Daddy's Gone a Hunting Read Online Free PDF Page A

pictures of her beautiful home in Minnetonka? Lottie wasn’t sure.
    Lottie left the television on all day. She needed to see the video of the destruction of the plant, needed the comfort of knowing that at least Gus hadn’t been burned to death.
    Charley Walters, the director of Walters Funeral Home, had made the arrangements for most of the people in their congregation and was reminding her that Gus always said he wanted to be cremated. Later Lottie remembered that she responded to Charley by saying something like, “Well, he was almost cremated in that fire, but luckily was not.”
    Her neighbor and close friend, Gertrude Peterson, came by and urged her to have a cup of tea, a taste of muffin. The tea she could swallow, but she waved off the muffin.
    Sitting hunched in the fireside chair in the living room, her small frame diminished by the chair’s high back and wide seat, Lottie huddled under a blanket. The cop had told her that Kate Connelly had been gravely injured. Lottie had known Kate from the day she was born. She had mourned for the motherless little girls after the terrible accident their parents were in.
    Oh God, she prayed. No matter what she’s done, let her live. And forgive Gus. I told him he was making a mistake. I warned him. Oh God, please have mercy on him. He was a good man.

9

    J ack Worth stayed with Hannah until Douglas Connelly reached the hospital. Jack found it hard to hide his contempt when he saw Connelly’s bloodshot eyes. But his tone was deferential when he said, “Mr. Connelly, I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this.”
    Doug nodded as he walked past him to go to Hannah. “What is the latest word about Kate?” he asked her quietly.
    “Nothing more than what I told you. She’s in a deep coma. They don’t know if she’ll make it and if she does, there may be brain damage.” Hannah pulled back from her father’s embrace. “There were people from the fire department here earlier. They took my number. They wanted to talk to Kate, but of course that was impossible. She and Gus were found just outside the back entrance to the museum after the explosion. Jack is afraid the police might think they set it off deliberately.”
    Pushing her father away, her tone low but furious, Hannah said, “Dad, the plant was losing money. Kate knew it. Jack knew it. You knew it. Why didn’t you take that offer for the land? We wouldn’t be sitting here right now if you had.”
    In the cab on the way to the hospital, Douglas Connelly had prepared himself for the question. Despite the throbbing headache that the early-morning drink and three aspirin had not been able toovercome, he forced himself to sound firm and authoritative as he answered.
    “Hannah, your sister exaggerates the problems the business is having, and the land is worth a lot more than the offer we got for it. Kate simply wouldn’t listen to reason.” Without attempting to touch Hannah again, he walked across the small waiting room, sank into a chair, and buried his face in his hands. A moment later his muffled sobs shook his body.
    That was when Jack Worth stood up. “I think it’s better that you two are alone,” he said. “Hannah, will you let me know if there is any change in Kate’s condition?”
    “Of course. Thanks, Jack.”
    For long minutes after he left, Hannah sat unmoving in the gray waiting room armchair. Her thoughts drifted as she studied her father sitting opposite her in the matching chair. His sobs quieted as suddenly as they had begun. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
    I wonder if all the chairs in the waiting rooms are exactly like these, Hannah thought . . . Will Kate live? . . . If she does, will she be the same person? I can’t imagine Kate not being just the way she always was . . . She had dinner with Dad last night. Did she give him any hint that she was meeting Gus at the museum?
    It was a question she had to ask. “Dad, did Kate mention she was going to the museum this