Read Online Irish Eyes by Mary Kay Andrews - Free Book Online Page B

said the doctor said there wasn’t going to be a change,” I said. “What’s the situation right now?”
    She paused.
    “Major Mackey said you’d talk to me,” I said. “I’m family, you know.”
    “The bullet was a twenty-two, we think. At least, the entry wound is small, and the gunman left a twenty-two at the scene, so that’s what we’re assuming. It’s still in there, lodged in his brain. The doctor said it did a hell of a lot of damage.He’s breathing on a respirator. And they’ve got him heavily sedated.”
    I felt numb, thinking about Bucky, in a hospital bed, tethered to a lot of machines.
    “What about the girl at the liquor store? I know she’s missing. Have they found her yet?”
    The friendly look on Lisa Dugan’s face vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
    “You know I can’t talk about that.”
    “Why not?” I asked. “Who am I going to tell? Come on, Lisa. You say you know how Bucky felt about me. I’ve got a right to know what’s going on with the investigation.”
    “You were a cop,” she said, emphasizing the past tense. “Now you’re a civilian. A civilian with a habit of butting her nose into police investigations. But that’s not going to happen this time. Major Mackey was very clear about that. And I’m very clear about it.” She gave me a level look. The hazel eyes could get very frosty. “Don’t fuck this up, Callahan. It’s too important. We’re gonna find the guy who shot Bucky, and when we do, we want everything right. You know the law. You know if the chain of evidence in this case gets messed with, it’s history. So be the friend you claim you are. Go home. Say a prayer for Bucky. Say one for me, too, if you would. And leave it alone.”
    “I’m not fucking anything up, Lisa. But I’m watching. And I’m listening. I was there when it happened, so it happened to me, too. And I want to know why. Why’d this guy just walk in and put a couple bullets in Bucky’s head? He didn’t take anything, didn’t shoot the clerk, didn’t look around to see if there were any other witnesses. He just shoots Bucky and leaves? And half an hour later, the only witness to the shooting also disappears? I got questions, you better believe. Like right now, I’m wondering, why is the chief already calling in internal affairs on this? And what’s this bullshit about saying Bucky broke department policy working an unauthorized job?”
    Dugan got out of her chair. “No comment,” she said.
    “Since when do cops have to get the chief’s permission tomake a living?” I asked. “Cops have always worked second and third jobs.”
    “No comment,” she said again. She opened the door and waited by it. I got up and stalked out of there, no wiser than I’d been when I went in.

9
    A t the hospital, they’d moved Bucky to the neuro ward. They wouldn’t let me see him, but a nurse there who recognized my name said she’d gone to school with my sister Maureen and worked with her in the ER.
    “He’s stable,” said the nurse, whose name was Veneta. “There’s a waiting room over there,” she added, pointing down the hall. “His doctor makes rounds after lunch, maybe you could catch him then.”
    I got a Diet Coke from a vending machine and went looking for the waiting room.
    The room was small and nearly full. I almost turned around and left when I saw who was sitting in the middle of a green vinyl sofa. John Boylan. He looked up when I came in, gave me a weak wave. Sitting on one side of Boylan was a white guy I didn’t recognize, but he had that unmistakable cop look about him: the polished shoes, the erect posture and short hair. On the left of Boylan was C.W. Hunsecker.
    He got up when he saw me, we hugged, sat back down.
    “You hear anything?” C.W. asked, his voice low.
    “He’s stable,” I said.
    C.W. frowned. His blue-green eyes were red-rimmed, and his face was much thinner than the last time I’d seen him. “What’s the matter,” I said teasingly,