The Extinction Event by David Black Page A

all that necessary?”
    â€œThink of it as a fashion statement.”
    Caroline touched a cut on Jack’s lip.
    â€œThis might need special treatment,” she said.
    She ran her fingers over Jack’s mouth. Closed her eyes and leaned forward to kiss Jack, who, taking a deep breath, pulled back.
    â€œYou’re a good nurse,” he said.
    â€œDoctor,” she said.
    â€œYou practice a lot?”
    â€œI don’t have a lot of patience.”
    â€œWhich kind?” Jack asked.
    Caroline kissed Jack again.
    â€œI can tell you don’t have a lot of patience,” Jack said. “Did I tell you I can read minds?”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œYou’re going to say, I’m not going to help you get killed .”
    â€œAnd you’re going to say, If they wanted to kill me, you’d be in mourning by now .”
    â€œAnd you’re going to say, Let’s leave all this to the cops. ”
    â€œAnd you’re going to say, Go back into Frank’s files, everything from the past six months, everything. ”
    â€œWe know each other so well,” Jack said, “maybe someday we ought to go on a date.”
    â€œI don’t date corpses,” Caroline said.
    â€œWhy not?” Jack said. “You know what they say about necrophilia? At least, you don’t have to worry about hurting your partner’s feelings .”
    Caroline closed the first aid kid. Angrily.
    â€œI thought you wanted me to find out what happened to Frank.”
    â€œThat was before this.”
    â€œThey stole my job—” Jack began.
    â€œThey?” Caroline asked.
    â€œI worked hard to get where I am,” Jack said.
    â€œWhere are you, Jack?” Caroline asked.
    â€œBack where I began,” Jack said. “That’s what I mean. If it hadn’t been for Frank’s murder—”
    â€œYou don’t know he was murdered,” Caroline said. “As for screwing up your life—if it hadn’t been Frank’s death, it would have been something else.”
    â€œMy fate, huh?”
    â€œYour character. They pulled you in for obstructing justice. Resisting arrest. It’s amazing you weren’t disbarred years ago.”
    â€œSo my fate’s this car heading at me—”
    â€œAnd your character is you being so stubborn you decide to play chicken when the driver of the car has had a stroke and can’t turn the wheel away. You think he’s trying to prove he’s more macho than you, Jack. But he’s dead. And you’d rather crash than get out of a dead man’s way.”
    â€œBut if he was alive…”
    â€œYou’d still be a fool to play chicken,” Caroline said.
    She grabbed her bag and headed for the door.
    â€œAt least,” Jack said, “we now got a clue.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Caroline asked.
    Gingerly, Jack touched a bruise and said, “Whoever hit me was a professional.”
    Caroline slammed out.
    2
    Caroline balanced a doubled cardboard coffee cup, which splashed hot coffee onto her knuckles as she crossed the square in front of the Mycenae County Courthouse. Thrusting out his chin so he wouldn’t drip on himself, Robert took a sip from his cardboard cup.
    â€œSmart move,” Robert said, “cutting free of Jack. That relationship wasn’t going anywhere.”
    â€œDon’t get me started,” Caroline said.
    â€œDoes he have any idea who’s trying to scare him off?”
    Caroline shook her head no , took a careful sip of coffee.
    â€œJack’s going to destroy himself,” she said.
    They passed a stranger slamming his fist against one of the last public pay phones in town.
    â€œYou see that, chief?” the stranger said to Robert. “I work hard for my money, and the goddamn phone stole my quarter!”
    The stranger kept hitting the telephone. Caroline and Robert walked on. Robert shaking his head.
    â€œThere