SAN FRANCISCO
Burning tears came to Molly’s eyes
when she saw David Eden. She gasped and froze in the opening to his hospital
room. He had been such an important part of her early childhood memories; she
couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“My God, David!”
His head turned toward her no more
than a couple of degrees, his ancient face creased into the pillow, stiff
hospital fabric hard against his skin. Molly winced then she ran to him and
laid her hand on his.
“God, David, what happened to you?
Who would have done this? Did someone break into the house?”
He nodded, the bruising around his
mouth and the swelling looking obscene. She couldn’t look at it. “He was after
Jack, whoever he was. I don’t know why.” He took a moment to breathe; to catch
up with his heart. “Had a baseball bat; wanted to know where Jack had gone. I
swear he would have killed Jack if he’d had the chance.”
Molly thought of the man on the beach,
the one with the bruises like Jack’s, desperate to catch up with him.
“What did he look like?” she said.
“Dark hair slicked back? Face kind of beaten up?”
He nodded.
“I saw him myself! You didn’t tell
him where Jack was,” said Molly.
The old man shook his head. “I don’t
know what it means. Why would anyone want Jack so badly unless it was for the
money?”
Molly took a seat beside the bed.
“I’m worried about him David.”
“Me too.”
They both stared at the air for a
while then Molly felt the gentle touch of David’s fingertips against the back
of her hand. His skin looked so dry, but to the touch it was as soft as she
ever remembered or softer.
“Your father’s car is being removed
from the sea tomorrow Molly,” said David.
“Don’t think about that now.”
“It’s important,” he said. “I want
you to be there for me. I’m not going to be out of here and somebody has to… Will
you be there when the car is recovered?”
Molly’s eyes unfocused. To be present
when it rose from the water was more pain than she could cope with. She tried
to say “I can’t” but the words didn’t emerge with enough volume to be audible.
“Please. It needs to be done to make
it complete; to gain closure for all of us.”
Molly looked at this broken old man
in the bed with tears in her eyes and realised there were tears in his eyes
too. She nodded. “Don’t worry David. You have enough to concern you already.
That psycho could come back here to finish you off at any time. We should
organise for a police guard.”
Eden shook his head with difficulty.
“No. He’s finished with me now. Besides… it was him that called the
paramedics.”
“The man who did this?”
“Yes. He knows there’s nothing more I
could tell him. But you should be careful. Was he violent toward you on the
beach?”
“No. Aggressive but not overtly hostile.
I keep trying to think why he would want to find Jack so desperately.”
Eden didn’t respond.
“I think Jack left because of him.”
Eden nodded. “Just be careful. He
could come back if he thinks you know more.”
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