I woke up in heaven. At least, I was surrounded by bright light an’ feelin’ no pain. An’ there was a angel holdin’ my hand. I blinked an’ noticed she’d been cryin’—her nose an’ eyes was all red.
“What’s a matter, angel?” I sounded drunk.
“Homer, you’re alive!” she said, with Nina’s voice.
“Nina?”
“Jus’ take it easy, Homer. I’ll get the nurse.”
Next time I come ’round, I knew I’d been found out an’ sent where I belonged. I was burnin’ up, dyin’ of thirst, an’ even my hair hurt. Satan hisself was watchin’ for me to open my eyes. I said, “What’d I do to deserve this?”
“Tried to knock down one too many windmills with a broom handle.” Rye’s voice. He grinned.
I seem to ’member tellin’ him, once, about Don Quixote. “What happened?”
“Don’t you ’member?”
“Yeah. But I wanna hear your version.”
He told me. An’ as he did, it all come back to me.
“What day is it?” I axed.
“Thursday.”
I’d been out cold two days.
“Nina said you tole Ransom you knew where Ash’s hidin’ out,” Rye said. “That true?”
“I dunno, mebbe. Nina give you my message about Peter?”
“Yup.”
“Well?”
“We got ’im detained at the post office.” I waited, an’ Rye went on. “When we took you to the hospital, we sprung Mr. Worth an’ had him get his tiger outta the back room. Damn thing’s tame as a pet dog. Then we hosed out the cat shit an’ put Mr. Peter in there for safe-keepin’.”
“You read him his rights?”
“Yup. Only we ain’t figgered out the charges yet.”
“Obstructin’ justice, for one. Tell the DA to start with that an’ we’ll see how cooperative Mr. Peter is ’fore we decide on other things. He must be madder’n a sack full of cats.”
“Well, he carried on for a time, but we told him we was makin’ a fortune off him—chargin’ folks to peep at the crazy man through the back winda. He pretty much clammed up after that.”
I tried to nod, but it hurt, so I said, “Do me a favor?”
“If it ain’t too outrageous.”
“Go out to Ash Jackson’s an’ have a look ’round. Take Nina an’ arrest anybody you find don’t belong there.”
“Who’re you expectin’?”
“A killer, mebbe. So be careful.”
“What if we don’t find nothin’?”
“Then go over to the Motel Six an’ ax Lucy to let you into George Arnold’s room—same thing as with Ash’s place. If you don’t find nobody there, try Peter’s room.”
“You gonna tell me what this’s about?”