Shelter in Place (Page 43)

“The feds pushed in.”

“I’ll take them. She’s smart, Reed. She’s canny and she’s crazy. It’s our case, but we’ll take the help. You have to get back on your feet, partner. That means rest and meds and PT, and whatever the docs say it means, and no bullshit from you.”

“In my apartment, bedroom. I’ve got a case board going, comp files. Don’t let the feds confiscate it. I’ll share, but don’t let them confiscate the work. Go get it.”

“You got it. Look, I’m going to go get a nurse, since you’re staying awake longer than you have. And your mom and dad, who’ve been here pretty much round-the-clock, even with your sibs taking rotation.”

Needing to touch, she rubbed her hand over the four-day scruff on his face. “You look rough, Reed, but you’re pulling it out. That button there? It’s your personal-decision morphine drip.”

“Yeah. I’ll think about that. There’s one nurse—I think nurse—unless I was hallucinating. Really pretty, brown eyes, great smile, skin the color of the caramel my mom used to melt to coat apples on Halloween.”

“Trust you. That’s Tinette. I’ll see if she’s on.” Then she leaned over, laid her lips lightly on his. “Scared the shit out of me, Reed. Try not to do that again.”

He went in and out for another twenty-four, but as much in as out. They wanted him up, taking short walks—and the lovely (unfortunately for him, married) Tinette cracked a velvet whip. She added, if he wanted the catheter removed—oh yes, please—he had to be mobile.

He shuffled, pulling his IV along, usually with one of his family or another cop beside him.

It touched him that Bull Stockwell didn’t miss a day, even if Bull harangued him about getting his skinny, malingering ass moving.

In the ten days since steel met flesh, he had lost eight pounds and could all but feel his muscle tone dissolving.

His mother brought him meatloaf, his father snuck him pizza. His sister baked him cookies. His brother slipped him a beer.

His first PT session left him covered in cold sweat and exhausted.

His hospital room, full of flowers, plants, books, and a ridiculous teddy bear outfitted with a detective’s shield and a nine mil, began to feel like prison.

The only plus there was that getting in was as hard as breaking out. The one time Seleena McMullen slipped through, Tinette—now Reed’s hero—kicked her right out again.

She managed to get a shot of him with her cell phone. When he saw it posted on the Internet, he decided maybe everyone lied to him, and he had died.

He sure as hell looked like a zombie.

Bull lived up to his name and bullied him into getting up and moving after the second round of PT when all Reed wanted to do was sleep off the misery.

“Quit your bellyaching.”

“It’s not my belly that aches.”

“Bitch, moan, whine. You want to be a cop again?”

“I never stopped being a cop.” Reed gritted his teeth as they walked. At least they allowed him cotton pants and a T-shirt now, instead of the humiliating hospital gown.

“They’ll put you on a desk, and keep you there if you can’t draw and fire your weapon like a man.”

“Essie’d kick your ass for the ‘like a man.’”

“She ain’t here.”

He walked Reed out to a small garden area where at least the air smelled like air.

“She ain’t giving it to you straight, either. Doesn’t want to put stress on your poor little feelings.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“The feds. They’re pushing us back, taking over.”

“I knew it.” Disgusted, Reed punched out at the air. His vision went gray when his shoulder exploded.

“Okay, okay, take it easy, killer.” Bull gripped Reed’s good arm, pushed him down on a bench. “She fought the good fight, you oughta know. You’ve been ahead of the pack on this for years, and nobody got on board. That includes yours truly. Thing is, it’s not just a hot case, it’s hot press. They can put on their stern fed faces and claim the press doesn’t have dick to do with it, but that’s a crock of shit. But, the other thing is, you were part of the DownEast Mall, and now you’ve been a target of the sister of one of the shooters.”

“She had a part in that. I’m telling you she knew what her brother was up to.”

“Not saying otherwise. I’m saying the feds see that as two strikes against you staying on the investigation, and the brass on our blue line agrees.”

“That’s a crock of shit.”

“It’s a big, stinking crock of shit, but that’s what they’re serving. They’re going to lock you to a desk when you come back, and give you grunt work until you pass the physical. And even then, they’re going to block you out of the Hobart case.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“Get your sad, skinny ass back in tune, kid. There are plenty of us who’ll work this on the side, but you need to shake off getting shot. And don’t tell me it doesn’t give you some cold sweats in the dark.”

“I see that gun coming up. Slow motion. Like I’ve got all the time in the world to take cover, return fire. But I’m in slower motion, and the damn gun’s as big as a cannon.”

“Shake it off. Get back to work.”

“Your compassion and sympathy are so heartfelt.”

Bull snorted, as bulls do. “You get enough of the soft stuff and forehead kisses. You need a kick in the ass.”

“It’s appreciated.”

“And for shit’s sake, eat something. You look like a zombie scarecrow. Now get up and walk.”

Reed waited to speak to Essie about it because, at long last, they opened his cage door.

He was going home.

Not home to the shitcan, as he couldn’t yet handle three flights of stairs, but home to his old bedroom, his mother’s cooking, his father’s wonderfully bad jokes.

He’d asked, specifically, that Essie pick him up, deliver him, so he had waited to talk to her.

“Why do I have to get in a wheelchair to leave when all I’ve heard for two and a half freaking weeks is get up and walk?”

Tinette of the beautiful smile patted the chair. “Rules are rules, my darling. Now put that sweet butt in the chair.”

“How about after I’m a hundred percent, we have a hot, torrid affair. It’d be good for my emotional and mental health.”

“My man would crush you like a bug, skinny boy. It’s too bad my sister’s only eighteen.”

“Eighteen’s legal.”

“You go near my baby sis, I’ll put you back in this hospital.” But she rubbed his shoulder. “I’m glad to see you go, Reed, and sorry at the same time.”

“I’ll be coming in for the torture.”

“And I’ll go down and see you don’t cry too hard. Here, hold your teddy bear.”

He took it, and took a last look at the room. Essie had already hauled down the books, his tablet, and other accumulated stuff.

“I won’t miss this place,” he said as she wheeled him out, “but I’ll miss you. You’re the only woman I love, besides my mother, who’s seen me naked without me having the same privilege.”

“You’re going to put some meat back on those bones.” She steered him into the elevator. “And you take some advice.”