Hard Case Crime: Honey in His Mouth Read Online Free PDF Page B

tears of rage to his eyes. Here he was like a mouse with its tail caught in the trap, he reflected, and all the cats walking around smacking lips. One cat, two cats, three cats. The city policeman, the Kansas City sherlock, and now Vera Sue, trying to cut herself in on a reward at his expense...
    He did not remember going to sleep, but he awakened when the doctor came in. He felt very weak and shaky.
    “Doc, you sure stayed away long enough.”
    “I was invited to leave, remember?”
    “Ah, Doc, don’t be an old woman. You know, I don’t feel so hot.”
    “What’s the matter? The arm hurt?”
    “The arm, the head, all over. I feel like one big sore ball, Doc, you want to know the truth.”
    The thermometer went into his mouth again, feeling like an icicle, while the doctor counted his pulse. “You have some temperature. What happened with that telephone call to upset you this way?”
    “Nothing, Doc, that I know of.”
    They brought in a transparent canopy and set it up on the bed with him inside, then wheeled in a cylinder that had gauges on it and a tube running under the canopy. They hooked up the thing, and stood watching the gauges while the tube hissed close to his nose. “Doc, what is this thing?”
    “An oxygen tent.”
    “That’s what they put on guys who are dying, ain’t it? Take it away. I’m afraid of the thing.”
    “We probably won’t be that lucky with you.”
    The morning sun was splintering into his eyes. The way the sunlight was hitting the oxygen tent canopy he could see very little in the room. Finally he realized someone was sitting by the bed. A nurse, he thought, sitting there like an albino crow waiting for him to die. “Nurse, I got to piss.”
    There was a giggle. The corner of the oxygen tent was lifted and Vera Sue looked in at him. “Hello, Walter.”
    She kissed him. He kissed her back. Her mouth was warm and moist, tasting of spearmint.
    “Jesus, honey, what I said there a minute ago. I thought you were the nurse.”
    “It was kind of funny, Walter.”
    “She’s an old crow, always sticking her cold thermometer in my ass.”
    “Walter, I been sitting here a long time. They told me not to wake you—they said I could sit in here, but I should let you sleep. I told them a lie. I said I was your wife.”
    “I wondered how you got in.”
    “Walter...I couldn’t go to Illinois. I couldn’t make myself do it. You know something, after I talked to you on the telephone, I missed my bus sitting there trying to make myself go to Illinois like you wanted, but I just couldn’t.”
    “Baby, I knew you wouldn’t, so you can stop kidding around.”
    She kissed him and held him close. Her moist mouth moved all over his. “I’m glad you’re not mad. Walter, I wish I could get in bed with you right now.”
    “That would be something. I bet this oxygen stuff would go flying all over, and somebody would come in to see what was wrecking the joint.”
    “I wouldn’t give a damn if they did.”
    A nurse came in with two glasses of orange juice, one for him and one for Mrs. Harsh, she said. The nurse was a different one, a large plain woman.
    “Walter, is she the nurse you were talking about?”
    “No, but she gives you an idea.” He lay back holding his orange juice. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. You got no idea what it is to be nailed down like this. Now, what was this about a detective from Kansas City asking about me?”
    “Hasn’t he been around to see you yet?”
    “I haven’t seen him, but I don’t know if he was here or not. I made the Doc think I was too sick to be bothered.”
    “That’s funny. I got the idea he was finding out all about you, getting ready to offer you a proposition. I don’t really understand what he’s up to, Walter. He didn’t say you were accused of anything. He just said there was five thousand in it for him if you turned out to be acceptable and satisfactory, and he would appreciate anything I could tell him about you. He didn’t