Dark of the Moon

embarrassed, but the media were happy, given local heroes in what otherwise might have been interpreted as a fuckup, with six or seven people dead, and five in the hospital.
    After the briefing, the questions started, a few of them hostile, but Gomez was a pro. He turned the hostility back on the questioners, pointing out that they’d seized enough meth to save several hundred lives, “including that of young men and women; methamphetamine is one of the drugs of choice in our public schools.”
    Williamson had one question for Virgil: “Is this the end of the murder epidemic in Bluestem? Were the Gleasons, the Schmidts, Bill Judd Sr., were they all killed by Feur and his men? And what was the connection?”
    “I’d like to answer that question, but I can’t, because I don’t know the answer,” Virgil said. “As far as I’m concerned, the investigation continues.”
    Davenport called on Virgil’s cell as he was shouldering his way out of the press conference: “You did good,” Davenport said. “Now—when are you going to collect the nut job?”
     
    J ESSE AND J OAN were waiting on the sidewalk outside, along with Laura Stryker and a dozen people from the town. Joan said, “What the heck were you guys doing out there?”
    Stryker snapped at her: “Our job. I’m the sheriff of this county. They didn’t hire me to catch a bunch of dogs.”
    There was a murmur of approval from the crowd, and Joan said, fists on her hips, “So now there are dead people everywhere and you’ve got blood all over you…”
    Jesse was as angry as Joan, and it occurred to Virgil that they’d make good sisters-in-law. Virgil said, “I’ve got to go,” and he walked past them out to his truck, did a U-turn, and drove over to the hospital. A couple of sheriff’s cars were still parked outside the emergency entrance, cops on the lookout for any further trouble. Inside, Pirelli was out of it, sound asleep, one arm and shoulder encased in fiberglass, one leg bandaged and elevated.
    A DEA guy in the hall said, “Virgil,” and Virgil asked, “How are they?”
    “Hangin’ in there. I think…Doug made it this far, I think he’s going to hold on.”
    “Prayin’ for them,” Virgil said, though he wasn’t, because he didn’t think prayer would help. He went back to the motel.
     
    J OAN WAS COMING down the hall from the direction of his room, saw him, and asked, “Are you pissed at me?”
    “Mildly,” he said. “I don’t need to take any shit about what happened today. Either to Jim or me or even the dead guys. It just happened—it’s nobody’s fault but Feur’s, and he paid for it.”
    “We were scared,” she said.
    “That’s okay. I don’t want to hear about it. Tomorrow, you can tell me all about being scared.”
    She touched his hair, with the matted blood. “I could wash your hair out for you. That’s going to hurt.”
    “You could do that,” he said.
     
    T HEY SNUGGLED UP on the bed, no sex, just snuggling, Virgil full of Aleve, his hair wet, and she said, “In the press conference, when you said you didn’t know if the killing was all done…what you meant was, it isn’t.”
    “I don’t think so. In fact…”
    “What?”
    “We’re looking for Bill Judd Junior. Got watches out for him, but he seems to be gone. The thing is, I think he might be dead.”
    She rolled up on her elbow. “You still think Williamson?”
    “The Williamson thing freaks me out. When we braced him…I sort of bought it. He seemed as freaked out as I was, when I figured it out. He was screaming at us.”
    “So…?”
    “So I don’t know. If you pointed a gun at my head and told me to spit out a name, I’d spit out his. You think a guy, he’s in the Cities, he’s a newspaperman, wouldn’t he know who his real mother was? Just do a search? He says he didn’t, he didn’t care who she was. And I guess even if he did, he wouldn’t necessarily know that Judd was his father.”
    “If he’d ever gone for a birth certificate, to get a passport or something…”
    Virgil rolled over on his back, felt the skin pulling around the cuts on his scalp and face. “I got to think about him…What was he talking to Jesse about? I saw you guys together in the back of the room.”
    “Well, he started out by shaking her hand, saying ‘long-lost sister,’ and then he started pushing her around. Where was she last week? When did she really find out she was Judd’s daughter? Where was her mother?”
    “Like he thought