things like that.”
Elizabeth’s face darkened dangerously, and I hastened to intervene.
“Paul, why don’t I take you to Harborview? That way Elizabeth and Monica can go on… chatting.” Relief was fizzing through me like champagne. “I’ll be so glad to see Tommy.”
Family feuds could wait, and so could groceries and sleep. This day was getting better and better.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
TOMMY LOOKED GHASTLY. THEY HAD SHAVED HIS BUSHY gray hair to stitch up various head wounds, and the face below the naked, knobby skull was slack and weary. But his leprechaun’s eyes lit up at the sight of us, and when Paul embraced him gingerly, bending over the hospital bed, Tommy smacked him on the back with vigor.
“What a sight you are, Paulie!” he said. “And you brought my favorite redhead! Carnegie, dear, you look like a bride yourself.”
He meant my armful of flowers. I had stopped at Nevsky Brothers on the way, where Boris commanded Irina to turn over what seemed like half her stock. What a summer’s treasure to enjoy in November: sheaves of royal-blue irises, glossy tulips like huge crimson goblets, and an entire thicket of sweetheart roses in white and blush pink.
I held my armload aside while I kissed Tommy’s forehead, then set them down on the vacant second bed and went out to beg some vases from the nurses’ station. As I went, I could hear Paul explaining that Aaron and some other friends from the Sentinel would be coming by the next morning so as not to overwhelm him with too many people at once. Likewise, I planned to refrain from asking Tommy what he had or hadn’t seen at the Aquarium. At least for a few minutes.
Of course, maybe the police had already questioned him. There was still a patrolman stationed outside Tommy’s door, a gray-haired man who looked bored and cross. I nodded at him in passing, figuring that he’d be relieved of this dull duty soon enough. Down the hall, Roger Talbot emerged from the men’s room.
“Carnegie!” In the cold fluorescent hospital light, I could see the strain and sorrow in Roger’s dark eyes, but his clothes were pressed and his silver hair recently trimmed. He no longer had the haunted look of a man on the edge. “Is it true? They found the one who killed her?”
“Her,” not “them.” Of course, he barely knew Angela, the other victim. Just a quick introduction at the Aquarium to a nice-looking blonde who then disappeared, leaving hardly a memory.
“It’s true, Roger. I don’t know if he’s been charged with murder yet, but he jumped bail for the purse-snatching, so he’s not going anywhere.”
His face twisted in a spasm of pain. “Purse-snatching! A petty criminal does something as stupid as purse-snatching, and Mercedes ends up… ends up…” His eyes filled, and he looked away, blinking hard.
“Hey,” I said gently, “let’s get some coffee and sit down for just a minute, OK? And then you can help me with Tommy’s flowers.”
We sat in the little lounge with our Styrofoam cups, and as usual, I thought about my father. But only for a moment. Over the years, the pain was fading to something softer and easier to bear. How long would that process take for Roger Talbot, who had to do his grieving in secret?
He sipped mechanically at his coffee, then set it down and sighed. “Tommy doesn’t remember what he saw.”
“How do you know he saw anything?”
“It’s obvious. With the guard there, he’s either a witness or a suspect. So I simply asked him. He remembers being at the party, but that’s all. Then I had a word with his doctor.”
“And?”
“His memory may return all at once, or in fragments over time, or not at all.”
It’s interesting what people will tell an influential man. I bet the doctor in question would have stonewalled someone like me. Well, now I wouldn’t have to distress Tommy further by asking him myself.
“Maybe that’s for the best,” I said. “Now that the police have Foy in custody, they’ll be able to check for DNA traces and all that. They won’t need an eyewitness.”
“I need one,” said Roger fiercely. “I need to know how it happened.”
“No, you don’t,” I insisted. “Whatever Tommy did or didn’t witness, you need to remember Mercedes as you last saw her. She made such a beautiful gypsy!”
“She was always beautiful.” He smiled bleakly, and I could see that the healing had begun, however long and slow it might be. I tried to nudge it along.
“Roger, are you coming