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      Perhaps it was all in his mind. Minds had a tendency to do that, he knew: the absence of real auditory stimuli frequently encouraged the brain to supply its own. He’d been puttering about in his den for hours, and...
      Another creak.

      “His condition was incurable,” Pendergast said, not unkindly. “And I’m afraid there’s no way his experimental putterings could make up for cold-blooded murder.”
      “Putterings! Putterings? He did this!” And she stabbed her own breast with a finger.
      “This?” Pendergast said. A look of surprise came over his mud-smeared face. Then, suddenly, the surprise disappeared.
      “If you know so much about me, you must have known of my condition,” she said.
      Pendergast nodded. “Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Now I understand. That clarifies the last question in my mind — why you moved into the swamp before Slade went mad.”
      “I don’t understand,” said Hayward.
      “Lou Gehrig’s disease.” Pendergast turned toward Mrs. Brodie. “You don’t appear to be suffering any symptoms at present.”
      “I have no symptoms because I no longer have the disease. After his recovery, Charles had a period of... genius...”
 

ex Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Fever Dream (Agent Pendergast Series, Book 10 of 22; 2010)
from an unknown someone’s “Backup Lit P”
archive.org : 185 : link
same (initial landing) : 397 : link
amazon.com : link

aside —
have ordered a copy of Fever Dreams, having dipped into it, and read some reviews.
 

Douglas Preston (1956-), journalist, writer
wikipedia : link

Lincoln Child (1957-), writer of “techno-thriller and horror novels” (solo and with Douglas Preston)
wikipedia : link
 

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