Night's Favour (41 page)

John laid Val down, then scrambled for a blanket, tucking it over his friend.
 
“He’s hurt pretty bad.
 
I don’t know what happened.”

“They shot him.”
 
Danny stood with her arms crossed.
 
“They shot him again and again, and they wouldn’t stop.”
 
She reached out slowly, her hand touching the wound on his neck.
 
Her hand came back wet and red.

John looked up at her, then stood up.
 
He put his hands on her shoulders.
 
“It’ll be ok.
 
He’s here.
 
We’re here.”

“It won’t be ok.
 
Look at him!”
 
Danny stopped before the sob could come out.
 
John looked away.

Carlisle came out of the kitchen with a pan filled with water.
 
“Kendrick.
 
Clean towels.
 
Whatever you can get.
 
Fast.”

Danny nodded.
 
“Right.
 
Ok.”
 
She looked around the room, as if seeing it for the first time.
 
“I can do that.”
 
She went back out to the hallway.

John took the pan from Carlisle.
 
“It’ll be ok.”

She gave him a flat look.
 
“Right.”

“He — he made it here.”

“Did you take a pulse?”

“Did I..?
 
Uh.”

Carlisle crouched down, pulling out one of Val’s hands from underneath the blanket.
 
“It’s there.
 
Strong, too.”

“Is that good?”

“It’s unbelievable.”
 
She pointed at Val’s neck.
 
“That should have killed him.”

“You’re sure?”

“This isn’t the movies, Miles.
 
One bullet’s normally enough.
 
Two’s being sure.
 
Three’s showing off.”
 
She pulled the blankets back, showing the holes up and down Val’s chest and stomach.
 
“How many do you count?”

“There’s more than three.”

“Great.
 
Head of the class.”
 
She sighed.
 
“He should be dead, John.
 
Do you believe in werewolves now?”

Danny came back in, carrying a load of blankets and towels of mixed sizes.
 
“I didn’t know what to bring, so I got everything.”

“Perfect.”
 
Carlisle grabbed a towel from the top of the pile, swabbing it in the water.
 
“We’ve got to get him cleaned up.
 
See what the damage is.”

“With water?”
 
John looked at the pan.
 
“Isn’t that, uh, a bit septic?”

Carlisle gave him that flat stare again.
 
“The bullets were a bit septic.
 
Anyway, I’ve put some peroxide in the water.”

“Peroxide?”

“Best stuff I could find under the sink.”
 
Carlisle continued to swab away the blood and grime.
 
“Shit.
 
He’s been through the grinder.”

“What can we do?”
 
John stepped from foot to foot.

“Can you make coffee?”

“Coffee?”

“There’s that echo again.”

“Right.
 
I can make coffee.”

“Great.
 
Make it strong and hot.
 
Three spoons of sugar in the cup.”

“I thought you cops were just into doughnuts.
 
That’s a lot of sugar.”

“It’s for him, not me.”
 
Carlisle squeezed out the cloth again, the water running red out of it.
 
“Honey would be better.”

“There’s some in the pantry.”
 
Danny nodded to the kitchen.
 
“Let’s go.
 
Leave her be.”

“Sure.”
 
John followed Danny to the kitchen.
 
He put his hands against the bench and breathed out.
 
“Christ.
 
Val’s been shot.”

“Yes.”
 
Danny's voice was small.
 
“He’s been shot.
 
Trying to get my little girl back.”

John shook his head.
 
“This whole week has been crazy.”

“What do you mean?”

“The last time Val got in a fight, we were in school.
 
He’s a lover, not a fighter.”

“Mm.”
 
Danny put heaped spoons of coffee in the bottom of the press.

“I — I didn’t mean it like that.”

“What?
 
Oh.”
 
Danny nodded.
 
“I wasn’t thinking of that either.
 
It’s just — it’s like we know two different people.”

John wrangled some cups out of the pantry, thinking about that.
 
“You’re right.”
 
He put the cups down, and started spooning honey into the largest one.
 
“I’ve known him since he was a kid.”

“It’s not that.”
 
She leaned her hip against the bench.
 
“The way you tell it, he’s a real softie.
 
Nice guys finish last.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Sure.
 
But it’s what you think.”

“I —”
 
John fiddled with the cups.
 
“He’s never been much into confrontation, no.”

“See, the Val I met recently?
 
He’s always racing ahead.
 
He was after armed men, trying to get to Adalia.”

“Adrenaline.”

She stared at him.

“Ok, maybe not adrenaline.
 
I get your point, but…”

“But what?”

“Well.”
 
John coughed.
 
“It might not be the best time, but he seems to really like you.
 
Ever since —”
 
He stopped.

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing.
 
Forget it.”
 
John reached for the coffee press.

Danny pulled it away.
 
“It’s not nothing.”

John sighed.
 
“Ok.
 
Look.
 
He’s my friend, and I don’t want to go all primal on you —”

“So don’t.”

“— But I don’t want you to break his heart.”

“Break?
 
His heart?
 
Why would I do that?”
 
Danny's eyes were wide.

“Oh, hell.
 
You wouldn’t mean to.
 
It’s just…
 
Well, he hasn’t been like this with anyone since Rebekah.”

“Who’s Rebekah?”
 
She was using the tone.
 
John hated it when chicks used the tone.

“It’s —”

“Is he still pining after some woman who broke is heart?”
 
Danny pushed the coffee press back towards John.
 
“He doesn’t seem like that.”

“No, it’s nothing like that.
 
It’s not really my place to say, but…
 
Rebekah and he were college sweethearts.
 
She fell for him in the final year, asked him to go to the prom.
 
You got to understand, he was a little fat even back then.”

“He’s not fat.”

John thought back to Val, lying on the lawn.
 
“No, no he’s not.
 
Not anymore, anyway.
 
So Rebekah, she’s sweet on him.
 
Sees something no other girl in the school can see.”

“Really?”

“Sure.
 
Not a big ladies man, our Val.
 
She chased him for a month before he realised she was after him.”

Danny giggled.
 
“You didn’t say anything?”

“Hell no.
 
You see a woman like that, it’s a good sign you should be running.
 
She’ll want kids next.”

“But he worked it out.”

“Yeah.”
 
John ran a hand across his face, remembering.
 
“God.
 
He even wore a white tux to the prom.”

“He didn’t!”

“He did.
 
I’ve got photos.
 
He’ll never let me show you.”

Danny smiled down at one of the coffee cups.
 
“It’s ok.
 
I believe you.”
 
She looked back up at John.
 
“So — where’s Rebekah now?”

John’s felt the smile fade from his face.
 
“She died.”

“Jesus!”

“Yeah.”

“What — what happened?”

“Usual thing.
 
They got married.”

“No — how did she…
 
She died?”

“Yeah.
 
Val, well, he likes to drink.”
 
John swallowed.
 
“Hell, this’ll come out anyway.
 
You should probably hear it now.”

Danny looked uncertain.
 
“Know what?”

John stared out the kitchen window.
 
“They got married right after school.
 
Best damn advertisement for marriage I could think of.”
 
The megawatt smile teased at his face.
 
“Almost converted me.”
 
He held up a hand.
 
“Almost.
 
Anyway, turns out she did want kids, and that cured me of marriage.
 
They were trying to have a baby.
 
Rebekah got pregnant pretty quickly.”

“Val didn’t say he had kids.”

“He doesn’t.
 
You know, it’s funny, thinking about this.
 
It’s been a long time since Val and I have talked about it at all.
 
But I know — well.
 
Rebekah and Val were always happy to put me up.
 
Whenever I had a new girl, they welcomed her like she was The One.
 
Rebekah treated me like one of her brothers.
 
I guess that’s a good thing, right?”
 
John’s shoulders slumped.
 
“They were at a cabin, getting some space.
 
In the woods.
 
Don’t worry, it’s not a horror movie cliché.
 
She still had a bit of time before the birth and wanted to blow off steam.
 
Val wanted to stay in the city, just in case.
 
She won the argument — said that at least the place would be far enough away from a corner store she wouldn’t keep asking for pickle juice.”
 
He shook his head.
 
“Can you imagine that?
 
Pickle juice.
 
She just drank it straight out of the jar.”

Danny reached out a hand to touch John’s shoulder.
 
He shook it off.
 
“It’s ok.
 
Anyway, as Val tells it, she went into labour early.
 
They’re in this cabin, in bumfuck nowhere, can’t get a phone signal.
 
He’d had a couple of drinks.
 
The police report said he was borderline.”
 
He shrugged.
 
“Maybe not ‘fine,’ sure.
 
I don’t think that matters to him anymore.

“So — hospital’s hours away, but they need to get her some medical help.
 
They’re packing shit into the car, but the contractions are coming on super fast.
 
You know in the movies when a chick goes into labour and 20 minutes later a baby comes out?
 
It’s not like that.
 
Takes hours, normally.”

“I’ve got a daughter.
 
You’ve met her.”

“Oh.
 
Sure.
 
Right.
 
Sorry.”
 
John fiddled with the coffee press, then pushed it aside.
 
“He was driving her back into the city.
 
They were pretty close to town, and their car stalls at an intersection.
 
It’s the middle of the night, not a star in the sky.
 
Car’s dead.
 
Sitting in the middle of the road.
 
So Val, he’s trying to work out what’s going on with the car, fiddling with the keys, whatever, and this other driver comes at them down the road.
 
He’s speeding, out of control, something like that.”
 
John looking out the window again, but he wasn’t seeing Danny's yard.
 
“Hits the side of the car where Rebekah is sitting.
 
Kills her instantly.
 
The baby too.
 
Just like that, his wife and child were dead.”

John started to pour the coffee.

“My God.”
 
Danny looked out the window.

“Police charged him with DUI, but not vehicular homicide.
 
They said he was blameless for the deaths but shouldn’t have been behind the wheel, like it’s supposed to be some kind of runner-up prize.
 
He’s never acted blameless since then.
 
Hasn’t been a night since the accident he hasn’t drunk himself unconscious.”
 
John looked up at Danny.
 
“Until he met you.”

“Me?”

“Sure.
 
That night we were mugged?
 
And he met you?”

“I remember.”

“He wasn’t drunk that night.
 
It was like he’d been sipping water all night.
 
Booze couldn’t touch him.
 
Haven’t seen him drunk since.”
 
John nodded his head towards the lounge.
 
“The man on that couch did not get drunk last night.
 
That’s a new Val.”
 
He sipped his cup.