Salem's Lot

3

When Jimmy Cody finally came into ten’s room, it was twenty after eleven and Ben began, ‘What I wanted to talk to you about-’

‘First the head, then the talk.’ He parted Ben’s hair gently, looked at something, and said, ‘This’ll hurt.’ He pulled off the adhesive bandage and Ben jumped. ‘Hell of a lump,’ Cody said conversationally, and then covered the wound with a slightly smaller dressing.

He shone a light into Ben’s eyes, then tapped his left knee with a rubber hammer. With sudden morbidity, Ben wondered if it was the same one he had used on Mike Ryerson.

‘All that seems to be satisfactory,’ he said, putting his things away. ‘What’s your mother’s maiden name?’

‘Ashford,’ Ben said. They had asked him similar questions when he had first recovered consciousness.

‘First-grade teacher?’

‘Mrs Perkins. She rinsed her hair.’

‘Father’s middle name?’

‘Merton.’

‘Any dizziness or nausea’?’

‘No.’

‘Experience of strange odors, colors, or-’

‘No, no, and no. I feel fine.’

‘I’ll decide that,’ Cody said primly. ‘Any instance of double vision?’

‘Not since the last time I bought a gallon of Thunderbird.’

‘All right,’ Cody said. ‘I pronounce you cured through the wonders of modem science and by virtue of a hard head. Now, what was on your mind? Tibbits and the little McDougall boy, I suppose. I can only tell you what I told Parkins Gillespie. Number one, I’m glad they’ve kept it out of the papers; one scandal per century is enough in a small town. Number two, I’m damned if I know who’d want to do such a twisted thing. It can’t have been a local person. We’ve got our share of the weirdies, but-’

He broke off, seeing the puzzled expressions on their faces. ‘You don’t know? Haven’t heard?’

‘Heard what?’ Ben demanded.

‘It’s rather like something by Boris Karloff out of Mary Shelley. Someone snatched the bodies from the Cumberland County Morgue in Portland last night.’

‘Jesus Christ,’ Susan said. Her lips made the words stiffly.

‘What ‘the matter?’ Cody asked, suddenly concerned.

‘Do you know something about this?’

‘I’m starting to really think we do,’ Ben said.