Secret Prey

I-94.

They made a four-and-a-half-minute run to Ramsey Medical Center; Sherrill hooked up with Sloan one minute down the road, filled him in. Tell him to find Andi Manettes home phone number and call her, Lucas said. Weathers staying with the Manettes. Tell Weather about it. She and Elle are pretty tight.

Sherrill passed the word, clicked off the phone, looked at the speedometer. That all you can get out of this thing?

No, he said, and the needle climbed through 120.

She watched his face for a momenta brick, a stone then looked out at the cars flicking by. Good thing, she thought, that she hadnt driven. Shed never moved this fast on a vehicle that didnt have a stewardess.

LUCAS DUMPED THE PORSCHE IN AN AMBULANCES ONLY zone and they banged into the emergency room. A startled nurse turned toward them from the reception desk, and Lucas said, Im Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport from Minneapolis and a nun named Elle Kruger was brought in here…

Yes, yes, shes in X ray, she just got here, the doctors are working

Where?

Sir, I cant let you go

Where? He shouted it at her, and she stepped back and a couple of male white-coated orderlies started down the hall toward the desk.

Hold it, Sherrill said. Miss, can you tell us who the doctor in charge is? Jim Dunaway?

No, Larry Simone…

Okay, hes a friend of mine. Could you tell him Chief Davenport and Detective Sherrill are here asking about…

Sister Mary Joseph. Elle Kruger, Lucas said.

Ill be right back.

As the nurse started down the hall, waving off the orderlies, a thin, ill-tempered man stuck his head in the door and called, Hey, whose car is this out here?

Ill get it, Sherrill said to Lucas. Gimme the keys.

Lucas dug the keys out and handed them to her. The illtempered man raised his voice: Im asking, who the hell left their car out here

Ill move it, Sherrill said, walking toward him.

You goddamn well will move it, the man said. Or Ill push that thing right into the wall.

Sherrill stepped to within four inches of his face, her voice low and controlled. You shut your fuckin pie hole or I will break all your teeth out, she said. She pulled one hand back on her hip so the ill-tempered man could see the wooden butt of the. 357. His eyes slid away from hers, and she pushed through the door to the car.

A BALDING, HATCHET-FACED DOCTOR WALKED OUT of a back room, trailed by the reception nurse. He looked around, spotted Lucas. Are you with Marcy Sherrill?

Yes. Elle Krugerthe nunis my best friend.

This is Chief Davenport, said the nurse.

Come on back, he said. Wheres Marcy?

Outside, moving a car off the ramp. Hows Elle?

Not good, but shes better than the other one. Weve got head injury but no direct brain damage, like the girl. Weve got to manage the swelling and so on, which is gonna be a problem, but Im more worried about blunt trauma to her kidneys and liver. Somebody beat the hell out of her with what looks like a baseball bat.

Baseball bat?

Yeah…

Sherrill caught up with them and said, Larry, how are you? and the doc said, Id like to look at that leg of yours again.

I think its okay, she said.

Oh, I know; I just wanted to look for aesthetic reasons. And Sherrill snorted and said, Aesthetic, my ass, and he said, That too. .. and Sherrill said to Lucas, Larry was one of the docs that took care of me after that thing with John Mail.

Ah. Lucas said, and looked wildly at Simone, who said, Through there.

HE COULD BARELY SEE HER. SHE WAS FLAT ON HER back, under an operating drape, her head tilted back, her head already shaved and painted with iodine-colored disinfectant. A drip flowed into her arm, and her mouth was propped open. She looked like a saint who was about to be committed to fire.

Elle, Lucas whispered.

She cant respond, Simone said. She might hear you, somewhere in her head, but shes too doped up to show it.

Gonna be all right, Lucas said, his face a foot from her ear. She didnt look like any Elle Kruger he remembered: separated from the habit and other paraphernalia of the church, she looked stark; and the disinfectant added a strange otherworldly touch, like an image from Heavy Metal. Gonna be all right, were here with you; were waiting.

Come on, Simone said. Theyve got to finish getting her ready for the OR.

LUCAS RELUCTANTLY FOLLOWED SIMONE OUT OF THE prep room, Sherrill a step behind him. You want to look at the X rays? Simone asked.

Can I see anything?

Cmon.

The X rays were clipped to wall-mounted view boxes and a man in a tweed sportcoat was peering at them. Simone said, Jerry, what do you think?

Ive already called Jack Bornum in; were gonna have to do them both at the same time. Ill take the kid, shes gonna go if we dont get in quick. Jack can have the nun.

How bads the nun? Lucas asked.

Whore you?

Im a copand her best friend. Oldest friend.

Whoever hit her missed; looks like two or three blows, hard, but never quite brought it down over the top of her head, like with the kid. Everything sort of skidded off.

What about the blunt trauma? Lucas asked.

The tweed man shrugged: I dont know; I do brains.

He glanced at his watch. And I better go do this one.

How long before the other guy gets here?

Five minutes maybe. Hell be here before shes ready to go, Tweed said gruffly. Hes a good guy toohell take care of her.

THE OTHER DOCTOR, BORNUM, ARRIVED IN THE ALLOTTED five minutes, and disappeared into the back. Simone caught a knife wound to the liver area, and also disappeared. Twenty minutes later, Weather pushed through the door, with Andi Manette a step behind. She saw Lucas and Sherrill and said, Lucas, my God, what happened?

Somebody beat her up. Almost killed her, he said. His voice got shaky and she touched his arm.

How bad?

Pretty bad. Theyre getting her ready for the OR. Theyve got a neurosurgeon working on her.

Oh, no…

He wanted to wrap her up and hold on, but there was a wall between them: he could feel it, pressing them away from each other. I dont know what happened… In fact, I think Im gonna…

He walked over to the reception desk. Could somebody let me know when Elle Kruger goes into the OR, and get an idea of how long itll take?

Ill check, the nurse said.

WEATHER STEPPED CLOSER TO SHERRILL AND ASKED, How is he?

She shrugged: Freaked out. Really freaked.

Weather smiled, a thin, tentative smile but a real one, Sherrill thought. Take care of him, Weather said.

Sherrill blushed and nodded, then said, If I can.

Lucas wandered back, and Weather said, The bomb through my window, and now Elle.

Lucas shook his head: I cant figure it. Itd have to be somebody who knows me, to know about you two. But who? And why not come after me? And why with the bomb and now a beating, for Christs sake? Theres too much risk involved. If they really want to get at me… He rubbed his chin, wandered away, deep in thought.

A moment later, the nurse appeared in the hallway, busily stepping down toward the reception area; Lucas went to meet her.

Shes in the operating room now, the nurse said. Theyre just putting in the anesthesia. Doctor says he cant tell how long itll be, anywhere from two to six hours.

Okay, okay…

He said shes strong, the nurse said.

Lucas turned back to Weather and Sherrill: Did you hear that?

They nodded and Weather said, Have you been to the scene?

No, thats where Id like to go…

You guys go ahead, Weather said. Ill wait here, and if anything comes up, I can handle it.

Thanks, Weather, Lucas said. To Sherrill: You wanta come?

Yeah, I do. She glanced at Weather and quickly nodded.

Theyd just started toward a door when a middle-aged couple hurried in, and the woman, tightly controlled, went to the reception desk and said, My daughter was just hurt in some kind of accident at St. Annes and we were told she was here, but I dont see her, do you know…

And Lucas shook his head at Sherrill and they hurried out: I didnt want to see that, Lucas said. I dont need it.

A ST. PAUL LIEUTENANT NAMED ALLPORT WAS RUNNING the crime scene at St. Annes when Lucas and Sherrill arrived. He spotted Lucas getting out of the car, and yelled at a patrolman, Send that guy over here.

The patrolman whistled at Lucas to get his attention, and pointed at Allport. Lucas waved, took Sherrill by the elbow, and they walked along the side of the Residence building to a cluster of cops duckwalking around the parking lot.

I heard, Allport said. The nuns an old pal of yours. She gonna be all right?

Shes in the OR. Sos the girl; the girls in trouble.

Ah, jeez. Shes some kid from the neighborhood here. One of the neighbors said her parents sent her here because she could live close to home and its safe.

You figure out what happened? Lucas asked.

Yeah. What there is. You aint gonna like it.

I already dont like it…

No, no. I mean, youreallyaint gonna like it. Theres a girl sitting in by the switchboard, shes talking to one of her friendstheyre doing homework together. So a call comes in for Sister Mary Josephfamily emergency.

She doesnt have a family anymore, Lucas said.

Yeah. Allport looked up at the night sky. But thats what they said. So the girl runs down and gets the sister and the sister takes the call and she listens and she freaks out and she hangs up, and she says to this girl, Lucas has been shot; theyre taking him to Midway. Ive got to go.

What?

So she ran to get her keys and her bag and she ran back out and the girl at the phones says to the other one, I dont think she should drive, and the other one says, Ill take her, and she runs out. Then the girl sits there by the phones, and ten minutes later… or sometimes later… another kid comes in and says therere two people hurt on the sidewalk and to call an ambulance.

Jesus, Lucas said.

And Sherrill said, Itisaimed at you. To Allport: You know Lucass former fiance

ґe was firebombed last

Allport nodded: I read about it. You had guys running all over town, kicking ass.

Lucas looked around at the duckwalking crime scene cops: You finding anything?

Allport shook his head. Nope. Not a thing. Were walking around the neighborhood, looking for the weapona ball bat, or a big stickbut we havent found it yet.

Goddamnit… A thought flew through Lucass head, quick as a scalded moth; he grasped at it, missed. He shook his head, turned to Sherrill: Nothing to do here. Im going back to the hospital.

Im coming.

You dont have to.

Im coming. Allport, arms akimbo, said, I hate this shit. If the assholes want to beat each other up, or even us, thats one thing. A nun and a kid?

In the car, Lucas said, Somethings happening, and we dont know what it is.

I knew that a long time ago, Sherrill said.

Lucas shook his head: I dont mean that somebody istrying to get at me, or even get at Weather or Elle. Theres some kind of apparatus here. Somebodys set up a machine, and its not some simpleminded revenge. Its doing something…