In the Still of the Night

the ropes on his hands are secure. The ones on his feet are just looped around loosely.“
    “What difference does it make?“ Robert started trying to untie Henry’s hands.
    Agatha came tearing back with a clump of fur at the edge of her mouth and a scratch on her nose. She crowded in next to Robert as if wanting to help. He shoved her away.
    “It could mean the person who did this was interrupted and didn’t get to finish the job.”
    “Killing him, you mean?”
    Walker nodded. “Don’t bother with his hands. He can be untied in the ambulance.”
    Several other men had arrived during this conversation. One had a canvas tarp, which had once done duty as a sail, and they’d picked up a couple broken tree limbs to make a primitive stretcher. Walker, who had the only flashlight that still functioned, led the way and Robert brought up the back.
    “I want to go with him,“ Robert said.
    “We’ll follow in my car,“ Walker told him. “You’d just be in the way in the ambulance.”
    The women inside heard the whoops outside as word was passed along that Henry had been found, and Lily ran to tell the ambulance driver to pull around to the back of the house regardless of the lawn.
    Lily took one quick, shocked look at Henry and asked Robert, “Is he dead?“
    “Not quite. We’re taking him to Poughkeepsie to the hospital there. There’s only Dr. Polhemus and his office here in Voorburg. Get everybody out of the way.”
    Lily shooed people out of the path of the ambulance, which took off so fast when Henry had been popped into the back with the assistant that it gouged a hole in the grass. Robert had insisted that he and Walker take the Duesie and he was honking the horn in front of the house to summon the police chief. They, too, took off like a shot.
    On a straight, empty stretch of Route 9, Robert overtook the ambulance and they arrived in Poughkeepsie first. He and Walker were standing outside when the ambulance arrived.
    “He’s doing okay, I think,“ the attendant said. “Started to mumble when I took the ropes off his hands.“ They hauled Henry into the hospital.
    Robert went to the open door of the ambulance and brought the ropes into the light at the front door. “I recognize these.“
    “From where?“ Walker asked.
    “They were looped over a hook in the garage where I keep the Duesie. I found them in a snarl, straightened them out and put them there. I wondered at the time what anyone did with such thin roping.“
    “I think tree cutters use it to bring trees down the right direction,“ Walker said. “I’ll keep it.”
    “Would it hold fingerprints?“
    “No, too rough a texture. Let’s see where they put your friend.”
    Henry was on a gurney in a big, white-tiled room with an array of medical instruments on walls and tables.
    “Keep out of my way, boys,“ the burly old doctor said.
    “Will he survive?“ Walker asked.
    “Oh, yeah, he’ll live. But he’ll have a hell of a headache for a while,“ the doctor replied.
    Henry looked as white as a sheet except for the blood on his face. He was starting to toss about, groaning, and two young men in white clothes had to hold him.
    “He got a knock on the side of his head and must have been left on his side where the blood ran into his face,“ the doctor said, mopping Henry’s forehead. “No damage to the face. Where’s that nurse with the blood pressure cuff?“
    “Right here, sir,“ a young woman said, rushing in. “The other one wasn’t working right.“
    “It’s the damned budget,“ the doctor groused. “No money to replace important equipment anymore. The damned government. That damned Hoover. We should rename this damned place Hoover Hospital.”
    He’d wrapped the cuff around Henry’s arm and stopped ranting to listen to the stethoscope. “Blood pressure’s good. Surprisingly good.”
    He bent over and pulled Henry’s eyelids up, looked at them, flashed a light across. “Pupils okay and reactive.“
    “Is that good?“ Robert asked.
    “Very good,“ the doctor said. “Means there’s probably not any brain damage.“
    “When will we be able to talk to him?“ Chief Walker asked.
    “Presumably not until he’s conscious, you fool. Unless you don’t care if he hears you.”
    Walker swallowed whatever he was about to say while the doctor ripped off one of Henry’s shoes and pinched a toe hard. Henry’s leg jerked. “Good, good. He’s not that far under,“ the doctor muttered. “Now, you two get