Page 43 of Torch Songs

SAC PD DET

Big letters across the front, like the giant shirt April had worn, probably hoping to prove Tad was her brother.

The man wearing it was fortyish and attractive—black hair, pale copper skin, large brown eyes. Guthrie took a risk.

“Chris!” he called. “Detective Chris Castro?”

The man paused by the door to one of the SUVs and turned toward Guthrie, surprised.

“And you are…?”

“Unimportant. But the lady in the truck is April Hawkins.”

Castro’s eyes went large and concerned. “Tad’ssister? What in the hell is she doing here?”

“You went out of contact last night, and suddenly her brother’s name is splashed across the news along with this little one-horse burg. She’sterrified, and she’s sort of a mess, and I told her we’d come and see what was going on.” Guthrie held on to the tone of his voice—this was Chris, Tad’s partner, and Tad spoke highly of him, but dammit, it had been alonggoddamned day.

“You’re the snakebit guitarist,” Castro said, seemingly excited at having put the puzzle together. “Man, Tad’s going to be happy to hear from you.”

Guthrie grimaced. “I would love to oblige you, but nobody will give us a straight answer as towhere he is. The guy at the police station said something about how the whole damned world had fallen down to the bottom of Daffodil Canyon, and seriously? That’s the most coherent thing I’ve heard since one o’clock this afternoon.”

Castro grimaced. “Look, I’ve been out to the canyon for half the day, and I came back because nobody had any ideas how to get them out. I understand a team of scientists and the search and rescue folks have teamed up, so this might end soon. The canyon is a pain in the ass to get to, and it’s dangerous, and I understand it’sswarmingwith people right now, so maybe youshould go to the hospital and wait there. They’ve been out in the sun all day, and while I’ve heard they had some supplies, there were also some injuries. Odds are,everybodyis going to be sent there to be checked out.”

Guthrie nodded. “Okay, then.” He took a deep breath. “So, the hospital….”

Was about half a mile away, and Castro gaveverysuccinct directions.

Guthrie parked close to the front and glanced around the parking lot unhappily. It wasn’t that the lot wasn’t lighted, it was that the darkness here was soabsolute, it seemed to devour the light from every other source.

“Do you want to stay or come with me?” he asked wearily.

“I gotta pee,” she replied, and he slid out of the cab, feeling muscles and joints creak and a howling void in his stomach. He stopped and reached inside, grabbed a bag of nuts, and started shoving them in his mouth, offering some to April as they walked inside.

He was so tired he honestly thought about sitting in the bank of chairs in front of the ER and zonking out.

He walked up to the night nurse, who was monitoring her computer with absolute dedication, and said, “Heya. I… our friend—her brother—was in the news because he fell down acanyon, and I asked the sheriff’s office and the SAC PD people, and nobody knows where to find him, but I was told to come ask you—and—”

At that moment, there was a gasp and the hurried pad of feet in tennis shoes. Guthrie and April turned to see a coltish young woman with masses of red hair and bright blue eyes practically sprint to the front counter.

“Annie?” she asked, and the woman nodded.

“Maureen George? I know your father.”

The redhead nodded back. “You guys have supplies for us, right? Because I understand somebody was shot and there’s somebody who’s in withdrawals and Larx has a concussion and?”

Annie, the nurse, nodded and held out her hands. “Hold on, sweetheart. We’ve got somebody running a cooler up here with everything they need. Do we know about the gunshot?”

Maureen shook her head. “It sounded like they were more worried about infection than blood loss, but you know, they’re in the bottom of Daffodil Canyon and—”

She might have said something else then, but suddenly Guthrie’s entire world telescoped, and at the end of the telescope was a small word, swimming in an ocean of blood.

“Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait,” he shouted, and then, gripping the counter so hard he felt like his knuckles must be white, he said, “Did you sayshot? ’Cause ourfriendis at the bottom of that canyon and… and we thought he was coming here, and nobody can tell us shit, andwhere in the hell is Tad Hawkins!”

Maureen’s eyes got big, and then she blinked. “Hey,” she said. “Do you have the pickup truck I saw driving up?”

“Yes,” Guthrie said, hearing his own voice wobble.

“Listen, we need something that can haul shit. We’re going back down to the canyon with a care package for the people stuck there. Would you… would you want to come with us?”

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