Under the Dome

He did not feel that much like smiling; it hadn’t been a productive morning. The preacher lady was gone, the newspaper bitch was gone, her two pet reporters seemed to have disappeared, and so had Rose Twitchell. The restaurant was open and the Wheeler kid was minding the store, but said he had no clue as to where Rose might be. Carter believed him. Anse Wheeler looked like a dog who’s forgotten where he buried his favorite bone. Judging by the horrible smells coming from the kitchen, he had no clue when it came to cooking, either. Carter had gone around back, checking for the Sweetbriar van. It was gone. He wasn’t surprised.

After the restaurant he’d checked the department store, hammering first in front, then in back, where some careless clerk had left a bunch of roofing material rolls out for any Light-Finger Harry to steal. Except when you thought about it, who’d bother with roofing material in a town where it no longer rained?

Carter had thought Everett’s house would also be a dry hole, only went there so he could say he’d followed the boss’s instructions to the letter, but he had heard kids in the backyard as he walked up the driveway. Also, her van was there. No doubt it was hers; one of those stick-on bubble-lights was sitting on the dash. The boss had said moderate questioning, but since Linda Everett was the only one he could find, Carter thought he might go on the hard side of moderate. Like it or not—and she wouldn’t—Everett would have to answer for the ones he hadn’t been able to find as well as herself. But before he could open his mouth, she was talking. Not only talking, but taking him by the hand, actually pulling him inside.

“Have you found him? Please, Carter, is Rusty okay? If he’s not…” She let go of his hand. “If he’s not, keep your voice down, the kids are out back and I don’t want them any more upset than they are already.”

Carter walked past her into the kitchen and peered out through the window over the sink. “What’s the hippie doctor doing here?”

“He brought the kids he’s taking care of. Caro brought them to the meeting last night, and… you know what happened to her.”

This speed-rap babble was the last thing Carter had expected. Maybe she didn’t know anything. The fact that she’d been at the meeting last night and was still here this morning certainly argued in favor of the idea. Or maybe she was just trying to keep him off-balance. Making a what-did-you-call-it, preemptive strike. It was possible; she was smart. You only had to look at her to see that. Also sort of pretty, for an older babe.

“Have you found him? Did Barbara…” She found it easy to put a catch in her voice. “Did Barbara hurt him? Hurt him and leave him somewhere? You can tell me the truth.”

He turned to her, smiling easily in the diluted light coming in through the window. “You go first.”

“What?”

“You go first, I said. You tell me the truth.”

“All I know is he’s gone.” She let her shoulders slump. “And you don’t know where. I can see you don’t. What if Barbara kills him? What if he’s killed him alre—”

Carter grabbed her, spun her around as he would have spun a partner at a country dance, and hoisted her arm behind her back until her shoulder creaked. It was done with such eerie, liquid speed that she had no idea he meant to do it until it was done.

He knows! He knows and he’s going to hurt me! Hurt me until I tell—His breath was hot in her ear. She could feel his beard-stubble tickling her cheek as he spoke, and it made her break out in shivers.

“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Mom.” It was little more than a whisper. “You and Wettington have always been tight—hip to hip and tit to tit. You want to tell me you didn’t know she was going to break your husband out? That what you’re saying?”

He jerked her arm higher and Linda had to bite her lip to stifle a scream. The kids were right out there, Jannie calling over her shoulder for Thurse to push her higher. If they heard a scream from the house—

“If she’d told me, I would have told Randolph,” she panted. “Do you think I’d risk Rusty getting hurt when he didn’t do anything?”

“He did plenty. Threatened to withhold medicine from the boss unless he stepped down. Fucking blackmail. I heard it.” He jerked her arm again. A little moan escaped her. “Got anything to say about that? Mom? ”

“Maybe he did. I haven’t seen him or talked to him, so how would I know? But he’s still the closest thing this town has to a doctor. Rennie never would have executed him. Barbara, maybe, but not Rusty. I knew it, and you must know it, too. Now let me go.”

For a moment he almost did. It all hung together. Then he had a better idea, and marched her to the sink. “Bend over, Mom.”

“No!”

He jerked her arm up again. It felt like the ball of her shoulder was going to tear right out of its socket. “Bend over. Like you’re going to wash that pretty blond hair.”

“Linda?” Thurston called. “How are you doing?”