“Case closed, then.”
“That proves nothing. And now we have a new homicide.”
“I don't know anything about it. I'm sure Daniel doesn't either. We were both in the hospital.”
She nodded. “Of course. And Chawlie Choy was back in Honolulu.”
“So how can I help you?”
“You could start by telling the truth.”
“What can I tell you?”
“Why you were here. I know who you were with. I know you saved the lives of two criminal slugs that could have died, for all I careâ”
“Harsh ⦔
“âtheir deaths would have made life a little easier.”
“ ⦠judgments.”
She took a little breath. “So why were you here?”
I thought it over for a ten-count, deciding in the end that Chawlie could not be injured by my telling the events as I saw them. I'd stonewalled this woman enough. It only angered her and made her more determined. She had already compared me to a distant and hated father. Any further evasions would just make her more interested in Chawlie and Daniel.
And in me.
“Attending a funeral,” I said, hoping I could be detached enough to reveal sufficient details to satisfy her, and yet not expose me to charges. For an instant I thought about asking for an attorney, but the urge passed. There was no reason to suspect that Ms. Henderson was anything other than what she said, and that her visit to my bedside was anything other than filling in the blanks.
“Your top man in the Triads died. Natural causes, but sudden. My friend came here to keep the peace. You know how things tend to get messy when the leader of any organization suddenly leaves the top spot vacant. My friend wanted to avoid a war.”
“Your friend? Is that Mr. Choy?”
“I was supposed to keep him alive.”
She nodded to herself. “This was a power play?”
“I don't know. Somebody seemed to think that with one down, they might as well go for the gold and get rid of all of them at once. All the old men. Leave it for the young ones.”
“Oh, that would be swell.”
“They'll have all the avarice of the old criminals, half the wisdom, and twice as much energy. Think what that would do to your crime statistics.”
“So youâ”
“I know nothing. That was speculation.”
“But you know enough to speculate.”
“Just what I read in the newspapers.”
“Thank you, Mr. Caine. You've been absolutely no help.”
“Anytime.”
“I may want to come back and ask you a few more questions that you won't answer. Give you another chance to be evasive.” She looked me in the eye. This was supposed to intimidate me. I'm not easily intimidated. I rather enjoyed it, proof that I was not as dead as I felt.
“I've told you all that I can. I was out of the action, trying to keep Chawlie from getting shot. When he was under cover I went to the first wounded man I could find. It just happened to be Daniel.”
“You had to jump over the corpse of a woman to get to him.”
“She was dead. I went for the living.”
“You didn't even stop to look, did you?”
“I've seen enough dead bodies to know what they look like. She died when the bullet hit her in the head. I heard her die. You wanted two dead?”
“Her name was Jackie Chang. She was a grandmother who cared for five young granddaughters. Her daughter died last year in a traffic accident. The husband is off someplace. We cannot locate him. The girls are now homeless with nobody to care for them.”
“Tough break.”
“Oh, yeah, I'm sure you care a lot about that sort of thing.”
“I'm sorry. But I didn't shoot her. And she died instantly. I was there, right next to her. I heard the sound of the bullet when it hit her.”
“You saw the gunman?”
“Only a silhouette against the sky. Nothing else. He was busy trying to put bullets into my friend. I was busy trying to get Chawlie under cover. It was just too intense to make any observations that might help you now. I'm sorry.”
“I can see that you and I don't see eye to eye,” she said, her voice rising. “I can see that you will not make an ideal witness in this case.”
“I told you all I know.”
“I think you are lying!”
Felix and one of the nurses came in, their eyes on full alert. Our voices must have carried out into the hall.
“I think that you must go now,” said the nurse. “He is a patient andâ”
“I know what he is!” Henderson gathered her notebook and her purse and glared at me.
“Thank you for stopping by.” I held out my hand.
“Save it,” she said. She took one more look around the room and made a beeline for the corridor. The little Thai nurse followed her, as if she feared she would turn back and revisit her wrath on her only patient.
Felix shook his head. “She's pissed.”
“Disappointed is all. Thought she'd solved the Patty Hearst kidnapping.”
“Didn't they already do that?”
“Yeah. Judge Crater did it.”
Felix stood there looking down at me, his face a mixture of relief and concern. I realized that I'd used up my store of energy and was thoroughly spent.
“You don't look so good,” he said.
“I don't feel so good, Felix.”
“I'll get the nurse.”
“A
nother one.”
Felix nearly smiled as he stuck his head into my room, announcing yet another visitor. Personal or official, he didn't say, but I could almost read his expression now and knew this was not an officer of the court, come to summon or depose me. Or another member of the medical profession, come to poke me full of holes.
Over the past four days my body had started to heal. I felt it grow a little stronger. My wounds began to close, a mixed blessing. They itched in places I could not reach. But I was able to sit up without the pain and they'd disconnected the plastic feedbag from the intravenous tube to my arm and let me eat real food. Not steak. A little mush, some Jell-O. Something to chew. I'd nearly forgotten the gratification of chewing and swallowing. It was a sensuous pleasure, the only one so far allowed.
Life is good.
“Hello, John.” Barbara Klein walked in, a little hesitant, a little shy. I had wondered where she had been while I had been flat on my back, wherever I was, somewhere within the boundaries of her city.
She picked up the magazine I'd been reading. “
Glamour
?”
“It's all they've got here. I've asked Felix to run over to City Lights, but he's been too busy.”
She studied the cover.
“Men's One Hundred Twenty-five Secret Sex Desires
?”
“I wanted to find out what the other one hundred twenty-four were.”
She smiled at me, her eyes twinkling. I'd once loved those eyes, they way they looked at me. And then they didn't look at me with affection anymore, and we both were adult enough to admit that our fling was over. Somehow the friendship hadn't died along with the affair, a fact for which I was grateful, and for which I credited her wisdom.
“Hello, Babs.”
She made a face. “You know I hate that name.”
“Should have complained to your parents when you had the chance.”
She gave me a lopsided smile. “Inevitable?”
I nodded. Nodding was fine. I could nod now. If I was careful and didn't get carried away with it.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better. Every day is better. They tell me I can go home next week. I can hardly wait.”
“I'll bet. You know ⦠I was here. When they first brought you in. Those first couple of days, they said you were going to live, that you'd been injured but it wasn't life threatening. They said you'd lost a lot of blood, and that you had internal injuries, and there was a risk of infection, but that you'd be okay. But one look at you and they couldn't convince me. You looked dead already.”
“Only the good die young.”
“You're no longer young. Even so, you're still indestructible, I see.”
“Take me a few of months to leap tall buildings again. Even then, it might take a couple of bounds.”
“I'll be watching.”
She nearly looked at me the way she used to look at me. I saw her start to get that warm glow before she remembered and
the warmth blinked out. “I heard what happened,” she said, her voice husky.
“Whose version?”
“Chawlie told me. He said that you two were even again, whatever that means.”
“He thought I was in his debt. He thought I was paying penance for a continuation of our friendship by being here.”
“Why were you here?”
“It was a dangerous time for him. Someone had to watch his back.”
“That's the only reason?”
“You were here. I was hoping to see you after he had performed his ceremonial duties.”
She smiled again. This time it was a sad smile.
“He said you did your job.”
“I'm happy to hear that. I haven't heard from him at all. Except through Daniel.”
“Was Daniel the one who exchanged Claire's money?”
“Yep. One of Chawlie's sons. Or nephews. Or something. He called him his son, and I think I can see the resemblance.”
“You were in his debt. Does that have something to do with your trip to nowhere with the mysterious Margo? That trip that took almost a year?”
“I was never in his debt, but that's how he sees it. I either failed him or I did exactly what he wanted me to do. I'm never sure which is true. He isn't either, I think.”
She gripped my hand. Hers was warm and comfortable, and made me happy when she touched me. “I'm really glad to see you.”
“Me too, Barbara. You're looking well. How's the student?” Barbara's son was a student at Berkeley, studying nuclear physics. He was the one who inadvertently caused us to come together in the first place. The day I met him now seemed a lifetime ago.
“David's fine. It's finals week, and he's ready to get out of the pressure cooker and cut loose for the summer. He wants to go
back to Hawaii to dive again. David says there are some underwater caves of Maui and the Big Island.”
“Incredible places. David will be fine.”
“I'd be happier, knowing you're over there.”
“Tell him to call me. I think I'll be taking some time off for awhile.”
“From what? Do you ever do
anything
except lie around and work on your boat and fish and dive, or chase dolphins in your sleep, and then come out every once in awhile and get shot? Or take some woman you hardly know for a world cruise?”
“I'll just lay around and fish, and ⦠that first part of what you said.”
She smiled again, gently, her face softening. “I will always love you, you know.” She almost said something else. I could see her tongue working. But she held it, and settled for retaining the gentle smile.
I knew what she wanted to say. I'd heard it before. And I knew that in her world, in her heart, she was right. So I made it easy for her.
“We'll always have Honolulu, sweetheart,” I said out of the side of my mouth, the way Bogie would have said it. “You wore blue, the Hawaiians wore gray ⦠and brown and red and green and pink and yellow and lavenderâ”
“Stop!” She laughed.
“âand fuscia.” I watched her eyes. She was laughing, but her eyes were crying. “I told you before, kid. If you don't get on that plane, you'll regret it. No tonight, not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.”
“Now you stop that,” she said, sniffing. “You did tell me that. At the Honolulu airport. And I did get on that plane. And I thought I'd put you behind me. And then you had to come here to my city and get shot. That's not my fault.”
“It was not. And I'm grateful that you came to see me.”
“I was here often. You were not here. Your body was in the bed, but John Caine wasn't here. Wherever you were, it wasn't here.”
“I was dreaming of the lions.”
“I was here, John. If you ever need me, I'll be here. I owe you my son's life, and that's something a mother never forgets, irrespective of the cruises you take with mysterious strangers.”
She regarded me once more, started to say something, and then stopped. She went through the motions three times before she finally found the words she wanted to say. “It's really a shame about you and me, but we've been down that road so many times I can't go that way again. I don't think you can either. We can be friends. Not like people say to each other when they stop being lovers, but really friends, and that is something to cherish. I'll always love you. And I think I shall stay in love with you a little. But I cannot live with you, and you cannot live with me, and so we can be adult, and we can be friends.”
“Yes.”
“I'll tell David to call you when he gets to Hawaii.”
“I'd like that. If I'm feeling better, maybe we'll take
Olympia
over to Maui or Molokai. Float around the chain for awhile, diving and listening to Jimmy Buffett. I'll introduce him to some nice girls.”
“He'd love that. I'm glad that you're looking better. I'm glad that you survived. I want to say try to stay out of these kinds of situations, but I know that won't help, because you won't do it. You'll just do what you want to do when you want to do it. You always have and you always will. It defines you. Some people do what they want to do, they're just self-involved jerks, but I can't say that about you. You go out of your way to risk your life for other people. That's what you do. You went back into that wreck to rescue David, and he would have died that day if you hadn't, so I guess I can't criticize. But I can't stand here on the sidelines and cheer you on, either. Not when I have so much invested. So I had to back off.”
“I understand, Barbara.”
“I know. I repeat myself.”
“I think you and I both want something different from life.”
“What do you want?”
“I wish I knew.”
She shook her head. “You are an adult, and you don't know what you want? So you're off here or off there, and you can't stay in one place long enough to put down roots. You live on a boat in the middle of the ocean because you're afraid that you'll take root on land. No commitments. No alignments. No responsibilities. You don't even have a pet, for God's sakes. That's a sad situation. You've been an adult for years and yet you won't grow up!”
I nodded. That was as accurate a description of my character as I'd ever heard.
“And that's the reason you're there and I'm here, isn't it?”
“I think we both made that clear, Barbara.”
“I love you, God damn it!”
I smiled at her and she hugged me like I was made of broken glass. Then she withdrew and walked to the door, where she stopped and turned to face me. “You are a very difficult man, John Caine. I've never met another one like you. Loving you is both a blessing and a curse.”
“Thank you for loving me, Barbara,” I said quietly.
“It hasn't been easy,” she said. “But I think it's been worth it, all the same.” She smiled that lopsided smile again. “You're the e-ticket ride of men. You know that? It's thrilling, it's fun, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world, but eventually you have to get off and go back to the real world. Does that make any sense to you?”
“Yes.”
“I'm on my way to Telluride. In Colorado. Ever been there?”
“No.”
“The bank lent forty million dollars on a hotel project and the developer's way behind schedule. Like a year. The loan's running out and the deal's about to fall apart. I'm flying out in the morning to stick my nose in it and to see what's what. So you'll be gone when I get back. Watch my son if you can. Please? For me?”
“I'll do my best.”
“Your best is usually pretty good. Even when you're all shot up, from what I hear. Good-bye, John.” She clutched her purse,
started to say something else, checked the impulse, and walked out the door.
Felix looked in on me. “That's a pretty woman.”
“Very pretty, very smart, very strong.
very
smart. Too smart to get mixed up with me for very long. She called me an e-ticket ride.”
Felix looked confused. “Like the airplane?”
“From Disneyland,” I explained.
He shook his head.
“Never mind. It's a generational thing, I guess.”
“Doctor's here. He wants to examine you.”
“Well send him in, Felix. Don't keep the man waiting.”
Â
Â
The doctor was a slim young man, young for a specialist, proud of his work and impressed with himself. He had me lie down, which I did. Gingerly. When I got comfortable, he pulled up my gown and inspected his handiwork. He listened to my heart and my lungs, smiled, and scribbled in his chart.
“You seem to be healing beautifully,” he said. “The incision is closing. It looks good. Surprisingly little infection. Your renal function is returning to normal. Should be one hundred percent in a few weeks. I think we can remove your catheter by tomorrow.”
“I'd like that.” Peeing in a bag was not something I wanted to get used to.
“When you came in I thought you were going to lose your kidney. The bullet damaged the midsection of the organ, so I had to do a partial nephrectomy.”
“Is that bad?”
“Bad enough. You were shot in the back, but I had to go in through the front. You have a hole all the way through you, you know that?”
“Back to front.”
“Both ways. I put in a stent from the upper chamber of your kidney to your bladder. It will have to be removed, too, but not just yet. I placed it there to keep scar tissue from blocking the
chambers. You don't want that kind of pain, my friend.” He scribbled in his chart, keeping his hands busy.