“Ask your doctor if he is a cop. He is legally required to disclose this information if you ask,” the loudspeaker said.

The nurse buzzed into the room.

“Oh, it looks like the cast didn’t set right,” the nurse singsonged as Jackie openly hacked away, using the full motion of her arm to chisel at the plaster. “We’ll just have to reset that, won’t we?”

Jackie put her swollen, sunken eye up to the hole in the cast. She couldn’t see anything. She sawed at the frayed edge of the hole with the impotent edge of the knife.

“I think I almost got it.”

“Ask your doctor if she is you. Ask your doctor if everyone is in your mind. Ask your doctor for tips for living in lucid dreams,” the loudspeaker said.

“Reset the cast,” the nurse said with a voice like a tolling church bell, her arm landing hard on Jackie’s free hand. “Reset the cast.”

The nurse’s pupils went vertical, and Jackie let go of the knife, relaxing her hand.

“I would rather have the pain than the fatigue,” she said.

Her head rolled back and her arms flopped open.

“Just relax,” the nurse said, although she was no longer in the room.

“You don’t look well,” Diane said.

“I don’t feel well.”

“How long are you supposed to stay here?”

“Dunno. Probably until tomorrow morning. Maybe tonight. Didn’t even know this place was still open. Did you?”

Diane did not, but she was too distracted by her worry for Jackie and her frustration with Josh to care.

“What happened?”

“Driving up Chuckwalla, leaving your house. I got to Lampasas. Then all of a sudden, I’m lying in this cot.”

“You didn’t see the car that hit you?” Seeing Jackie’s condition, Diane began to worry more about how Josh was doing. And why hadn’t he stopped after the accident?

“Nope.”

“I’m sorry about earlier. I think I upset you. I can’t talk to younger people. I’ve failed a lot with Josh.”

“Here’s the problem, dude. You keep seeing me as a number, and I’m not that. Or not just that. Or, oh, I don’t know. Jesus, everything hurts.”

“Jackie, I want to help you find the man from King City. There’s a directness, a forcefulness to you that I just don’t have. I need that. I need you to help me understand what Troy and Evan and all the rest want with Josh. I need to protect my son.”

“I’m tired, Diane.” Jackie wanted to yawn, but her jaw couldn’t open wide enough.

“He’s my son, Jackie. You need to . . . I’m sorry. I can come back later.”

“No, in general. Tired. Broken.”

She held up her cast, newly reset, although the nurse had never come back into the room.