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“You sure Val’s okay?”
“She’ll be fine,” Terry said, though he felt that he was lying.
Crow saw dark shapes materialize out of the confusion and there were two men standing there. One tall and black and middle-?aged, the other taller, white, and younger. They had the cop look about them.
“Mr. Crow?” the black man said.
“What’s left of him. ”
“Do you know what happened here tonight? We can’t seem to get a clear picture of the events of—”
“I just got here a few minutes ago, man. Drove up, saw some asshole attacking my girlfriend, and jumped right in. I…don’t know much of what else happened. ”
“You didn’t go into the house?”
“No,” Crow said and then felt a hand clamp around his heart. “Val’s family—”
“Her brother and sister-?in-?law are on their way to the hospital. Nothing serious. ”
Crow was relieved for a second, and then realized that the cop hadn’t said anything about Val’s father.
“What about Henry—Val’s dad?” His head was pounding as he tried to remember something Val had tried to tell him. “Jesus Christ! I think he’s out in the cornfield. I think he’s hurt!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! No…oh, Christ, I don’t know…send some fucking guys out there!”
The cops looked at him for a moment and then melted away. He heard them shouting orders.
Crow’s body felt like a single huge bruise and his head was swimming. As much as he was trying to keep it together he felt himself fading fast.
He still had Terry’s sleeve caught in his fist, and he gave it a shake. “Terry—”
Bending close, Terry said, “Yeah…?”
“Find…Henry!” And then the darkness wrapped itself completely around him and he passed out.
Terry leaned back and sighed in frustration and disgust. “Okay, fellas, take him away. When you get to the hospital, tell them that the township is picking up the tab for all this. Oh, and tell Dr. Weinstock that I want him to call me the moment—and I do mean the very moment—that Mr. Crow comes out of surgery. ” He glared at the ambulance driver, looking every inch of his muscular six-?four. “You boys got that?”
They nodded curtly.
“Good, now get a move on. ”
The ambulance left in as much of a hurry as safety would allow, and Terry watched them go. Then he spun on his heel and called for Detective Sergeant Ferro. The detective was speaking in low, fast tones with LaMastra and looked up as Terry hurried over.
“How’s your friend?” Ferro asked.
“He passed out and they’re taking him in,” Terry said.
“He say anything more about what happened?”
“More or less. He and one of your bad guys went toe-?to-?toe. Crow says he beat the man in a fight, though from what he said and the way he looks, it was a close call. ”
“Then it must have been Boyd who Jerry Head saw run off into the corn,” LaMastra said. “If your buddy had gone up against Ruger we’d be scraping him up with a spatula. ”
Terry half smiled. “Maybe, and maybe not. Don’t underestimate Crow. He may be a little guy, but he’s just about as tough as they come. ”
“Good fighter, is he?” asked LaMastra.
