The man placed his mouth to Randall’s ear. “There’s a sight,” he said in what sounded like genuine wonder as the house rolled onward. Then a chuckle escaped him. “Yessir, some days you just feel lucky to be alive, eh, Dad?”
Despite the howl of the storm, it seemed to Randall that it must have begun to abate. The gales were strong, but he doubted they were currently strong enough to do such damage to a house, a position supported by the fact that they were both still alive. Had the worst come and gone? He couldn’t tell for sure, but it was possible he’d fallen asleep at one stage. Certainly, the water hadn’t been this high when he’d arrived.
The man pushed him onward until at some point they reached dry land. “I’m not sure I can go on much longer,” said Randall, collapsing to the ground in the shelter of some damaged cedar elms.
A look of pity formed on the man’s face. “We can rest here. I need to see where she goes when she arrives,” he said, offering Randall a flask of what turned out to be water. “I wish it wasn’t like this,” he added, as Randall drank.
“Did Maurice know?” asked Randall.
“About me? No.”
“Did you have to kill him?”
“He wanted to die. I know you do, too.”
That much was true. “So why not do it?”
“That time will come,” said the man, hoisting him up onto his feet.
“Let that time be now.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I need her to come first, and then I will have taken everything—well, nearly everything—from him.”
Randall stared hard at the man. “What are you talking about? Who will you have taken everything from?”
The man smiled. “My brother, of course.”
Chapter Forty-Four
The last few days must have taken a greater toll on Laurie than she’d realized. She’d slept for the duration of the second half of the hurricane, only stirring now and then to adjust her position next to David. She’d woken at dawn, to find David and Warren gone, and joined many of the others outside as Heather had dissipated to see what further damage the hurricane had wrought. The wind was still up, but even a gale force wind felt tame in relation to what had come before. The water had retreated but was still a good couple of feet high, its murky surface skin alive with bugs. The air around them was ripe with sourness.
People congregated outside the shelter, some lining up for emergency rations, others for medical attention. Despite her weariness, Laurie was ready to help with the rescue operations when they began. But first she needed to locate Frank Randall. She thanked the young volunteer handing out water and took three bottles, drinking down one in a single series of gulps before heading back to the main hall to find David and Warren.
Warren had returned to their little area in the corner of the hall, and she bent down into a sitting position and handed him a bottle of water. He looked confused as he sipped, the liquid trickling down the fine points of the gray stubble on his chin.
“I don’t want to argue, Warren,” she said as he took another sip. “I just need you to tell me about Sadie Cornish.”
Warren closed his eyes for the length of one breath, then glanced around the hall, as if he didn’t want to be overheard. “I’ve told you all I know. She left town after high school. Her family used to live over on Bolivar, but they moved to Corpus Christi after Sadie graduated from high school.”
“You must know something else. Was there a check on Sadie’s family during the investigation? Did Burnell meet her?”
“That I don’t know. Everything would be in the file. I wasn’t allowed to get involved, as you well know.”
“You’re telling me you didn’t look into it?”
Warren offered her a sly grin. “I didn’t know much about her,” he said. “I looked into her when Annie told me about the letters. She was a runner at the high school. Middle distance. It was how she ended up being diagnosed. She kept getting injured and they were never sure why.”
Laurie let out a sigh. “A runner, like Grace Harrington?”
“Yes,” said Warren, momentarily confused, as if he’d never before made the connection.
“Her family?”
“The parents died. That was why she was writing to Frank asking for money, I think.”
“But you never spoke to her?”
“Annie died, Laurie. I told Jim about the letters, but a woman in a wheelchair wouldn’t quite have been in a position to do those things to Annie, now would she? Anyway, Jim surely checked it all out. You know how professional he was.”
Warren was probably right, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Frank had left the letter out for a reason. “Drink that,” she said, getting to her feet. “You need something to eat as well.”
She found Lieutenant Filmore talking to some workmen outside a pair of lavatories being boarded up down the hall from the gym. Laurie pulled her sweater over her nose against the unholy stench coming from the room.
“How are you doing, Laurie?” said Filmore, his face cemented into a grimace against the smell.
“I need some fresh air, but aside from that I’m fine.”
“I could use a break, myself,” said Filmore. “Come on.” He walked her outside, and for a moment the two of them just filled and emptied and refilled their lungs with comparatively pristine oxygen. “Oh Lord, that’s sweet,” said Filmore.
He’d get no argument from her.
“We need to get people out of here,” he said. “We’re way over capacity and people are going to start getting sick.”
“Any help coming in?”
Filmore nodded. “The hurricane has moved back out over the gulf and seems to be dissipating. Looks like that part of this is over, anyway.”
They both understood that was far from the end of it. Even from the snapshot Laurie had seen outside, she knew the damage to the island was catastrophic. The process of rebuilding would start again, but if it was anything like Ike, it could be days before power and facilities were up and running properly.
“I hate to ask it, but do you have a working radio?”
“Limited numbers,” he said, holding up a handheld unit. “You’ll get one.” Filmore understood her priority and directed her to an office inside the building where a team of operatives were in contact with the outside world. “You can get yourself a replacement phone there, too, if you need one.”
David was standing in line to get food as she returned to the building. “You’re up, then?” he said, as she approached. “Thought we were going to have to drag you out of there.”
Despite their strained relationship over the last few months, Laurie always slept best when David was there. They both hated the time they were forced to spend apart when he was away at work. That she could never rest properly when she was alone was a type of dependency she’d never minded, and it worried her that she’d come so close to losing it.
“I’m going to volunteer to go out with the rescue teams,” he said, taking a shuffling step forward in the queue, which appeared to be growing by the second.
“Make sure you come see me before you go,” said Laurie.