Mad Max: Unintended Consequences Read Online Free PDF Page A

day. Pages for doctors whispered through the partly-closed door.
    “Can't leave Merry,” he said.
    In between naps and bouts of fear, I thought about a promise I made to myself when I left Richmond, when I put bad memories behind me. After I married my second husband, I relocated to New York City and settled in. I created my own mantra: I'm never living in the South again, and I'm through raising children. Merry's accident blew that mantra out of the water.
    “Send the Colonel and Bette home. I'll take care of Alex and Em for a few days. Okay with you?”
    “Thanks.” The relieved look on Whip's haggard face was all the answer I needed.
    “Leave the kids to me.” Not the time to talk about the length of my involvement.
    There was a tap at the door. A uniformed policeman, belt weighed down with the tools of his trade, beckoned to Whip.
    “Come on in, Jerry.” Whip met him halfway. They slapped each other on the back.
    “The Colonel told me where to find you.” Jerry rolled bowlegged into my room.
    “Max, this is my friend Jerry Skelton. We shoot together at the range. Jerry, meet Merry's mother, Maxine Davies.”
    “I've heard a lot about you, Mrs. Davies.” Jerry nodded and shook my hand.
    “Unless you have bail bond receipts, it's all lies.” I laughed and winced. Will I ever learn?
    “I heard about Merry and wanted to stop by.”
    “Thanks.”
    “I talked to the cop who found the truck.”
    “Let me guess: drunk driver.” It was the only answer that made sense.
    “Yes, ma'am. Blood alcohol count three times the legal limit.”
    Whip clenched his fists. “Dead?”
    “At the scene.”
    “Any other details?”
    “He was a regular at your neighborhood bar, Buddy's.”
    “Buddy's? Go there all the time with Merry. A regular, huh?” Whip frowned. “Wonder if we knew him.”
    Jerry pulled out his notebook and flipped pages. “Name's Herbert Griffith.”
    “The guy from the GE plant? Never known him to get drunk. Couple of beers, a game of pool or two, some bullshit stories. Nice enough guy. Shit, even shot pool with him a few times.”
    What are the odds of Merry being injured by someone she and Whip know?

CHAPTER SEVEN
    My doctor released me with orders to take it easy. I signed the forms and went back to the ICU waiting area, steeled against the possibility of bad news. I peeked into Merry's room and saw she was plugged into a wall of devices with beepers and moving lines. I flashed back to the TV series The Bionic Woman. Please don't let this be her future.
    Whip held Merry's hand and told her about his trip to Abu Dhabi. I stood in the doorway as if watching a tableau. Whip was in such obvious pain that my heart thudded loudly. I remembered better times just after they met.
    Every summer ended with the Battle of the Bands at Riverside Park. The year after she graduated from high school, Merry went to the concert with several girlfriends and was still giddy the next day over this cute drummer she met. I overheard her talking on the phone to a girlfriend who was home sick with a bad cold.
    “He's totally gorgeous. No, they didn't win, but I actually went up and introduced myself.”
    Merry paused.
    “Tall, tanned, dark hair.”
    Another pause.
    “No, really short hair. I wish it were longer, but it'll grow out.”
    Pause.
    “He invited me out for a beer.”
    A beer? Merry doesn't drink.
    “Of course I went. What do you think, I'm stupid? Yes, I even drank part of a beer.”
    She did?
    “Yes, he asked for my number. We're going out next week before he goes back to college.”
    College? How old is this guy anyway?
    “His parents live in town, but he goes to the Colorado School of Mines.”
    Oh well, this could be a short summer romance.
    “He's going to be an engineer.”
    Passenger train or freight?
    “I'm going to marry him.”
    You are?
    Whip and Merry lived a cliché. They fell in love that day at the rock concert. Now, seventeen plus years later, Merry and Whip were still happily