5

I had control of myself by the time I entered the waiting room down the hall. It was the same room I had spent hours in last spring, and it hadn’t changed much. Someone had chain- smoked in there not long before I arrived, and the air was grayish yellow. Newspapers were scattered across one of the couches, and a white and pink sweater draped over the back of a chair.

But the room was empty except for Jimmy and Keith. I stepped inside and both of them launched themselves at me, wrapping their arms around me. The gun in my pocket jabbed my hip. I had to get that thing out of my coat before I did much else.

I held the boys for a long time, my hands on their small skulls. They’d been spectacular, and I had to tell them that. And then I had to find out what they knew, and why the three of them hadn’t been in school on this weekday afternoon.

I let them break the hug. They had to be traumatized. I was amazed they had managed to hold on this long. They were nearly teenagers, boys who had spent the last month or two trying to prove that they were older than they were. But this had shattered that pretense, at least for them.

Finally, Jimmy pulled away. Keith followed. They both looked frail and too thin, little boys who weighed maybe eighty pounds soaking wet, little boys who might have saved a girl’s life.

“How is she, Smoke?” Jimmy asked. He tugged on his shirt as he headed toward the nearest couch. The shirt was bloodstained and askew. I almost asked him where his coat was, and then I remembered: He had given it to Lacey and the nurse had bagged it, along with the rest of her clothing.

“She’s in surgery,” I said. “We’ll know in a few hours.” “Surgery?” Keith asked.

He had a streak of dried blood on one cheek. It looked like he had wiped his hand on his face.

I touched that blood, scraping it off gently with a fingernail. “Are you boys all right?” I asked as calmly as I could. “That man didn’t hurt you too, did he?”

“He didn’t get near me,” Keith said. “I seen him running out of the hotel. He was bleeding something fierce.”

I hadn’t even noticed a blood trail on the ice. That also showed how intent I had been on getting inside that hotel.

“I hit him with a screwdriver, really hard on his head,” Jimmy said. “I hit him a lot, as hard as I could, and Lacey was kicking him. He couldn’t grab his pants quick enough and get outta there. He was putting his pants on and running at the same time. I’da kept on him too, if he hadn’t hurt Lace.”

“Good job,” I said, feeling stunned. Jimmy truly had saved her. “Where did you get the screwdriver?”

The question was minor, but I couldn’t focus on the tougher parts of what he had to tell me; at least, not all at once.

“I brung it because me and Keith mighta had ta break into Lace’s locker.” His grammar had gotten bad again, like it always did in times of crisis.

“Her locker?” I didn’t know how that connected to anything.

Jimmy started to answer me, when the waiting room door burst open. Franklin hurried in, bringing some outside cold with him. He was a big man, although not as big as I was, and his terror made him seem bigger.

“Where’s Lacey?” he asked me.

“Didn’t you stop at the desk?” I asked.

“I did, they told me she’s in surgery, but I thought I’d better hear from you.” He let the door bang behind him. His coat was still wrapped tightly around him. He hadn’t even pulled off his gloves. His face was ruddy from the outside chill.

“She’s in surgery, Franklin,” I said taking his arm and moving him away from the door.

“Is she going to die?” he asked. He didn’t see the boys huddled together near one of the couches.

“I doubt it,” I said.

He let out a gusty sigh, as if he’d been holding his breath. “What the hell happened, Smokey? I sent my little girl to school this morning, and now she’s in the hospital?”

I wasn’t ready to answer that—not phrased that way. “Where’s Althea?”

“On her way,” he said.

“Did you fill out paperwork?” I asked. “Because I did, and you know, that’s probably not good.”

He blinked, frowned, and then nodded as he finally understood me. “Think they’ll give me some answers?” he asked as he let himself out the waiting room door.

“He’s really upset,” Keith whispered. “Is he mad at us, Uncle Bill?”

Through the yellow-stained glass window, I could see Franklin almost run down the hall. He rounded a corner. I’d never seen him panic before.

I turned away. “I don’t even think he saw you, Keith. He’s not mad. He’ll be proud of you when he figures out what happened.”

“We cut school,” Keith said.

“We had a good reason, Smoke,” Jimmy said.

I was certain they did. I nodded. “You can tell me all about it when Franklin gets back.”

Jimmy let out a small breath. Keith started to cry. He bent over and put his hands on his face, hiccupping and rocking as the tears became sobs.

Jimmy went to one side of him, and I sat on the other, putting my arms around him.

“I never….” Keith raised his head. Snot dripped from his nose, and his entire face was wet. He kept taking hitching

breaths. “I mean, I’m really mean to her, Uncle Bill. I never say nothing nice. And now, Daddy said she might die.”

I pulled him close. “She’s not going to die,” I said.

“But what if she does? I haven’t said nothing nice in forever. I just been teasing her about her stupid clothes and that makeup and those boys. And now one of them mighta killed her.”

“That weren’t no boy,” Jimmy said. “That was a full-grown man, and you know it, Keith. And if Smoke says she’s not gonna die, she’s not gonna die.”

I half-smiled at him, wishing he hadn’t given me that much power. I wasn’t in charge of who lived or who died. I wished I was. That man who attacked Lacey would be dead right now.

I reached into the pocket of my coat. My fingers brushed coins and a guitar pick I carried as an emergency lock pick. I didn’t even have a handkerchief. So I used my fingers to clean off Keith’s face as best I could.

“Lacey’s hurt,” I said, “but she’ll get through it. And so will you. You and Jim were the heroes here. You can tell us everything we need to know when your parents arrive. And if they get mad at the small stuff, I’ll talk to them.”

“Did you talk to the cops?” Keith asked.

I opened my mouth, about to lie to him. I could tell him that I had spoken to the cops in the emergency room. But I wasn’t going to. I might need Keith’s help. I was getting the glimmerings of an idea.

“Not yet.” I wiped my wet hands on my already filthy coat.

Then Keith rubbed his sleeve over his nose, and his other arm over his eyes. His face was dark red.

“You gotta catch that guy,” he said.

“Don’t worry,” Jimmy said. “Smoke will. That’s what he does.”

I glanced at Jimmy, who was still remarkably calm. He nodded at me, as if his sentence had been some kind of code between us, as if he expected me to run off right now and do something to the man who hurt Lacey.

“Promise?” Keith asked, his eyes still on mine. I said, “I’ll make sure he never hurts her again.”