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.Icursed Tom and ate every scrap.Then I searched thedrawers again.By that time I wasn t looking for clues,I was looking for a gun or a knife, or a club some-thing I could use on Tom when he got back.KnowingHank s views on violence and the unnecessary takingof life, I didn t really expect to find anything lethal,and I didn t.But it served to pass the time.The phonesquatted on the desk like a mute black imp.By two o clock I had a nervous headache and a full-blown ulcer.Or maybe it was indigestion.I sat downand repeated my mantra to myself and discovered, asI had always suspected, that meditation is only effectivewhen you aren t worried about anything.After that Ijust sat.It must have been a little after three o clock whenDebbie returned.I hardly recognized her.She slumpedinto a chair and removed her hat.It was coated withdust or fine sand, and so was she. What happened? I asked, after a while. We searched the ruins, she said, in a flat, deadvoice. Every corner.Summer of the Dragon / 265 At least you eliminated one possibility, I said.Shewent on as if I had not spoken. Then we went out to Joe s dig.He and Edna weren tthere. They wouldn t be there, I said. They planned tosearch  We met them on the way back, Debbie said. Theysaid it was getting too hot to stay out any longer.Islapped Edna  What for? Not that I blame you for slapping her,just on general principles, but  She was so damned smug, Debbie muttered. Shelaughed at me when I said Hank was in danger, andthat we couldn t waste time.After I hit her, Joe hitTom, and he keeled over.I guess he had a little toomuch sun. Joe hit Tom? That was after Tom grabbed Edna when she triedto hit me back, Debbie explained.It would have been funny if it hadn t been so aw-ful the four of them scuffling like quarrelsome chil-dren.I couldn t blame Debbie, though; we were allstrung tight as guitar strings.I didn t say anything, andafter a minute or two Debbie s dry, dusty face crackedalong the seams and two tears plowed muddy tracksdown her cheeks. I m sorry, she whispered. What about? Don t apologize for slugging Edna, Ithink it was a super idea.And if you want to cry, goahead.She did.She put her head down on the desk266 / Elizabeth Petersand wept mud all over Hank s papers.I didn t thinkhe d mind.I left Debbie to recover herself and went off to checkon the casualties.Tom was in his bathroom and re-fused to come out, even when I kicked the door. I just wanted to see if you are all right, I shouted. Do you want an icepack, or a raw steak, or  I ve got everything I want except privacy, was themuffled reply. Get lost, will you?It is impossible to express tender sympathy scream-ing through a door two inches thick.So I left.Jesse was a lot more appreciative.He was beginningto show faint signs of life when I arrived, so I calleddown for coffee and fed him a couple of quarts.Anoth-er of those spectacular Arizona sunsets was reddeningthe window by the time I got him on his feet.I viewedit without my usual appreciation.I was wonderinghow many more times I was going to have to spendthe day doing this sort of thing.It was already gettingboring. So we ve lost another day, Jesse said disspiritedly. Who the hell is doing this, D.J.? I can t figure outhow they slipped me the stuff. There are a dozen different ways, I said. In yourfood at dinner your thermos and water bottlehere coffee&.Summer of the Dragon / 267 Ah. He nodded. You thought of the coffee too? The time interval would be about right.But if it wasin your coffee, someone in the study must have put itin your cup.We were all drinking the stuff, and youwere the only one affected. It wasn t you, was it? He smiled, but I m not surehe was joking. No.If Tom s theories are correct, I m the personall this is aimed at indirectly.Someone is trying tokeep me from seeing Hank s find [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]