Bad Doctor

24

Willow’s got the flashers on as she drives the back roads to Dayton at five miles an hour. The twins are sitting on the hood of the Mercedes. Charlie’s gun is pointed at Willow. If she tries any “funny stuff” he’ll put six bullets through the windshield.

Every few minutes, a car passes. One guy slows to match our speed and says, “Nice hood ornament!” But takes off when Charlie turns the gun on him.

Twenty minutes later Charlie motions Willow to stop.

“What now?” she says.

“We’ve got phone service,” he says. “Turn into the next driveway and drop us off. We can call mom from here.”

“You’re sure?”

“Cameron needs to get to the hospital, and we’ve detained you long enough.”

“Thank you Charles,” Willow says.

We drop them off, say our goodbyes.

Willow looks at me and says, “Does she really need to go to the hospital?”

“No. Cameron needs medical care, but she’s eminently safer with me.”

“How’s that possible?”

“Don’t get me started.”

“Were you ever planning to take her?”

“Yeah, but I worry about leaving her in the hospital. And you’re right. The police will want the details.”

“Any chance we could take Cameron somewhere and you could care for her till she heals?”

I think about that. We could drive to New York and I could keep a swollen eye on her when I’m not working. But if she wound up dying I’d have a problem with the authorities. Not to mention her parents.

“No,” I say. “Too many people are involved.”

“If you mean the twins, I expect they’ll keep quiet.”

“What about Gary, from the Firefly?”

“What about him?”

“He pinned my arms while Bobby beat me up.”

“That brings up a good point. Why did Bobby beat you up?”

“He caught me at the club, trying to leave money for you and Cameron.”

“Money?”

I nod. “In envelopes.”

“How much?”

“Six thousand each.”

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

She says, “Bobby didn’t spend twelve thousand on drugs.”

“I don’t know how much he spent. But he and Chuckie were in my car. And some other guy drove Bobby’s motorcycle back to your place.”

“Mark Boner,” she says. “Boner the Stoner. You’re right. Too many people.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay, then,” Willow says. “We need to do three things. Third, get our story straight.”

“What’s first and second?”

“First, we drive back to the farm and fish through Bobby’s clothes for the rest of the money.”

“That’s first?”

“Cameron and I earned that money in the most disgusting way imaginable,” she says. Then adds, “No offense.”

“You can’t mean having sex with me was worse than living with Bobby and getting the shit beat out of you all the time.”

Willow says nothing.

“Be honest,” I say. “It can’t have been that bad, could it?”

“You really want me to answer that?”

I sigh. “I guess not. What’s the second thing we need to do?”

“Dump the bedding and vacuum cleaner in dumpsters in Dayton.”

“Okay. And then we take Cameron to the hospital?”

“Yup.”