Gump had stopped by the hospital a few times, so I wasn’t surprised when he appeared unannounced once again.
“I was thinking of bringing you a plant,” he said, “but they didn’t have any poison ivy.”
“Don’t worry. Your presence is toxic enough.”
Gump took a seat next to me and looked around to make sure the coast was clear. “You want a drink? I smuggled in a hip flask.”
“I better not. Nurse Ratched checks in on me frequently.”
We talked, and Gump got around to his purpose for being there. I answered more questions about the case, and then I must have drifted off. I’d been doing that for a few days. When I awakened, Gump was gone, but I traded up. Lisbet was there.
In all her visits to the hospital she had never arrived empty-handed, despite my telling her that she was all I needed. This time the aroma gave away the secret of what she had brought.
“Pumpkin bread,” I said.
“It was fresh out of the oven when I picked up a loaf.”
“It would be a sacrilege if we didn’t eat some now.”
“I figured you might say that,” Lisbet said and pulled some paper plates and plastic cutlery from her bag. She cut each of us a generous slice, and we munched happily while holding hands. Sirius gave her a plaintive look and got rewarded with his own piece.
“I also brought us dessert.”
“Let me guess: penguin chocolates?”
“Close but no cigar.”
“I didn’t guess a cigar.”
“Do you like peanut brittle?”
“There are those that might argue that sugar, peanuts, and butter are as holy a trinity as barley, hops, and wheat.”
“Let’s eat to that,” she said, opening up the box and handing me a piece of brittle.
When we had our fill, I noticed that Lisbet had left a few crumbs on her fingers. I decided to lick them off. She returned the favor. And then the two of us started kissing. We kissed for a long time and would have kissed for even longer except for a strange thump-thump sound that forced us to investigate.
Sirius was watching us and wagging his tail.
“Quit being a voyeur,” I said.
We had another piece of brittle and then did some more kissing. It really was a great combination. There wasn’t much of a view from my hospital room, but the two of us sat contentedly watching the afternoon shadows give way to evening.
When all vestiges of the day were gone, Lisbet sighed and said, “I wish I could stay longer, but I took on a new job and that’s going to force me to burn the midnight oil.”
“As soon as you finish this project, I call dibs on you and the midnight oil, as well as the massage oil.”
“I look forward to that.”
“That’s two of us.”
Something in my voice must have made Sirius decide to start thumping again. I looked at him and said, “I said the two of us, which means that two is company, and three is a crowd. The next time I have the pleasure of this woman’s company, you’re going to be doing your thumping from another room.”
“Don’t worry, Sirius,” Lisbet said, “his bark is worse than his bite.”
She patted him but kissed me and then stood up to leave. “You don’t have to walk me out,” Lisbet said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I do have to walk you out. It’s a good excuse to get out of bed, and besides, when we meet up tomorrow, it won’t be here. I intend on checking myself out in the morning.”
“I thought your doctor wanted you to stay through the weekend and then evaluate your condition on Monday.”
“That was before my miraculous recovery.”
“You haven’t told him you’re checking out, have you?”
“It might have slipped my mind.”
“I hope you’re not pushing it.”
The concern was in her words and her face. It had been a long time since someone had cared for me like that.
“I’m not. And FYI, the only reason I didn’t check out this morning was that I didn’t want you to freak out.”
“FYI, I like that.”
We smiled for one another, and then Lisbet picked up the bag in which she’d brought my presents. She seemed surprised that it wasn’t quite empty but then remembered what was inside.
“I almost forgot,” she said. “Sylvia Espinosa called and wanted to know if I’d like her to send me a copy of today’s
She handed me a paper. Instead of looking at it, I casually put the paper aside. “Thanks for thinking of me.”
Lisbet and I had fought over the article, and I wanted her to know she was more important than any case. Instead of holding the paper, I held her.
“I’ll let you play nurse tomorrow if you come to my place for an early dinner.”
“I’ll let you play doctor if you order Thai food.”
“That’s what you call a no-brainer. If you’re lucky, I might even share my pad Thai with you.”
“Panang curry with shrimp on the spicy side,” she said, “a seven or eight, and an appetizer of spring rolls. And don’t count on my sharing with you without some creative begging on your part.”
“I don’t mean to brag, but I do look sexy in a sandwich board soliciting handouts.”
“You found my kryptonite.”
The two of us walked to the elevator, and we made good use of our wait time for the car. Our kiss was long and leisurely and when we finished, Lisbet said, “You seem to be coming along in your physical therapy.”
“I’ve been practicing on all the nurses.”
She feigned umbrage and we kissed and made up. When Lisbet had first visited me in the hospital and seen my burned face and damaged lips, I told her that my physical therapist was insisting that I do a lot of kissing to assist my lip recovery. That had made her laugh and gotten me a kiss. Even though my lips were still raw and cracked from the fire, they were on the mend, and I was convinced Lisbet’s lips were working miracles.
As the elevator door opened, I started to loudly hum “The Shoop Shoop Song,” which got the desired effect of Lisbet’s laugh. I loved it that she got all of my references without explanations. I didn’t need to sing the words; she already knew the lyrics, and she already knew the meaning behind my kisses. As the door closed, she blew me a kiss. I felt good but maybe just the tiniest bit guilty. There had been no lie in my kiss, but there might have been a little dissembling. The truth is, I couldn’t wait to read the newspaper article that Lisbet had brought. Cops can fall in love, but they’re still cops.
I hurried back to my room and then tore into the article. When I finished reading, I decided that I wasn’t going to wait until morning to check myself out of the hospital.
Both my doctor and Sirius’s vet wouldn’t have approved of our doing stakeout duty, but the two of us were doing just that.
When we’d arrived at the cemetery, I’d scouted the best viewing area for the Garden of Angels. I’d brought binoculars, which allowed us to park outside the grounds and still be able to have a good vantage spot. Before settling in I’d checked Rose’s grave marker. My business card, with work, cell, and home numbers on it, was still taped to her cross.
Sirius doesn’t mind stakeout duty as much as I do because he invariably sleeps through it. Any cop will tell you there’s nothing as tedious as working a stakeout. Einstein once explained his Theory of Relativity by saying, “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems
