The Last Place on Earth | Page 5

threw her coffee in his face.
The liquid was only lukewarm but the sudden dash had given him some
awareness of his own body again, like the first sound of the alarm
faintly pressing through deep layers of sleep.
"Sam, Sam, please don't make me do it! Please, Sam, don't!"
Nancy had the gun in her hand, rising from her chair.

His hands wanted to grab her clothes and tear.
But that's suicide, he screamed at his body.
As his hand went up with the intention of ripping, he deflected it just
enough to shove the barrel of the gun away from him.
The shot went off, but he knew instantly that it had not hit him.
The gun fell to the floor, and with its fall, something else dropped away
and he was in command of himself again.
Nancy sighed, and slumped against him, the left side of her breast
suddenly glossy with blood.
* * * * *
Ed Michaels stared at him. Both eyes unblinking, just staring at him.
He had only taken one look at the girl lying on the floor, blood all over
her chest. He hadn't looked back.
"I didn't know who else to call, Ed." Collins said. "Sheriff Thurston
being out of town and all."
"It's okay, Sam. Mike swore me in as a special deputy a couple years
back. The badge is at the store."
"They'll hang me for this, won't they, Ed?"
Michaels put his hand on Collins' shoulder. "No, they won't do that to
you, boy. We know you around here. They'll just put you away for a
while."
"The asylum at Hannah, huh?"
"Damn it, yes! What did you expect? A marksman medal?"
"Okay, Ed, okay. Did you call Doc Van der Lies like I told you when I
phoned?"

Michaels took a folded white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped
his square-jawed face. "You sure are taking this calm, Sam. I'm telling
you, Sam, it would look better for you if you at least acted like you
were sorry.... Doc Van der Lies is up in Wisconsin with Mike. I called
Doc Candle."
"He's an undertaker," Collins whispered.
"Don't you expect we need one?" Michaels asked. Then as if he wasn't
sure of the answer to his own question, he said, "Did you examine her
to see if she was dead? I--I don't know much about women. I wouldn't
be able to tell."
It didn't sound like a very good excuse to Collins.
"I guess she's dead," Collins said. "That's the way he must have wanted
it."
"He? Wait a minute, Sam. You mean you've got one of those split
personalities like that girl on TV the other night? There's somebody
else inside you that takes over and makes you do things?"
"I never thought of it just like that before. I guess that's one way to look
at it."
The knock shook the back door before Michaels could say anything.
The door opened and Doc Candle slithered in disjointedly, a rolled-up
stretcher over his shoulder.
"Hello, boys," Candle said. "A terrible accident, it brings sorrow to us
all. Poor Nancy. Has the family been notified?"
"Good gosh, I forgot about it," Michaels said. "But maybe we better
wait until you get her--arranged, huh, Doc?"
* * * * *
"Quite so." The old man laid the canvas stretcher out beside the girl on
the floor and unrolled it. He flipped the body over expertly like a

window demonstrator flipping a pancake over on a griddle.
"Ed, if you'd just take the front, I'll carry the rear. My vehicle is in the
alley."
"Sam, you carry that end for Doc. You're a few years younger."
Collins wanted to say that he couldn't, but he didn't have enough yet to
argue with. He picked up the stretcher and looked down at the white
feet in the Scotch plaid slippers.
Candle opened the door and waited for them to go through.
The girl on the stretcher parted her lips and rolled her head back and
forth, a puzzled expression of pain on her face.
Collins nearly dropped the stretcher, but he made himself hold on tight.
"Ed! Doc! She moved! She's still alive."
"Cut that out now, Sam," Ed Michaels snapped. "Just carry your end."
"She's alive," Collins insisted. "She moved again. Just turn around and
take a look, Ed. That's all I ask."
"I hefted this thing once, and that's enough. You move, Sam. I've got
a .38 in my belt, and I went to Rome, Italy, for the Olympics about the
time you were getting yourself born, Sam. I ought to be able to hit a
target as big as you. Just go ahead and do as you're told."
Collins turned desperately towards Candle. Maybe Nancy had been
right, maybe he