uncooperative.”
“Which is the way anyone might react if they felt they were being double-dealt,” I said.
She hesitated for a moment and then shrugged. “I suppose so,” she said. “Anyway, all this is
a matter of public record.”
I said, “With any luck, I?m going to make you a hero.”
“I?ve heard that song before.”
“Not in my lovely alto,” I said.
She hesitated a moment longer. “God, would I like to trust you,” she said, half-aloud.
“What?ve you got to lose? Besides, we?ve got a deal. You told me what I wanted to know.”
We started to leave and a new face appeared in the ICU. He was tall and so painfully thin that
he looked anorectic. He was wearing a tuxedo and there was a panicked expression on his
face. He stared at us and at the cop sitting at the control unit.
“Who are all these people?” he asked, motioning to us, but looking at the nurses.
“I?m District Attorney Galavanti,” she said, and pointing to me, “This is one of my people.”
“Can we please clear the area,” he said, taking command again. “I?m Dr. George Hanson, Mr.
Raines? personal physician.”
“Yes, sir,” she said. “There?s just one thing. I have a small tape recorder on the bar neat Mr.
Raines? head, in case he should say something. .
“Thanks,” I said on the way out. “We may end up with zip, but we could score.”
“Like I said, Kilmer, I?ll believe it when it happens.” We stepped out into the hall and came
face to face with Stonewall Titan and Doe Raines.
63
DEATHWATCH
She looked like one of those wide-eyed French mimes you see on the stage. Tiny, fragile,
vulnerable, terrified, and none of it an act, if I was any judge. This was a woman who was
running out of control. A stone in the road could throw her over the edge.
The DA excused herself and got out of the line of fire. Dutch and the Stick had moved back
down the ball, out of earshot.
“How is he is he all right?” she babbled, making one question out of two. Titan looked at me
as if I had bubonic plague. His nostrils flared like an angry mule?s.
“Don?t you ever light anyplace?” he growled.
“Jake, how is Harry?” Doe demanded, ignoring Titan.
