Mystery & Suspense
Read an excerpt from A Plague of Secrets (continued):
"Not permanently?" Hardy asked.
"No," Treya said, "I don't think so. But I'll ask now for sure. Anyway, then they make some slits in the dura."
"What's that?" Frannie asked.
"Oh, you'll like this." Treya obviously wearing herself down trying to keep a positive spin on things. "It means tough mother."
"What does?"
"Dura mater. It's the outer layer of the brain. Tough and fibrous. They make some small slits in it to let the brain expand."
Silence collected in the line as this bit of horrifying, yet perhaps good, information began to sink in. Finally, Hardy cleared his throat. "So how's Abe?"
Treya hesitated. "Quiet. Even for him."
"It's not his fault," Frannie said.
"I know that. It might not be so clear to him." Again, a stab at an optimistic tone. "He'll get to it."
"I know he will," Frannie said.
Hardy, not so certain of that, especially if Zachary didn't make it, turned to face away from his wife. Stealing a glance at his watch, he did some quick math: If the accident had taken place at five-thirty, it had now been five and a half hours. After they'd gotten him to the hospital, his own son Michael had survived for six.
The women's words continued to tumble through the phone at his ear, but he didn't hear any of them over his own imaginings—or was it only his pulse, sounding like the tick of a clock counting down the seconds?
Excerpt from A PLAGUE OF SECRETS © 2009 by John Lescroart. Published by Dutton, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.
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