Chapter Fifty-nine
“My favorite fish tacos. Morris, you’re a good man.”
As Morris had guessed, the private hospital room was already overflowing with roses, daisies, carnations, and at least three dozen elaborate floral arrangements.
“I figured you wouldn’t need any more flowers,” Morris said.
“You guessed right. The flowers that have been coming in the last few hours are being donated to other rooms.” The thick bandage covering Stonehedge’s cheek and the swelling and redness of the skin around it gave the actor’s grin a sardonic quality. “The studio’s replacing me on The Carver. I’m hearing they’re already talking to Ronald Degragio.”
“I never heard of him.”
Stonehedge’s grin stretched wider and grew a touch more sardonic. “The guy’s a stiff.”
“You seem awfully chipper given that news.”
“It’s the drugs they got me on. Some really potent stuff. Anyway, I can’t blame them. The bullet not only nicked my femoral artery, but shattered my femur. With enough physical therapy, I might be walking in a couple of months, but I can’t expect them to shut down production for that long. It’s not all bad news, though. They’re going to rewrite the part of the Carver’s last victim, make it a heftier role, and let me play it in a wheelchair. The studio’s still going to squeeze every drop of publicity they can out of this.”
Parker had been staring at the bag containing the fish tacos. He let out an impatient grunt.
Morris said, “The dog’s a champion moocher. Ignore him.”
Stonehedge shook his head. “I owe him also for yesterday.” He fished out one of the tacos from the bag, and tossed the bull terrier a piece of Ahi tuna.
“Sorry you’re going to be missing out on playing the Carver,” Morris said.
Stonehedge gingerly touched the bandage covering his cheek. “Thanks. I consulted this morning with a plastic surgeon. No matter what they do, this is going to leave a prominent scar. I should be looking sinister enough to play another serial killer sometime down the road. So Morris, now that we finished with these niceties, let me guess your real reason for coming here. You want to tear me a new one for the dumb stunt I pulled yesterday.”
“That was pretty dumb,” Morris agreed. “But no. I came here to tell you we know who SCK is.”
“No kidding?”
“No kidding. We’re keeping it quiet until we arrest him, but that should happen soon.”
“Wow. Thanks for letting me know. Are you going to be there for the arrest?”
Morris shook his head. “I’m done. The rest is for the police. As soon as I leave here, I’m heading home, taking a nice, long hot shower, and getting some sleep.” He paused, then added, “I wanted to let you know that even with that incredibly stupid stunt you pulled inside that jewelry store, you did okay on this investigation. It wasn’t so bad having you tag along. You had some good ideas.”
“I’m telling you Morris, we make a good team.”
“I’m not going to disagree. Get better soon, okay?”
The two of them shook hands, and Morris led Parker out of the hospital room.