The Lesson of Her Death

colorfully as they closed the door.
    Twenty minutes later Ebbans arrived and Mahoney five minutes after him.
    “Great, we got a killer out?” Mahoney said after he’d heard the news.
    “Oh, I guess I missed the trial,” Corde said, loud.
    Mahoney lifted his eyes to the ceiling.
    Slocum said happily, “We got ourselves some proof now. I mean, why’s he escaping if he didn’t do it?”
    Corde looked at him as if he’d asked where babies come from.
    Ebbans said, “We better call the state and tell them we got one loose.”
    “You might want to mention,” the rib-cracking deputy said, “he’s got a gun.”
    Outright silence. Every head in the room turned to him.
    The deputy blushed then said, “Forgot to say, what with Lance being down and all. He got Lance’s gun. Ithought he’d gotten the Speedloaders but they’d fallen under the bunk. Just the gun he got. I was relieved to find the extra shells.”
    Corde said, “Nobody’s supposed to go into the cells with a gun! He didn’t leave it in the box?”
    “Guess he forgot.”
    “Sweet Mary,” Corde whispered. “Get on the horn,” he ordered Slocum. “Make it APB to county and state. Armed and emotionally disturbed. Tell them that he’s scared but he doesn’t want to hurt anybody.”
    Mahoney asked, “You sound like you’re in charge here, Detective. I seem to recall you’re under suspension.”
    The others looked at Corde cautiously, waiting for him to blow. He however had not even heard the words. He was in a different place altogether, running through bushes and trees, wheezing and hawking, right next to Philip Halpern. “The boy’s fifteen. So he doesn’t have a driver’s license. He’s probably trying to get out of the county on foot. How would he do that?”
    Slocum said, “I don’t know. I don’t think we’ve ever had an escape situation here.”
    Ebbans said, “What about a Greyhound out of Fredericksberg.”
    “Maybe,” Corde said slowly. “How about the state park?”
    Slocum said. “Damn, sure. It’ll lead him right to the river and I bet he thinks he’ll snatch a canoe or boat and head south.”
    The door opened and Harrison County Sheriff Hammerback Ellison stepped into the office. He was a solid, heavy man but his face was pointed and delicate and he had very small feet and narrow ankles. “I just got the call. The boy got away?”
    “Sure did.” Ebbans stood up and picked up his hat. “And he’s got a gun. You and me ought to get over to the state park. That okay with you, Bill?” Ebbans asked. His voice was strident; he was challenging anybody to question the shift of authority back to Corde.
Bless you
on this, T.T
. Corde nodded and said to Slocum, “Jim, why don’t you take 302. Just on the chance that he’s hitching. I’ll take 117 down to the river and see if I find him there.”
    Slocum looked at Ebbans, who said, “Do it, Jim.”
    Then Corde said to Mahoney, “Charlie, maybe you ought to check out downtown. He could be trying to outsmart us and hole up till night somewhere around here.”
    Mahoney reluctantly said, “I don’t think he’s that smart. But it’s not a bad idea.”
    They all hurried outside to the parking lot. Slocum got into his car and sped off. Ellison and Ebbans vanished in a cloud of dust and tire smoke. Corde hung back. He started the engine then drove slowly out of the parking lot.
    He did not however make the right turn onto Cress, which would have taken him directly to Route 117. He turned left then slammed his foot onto the accelerator.
    By the power of Your wisdom,
by the strength of Your might,
guide me, O Guardians,
to the Lost Dimension,
from darkness to light
.
    Philip pauses to smell the deputy’s gun. The scents are oil, plastic and metal warmed to 98.6 by the abundant flesh of his stomach. It is a small gun but very heavy.
    Systems armed. Xaser torpedoes in launch tubes
.…
    Philip is in the woods that border his parents’ house. He is surrounded by lean pines and the hot stems of wild sunflowers and long, bowed grass. Within a frame of trees he can see the Chevrolet. He can see the tail of the duct tape that holds the station wagon’s grille, which was shattered when his mother went off the road two years ago. He can see the barbecue. He can see the back porch with its lattice door open wide—left that way byhis father after digging up the purse. Philip can see the green of the sagging shack in the backyard. Under one eave of the shack is a huge,