The Shoulders of Giants (29 page)
I turned my head, and my left shoulder urged me to stop moving. Standing in the doorway was Abby. She was smiling her bright smile. Despite my shoulder, I turned to look at Scott. He was smiling too. Grinning actually.
“You bastard.” I said.
Abby moved towards the bed. “I wouldn’t worry, there’s a chance we can plead self-defense,” she said.
“By the way, I may have to take a rain check on dinner tonight.”
“Well, when you get out of here, I might give you another chance.” She kissed me. I felt a whole lot better. Who says laughter is the best medicine?
“Shelley Ryan checked out, by the way.” Scott said. “We matched her thumbprint to the shotgun shell in DuPage woods, we found carpet fibers in her apartment that placed her at several of the scenes, and sneakers consistent with the footprint at the Kramer crime scene. Looks like she planted Walker’s hair and semen. Along with the tape of your conversation with her, once you corroborate it with a statement, that means case closed.”
“Well,” I said, “I hate to say I told you so...”
“No you don’t,” said Scott. “But I can take it. You did good work.”
“I got lucky.”
“You call this lucky?” asked Abby.
I started to laugh, but it hurt. A lot. Definitely not the best medicine.
A figure appeared at the door and I slowly moved my head to see who it was. Gregory Patterson stepped into the room and nodded hello to Scott and Abby, who said they’d be outside if I needed anything, and left.
“Detective Bales told me what you did,” he said. I could smell the bourbon on his breath, but he seemed sober. Maybe the smell was on his clothes. He smiled. “I was rehearsing what I was going to say to you the whole way over here, but I can’t remember any of it. I guess I just want to thank you. I don’t even know where to start.”
“No problem.” I lied.
“I was shot once. Hurts like a son of a bitch for a few days but the pain goes away pretty quick after that. I guess some things take longer to heal than others.”
He shook my hand and left, and Abby and Scott stayed and made me laugh some more.
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