A white uniform entered the room. I jerked, hoping it was Cordelia, but it was only a nurse to take my temperature and pulse and to give me some medication. For the pain, I hoped.

I looked up to see a figure obscuring my entire doorway. "Hi," he said, "I know it's not visiting hours, but I thought I'd take advantage of being a few doors down and stop in. Millie told me that you were awake."

"Hutch!" I yelled, delighted to see the gentle giant. I must have looked as happy as I felt, because he broke into a great big grin as he came in. "What happened? I saw..."

"They forgot how big I am. They tried to knife me in the heart, but * 291 *

they missed by a mile. Probably couldn't reach far enough into the car to have gotten to the center of my chest. I got a punctured lung. No big deal," he said, grinning again.

"I am so happy to see you." I grinned back.

We sat and chatted while I finished my lunch. Hutch promised to come by and play a few games of chess when I was less groggy. After he left, I must have dozed off.

"Well, Micky Knight, someplace where I can find her twenty-four hours a day. What a novelty. I couldn't be as a.s.sured of your whereabouts when we were living together."

Danny entered, carrying a bag full of books and magazines in one hand and my very own bunch of flowers in the other.

"I did it just for you, Danno."

"I'm sure," she bantered back, then turned serious. "Oh, honey, I'm so glad to see those brown eyes open and smiling again." Danny put down her packages and carefully put her arms around me. "It took us forever to find you in that swamp," she said, holding me.

"You found me?" I asked.

"With a little help from Beowulf. Good thing we still had a pair of your dirty underwear at our place. The ones that say, 'Cunning stunts performed here.'" Danny let go of me with a laugh. "Or is it, 'A stunning cun...'"

"Wonderful. If I had known that, I would've died of embarra.s.sment.

Wait a second, I don't have any underwear that says..."

"You will," Danny replied, grinning.

"Who found me?"

"Me, for one. Reverting to my swamp-rat days. Too bad my waders were out at Mom and Dad's. I could have used them. They say, hi, by the way, and that as soon as you're better that we all have to come out for crawfish and crabs."

"The sooner the better. Who else?"

"Elly. She wouldn't let us leave her at home. She did come in handy. You weren't in the best condition when we found you."

It was time to ask the question I was afraid to ask.

"What about Joanne? Is she all right?"

"Of course. She was there. And the mud didn't seem to do too much damage."

"They laid a trap for her. How did she escape?"

* 292 *

"She'll be along soon. You can ask her yourself."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad she's alive. I'd miss her yelling at me."

"Right," Danny said, catching the concern I was trying to hide.

"Someday one of you will be nice to the other and the world will probably stop." She shook her head. "And Cordelia was there," she added.

Ranson entered, preventing me from asking the questions I wanted to ask. She came and stood next to the side of my bed. She started to say something, but stopped. Instead she bent down, put her arms around me, and held me.

"I would have never forgiven myself if you didn't pull through,"

she said finally letting me go. The world stopped, but only for a second.

"I wouldn't have been too happy either, if I hadn't made it. But it wasn't your fault, Joanne. You can't make up for all the bad deeds in the world."

"Where is my tape recorder?" Danny joked. "Elly and Alex won't believe me if I don't have proof."

"Enough of this," I interjected. "Now, Joanne, find something to yell at me for and let's get things back to normal."

"I remember the way you looked when we found you. It will be a while before I yell at you again. I'm so sorry-"

"Never mind." I cut her off. I could only stand Joanne Ranson apologizing to me for a short while. "I thought they had gotten you.

How did you escape?"

"I didn't," she replied. "I never showed up. Lafitte was pretty high on my list of possible informers. He called me to meet him out in Slidell.

I got suspicious and called Hutch. Millie told me that the two of you had left and about Lafitte's phone call. I called good old Jackson Ford and let him deal with it. Unfortunately they blew it, so Lafitte slipped away. There's a big search on for both him and Korby. We're keeping a guard on you for a while. Don't worry," she added antic.i.p.ating my next question. "Barbara Selby videotaped her statement, notarized it, and just about everything else. Killing her would only add another murder rap."

"They got away, huh?" I said.

"So far," Ranson, replied tersely. She was disappointed, too.

* 293 *

"But they're on everybody's wanted list now. They'll be caught,"

Danny added. "You think you might be up to making a statement tomorrow?"

"Yes, I think so," I answered. "When do I get out of here?"

"Well, you got shot, pretty banged up, lost a lot of blood," Danny answered.

"Not to mention exposure," Ranson added.

"A few more days, at minimum," Danny finished.

"Great," I said sarcastically.

"Hey, take a break. All you have to do is lie around and flirt with the nurses. There are a bunch of cute ones on this floor," Danny added.

"Uh-huh. Who's going to pay my bills while I'm stuck here? Not to mention my bill for being stuck here?"

"It's taken care of," Ranson said.

"Taken care of?" I looked from her to Danny. "Cordelia?" I asked.

She was the only person I could think of with enough money to run around paying other people's hospital bills.

"No," Ranson answered.

"You guys?" They couldn't afford this.

"No," answered Danny.

"Then who?" I demanded.

Danny and Ranson exchanged a glance, then answered in unison, "Karen."

"Karen? You're joking. Karen?"

"It's like this," Danny explained. "There's this tricky little clause attached to both of Karen's trust funds. They get cut off if she's ever arrested for a felony. Her dealings with Korby were mighty suspicious.

One of the goons testified to giving her cocaine and says she knew why Korby wanted the property. Plus she's already got a misdemeanor conviction for drugs."

"Certainly enough to get her arrested," Ranson interjected.

"Probably not convicted. But being arrested is all it takes to reduce Karen to the poverty the rest of us enjoy," Danny continued.

"We suggested that we might overlook her indiscretions if she were willing to make rest.i.tution," Ranson said, making clear how much of a suggestion it had been.

Danny added, "Things like two hundred hours of community service. And paying for your hospitalization and doctor's fees."

* 294 *

"Plus lost work. Your fee is two hundred dollars a day, isn't it?"

Ranson asked.

I started laughing. Even though it hurt, I couldn't help it. "I've never earned two hundred a day," I said.

"Well, we won't tell," Danny replied.

One of the cute nurses entered and told them that their time was up and that I needed my rest. Ranson and Danny left, both promising that they would see me the next day.

I was tired. I must have slept through the rest of the afternoon, because I woke up with the arrival of my dinner.

I stayed awake for a while, idly flipping through some of the magazines that Danny had brought, hoping for one more visitor. Only the nurses came by, giving me more pills and finally turning out the light.

Ranson came by in the morning.

"I thought you would want to know this," was the first thing she said and she handed me the morning paper. She pointed to an article in the lower right side of the front page. PROMINENT NEW ORLEANS CITIZEN AND POLICE LIEUTENANT KILLED IN AIR CRASH, the headline said.

"Raul Lafitte, Alphonse Korby, and Sylvester Milo were all killed. They found the wreck yesterday somewhere in southeastern Mississippi," she said, not giving me a chance to read the article. "What the paper doesn't say is that only Lafitte was killed by the wreck itself.

Korby and Milo should have survived. Korby's death was due to the bite of a rattlesnake. Milo was bitten by a different rattlesnake, smaller fang marks. He died of exposure and the snake bite."

I nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Two snakes and one plane wreck. Know anything about it, Mick?"

I shook my head. Ranson was, after all, a cop.

"Okay, I get it," she said. She took out her badge and gun and put them down on the table behind her. "I just want to know. It doesn't leave this room." She looked intently at me, waiting.

"Korby always reminded me of a lizard. Soulless," I said. "My dad told me that snakes hunted lizards. And rats. And other things we didn't need around us," I finished.

Ranson nodded, but asked no questions.

"There was a reward for Milo. Seems he raped some sixteen- * 295 *

year-old in Texas. Her father put up ten thousand for his capture. I can arrange for you to get it."

Ten thousand was tempting, but I shook my head.

"Send it to the Audubon Zoo. For their reptile collection." I didn't think the snakes had survived the wreck.

"Okay," Ranson said, unsurprised at my request. But as a cop she had probably seen guilt expressed in a lot of different ways. "And I want to tell you I'm sorry about that night when you were drinking. I was seeing someone else. I shouldn't have kicked you out."

"You're not the only person who was wrong. My problems won't be solved by a bottle."

"No, they won't."

"But thanks for apologizing. I'll grow up someday."

"You're doing a pretty good job."

With that, Ranson retrieved her gun and badge and left.

Hutch came by in the afternoon and we played two games of chess, each winning one. He was going home the next day. I envied him.

Danny and Elly came by around suppertime. "Real food," Elly said, producing a bag of sh.e.l.led crawfish. They stayed until a nurse shooed them away for the night.

I stayed awake as long as I could. Millie, who was on duty, popped her head in to say good night, but she was my only visitor.

I woke up a few hours later and listened to the muted night sounds of the hospital. I was hurting where I had been hit with the pistol b.u.t.t. I thought about calling a nurse and asking for some pain pills, but decided against it. Maybe if I moved to a more comfortable position it would stop hurting and I could fall back asleep.

I was just starting to doze when I heard the soft click of my door being opened. It was probably the night nurse checking up on me. I pretended to be asleep. Whoever it was came in and stood at the foot of my bed for a while. I almost thought the person had left without me hearing, but then I heard quiet footsteps going over to the window.