The closers by Michael Connelly

Author:Michael Connelly
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: General, Mystery & Detective, Fiction
ISBN: 9780752864648
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2005-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"Nothing. He was doing some online stuff for me."

He almost started telling her about it and everything else. But before he could put the words together a man in a lab coat came through the door. He had a clipboard. He was in his late fifties with silver hair and a matching beard.

"This is Dr. Hansen," Nicole said.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked.

He leaned over the bed and used his hand on Pierce's jaw to turn his face slightly.

"Only hurts when I breathe. Or talk. Or when somebody does that."

Hansen let go of his jaw. He used a penlight to study Pierce's pupils.

"Well, you've got some pretty substantial injuries here. You have a grade-two concussion and six stitches in your scalp."

Pierce hadn't even remembered that injury. It must have come when he hit the outside wall of the building.

"The concussion is the cause of the loginess you may be feeling and any headache discomfort. Let's see, what else? You have a pulmonary contusion, a deep shoulder contusion; you've got two fractured ribs and, of course, the broken nose. The lacerations on your nose and surrounding your eye are going to require plastic surgery to properly close without permanent scarring. I can get somebody in here tonight to do that, depending on the swelling, or if you have a personal surgeon, then you can contact him."

Pierce shook his head. He knew there were many people in this town who kept personal plastic surgeons on call. But he wasn't one of them.

"Whoever you can get.. ."

Henry," Nicole said. "This is your face you're talking about. I think you should get the best possible surgeon you can."

I think I can get you a very good one," Hansen said. "Let me make some calls and see what I come up with."

"Thank you."

He said the words pretty clearly. It seemed as though his speech facility was quickly adapting to the new physical circumstances of his mouth and nasal passages.

"Try to stay as horizontal as possible," Hansen said. "I'll be back."

The doctor nodded and left the room. Pierce looked at Nicole.

"Looks like I'm going to be here awhile. You don't have to stay."

"I don't mind."

He smiled and it hurt, but he smiled anyway. He was very happy with her response.

"Why did you call me in the middle of the night, Henry?"

He'd forgotten and the reminder brought the searing embarrassment again. He carefully composed an answer before speaking.

"I don't know. It's a long story. It's been a strange weekend. I wanted to tell you about it. And I wanted to tell you what I had been thinking about."

"What was that?"

It hurt to talk but he had to tell her.

"I don't know exactly. Just that the things that happened to me somehow made me see your point of view a lot clearer. I know it's probably too little too late. But for some reason I wanted you to know I finally saw the light."

She shook her head.

"That's good, Henry. But you're lying here with your head and face split open.

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