Clown in a Cornfield 2 by Adam Cesare

Author:Adam Cesare
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-06-17T00:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Quinn was dreaming about something terrible happening in a hospital room. She dreamt she could hear her father screaming.

Then Marta Lee gently shook her awake.

“Someone wants to talk to you,” the sheriff said.

They were in a hospital room.

Quinn blinked, taking a second. They were still in a hospital room.

“Our family has to stop meeting like this,” Glenn Maybrook said.

His motorized bed was raised to a sitting position and his injured hand lay across his stomach, the fingers curled into a thumbs-up. Izzy Reyes stood beside him.

“I threw a few punches, but . . . ,” her dad said. Quinn wasn’t used to seeing him without glasses. “I don’t think you’ll laugh if I say ‘You should see the other guy.’” His voice was a pained rasp.

“I’ll laugh at anything if it gets you to be quiet and rest,” Quinn said.

She pushed up from her chair, and a hospital blanket dropped to the floor. Quinn hadn’t put the blanket on herself. Izzy Reyes or Sheriff Lee—which of the two women had more lay a blanket on you while you slept energy?

Quinn approached his bedside.

How long had she been asleep? The hospital room didn’t have a window. Had the sun begun to set?

She wanted to hug her father, but couldn’t see a place to put her hands that wouldn’t risk causing him pain.

“You look worse than I do. Go home,” her dad said. “Go sleep in your own bed. I’m going to be fine. They say I just need a day or two.”

“Try a week or two,” Marta Lee said, jokingly disguising the statement as a cough.

As Quinn had slept, the bandages around her dad’s neck had shifted, brownish-red raspberry spots of blood dotting the gauze.

“Did you tell him what happened?” Quinn looked to Izzy, then Marta Lee, who stood at the foot of the bed, her laptop in one hand, balanced on the railing. The sheriff really had been trying to do her job remotely.

“Yes. I heard about Philly,” her dad said. “I’m glad you’re okay, but I’m so sorry you had to go through something like that again, kiddo.”

“I’m fine. Everyone’s still alive.” She wanted to say something else. Be more encouraging. Quip. But she didn’t have the energy. She looked over to Sheriff Lee, then to Izzy. “Should we get the doctor?”

“She was just here,” her dad said. “You slept through the whole thing. Even missed all the stuff about my catheter.”

“Great.”

He smiled weakly at that.

“But listen to me,” her dad said, turning serious. “I love you. I’m so happy to see you, but you’ve been through something as well. You should be resting, too.”

He looked to the sheriff. His seriousness grew even more pronounced. That scared Quinn more than anything else. Seeing her dad without glasses, not being a goofball: “Marta. Can you drive her home? Make sure she’s safe?”

Quinn reached out and touched his knee. And he winced. Even his knee. Every part of him hurt.

“Yes. I can drive you,” Marta Lee said to Quinn. “There’s only so much police work I can do from .

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