Do No Harm

He nodded his thanks and trudged up the hill, turning left onto the wide field. Down at the end, he noticed a picnic ground and recognized Dalton's slump near the immense barbecue pit. As David drew close, two girls came into view, sitting behind Dalton at a battered picnic table. They sat perfectly still, a few badly wrapped presents in a small pile before them. A breeze kicked up, and the younger one shivered.

David paused, knowing he shouldn't intrude.

Dalton pulled a two-liter bottle of Coke from a plastic bag, which promptly blew away in the wind. He chased it down and turned back to the barbecue, only to find the hot dogs on fire. He poured some Coke over them to put them out, and pulled them from the blackened grill onto a paper plate. David backed away, but Dalton spotted him before he could leave unnoticed.

Dalton wore a red flannel shirt and a pair of jeans, mended badly at one knee. The left leg of his jeans flared at the ankle, maybe from a gun. "Still want to help the sick fugitive, Doc?"

David did not respond.

"This is personal time for me," Dalton said, turning back to the soggy hot dogs. "My little girl's birthday party."

"I'm sorry," David said. "I wouldn't have come if I'd known. I was told you were at the Academy, so I figured it was work-related." He leaned over toward the girl, hands on his knees. "How old are you?" he asked.

Dalton nodded at his younger daughter. "Go ahead and answer." He glanced back at David self-consciously.

"Ten," the girl said. Her face, stained with food, was downturned and sad. Her older sister didn't look much happier.

A homemade cake sat lopsided on a sheet of cardboard at the end of the table. Dalton slid two burnt hot dogs, moist with Coke, into buns and set the plates in front of the girls. The older daughter pried at the hot dog with a glittery pink fingernail, and the burnt shell crumbled a bit.

"Go on," Dalton said. "It's not that bad." He fixed himself a hot dog, took a bite, and pretended to enjoy it.

The girls stared at their plates. The little one looked as if she might start crying. A volley of gunshots echoed in the background, and the children jerked in their seats.

"I'm going to talk to the man for a moment, girls," Dalton said. He nodded at his ten-year-old affectionately. "You can go ahead and open your presents."

He strode off toward the graduation field, and David followed. Arms crossed, Dalton faced him. "What?" he asked.

"I'd like to put our differences aside and offer whatever help I can," David said.

"After you've been questioning our judgment? Getting in our way?"

"I know you were doing what you thought was right-"

"Doc, I make thirty-two thousand dollars a year after taxes. What the fuck do you think I do things for? The money?"

"I don't care anymore," David said. "I just want to help."

"What, now that someone you like got hit?"

Dalton must have seen the pain in his face because he looked down at the ground. A recently discarded cigarette smoldered in the grass, and Dalton stubbed it with a savage twist of his foot. David could see on the side of his shoe where he'd colored the worn leather with a brown pen.

"Why should I work with you?" Dalton continued. "You're the guy who tells the jury this guy needs to go to the nuthouse."

"Why don't we catch him first, then decide what to do with him?"

"Still we, huh? Seems to me you got a Jesus complex, Doc. And let me tell you something. It's stupid to think you can save anyone else. That's a lie reserved for films and shitty novels." Dalton studied the tip of his shoe. "There's no we about this. Yale and I have it under control. Don't get involved."

Dalton's eyes were hard and intractable. To make any progress, David knew he'd have to deal with Yale. The detective at the station had said Yale was in court-maybe he was back by now.

Dalton turned to check on his girls. The hot dogs sat on the plates before them, uneaten.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you," David said. He extended his hand and after a moment, Dalton took it.

"Jenkins isn't a bad guy, you know," Dalton said. "He thinks like you do. You gotta cut out disease."

He did not release David's hand, and David did not pull it away. "Cutting is always a last resort," David said.

"I'd say we've reached the last resort," Dalton said. "Wouldn't you?"

David was too spent to argue.

"Me and Jenkins," Dalton continued, "we just figure enough shit goes wrong in the world without someone planning it."

Dalton's younger daughter began to cry, drawing his attention. She lowered an unwrapped Barbie doll into her lap, as her older sister tried to console her. Dalton dropped David's hand and jogged over.

"What's wrong?" David heard him say.

The older girl glared at him. "She already has a Doctor Barbie. Mom would've known that. Mom used to keep track of stuff like that."