“No, it’s not your fault. It’s not my fault either. It’s Kevin Barnes who did it.”
The big man blew out air. “You’re right. I should be thanking you . . . you and whatsherface.”
Ben smiled. “Ro Majors. She kept her . . .” Alive. “She kept Lilly going until the paramedics came.”
“Thank her for me, will you? I can’t talk to anyone right now.”
Ben glanced at his watch. It was eight in the evening—those had been both the fastest and the slowest four hours that had ever passed in his life. They both saw a nurse approach June. George moved in to intercept her and Ben tagged along.
She said, “These are consent forms for Dr. Winslow.”
“That’s the throat doctor. Is he here at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Can I talk to him?” George asked.
“He’s getting ready for surgery, Dr. Tafoya. He needs your permission before he can do anything.”
“What’s going on with my little girl?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“C’mon!” There was desperation in his voice. “You must know something.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I honestly don’t know anything.”
George sighed, grabbed the clipboard, signed it, and shoved it into the nurse’s chest. Then he walked back to June.
Ben shrugged at the nurse. “He’s not himself.”
“He’s well behaved compared to others. I’ve been screamed at, cursed at, spit at, name-called, grabbed, shaken, and occasionally a few people have tried to land a punch in my face. Stress brings out all sorts of hidden demons. How are you feeling?”
“I’m still here, so I guess that’s good news.” Ben smiled, she smiled, and then he turned and went back to the crowd.
His presence brought the soft conversation to a halt. The faces began to take on names—his parents and grandparents; Ro and Haley, of course; but also Griffen, JD, Weekly, Mark Salinez, Lisa, Shannon, Chelsea; Mr. Beltran, the principal; Tom Gomez. Lilly’s grandmother and grandfather. Ben’s cousin Henry was there, looking completely sober. If there was ever a time to get hammered, Ben felt it was now. Shanks was sitting next to Ben’s father. He offered the kid his chair, but Ben shook his head. Within a few minutes, conversation picked up again—something along the lines of whether or not the school should hold graduation. JD, Weekly, Griffen, and Salinez got up and left. Ben wondered where they were going but was too tired to ask.
He went over to the far wall, away from everyone, and sat down on the floor, legs straight out in front of him so as not to pull his stitches. Ro brought him a chair and walked away. He managed to stand long enough to sit in it, stitches burning and pulling and his whole body enveloped in pain. He threw back his head, looking up at an acoustical-tiled light green ceiling.
For just a little while he needed to be alone.
Everyone respected that.
You don’t bother the injured wolf.
Half an hour later Ben went over to Shanks. “Where is he? Barnes.”
“Locked up. Have a seat, Vicks.”
Ben sat down. Shanks’s jaw muscles were working overtime. He looked like he was chewing on imaginary gum.
“Is he talking?”
“Barnes? Of course not.”
“No bail, right?”
“He’s a suspect in four murders. Not a chance.”
“What’s gonna be his story?” A pause. “He’s not gonna plead guilty.”
“I have no idea what his story will be,” Shanks said. “They’ve just finished processing him, Ben. Then he has to talk to a lawyer. Then he has to be officially arraigned. These things take a while.”
“If I were him, I’d say that he heard screaming, went in, and was trying to help Lilly, and that we scared him away. And he stabbed me because I scared him.”
Shanks whispered, “And this is your rebuttal story. You found him . . . on top of Lilly and he started cutting at you with his knife. That’s why you have those gashes. You ran after him, jumped him, and he stabbed you. And you do have a stab wound. It was at that point when you took out your gun. In fear for your life. Got it?”
“Sounds good except I beat him up.”
“He was wielding the knife. You were in fear for your life. It’s the total truth, son . . . maybe not in that exact order, but the truth. Case closed. Stop talking about it, all right?”
Ben nodded. “You can legally take his DNA now.”
“Yes we can.”
“You must really feel sorry for me.” Shanks looked at the kid, who said, “The old Shanks would have said, ‘Thank you for reminding me. Otherwise, I would have forgotten about that.’”
Shanks smiled. “We put a rush on it, but it’ll still take about twenty-four hours. The judge already agreed to hold him without bail until the tests come back. As soon as we get the matches with the other murders, he’s a goner. It’s over.” Shanks ran his hand through his messy hair. “I’m going to need a statement from you when you’re feeling better.”
“I can do it now. It’s torture just to sit here and wait. Go get a pad and paper.”
“I’ll be right back.” As soon as Shanks left, Ro came over. Ben’s dad got up. “Take a seat, honey.”
“Thank you.” She sat down and put a hand on Ben’s knee.
“Looks like I fucked up grad night, Dorothy.” He shrugged. “Sorry about that.”
She let out a sad laugh. “God . . . was I ever that superficial?”
“All the time.” When she slapped his leg, Ben said, “Okay. I know you’re all right. You’re hitting me.”
Ro smiled with wet eyes. “She’s gonna make it, right?”
“Of course.” JD, Weekly, Salinez, and Griffen had returned. There were cotton balls taped to the insides of their arms. “They gave blood?”
“Yeah,” Ro said. “My turn.” She stood up.
“I’ll go with you,” Ben told her.
“You stay put.”
“I’m okay.”
“Ben, there are like thirty people in this room who are all willing to donate. Just sit down and concentrate on making more of your own erythrocytes, okay?”
She got up and JD immediately took her place. He was wearing the same shirt and jeans that he had on for graduation rehearsal. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
JD lifted Ben’s shirt, looked at the bandages, and let it fall back down. He wiped his hand across his mouth. “How bad was it? I mean, how bad was she?”
“She’ll recover . . . I hope.”
JD turned away. He said, “We should be graduating tomorrow. It was my day, Vicksburg. I fucking knew you’d figure out a way to upstage me.”
Ben laughed and it hurt. “I’m the man, dude.”
JD laughed too. “Yep, just for today, you are the man. Do you hurt?”
“Kills.”
“You need anything?”
“Nah.”
“How about something to eat? You want a Doogie burger or something?”
“If I put anything in my stomach, I’ll puke.”
JD nodded. “Did the doc give you meds?”
“Yeah.”
“Pain meds?”
“Yeah, my mom’s got the bag.”
“What’d they give you for pain?”
“I dunno. Probably Vicodin . . . maybe OxyContin. I really don’t know.”
JD raised his eyebrows. He whispered, “Wanna get high together?”
Ben didn’t know if he was serious, but the comment made him smile. “I’ll tell you what, JD. Whatever I don’t use, it’s yours. My graduation gift to you.”