Edna calls at seven thirty. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Edna say a word before nine o’clock, ever, but she has many to say now. It’s a mixture of outrage at the animal who could hurt Laurie, and pleading with me to let her help. She tells me that she is going to come to the hospital and sit in the lobby, so as to be there in case I need her. I tell her not to, but I’m actually touched by her reaction, and Laurie will be as well, I hope.
Kevin comes at eight o’clock, and Dr. Norville arrives half an hour later, as part of his rounds. He has nothing new to report, except to say that Laurie spent a comfortable night. I resist the urge to torture him as I did the nurse.
They let me see Laurie through a glass window into the intensive care unit. She looks better than I would have thought, very pale but peaceful and extraordinarily beautiful. I want to go to her, to touch her and hold her hand, but they won’t let me.
I go back to the room, where Kevin is waiting. I know he wants to talk to me about the Steven Timmerman case, but he doesn’t know how to bring it up.
I save him the trouble. “Kevin, I want to take a day or two to think about things. I may withdraw from the case, if I can’t give it the attention it deserves.”
He nods. “That’s very reasonable. Shall I tell Steven what’s going on?”
I nod. “He has a right to know.”
We hear noises out in the hallway, and Kevin goes to the door to see what has people so excited. He comes back a moment later.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“You’re about to find out.”
After a few seconds, Marcus Clark walks in the door. Marcus is one of the quietest people I know, silent and invisible when he wants to be, but he creates instant commotion wherever he goes. Actually, “commotion” might not be the right word. It’s closer to panic, bordering on terror.
I’ve used Marcus as a private investigator on a number of occasions, more frequently since Laurie gave up that job and moved to Wisconsin. Marcus has also served as my personal bodyguard when cases have placed me in some physical jeopardy. He is uniquely qualified for both jobs, because he is the most frightening human being on the planet.
With Marcus walking down the corridor, the nurses must have reacted like the cinematic Japanese citizenry when they saw Godzilla wandering the streets of Tokyo. Actually, Marcus and ’Zilla are similar in a number of ways. They are both basically nonverbal, fearless, and perfectly willing to kill anything in their path. I think Marcus has fresher breath.
Laurie first introduced me to Marcus, and I’ve always been struck by the change in his demeanor when he’s around her. He becomes borderline human, and I’ve even detected a hint of emotion. He likes her, which is why I try to remind him at every opportunity how disappointed she would be if he killed me.
Marcus doesn’t say hello; I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say hello or good-bye. He just looks around the room and is probably disappointed when he sees only Kevin and me. “Laurie,” he says, and I think it’s a question.
“She’s in intensive care,” I say. “She’s unconscious.”
He takes a moment to digest that information. “She’ll be good,” he says. “The shooter… nuh.”
That probably represents as long a speech as I’ve ever heard from Marcus, and with that he turns around and walks out, sucking all the air out of the room with him. When talking about celebrities and politicians, it’s often said that when people with real presence, real star power, walk into any room, they take it over. They become the center of everything. That’s the way it is with Marcus, and when he leaves there’s a void left behind.
Kevin stares at the door, openmouthed. “Did he just say what I think he said? That he’s going after the guy who shot Laurie, and that he’ll do something bad to him when he finds him? Maybe kill him?”
“Not in so many words, but yes.”
“That’s vigilante justice,” says Kevin.
“I prefer to call it good old-fashioned vigilante justice.”
Kevin thinks for a moment. “Me too,” he says.
I don’t know who or where the shooter is, but if he’s smart, he’s getting his affairs in order and choosing a casket.
Kevin goes down to the jail to update Steven Timmerman, and I go back to returning cell phone messages. This one is from Cindy Spodek, a good friend of Laurie’s and mine who is an FBI agent in Boston. She is one of the people I turn to for information if my cases involve the bureau in some fashion, and she has been as helpful as she can be while maintaining professional confidences.
Her call was to inquire about Laurie, and I tell her what I know, which is unfortunately not much.
“She’ll make it, Andy. She’s a fighter.”
I know everybody is being well intentioned, but that line is starting to drive me crazy. “Right.”
“Any leads on the shooter?” she asks.
“I think so. They got the make of the car, and a partial license. Pete Stanton is the lead detective on it.”
“Good,” she says. She knows Pete, and the kind of cop that he is.
“And Marcus has vowed revenge,” I say.
“Game, set, and match,” she says. “You going to ask for a delay on Timmerman?”
I’m surprised she’s even aware that I am representing Steven. “I’m going to take a couple of days to figure that out. How did you know I was on it?”
“Are you kidding?” she says. “You cost me an assignment.”
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“There’s a task force on it. I was going to get assigned, but then you came on board, and they reworked it because they knew we were friends.”
This is bewildering to me. “Why was the bureau investigating Walter Timmerman?”
“That I don’t know; I hadn’t gotten briefed yet. And you know I couldn’t tell you if I did know.”
“Understood,” I say. If she doesn’t know anything, there’s no sense trying to cajole her into revealing more.
It’s only when we get off the phone that I realize exactly what she said. If I cost her the assignment, then the bureau’s task force is still in existence, even after Timmerman’s death, because I obviously got involved well after the murder.
It’s not that the bureau “was” investigating Walter Timmerman. It’s that the bureau “is” investigating Walter Timmerman.
The question is why.
AT FIVE O’CLOCK the nurse comes in to speak to me.
It’s really just an update; she doesn’t have any new information to share. She reaffirms the doctor’s comments that the shorter the coma lasts, the better the prognosis is for future recovery, though she won’t come close to committing to specific time frames.
What’s encouraging to me is her focus on Laurie’s chances for recovery, rather than survival. As the doctor said, one step at a time.
Richard Wallace calls me to express his concern for Laurie, whom he knows fairly well. He apologizes for not having called earlier, but he was in court all day.
“Andy, if you need to ask for a continuance on Timmerman, I certainly won’t contest it. Take all the time you need.”
“Thanks, Richard. I appreciate that. Right now Kevin’s working on it while I figure things out.”