I thought about it as I drove up Mulholland and took the road to my house, then saw an orange glow in the sky.
The fire trucks beat me there. My house was blazing away like a high school bonfire. I parked the Yugo and stepped out to stare. The roof collapsed in a plume of sparks and embers rising on the smoke.
I sat on the curb and for some reason an old interview with Willie Nelson popped in my head where Willie told of the day his record company fired him, his third wife served divorce papers, and he came home to see his house burning to the ground. Willie sat on the curb and wrote, What Can You Do To Me Now.
Great, now I was living a country song.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I watched the house burn to a pile of rubble and when the fire department left, I followed them down Mulholland and took the road to the hospital. If they wouldn’t let me stay in the room with Hondo I’d stay in the visitor’s area. At least it had a couch.
I tried five times to see him. The first four I tried Sneaky. I’d wait until the nurses were all busy and I would creep to Hondo’s door, and each time I was caught before I could enter. The fifth time I tried Clever. I was in the cafeteria when I saw a male doctor leave his white lab coat on the back of his chair. I knew the next shift of nurses were on and none of them had caught me. The idea blossomed. I put on the lab coat and went to the nurses’ station. I told them I was a lung specialist and needed to check on Mr. Wells. The nurses looked at each other, then back at me. The one closest to me, the redhead, folded her arms on her chest and said, “Okay Doctor, would you like us to perform percutaneous radiofrequency trigeminal ganglioysis?”
A trickle of sweat ran down my temple. I said, “Of course, I’ll need you to do that.”
“And where would you like that administered on Mr. Wells?”
I felt like the proverbial deer in the headlights. “Let’s go in rectally.”
That brought a snort, then laughter and head shaking from all of them. The redhead said, “That procedure is performed behind the eye. Please sit down, Mr. Baca. We’ll let you in when we can.” To top it off, they asked me for the lab coat. I went to the waiting room and tried to close my eyes. Every hour, I opened them and saw that ten minutes had passed. Dawn took forever to arrive.
At seven-thirty, the nurse that had taken my lab coat came and tapped me on the shoulder, “Come with me,” she said.
A cold knot formed in my stomach. I followed her to the nurses’ station and she said, “Mr. Wells made it through the night and that’s a good sign. He’s still not out of danger, and he’s still unconscious, but if you want to go in there and sit with him, I’ll let you.”
I went in and looked at Hondo through the plastic oxygen tent. He looked like he’d lost twenty pounds and his face was pale. I went to the bed and touched his arm through the plastic. “I’m right here,” I said. I moved a chair closer to the bed and tried to think optimistic thoughts.
Two hours later, as I watched the television, I heard a weak voice say, “Find Landman.” Hondo’s eyes were open.
“Hey,” I said.
Hondo cleared his throat and said again, “Landman, go find him.”
“I think I’ll hang out with you instead.”
He shook his head slowly and coughed, “No, get to work. Make us some money.”
“We’re not getting paid for this one, remember?”
“Do it for Sparta.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m fine. You make me nervous, all hovering like you are. Go do Good Guy stuff.”
“I’ll go as soon as I know you’re all right.”
“Look at me, I’m not all right. I’ve got a hole through me and my lungs feel like they’re full of hot glue. It’s hard to breathe, but I’m not going to die. I’m going to get well, but not soon enough to help you do what you need to do.”
A nurse who looked to be in her late forties came in and checked Hondo’s vital signs. She smiled after taking his temperature and said, “Your fever’s going down. That is excellent, young man.”
After the nurse left I said, “I guess I could go do something. No sense hanging around here to watch you sleep. Did you know you make baby noises when you go night-night?”
“Only when I’ve been skewered.”
“Uh-huh.” I stood and said, “I’m off to do some top-flight detective work. Don’t forget to eat your hospital food.”
Hondo said, “Yum.” He coughed again and looked at me with fever-bright eyes, “Find Landman. I’ll deal with Rakes and Mortay when I get out of here.”