Sheriff Hartman sat with Terry Rafferty at the Quint kitchen table. Special Agent Jack Draper stood behind them by the sink. Sheriff Hartman was reading Rafferty's identification in his wallet.
Hartman said, "What's an investigator from Washington doing here?"
Rafferty said, "I'll tell you in private."
Draper was angry. "Bullshit! He's a buyer from the Mainland."
Repulsed by the DEA agent’s paranoia, Rafferty asked Hartman, "Is he always this hyper?"
Hartman said, "Jeremiah Quint was a grower. You were seen meeting with him last night."
Draper told Rafferty, "You're the only one alive here now."
Rafferty told Hartman, "Call the Senator. He'll vouch for me."
Thoughtfully, Sheriff Hartman left the table and picked up the telephone on the counter.
Nora Buchanan answered the knocking at her back door. She watched as Mad Dog and Lester carried the semiconscious Tomo Oteas inside her apartment. His bloodied shirt was matted against his wound, his eyes were closed and his head rolled around.
Nora was horrified, crushed, agonized. "Tomo!"
Mad Dog said, "Where do you want him, Nora?"
Nora said, "In my bed."
Nora followed them and watched Mad Dog and Lester place Tomo on her bed. She examined him and then discovered how bad his wound was.
"He got shot by raiders," Lester said.
Nora said, "He has to go to County General."
Lester punched Nora in the head. She staggered sideways, nearly fell. He punched her again. This time she hit the floor. Mad Dog stopped him from kicking her in the face.
Mad Dog spoke calmly to Nora. "We'll get you whatever you need, Nora, but he'll get well here in your apartment."
Lester threatened Nora. "Understand, bitch?"
Nora told Mad Dog, "Get him out of my apartment."
Lester tried to punch her again, but Mad Dog stopped him.
Mad Dog said, "That's enough, Lester."
Nora caught on. "Oh god, what did you get Tomo into?"
Mad Dog said, "The Sheriff busted his grandfather's farm, busted all his dope, his grandfather, too, and shot up Tomo here."
Nora was stung. "You crazy—"
Lester went to punch her again. She ducked.
Mad Dog said, "Go wait in the truck, Lester."
Snarling, Lester left the room.
Mad Dog told Nora, "Don't come between me and my son. It won't work."
Helpless against this crazy logic, Nora reexamined Tomo's wounds.
Nora said, "In the bathroom under the sink there's a cardboard box marked with a red cross."
Nora heard a gun cocked. She saw Mad Dog had his gun at her head.
Mad Dog warned her, "I will kill you if you try taking him to the hospital. Understand?"
Nora was desperate. Worse, she was powerless.
Terry Rafferty and Sheriff Hartman sat at a picnic table beneath a flame tree in Quint’s back yard. Rafferty now sported a bandage.
Hartman said, "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
Rafferty was stone-faced. "I was married to a CIA combat instructor. We divorced, but not before she had taught me more than I wanted to know about hand to-hand combat."
Hartman was cold and disbelieving. "What are you doing here?"
Rafferty lied, saying, "The Senator asked me to look in on one of his former employees, find out if and when he can return to work. He's been staying with his older brother here, and his brother's wife and their kids."
"What's he doing in Hawaii?"
Rafferty admitted, "He had a nervous collapse."
Hartman said, "What's his name?"
"James Sebastian Quint," Rafferty said.
"Where is he right now?"
"I don't know. He was living in a tent by a waterfall in Wild Banana Gulch."
"Do you think James Sebastian Quint could have done this?"
Rafferty was emphatic. "No, Jimmy's the gentlest man I've ever met. Besides, more than one person had a hand in this."
"Why say that?"
"Jeremiah Quint got at least one shot off before somebody else came up and blasted him in the back. There's a fresh bloodstain eight yards away from him."