chapter forty-one

When I came to, I was lying in a hospital bed. Jo sat in the adjacent chair, holding my hand. A young blue-suiter with sandy hair stood guard outside the door.

My chest pinched with each breath, and my head felt as big as a beach ball. I sat up, or tried to, a little too quickly. Searing pain shot through my side. I eased myself back onto the pillows, sucking air through clenched teeth.

“He’s awake,” Jo said.

“I’ll get the doctor.” The uniformed officer hurried off.

“I’ll say this,” Jo said as soon as he left. “Life with you is never boring, Eddie.” Her tone was light, but her hands were trembling.

“I did tell you to stay in the bedroom.” Jo was all right. I mouthed a silent prayer of gratitude and squeezed her hand. Even that pressure made the room pulse.

“I never was good at taking orders.” She rose from her chair and sat facing me on the side of the bed.

“Lucky for me. I owe you. Big time.” Gingerly, I lifted the blanket. My chest was taped and my thigh was covered with a thick bandage. “One more inch to the left and no more talks about having little Piedmonts.”

Jo leaned in and hugged me tight.

The sound of a throat clearing made us separate.

“I’d say get a room, but you already have one.” It was Shin standing at the door, a thin smile on his face. The doctor, a middle-aged Asian guy a head shorter than my partner, strode towards me. Dr. Trahn—I silently pieced together his name letter by letter on his security badge as he neared me.

“You lost a lot of blood, detective,” Dr. Trahn said. “Not to mention concussion and two cracked ribs. We took a bone splinter out of your lung too.” The doctor took a pre-loaded needle-free syringe out of a vacuum pack and shot the pain meds into the pocket between my lip and cheek. “Don’t try to swallow.”

The bitter meds filled my mouth. The cold bright hospital light flared brighter and made me squint.

“We gave you something to regenerate the tissue faster too,” Dr. Trahn said, pinning my shoulder to the bed with a gentle but firm hand. “You’re mending quickly. But we’re still keeping you overnight for observation.” He entered a few notes on his digital med-pad and left. Shin stayed, taking a seat in the chair Jo had vacated.

The meds made me nauseous. I focused on the faded blue green diamond pattern of the curtain surrounding the bed. The diamonds throbbed with every breath.

“Enrique Ramirez,” I said. My mind was racing, but it was hard work to force words out of my mouth.“He’s . . .”

“. . . dead,” Shin said. “And as for Salazar, it’s a solid bust, Eddie. We have their retina scans and prints from your smart house. Not to mention the blood. Not all of it was yours.”

“Aztekas,” I said with difficulty.

“We know,” Shin said in the reassuring tone he used to calm victims at crime scenes. “Salazar is looking at conspiracy to commit homicide, assault, and GBH just for last night. Plus, he’s a person of interest in the Zeta-AzteKa war.”

“No . . .” I said, frustrated that I couldn’t get my mouth to force words out fast enough. “Ramirez. Paco—Ramirez . . .”

“We know, Eddie,” Shin repeated in that patient voice. “Enrique was Paco’s older brother. It was an ambush—revenge, Azteka style. Salazar smashed up your place so Ramirez could shoot you when you came down to investigate.”

“Not just shoot,” I said. “The knife.”

Shin glanced at Jo, then just tipped his head in a shallow nod of acknowledgement to me. We both knew the Aztekas’ M.O. Shooting was just the appetizer. They’d planned to deposit my severed head on the steps outside Nokia P.D. The meds were kicking in now, dulling the pain, but simultaneously making it harder for me to concentrate. There was something I was forgetting. Something important.

Shin picked up a little carton of juice on the table next to the hospital bed and started to peel off the plastic wrapping from the attached straw.

“There’s more bad news. We had to let Pink go. His high-priced lawyer got him out on bail.”

The stream of profanity I let loose only rattled my head more. “How . . . could that bottom-feeder af-ford . . . high-priced lawyer?”

“He can’t,” Shin said.

“Who?”

Shin shook his head. “The lawyer’s on retainer for the Aztekas. And here’s the thing, Eddie. He’s not just repping Pink and Salazar. Salazar is talking. He confessed.”

I stared at Shin. Salazar had run around my place like a crazed squirrel as he tried to hide his face from the cameras. But once arrested, even a junior Azteka would know enough to keep his mouth shut. Even before his lawyer told him to. Why hadn’t Salazar?

“The D.A. . . . cut him a deal?” My words slurred a little. Or did he figure attempted homicide gave him street cred? And better tattoos.

“You’re not getting the full picture yet,” Shin said. “Salazar confessed to getting the nano-bot off Raymond Lee in exchange for drugs. He gave the bot to Pink. On Ramirez’ orders.”

“What?!” My throat went dry. This was not happening.

Shin nodded. “We’ve been looking at the case from the wrong end of the telescope, Eddie. According to his sworn testimony, Salazar is Ray’s dealer. Lee was making noises about going to the police. So, according to Salazar, Ramirez took out Dr. Lee. But it was you he really wanted dead.”