Midnight Caller - By Diane Burke Page 0,61
to leave. He turned the key in the ignition. It won’t be long now, Erin O’Malley. Scurry away. Try to hide. None of it will matter. Death is right behind you.
SEVENTEEN
“Okay to come in?” Patrick ducked his head in the room. When Tony nodded, he crossed to the bed and made a show of examining the bandage on Tony’s head. “Ouch, I bet that hurt.”
“That’s what you said yesterday. And the day before.”
“Can’t help it, son. Call it like I see it. Does it hurt?”
“Only when I smile.” Tony smiled.
They both chuckled.
“How’s Erin?” Tony, desperate for news, stared at the man.
“She’s fine.” Patrick pulled a chair closer to the hospital bed. “You need to start thinking about yourself, boy. You’ve got a lot of healing to do.”
Tony waited until Patrick made himself comfortable. His eyes locked with the older man’s and he asked again, “How’s Erin?”
“She’s safe. Tess and the children are safe. Your police buddies are with them 24/7. I can’t be sure but I think some of them are showing up off the clock just to help out.” Patrick chuckled. “At first Erin hated it but she’s adjusted. She’s actually making homemade cookies and hot coffee for each shift. I’ll really worry about her when she makes doughnuts.”
Tony laughed and then grimaced as the movement sent pain shooting through his back.
“What do they tell you about that bullet hole of yours? Are you going to be able to shoot straight after this?”
Tony admired the old man’s honesty. He spoke his mind and didn’t play games.
“I’ll be fine. Doc says once the stitches are out I’ll need physical therapy for a while, but in the long run, I’ll be as good as new.”
Patrick nodded, pleasure at the news evident on his face. “How much longer are they keeping you in here?”
“I expect to be discharged day after tomorrow.” Tony shifted his weight, but it didn’t do much to alleviate the discomfort from sitting too long on the mattress. “It won’t be soon enough. I’m going crazy in here.”
“I hear you. Do you need anything?”
Both men looked at each other and neither had to speak. There was only one thing Tony needed and Patrick couldn’t provide it.
“It’s been three days, Patrick.”
“I know.”
“Not a visit. Not a phone call. What’s going on?”
Patrick shrugged. “If it’s any consolation, she hasn’t left the house. She keeps busy with the children, cleans, cooks and sleeps. The tension in the house is so thick you could cut it with a knife. We’re all in some kind of holding pattern like an aircraft circling for a safe place to land.” Patrick crossed his leg and rested his ankle against his opposite knee. “Sometimes pretending nothing is wrong is so stressful that I’ve considered trading places with you for a day or two.”
“I have flashes, disjointed pictures in my mind,” Tony said. Silence stretched between them. “I’m not sure if it really happened or if I imagined it. Erin was in my hospital room. She was stroking my hair and kissing my face…”
“I’ve had a couple of those dreams myself about Tess. Then I’d wake up.”
Both men chuckled.
Tony looked away. The hollow, empty feeling in his gut told him it hadn’t been his imagination. “She told me she loved me but that she was leaving me.” Tony looked at the old man and couldn’t keep the pain out of his voice. “Is that why I haven’t seen or heard from her since I’ve been in here?”
Patrick squirmed. “Look, boy, I don’t know what to tell you. Tess is madder than a hornet about the whole thing. The two of them are barely speaking to each other and I’m stuck right in the middle.”
“So I didn’t dream it.” Tony laid his head back. “I knew it. I just didn’t want to believe it.”
Somewhere in the distance they heard a doctor paged. Muffled voices passed by their room. The oppressive silence inside the room caused the men to avoid eye contact with each other. When Tony spoke, he had a hard time keeping the anger and hurt out of his voice. “Nothing like hitting a man when he’s down. I thought, if nothing more, we were friends.”
Patrick ducked his head. “I don’t know what to say. If it’s any consolation, she looks worse for wear than you do.”
“What did she tell Tess?”
Patrick shrugged. “Some mumbo jumbo about being honest with you from the beginning, telling you she didn’t want to get involved with anyone, particularly a cop.”
Tony squeezed his