Part 37 (1/2)
”Fare thee well, Dr. James.” I got out and made it to my door without turning back to look. When I did she was gone.
I let myself in and ran up the stairs. Going nowhere in a hurry, I thought as I opened the door to my apartment. All that greeted me was a pseudo-hungry cat. There was a heap of food in her bowl, she just wanted a newer, fresher variety. I ignored her and she lay down to take a nap.
I sat down, enjoying the comfort of the familiar. I tried to sort through my mail, even glance at a magazine, but my thoughts keep churning.
I could have told Cordelia that I loved her, not let her off easy.
Though it was true, it would still have been manipulation. She carried considerable guilt about her father killing my father and it would have been easy to have used that.
The kindest thing I could do was to let her go. She didn't love me and wasn't going to, so all that was left was for us to be kind to each other. Too bad, all this kindness hurt like h.e.l.l. For me, at least.
Congratulations, Micky, now you know exactly how Danny felt. King Lear. How appropriate. That was the line. ”The wheel is come full circle; I am here.”
I jumped when I heard the key in the lock.
”I could shake you until your teeth fall out of your head. Cordelia had to call me and tell me you were here.”
It was Danny. I remained where I was, still staring out the window.
”Where the h.e.l.l do you get off,” she continued, ”letting us worry about you all this time. You've got some pretty nasty people out after your a.s.s and it's not stretching the realm of the possible to picture you floating out to the Gulf face down. Do you hear me?”
* 243 *
”Danny,” I said, finally turning to face her, ”It's too little and way too late, but I love you.”
”Micky,” she said, her tone changing. She came over to me and brushed a tear off my cheek. ”I know that.”
”You still deserve to hear it.”
She put her arms around me, stroking my hair while she talked. ”I can't tell you how furious I am that you didn't tell me the truth about what happened to your parents,” she said, but her voice wasn't angry.
”I'm sorry. I couldn't.”
”Yeah, sugar, I know.” She held me while I cried.
”d.a.m.n it, Danny, I keep ruining your clothes,” I said, pulling away and wiping my eyes. There was a large wet spot where my head had rested. ”How p.i.s.sed is Ranson?”
”Well, yesterday she was madder than an eel on a fishhook. She calmed down a wee tad after Cordelia called last night and said you were all right.”
From the grocery store, of course.
She continued, ”But the sooner you convince her that you're alive and well and ready to testify, the better it will be for you.”
”Right. I can see Joanne Ranson twisted into a knot like an eel.”
”Shall we go?”
”Let me wash my face. What are you doing here in the middle of the day, anyway?”
”Stick your nose where it doesn't belong, dear El Micko, and you end up being my official business. One way or another.”
I washed my face, but I still looked like s.h.i.+t.
Danny took me to her office and left me in an empty room to await my fate.
Ranson appeared about an hour later, nonchalantly chewing on a roast beef po-boy. Seeing her made me realize how hungry I was. She and Danny continued their conversation. Ranson pretended to ignore me.
”Definitely the asylum,” Ranson was saying, ”Either that or the women's penitentiary.”
”Naw,” Danny played along, ”she'd be too disruptive an influence there.”
Enough of this.
* 244 *
”Nice to see you, too, Detective Sergeant Ranson,” I said, breaking into their reverie of what to do with me.
”Oh, Micky, I didn't see you back there in the shadows,” she commented, taking another bite of her sandwich.
Two can play this game. ”I must have heard the rumor wrong,” I said. ”I heard that you were as p.i.s.sed as a water moccasin on a trawling line. But I knew you could control your temper better than that. That you wouldn't get madder than an eel on a fishhook,” I repeated Danny's words, imitating her.
Ranson shot Danny a killer glance.
”You two.” Danny burst out laughing. ”Here, lunch.” She put a sack in front of me. My very own po-boy. I stopped plotting a sneak attack on Ranson's. ”I've got to do some work around here. Get along, girls, or I'll call the fire department to hose you down,” Danny said and then left.
”Polite of you to reappear, Ms. Knight,” Ranson said, coolly appraising me. I ignored her and started eating. ”Where did you go yesterday?”
”I took a walk,” I said between mouthfuls.
”A walk?”
”A long walk.”
”Where?”
”East, I think.”
”Mick,” Ranson said, leaning across the table at me, ”if Milo doesn't kill you, I will.”
”Joanne, after all I've done for you.” I feigned chagrin.
”To me. You are a major pain in the b.u.t.t, as I'm sure you're aware.”
She started pacing the room again.
”I've not had a fun-filled time these past few weeks, you know,” I shot back, feeling sorry for myself.
”I do know that. I'm very sorry about yesterday,” Ranson replied in all seriousness. ”I wish...I'm sorry. Do you want to talk?”
”No, I'm okay. I want you to spend your time chasing the bad guys, not nursemaiding me. I have to get out of 'protective custody'