Part 19 (1/2)
”One of my patients asked to see you before you left.”
”Isn't it past visiting hours?”
”It certainly is,” she said wearily. ”But he was very insistent.”
”Alex Adrian?” I'd been expecting this and dreading it.
”Right this way.” She led off without waiting to see if we followed.
Escort politely waited outside as I went into Adrian's private room. He was sitting stiffly against a bank of pillows on the high bed, wearing a flimsy hospital gown and a disgusted expression. Two big wads of bandages covered his wrists and I couldn't help but think of Popeye the Sailor.
”Something amusing you?” he said.
”Just glad you're all right.”
”That's one man's opinion.”
”The nurse said-”
”Yes, please come in.”
His face was drained and gray against the white pillows, and the cloudiness in his dark eyes suggested drugs. In deference to his wrenched shoulders and arms, he was careful not to move his head too much. I took a metal chair next to the bed and turned it around to face him.
”Cops talk to you?” I asked.
”Oh yes. Quite thoroughly and at great length, then that lieutenant told me I'd been d.a.m.ned lucky and to leave police work to the police from now on.”
”Nothing like adding insult to injury.”
”The insult is that they're not telling me anything. What's to happen to Wallace?””I don't know. Last I saw, they'd knocked him out to work on his arm.”
”Is anyone watching him or Koller?”
”Yes.” I didn't like this turn of the conversation. ”Stay away from them, Alex.”
He said nothing. A sullen red fire glowed far back in his half-lidded eyes.
”They're in custody and that's enough for now. You can press charges-”
”I already have, for a.s.sault and attempted murder, but it is not nearly enough.”
”It'll have to be.”
He looked straight ahead to the blank white wall in front of him. ”If it had been Miss Smythe, what would you do?”
That one hit me hard, as he'd meant it to. Once my gut reaction eased, I realized it had taken a lot out of him to say that, to admit Sandra had made him so vulnerable.
”Same as you, want to tear them to pieces.”
His eyes shut, his voice dropped to a gentle whisper. ”That's exactly what I want to do to them, and I want to do it with my own hands.”
I couldn't hold that against him. I knew exactly how he felt. More so, because in the past I had acted on those feelings and killed.
”Thank you for coming after me,” he said in the same quiet tone. The darkness within and around me lessened a little.
”You're welcome.”
His breathing evened out and deepened. Whatever they'd given him was getting a chance to work now. ”Did it hurt very much?” he asked.
”Did what?”
”When he shot you.”
h.e.l.l.
”I once saw a magician shoot at a deck of cards and hit only the ace of spades...
Perhaps Wallace had a magical bullet that only puts holes in clothing and not in people.”
”What do you want?”
The question surprised him enough to open his eyes. ”Nothing, really-only confirmation of what I know I saw. You came diving out of thin air from an impossible angle, then look a smash in the skull that should have knocked you cold for hours-or even killed you.”
”Maybe you were a little feverish from hanging there for so long.”
”Yes. Perhaps I was, but I'm not now.” He looked away from me, a faint glitter coming from beneath his lashes. ”I saw you fade and flicker back, like a light bulb losing and then regaining its power. I saw you. I did not imagine it.”
h.e.l.l and d.a.m.nation.
”The barrel came cras.h.i.+ng down and you dropped under it, and then it rolled away because you weren't there anymore. Wallace only saw you coming out of nowhere, he missed the rest. The other barrels were in the way for him. By the time he'd waded through, you were back again, and solid.”
I bit my tongue and waited him out.
”And you got up seconds later, asking me if I was all right.” He laughed faintly, like a ghost. ”I might have blacked out then, I might have imagined it all, but not the shot. I was quite wide awake. I saw you take it point blank, I saw the exit hole in your back.” His look dared me to contradict him.
I didn't and confirmed things by turning away.
”I thought you were rus.h.i.+ng him on momentum alone, that you'd fall at any time, but you didn't. You got to him and he screamed.”
”I was breaking his arm.”
”It was more than pain; it was like what you did to Roller the other night when you frightened him.”
”Maybe I've just got a way with me.”
”Yes, you do. I wanted to see your face then, I wanted to see why he screamed.”