“Another child?” Oliver said.
“Maybe,” David looked over at the house, “Cammie Brotherton might have given birth after all.”
“I wonder what she can do.”
“I wonder,” David said.
28
“Anyone behind us?”
The ringing in my ears was still there but subsiding, the pain just a dull ache.
Stella unsnapped her seat belt and swiveled in the passenger seat, peering out the back window. “I can’t tell. Traffic is too heavy. I see three white cars, but I don’t recognize the drivers. I think we’re okay.”
The light in front of us turned red, I made a quick right turn to keep moving. We were somewhere in downtown Carmel. The traffic grew thick as morning commuters filled the streets. “I need to get us to the highway. Or maybe find another car.”
“Jack, we need to look at his shoulder.”
“We need to keep driving.”
“There’s blood all over the seat.”
“It’s leather. Blood wipes right off. We need to keep moving.”
“I’m not concerned with upholstery. He could die.”
I made a left turn onto 17 Mile Drive. “Is there anything in back we can use to tie him up? Is he awake?”
Stella snapped her fingers in front of Dewey Hobson’s eyes. “He’s awake, but he’s not very responsive. Mr. Hobson, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
“Maybe there’s rope or something we can use in the trunk.”
“I don’t think he’ll hurt us.”
“You can’t be sure of that.”
Stella said, “Dewey, do you plan to hurt Jack Thatch?”
Silence.
“Are you going to hurt me?”
Silence.
“What about Cammie Brotherton?”
“I’m going to tell her David says hello, then kill her.” Hobson raised his hand and made a gun gesture again. “Pop, pop. Double tap to the head.”
“Do you plan to hurt anyone else?”
Silence.
I frowned. “When David told me to point the rifle at Hobson, I did. I couldn’t help myself. I would have shot him if he told me to do that, too. You knew. That’s why you fired the shotgun, to make sure I didn’t hear him say the words. What the hell was that?”
Stella turned back around and settled into her seat. “David can be very persuasive.”
