Southern Comfort (Southern 2)

“She fell?” I ask. Putting my hands on my hips, I look at her, then I look at the nurse. “Did she hit her head again?”

“No,” Olivia mumbles, her eyes open. I don’t know why I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s only because you have the need to take care of her since she lives in your house, I tell myself, but the other part of me laughs. Lies. It’s all lies. “I just got up too fast. I must have been lightheaded because my head started to spin, and I couldn’t catch myself before I fell.” She doesn’t look at me, and if there weren’t so many people in the room, and she didn’t have a concussion, I would hold her face in my hands and force her to look at me.

“How about we get you something to eat?” the nurse says, so I do the only thing I can do. I stand here by her bed.

“My mother brought soup,” I tell the nurse who nods. Kallie walks over to the bag my mother left. She takes out a soup bowl, then pours the soup out of the thermos.

“Just don’t overdo it,” the nurse says. “We’ll check with you in a bit and see how you are feeling.”

“I won’t,” Olivia says softly. The phone in my back pocket vibrates. I take it out to see that it’s Derek.

“I’ll be right back,” I say, looking over at Jacob. “Stay with her until I get back.” He just nods.

“Hello,” I say into the phone. Walking out of the room, I stand with my back against the wall, facing the door. I make sure I have her in my sight through the small window in the door.

“Hey, how is she?” he asks. I look down, putting my hand behind my neck. My neck is starting to get sore from the tension that I now have every single time I walk away from her. The need to stay by her side to make sure she is okay is so strong I don’t know how to fight it. It’s bigger than me. I want to sit with her and hold her hand. I want to tuck her hair behind her ear. I want to whisper to her that everything is going to be okay. I want it all, but I know that she is only here temporarily, and that it’s better for both of us not to go there.

“She has a concussion,” I say. “What did you learn?” Derek and I met when we were paired together for a project two weeks into our computer class. The two of us were unstoppable, and when we aced the class, we continued to work together. If there is stuff out there to be found, Derek will find it. There is nothing that you can hide from him. It’s why the government uses us; it’s why we have what we have. I develop the programs, and he just makes them that much better.

“Phillip “the barber” Conserto.” He whistles. “This guy has a rap sheet that started when he was twelve and was placed into foster care when his mother took off and his father died.” I wait for the bad stuff. Knowing Derek, he starts off slow and then gives you all the important stuff at the end. “In and out of juvie until he was eighteen, and then did six months for intent to sell. Graduated to full-blown murder by the time he was twenty. The case was tossed out when he asked for a lawyer and they continued to question him, so his confession was not admissible and he only did two years. During that time, he made lots of friends in Rikers. The kind of friends who don’t send you Christmas cards either. Got really close to Jake Biotti who was in there for money laundering but more importantly for killing someone and all kinds of shit that screams mob.”

“Why do I need to know this?” I ask, and he laughs.

“Trust me, I would not be telling you this for no reason. He got out, and suddenly, the only witness to the case for murder was missing. Turns out, she still hasn’t been found, but her parents get a letter every year with her hair. That’s how he got his nickname “the barber.” From then on, he became his own contractor. They have him associated with about seventy-two missing witnesses, but nothing sticks to him.”

“Where is he going now?” I ask, looking into the room where Olivia puts down the spoon and leans back in the bed. She is too pale, I think to myself.

“I’m waiting for them to place him, and then I’ll get eyes on him,” he says. “According to what I can find out, it looks like he was hired by Dominic to get to Olivia. Dude, this guy has nothing but bad news written all over him.”