Nehalem (Place People Live). Hap TiveyЧитать онлайн книгу.
idea. Lester’s nuts. If he thinks this is Richard’s fault, he might kill him right there in the ambulance.”
“Murphy went too.”
“In the ambulance?”
“I believe so.”
“I hope so.”
Sven leaned over and pushed his hot cup across the table. “Take it easy Bill. Sammy’s gone. Lester’s hurting, but I doubt he’ll hurt anybody else.”
Billy set his mug on the table. “I’m not so sure as you, but you’re right. Sammy’s gone.” He tried a sip of the hot coffee, spilling it again on the bag covering his legs. “Shit. I can’t get warm. I can’t stop this shaking; how long have I been shaking?”
“Twenty minutes since we pulled you out. You’re still white. Could be shock. Maybe you need to check it out at the clinic. We pulled a guy out last month who went over. He was only in the water for ten minutes and he went into shock. We almost lost him; had to call the Coast Guard Helivac.”
Billy stood up and the sleeping bag opened revealing a bloody chest and thighs. “Maybe I need some clothes instead of this coffee soaked bag.”
Sven surveyed the damage. “You definitely need more than swim trunks, but I think you need the clinic, Bill. You’re bleeding all over the place.”
He dropped the bag to the floor and took a look at his chest and legs. They were covered with shallow cuts from the barnacles. “I look like one of those religious fanatic flagellators, those guys that whip themselves with thorn ropes. I guess I got seriously hypothermic. Must be capillary shunt stopped any blood from getting to my skin. Oregon water - so cold we don’t bleed.”
Sven got up to look at his back. “I guess you should go. There’s a nasty cut on your back too and that one’s not barnacle scratches. That’s deep. Ribs OK? You got beat up down there.” He draped his coat over Billy’s shoulders and sat down.
Billy sat down and wrapped the bag over his legs. “Didn’t do much good though. Did it?”
“Now don’t say that. You did everything you could. That thing damn near got you too.”
“It would have without you and Rich.”
Sven sensed Billy’s mood darkening. “I just helped you out of the water a little quicker. You’re so mean you would have crawled out without me.”
Billy looked up. “Seriously, Sven, I don’t think I would have made it if Rich hadn’t cut me out. I was about done and Rich wouldn’t have been there without you.”
Sven sat up as if he suddenly remembered something important. “It wasn’t me who spotted you. It was that kid, Quinn. He’s the one who got us out there. He came in with a tale about catching some huge Chinook with a net that filled the bay and surfers about to die like salmon in a gillnet. Your mate John was the only one who believed him and he went over to the Truck to see if Lester knew where Sammy was. I guess John knew you went out, which meant Richard was there. You should thank him.”
Billy wrapped the bag around his waist and walked over to Quinn, who sat at one of the counter stools. Evelyn had given him a plate of marrion berry pie and a glass of milk, but he continually glanced over his shoulder to monitor events in the room behind him. He heard Billy get up and start toward him; he spun the stool around.
At six feet three inches, Billy towered over him and he smiled down. “Sven said you saved me. I guess I owe you big.”
Quinn looked up and grinned at the acknowledgement of his part in the drama. “Rhys and I saw the net and the floats and rode out with Sven, cause I saw it out there at the lineup. I saw your head come out at the rocks. That was pretty scary when you went back down. You’re bleeding pretty bad. I’m glad you’re OK. Sammy died, didn’t he”?
Billy surveyed Quinn’s excited confusion. “Yeah we couldn’t save him. We tried pretty hard though. And you saved me. You’re a good kid and I owe you one; so if you need something, you find me and I’ll help any way I can. So, who’s Rhys?”
Quinn turned pale and jumped off the stool. “My brother. I left him out on the jetty with the fish. I gotta go get him.”
“I’ll walk with you.”
“I better run. You better go to the clinic.”
The street door opened and John walked in holding a huge salmon followed by Rhys dragging the backpacks.
Billy smiled. “That him?”
Quinn stopped, relieved and curious. “Yeah that’s him.”
John tilted his head and looked at the blood and the sleeping bag. “You OK Billy?” He waited until Billy nodded. “I bought this fish for you, from this Rhys. I thought you needed it. Help you heal. That’s his brother. He’s the one who came for you. Where’s Maggie’s boy?”
“Ambulance is headed for the clinic. Maybe we should pick her up. Take her there.”
“Nothing she can do at the clinic except see that crazy Lester get more crazy.” John paused and looked over at Sven still sitting at the corner table. “Sven’s crew is waitin for him. All the boats are going out for that big net. We could start up Hecate. Net’s full of fish. Salmon, steelhead – everything. Sharks, tuna, everything’s in a net that big.”
“No. I’m going to Maggie’s. See how she’s holding up.”
John changed his tone and spoke as if Billy was the only person listening. “Sammy lost his breath; that’s all done. Doctors always keep them over night. I’ll call grandfather and we’ll start ceremonies tomorrow. Go see Maggie and tell her go to my place or Aunt Sue’s. Clean up first. You’re a mess.”
Billy looked from Rhys, who couldn‘t stop staring at the blood, to Quinn who was examining John and the salmon. “John, you should take the boat out; take Hecate out. And take these kids if they want to go. Make some money. You two want to go out on my boat with John?” They both nodded. “You have to promise to wear jackets? John, don’t let them on board without jackets. Hecate’s rules won’t allow that.”
John knew what the blood meant. “You’re getting warm now. I’ll take you to the clinic. We can all go out.”
Billy waved him off. “I’ll just get clothes out of the cabin and make sure these two have life jackets that fit. You go. Get money. And get that monster out of the channel.”
6:45 AM: Nehalem Clinic
Billy paced the clinic reception office in three strides, stopped, stared at Murphy and continued in long strides. “I’m cleaner than I was forty minutes ago in the Sandbar. I got pants and a shirt, maybe not shoes, but I don’t stink and I don’t yell at people for doing their job. You’re the sheriff, Murphy; I get that. You have to stay calm, but Christ, how can you listen to a drunk fool scream at that little nurse like that?”
Murphy stood beside the door to the examination room. “Sammy. Lester’s in a lot of pain. She understands that.”
“Rich said he never lifted his ass off that rock. Sometimes I think he hated Sammy the way he treated him. Hell, he slept on my boat as much as he slept in their trailer. Lester scared the shit out of him. And you gotta tell me to calm down? We share history. We’re practically brothers, but beside me you act like a numb Republican. OK. Ponytail, no uniform - boots, Levis and clean Pendleton shirts isn’t a suit. You’re calm, obviously I respect that, but that little girl isn’t a doctor or a social worker. She’s barely five years older than Sammy. Probably knew him. She’s trying to make it OK by washing him and getting him ready, with him lying there cold – and that alcohol soaked psycho is in there screaming at her. I should put his lights out and let her do her job.”
Murphy added a note of friendly warning. “Don’t even consider it.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what’s wrong