get her to an ambulance.
“And,” I added, “could you not point that gun at me? That’s really uncalled for and it makes me nervous.”
The guy looked out at the end of his arm, like he’d forgotten he even had the .45 in his hand even though I knew from experience that particular weapon is heavy as hell. He lowered the gun and crooked his finger in a “come here” command to Wayne, and then bobbed his head to the other one.
“We’re gonna step outside if you don’t mind, Mr. Freeman,” he said like he was asking permission. “So I can sort this out.”
I nodded and all three of them stepped outside, but they left the door halfway open, the boys on the other side, and Buck with his gun hand still on my side, his head tipping back to check my movements every few seconds. I heard him say, “Goddamnit, boy,” but the rest of the conversation was low and unintelligible with the heavy door in between. I checked Sherry again and she half opened her eyes, cutting them to the right like she was trying to locate the others. She wasn’t as out of it as she’d appeared, but the color had run back out of her face and I had never seen her look so weak.
“He stole my necklace, Max,” she whispered. “My necklace. Jimmy’s necklace.”
“Hush, hush, hush, baby. I know,” I said quietly. “I know. But we have to get you out of here, Sherry. We need these guys now. We can worry about everything else later. Right now, we need them.”
I was trying to keep my voice soft, understanding, appeasing because I was not sure how much she understood. I needed to calm her and I knew I was working against her nature. She was not the kind of woman who stands by when she feels violated, when someone has pissed her off. Even her subconscious was going to fall back on natural reaction if you push her.
“Don’t let him take Jimmy’s necklace, Max,” she whispered, and the words stung me as much as they bolstered my resolve not to let her die.
TWENTY-TWO
“Goddamnit, boy,” Buck said, his gray eyes turned to ice, as hard and cold as either of them had ever seen. He was staring at Wayne but Marcus could feel the anger roll out over him as well. “What the fuck was goin’ on in there?”
Buck took a second to look back around the door at the man and the lady on the cot. It was a second Wayne needed to gather his voice, lower his fear, and swallow some of his embarrassment so he would not bring more of it onto himself.
“She said she was a cop, man. She said it right to my face, Buck, and she wasn’t talkin’ about no back in the day either,” he said, his voice quiet but direct. Direct enough for Buck to listen.
“Why?” he said.
The boy looked at him.
“What made her decide to tell you she was a cop?”
He hesitated.
“She wanted her necklace back,” he said, just as quiet, just as direct.
Marcus let a rush of disgust escape through