Chapter 41
With a deep breath, Ellis Barnes wiped the vomit from his chin and composed himself. He had heard the bullet wiz past his ear. He couldn’t think about how close he’d come to dying at the time, but he knew it now. The realization that he was only inches from never seeing Lilly again terrified him.
“Ellis?” someone asked from the other side of the door. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, Buck. Give me a second.”
He opened Percy’s bathroom door and found his friend offering a stick of chewing gum. “Don’t talk to me until you chew that smell out of your mouth. I don’t want to go to bed with your vomit in my nostrils.”
Ellis laughed and took the gum.
Dr. Buck Crosby was older and taller than Ellis, and the thinning horseshoe and wrinkled eyes made him appear even older. They met through Mandy, and Buck had done everything he could to save her life. That was why Ellis brought him to Anderson.
“Did you get it all out?”
“For now,” Ellis said. “How’s Phil?”
“Concussed with a broken finger, but he’ll be fine. You can talk to him if you’d like.”
“Have you spoken with Rachel Ramsey yet?”
“Yes, while you were out playing cowboys and Indians. I’ll be overseeing the treatment tomorrow.” Dr. Buck yawned and motioned for the door. “I’m heading back to the motel. See you in the morning.”
Ellis nodded and headed toward Phil’s bedroom. Percy sat in a chair near the window, having given Dr. Buck room to work, and Phil was in his old bed, his head wrapped and his finger in a splint.
“Mr. Barnes,” Percy said plainly. “We was just talkin’ about you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
Phil tried to sit up but then opted to lie back down.
“Yeah,” he said. “We were talkin’ about how every time you show up I get hurt.”
“Well, the last time was your fault,” Ellis said, referring to their confrontation outside of Annie’s. “For all those muscles, you hit like a girl.”
“I was drunk. Give me a few days, and I’ll show you what bein’ hit by a real man feels like.”
They quietly laughed as Ellis pulled a chair to Phil’s bedside.
“Thanks, Phil,” he said. “I’d be dead if not for you.”
“The recoil threw off his aim. I don’t think it woulda hit you anyway.”
“We don’t know that. He might have gotten off another shot if you hadn’t tackled him.”
Phil shrugged and held up his broken finger. “Put it behind the trigger so he couldn’t pull. Saw it on TV once.”
“My nephew the hero,” Percy added dryly from the corner of the room. “I guess I won’t have to kick the crap out of you for stealin’ my gun.”
“There’s animals in the forest, Percy. I was just bein’ safe.”
“You coulda come home! I was worried to death!” Percy stood, and Ellis could see the anger of a scared parent in the bartender’s stern but tired composure. “Do you know that I paced this entire town every night hopin’ to see you? I had Arthur out doin’ patrols!”
Phil didn’t answer at first, but then he whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Percy grunted. “You better be sorry. I don’t care that you’re the hero of the day. You scared me to death, and you’re gonna work it off at the pub as soon as you’re better.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ellis interrupted. “Alcohol might not be the best thing for him to be around.”
Percy hesitated before nodding. “Yeah, okay, but I’ll come up with somethin’.”
“Rehab,” Phil said quietly. “I wanna do the rehab thing.”
Percy studied his nephew, and then nodded softly. “I think that’s a fine decision, Phil.” Then he hesitated before adding, “I’m not sure what I’d do without you, kid. You know that?”
Phil smiled, and Percy cleared his throat. Then he headed for the door, likely retreating to the safety of his familiar recliner.
“Not comfortable with the emotional stuff, huh?” Ellis asked.
“Neither of us are, but we’re better than we used to be.”
Ellis stood and stretched. “Well, I just wanted to thank you for saving my life. Listen, I don’t want to say too much right now, but there’s something going on tomorrow. I’ll give Percy the details, but you’ll probably want to be there. It could be nothing, but then, it might be big.”
“Sure thing,” and, with that, Phil offered his good hand. “You’re not too bad, Barnes.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Guthrie—while sober,” Ellis added, accepting the hand.
Ellis left Phil to his rest, shared tomorrow’s activity with Percy, who asked a lot of questions, and then made his way back to Annie’s.
He had barely slept since leaving Anderson. There hadn’t been much time for it between visiting Office Clem, contacting and meeting up with Dr. Buck, and then coming back here to be shot at by Stan. His mother promised to watch Lilly for a few more days, but he missed her, now especially. He thought about calling his parents’ house but she would have been asleep already. It was late.
Dr. Buck was already asleep and snoring in the bed by the time Ellis made it back, so Ellis took off his shoes and shirt and lay on the couch. He would call her in the morning; but, having just faced death, even that couldn’t come soon enough.