Page 51 of For the Birds

Chapter11

Dermot droppedthe tape into his bag and pulled out a pill bottle and placed it in myhand.

“This is antibiotic. Be sure to take it. It’s not uncommon for bullet wounds to get infected.” He pulled out another bottle and uncapped it, tapping several pills into his palm. “These are pain pills. Take one every four to six hours for pain. If you run out and need more, let me know and I’ll bring you some.” He dropped all but one of the pills back inside.

“I don’t think I should take that before I meet James. If I’m acting off, he’ll know and start askin’ questions.”

“He’s gonna know you were hurt. There’s blood all over your skirt.”

“I know, which means I’ll need my wits about me if I’m gonna handlethis.”

“Then let’s numb your leg more so you’re not flinching frompain.”

“Okay.”

He injected enough lidocaine to ensure I wouldn’t feel a thing for several hours, then grabbed a gauze package from his bag. After he wrote something on the package, he handed it to me. “My number’s on the back. Like I said, call me if this gives you any trouble.”

I’d just stuffed it into my pocket when Buck came backout.

“We need to get goin’,” he said in a grunt. “Malcolm’s gonna have my hide.” He pushed Dermot out of the way, shoved my legs inside the vehicle—which didn’t hurt at all thanks to Dermot’s numbing injection—and closed thedoor.

He and Dermot got into another argument; then Buck stalked to the driver’sdoor.

I tried to open the door and found it locked. When I tried to unlock it, I discovered it had been child-proofed.

“I want Dermot to take me back,” I said in a shorttone.

Buck’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “Why? He say some pretty words to get on your good side? Well, my job for the next forty minutes is to convince you to find Scooter.”

“If I find Scooter, it’s sure as hell not gonna be to helpyou.”

“I just saved yourlife.”

“Yeah, and then you shotme.”

“It was an accident!”

“Save your breath, Mr. Reynolds. I only help people I trust. You would be one of the last people to end up on thatlist.”

“Then it’s gonna be a long damn car ride,” he grunted.

“So beit.”

He was right. It was a long drive, and it gave me plenty of time to think about everything that had happened tonight. I had a name and address for one of the kidnappers. I needed more information about the other guy, and Buck hadit.

Then there was the matter of Scooter. If Buck had taken Scooter, then why would he go to so much trouble to ask me to look for him? It seemed likely he was innocent—of this—which left a big question mark as to what had happened to James’ brother. And that meant plenty of upheaval in the county—not just because James was on a warpath, but because someone had stolen one of his loved ones. It was the kind of thing that made someone in that world lookweak.

Of course, if I helped Buck, there was a chance I’d be asked to help others in the criminal world. Aside from all the other implications, none of them knew about my visions, and it would be dangerous for anyone to find out. Still . . .

What if I had the opportunity to make this county safer?

I couldn’t ignore the fact that looking for Scooter would help the county, not to mention James. He had to be worriedsick.

“What do you know about Scooter’s disappearance?” I asked in a directtone.

Buck sat up in his seat as though I’d startled him. “I know he worked his shift at Walmart last Wednesday and didn’t show up the next day.” He caught my gaze in the rearview mirror. “When I caught wind that Scooter was missin’, I knew right away that I’d be at the top of the suspect list. We didn’t waste any time before diggin’ around ourselves, but we came up with a whole lot of nothin’. Everyone likes Scooter. He dabbled in Skeeter’s businesses years ago, but for the last five years or so, he’s stayed out ofit.”

“Which explains why he’s working at Walmart,” Isaid.

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