good Mexican food, or a bathroom.
They stopped for a long time if they needed an extended stay in a state psychiatric facility.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, in Pueblo." I was thrilled that he didn't pronounce it the way the locals did. "The hospital there has a new PET scanner. That's what the geniuses from the university were doing. PET scanning the nutsos. Whatever the hell that is."
Sam knew what a PET scan was. He kept a fine file handy to manicure his I'm-a-dumb-cop facade. What was curious about his current act was that he didn't often do the finetuning with me.
"No sign of him since he walked?"
"Nothing since the security camera lost him."
"Did he have help? A car waiting?"
"Possibly."
"Witnesses?"
He feigned surprise and hit himself in the forehead with an open palm. "Witnesses? Damn, we didn't think of that ."
I sighed. "Sorry."
"We don't know where he is, Alan. The cops in Pueblo seem to have handled it fine. The way I would've done it? No. But they did okay. There's a BOLO here and in surrounding states. Usual stuff. He hasn't been a troublesome patient, apparently. The hospital says not to worry. No violence while he was there. No threats."
"Well, that's reassuring." I wiped my hands on a towel and started toward the front of the house. Lauren would have parked her car in the garage by then and collected her things to come inside. "You may not know where he is, but you know he's coming back here," I said. "To Boulder."
"I suspect he is. Either here or someplace as far from here as possible. But if I had to guess, I'd guess here. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing with the brass."
Lauren walked in the door and dumped her overflowing briefcase on the floor and her swollen purse on the beat-up table where we tossed our keys and mobile phones.
She tried to smile and bluff away her health concerns but I saw a telltale sign of trouble the moment she blinked. Her eyes closed one at a time, their natural synchronicity a casualty to the stress of her day. The asymmetric eye blink told me that at a neurological level she had crossed the threshold that exists between "tired" and "exhausted." I hadn't yet seen her walk, but I surmised that she'd be limping, too, or fighting to disguise her limp. Whether the limp would be from spasticity, weakness, or from pain, I wouldn't know right away. But I knew she would try not to let Sam see it.
She needed to rest. Not sit-in-a-chair-and-have-a-beer rest. She needed a bed. Nothing else would help.
The dogs had raced down the hall to attack her and Grace was running from her room to join the fray. I turned to Sam and whispered, "She shouldn't be working tonight. She needs a bath and a bed."
He whispered back, "How about you tell her, Kimosabe."
TEN
SAM AND Lauren worked in the basement on the absentwitness problem until nine. I let Grace stay up late so that she could spend a few minutes with her mom before they both went to bed.
Sam found me on the narrow deck outside the living room. We stood at the railing above the lights of the Boulder Valley. Emily, the big Bouvier, followed Sam outside. She sniffed the air for a few moments to check for the presence of rascals before she plopped down on the redwood decking. Her inelegant landing shook the house like a moderate earthquake.
"Carmen's good?" I asked. Carmen, a detective in Laguna Beach, California, was Sam's long-distance significant other.
Sam had switched from Irish ale to Eldorado Springs water. I liked the fact that I could see the source of the water from my house. He took a sip. I didn't think it mattered to Sam that he could see the source of the water from my house.
"Her being there, me being here, it gets hard to manage. I've never tried to do one of these things before. A long-distance relationship. I'm not an e-mail type of guy."
"Either of you think about
They stopped for a long time if they needed an extended stay in a state psychiatric facility.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, in Pueblo." I was thrilled that he didn't pronounce it the way the locals did. "The hospital there has a new PET scanner. That's what the geniuses from the university were doing. PET scanning the nutsos. Whatever the hell that is."
Sam knew what a PET scan was. He kept a fine file handy to manicure his I'm-a-dumb-cop facade. What was curious about his current act was that he didn't often do the finetuning with me.
"No sign of him since he walked?"
"Nothing since the security camera lost him."
"Did he have help? A car waiting?"
"Possibly."
"Witnesses?"
He feigned surprise and hit himself in the forehead with an open palm. "Witnesses? Damn, we didn't think of that ."
I sighed. "Sorry."
"We don't know where he is, Alan. The cops in Pueblo seem to have handled it fine. The way I would've done it? No. But they did okay. There's a BOLO here and in surrounding states. Usual stuff. He hasn't been a troublesome patient, apparently. The hospital says not to worry. No violence while he was there. No threats."
"Well, that's reassuring." I wiped my hands on a towel and started toward the front of the house. Lauren would have parked her car in the garage by then and collected her things to come inside. "You may not know where he is, but you know he's coming back here," I said. "To Boulder."
"I suspect he is. Either here or someplace as far from here as possible. But if I had to guess, I'd guess here. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing with the brass."
Lauren walked in the door and dumped her overflowing briefcase on the floor and her swollen purse on the beat-up table where we tossed our keys and mobile phones.
She tried to smile and bluff away her health concerns but I saw a telltale sign of trouble the moment she blinked. Her eyes closed one at a time, their natural synchronicity a casualty to the stress of her day. The asymmetric eye blink told me that at a neurological level she had crossed the threshold that exists between "tired" and "exhausted." I hadn't yet seen her walk, but I surmised that she'd be limping, too, or fighting to disguise her limp. Whether the limp would be from spasticity, weakness, or from pain, I wouldn't know right away. But I knew she would try not to let Sam see it.
She needed to rest. Not sit-in-a-chair-and-have-a-beer rest. She needed a bed. Nothing else would help.
The dogs had raced down the hall to attack her and Grace was running from her room to join the fray. I turned to Sam and whispered, "She shouldn't be working tonight. She needs a bath and a bed."
He whispered back, "How about you tell her, Kimosabe."
TEN
SAM AND Lauren worked in the basement on the absentwitness problem until nine. I let Grace stay up late so that she could spend a few minutes with her mom before they both went to bed.
Sam found me on the narrow deck outside the living room. We stood at the railing above the lights of the Boulder Valley. Emily, the big Bouvier, followed Sam outside. She sniffed the air for a few moments to check for the presence of rascals before she plopped down on the redwood decking. Her inelegant landing shook the house like a moderate earthquake.
"Carmen's good?" I asked. Carmen, a detective in Laguna Beach, California, was Sam's long-distance significant other.
Sam had switched from Irish ale to Eldorado Springs water. I liked the fact that I could see the source of the water from my house. He took a sip. I didn't think it mattered to Sam that he could see the source of the water from my house.
"Her being there, me being here, it gets hard to manage. I've never tried to do one of these things before. A long-distance relationship. I'm not an e-mail type of guy."
"Either of you think about
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