Blunt Darts

TWENTY-NINTH

– ¦ The good doctor advised me that my marathon with Brower had weakened me so that she wouldn't release me for another day. She also instituted some sort of sedative-painkiller for the hole in my shoulder. The nurse gave it to me, then said, "The schoolteacher is here to see you. I told her you'd be sleeping again in about fifteen minutes."

"Send her in." The nurse left.

Valerie edged in. We exchanged the sort of pleasantries you hear at high school reunions between acquaintances who don't see anyone else to talk to. There really was nothing there for her, and she sensed it. She left. I drifted off

Something woke me. The nurse stuck her head in the door. "Stil1 awake, bright eyes?"

"Yeah."

"More visitors."

"Do they have an appointment?"

She looked behind her. "One of them has probably never needed one."

I blinked my eyes. "Send her in."

The nurse beckoned over her shoulder and held open the door as Mrs. Kinnington came in, crablike on her braces. Mrs. Page followed and arranged a chair near my bed. Mrs. Kinnington leaned the braces against the side of my bed. The housekeeper gave me the same look she'd greeted me with that first day and then exited with the nurse.

"Mr. Cuddy, you accomplished that which no one else was able to do. For that I am grateful."

"Much better, thank you for asking."

She dropped her eyes to her purse and opened it.

"Couldn't we eliminate the sarcasm? My grandson is and has been all that has mattered to me. I am sorry you were injured, but"-and she extended a check to me-"I am sure that this will cover all expenses and fees."

I took it and folded it without looking at it. "I'm sure it covers even the speech I'm about to make. Mrs. Kinnington, there was never anything between Blakey and your grandson, was there?"

"I certainly hope not, but as I explained to you, I have no way-"

"Mrs. Kinnington," I interrupted, "I'll cut the sarcasm if you'll cut the bullshit. That 'relationship' was something out of Miss Pitts's imagination that you fanned."

"I've no time to listen to raving." She reached for her braces. I got them first and flung them into the corner. My left shoulder seared, then simply throbbed as they clattered against the wall.

"You unspeakable bastard!"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Kinnington, but I'm not finished yet. Stephen is a very sick boy in a whole lot of trouble."

"If you mean that pack of nonsense that Brower man…"

"It is no nonsense, Mrs. Kinnington," I said. I found I had to keep my eyes closed. "Your grandson has by my unofficial count violently killed three people, two in my presence. The third was his mother after she drunkenly provoked him by telling him he was illegitimate. Your grandson may be an intellectual prodigy, Mrs. Kinnington, but he desperately needs professional help. For his mind. And not just Willow Wood and arts and crafts and canoeing." Mrs. Kinnington did not answer for a moment. I kept my eyes closed. She broke first.

"Stephen has told us that you killed Blakey. Stephen has told us that the judge killed his mother. Stephen has also told us that the judge was reaching for the gun in the desk drawer. That's why you shot him."

"Mrs. Kinnington, the DA doesn't believe that and neither do you. Stephen does not know right from wrong. He doesn't understand what lying is, and he doesn't understand that most killing is wrong. Just like his father."

"I won't have that kind of talk about Stephen or my son."

"Which son do you mean?"

"I don't intend to listen-"

"Mrs. Kinnington, you damn well will listen. While I was lying here, thinking this through, something finally hit me. Stephen had planned to go to that ranger station. Hell, he had photocopied the article after he found the gun, but before Miss Pitts saw Blakey chasing him. It took me a while to figure that out, but you should be able to see where it leads. Stephen planned to take off; maybe hoping the judge himself would follow to somewhere that Stephen could control the action. Blakey's chase was just the immediate trigger for Stephen's leaving."

"I refuse-"

"Look," I interrupted again. "When I found him at the ranger station, your grandson couldn't chance believing that I was working for you. He figured that I might have had a partner with me, so he checked around the ranger station and eventually must have spotted Blakey. Your grandson then left me tied up to lure my 'partner' Blakey. Then Stephen 'happened' to get back in time to see us fighting and drill about six well-placed holes in the back of Blakey's neck and wrap my hand around the gun. Stephen would have killed me then too, if he hadn't needed me to-"

"I will not-"

"Shut up or I will shut you up. Stephen figured I was busted up enough so that he could take me back at your house after using me as the fall guy for killing the judge. With my own gun. But I was able to knock Stephen cold before he could properly arrange the frame and before he could finish me off in his 'struggle' with me after I allegedly shot the judge before his horrified, sheltered, fourteen-year-old eyes. And because he couldn't arrange the frame properly, there are half a dozen facts that he can't change, facts that point to him as damningly as holding the proverbial smoking gun."

"The judge persecuted Stephen because he was afraid of him. My grandson will never go to trial." She was yelling now.

"Mrs. Kinnington," I said softly, "your grandson will go to trial, unless the DA's psychiatric experts testify that he is unable to stand trial by reason of insanity."

Somebody started tugging down on my eyelids.

Mrs. Kinnington glared back at me but with tears in her eyes. She was trying to stand up.

"I think I know what's best for my grandson."

"So did the judge," I mumbled, at which point I sensed the polar bears come bustling back into the room.