'You work for a man,' Cross said, 'that's all it means. Doesn't mean he owns you. Used to, maybe. Not today. Not with all these buildings going up. Not when you're a Mohawk who's not afraid of heights.'
CHAPTER 41
Gabriel Cross drove me back to my hotel, by way of a Walgreens on North Clark Street. I stayed slumped in the car seat while he went in to pick up what I needed-extra-strength Tylenol; gauze and tape; peroxide; Polysporin; arnica gel.
Sadly, they didn't sell rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
When he pulled up in front of the Hilton, he said, 'My wife has a friend who's a nurse. Lives in our building. I could see if she's around.'
'There's nothing a nurse can do for me.'
'How you going to wrap your hands? Neither one of them's working.'
He had a point.
'Her name's Nola,' Cross said. 'If she's home when I get back, I'll send her over.'
'What should I pay her?'
'Whatever you can spare,' he said. 'She's a single mother.'
'A hundred? Two hundred?'
'Two's all right.'
'What about you?'
'What about me?'
'You saved my fucking neck.'
'You want to pay me?'
'If you could use it.'
'I can always use it. But I'm going to say no thanks.'
'Sure?'
'What I did, I did for me, not you. I told you, I didn't like how Mr. Birk spoke to me.'
I said, 'I'm going to thank you anyway.'
He said, 'Okay.'
I tried to open the car door but my hand wouldn't grip the handle. He got out and opened the door from the outside. I got out slowly, feeling pain in more places than I could count. Cross walked behind me, a hand at the small of my back, as I shuffled into the lobby. He had to press the elevator buttons for me and work the key card into the lock on my door. Once I was flat on the bed, he left and I dozed for an hour until the knocking began. 'My lord,' Nola Johnson said. 'You look like you were beaten with tire irons.'
I was stripped down to my underwear, covered in welts. My palms were burning where skin had been rubbed off. 'Close enough,' I said.
'Do I have to tell you this might sting a little?'
'That would be a major improvement.'
She used peroxide to clean my palms and the oozing cut between the first two knuckles of my left hand. I gritted my teeth and sucked in air. She covered the broken skin with a thin layer of Polysporin and wrapped my hands in gauze. She went out to the hall and filled a bucket with ice and had me sit in the tub while she rubbed ice cubes onto the welts on my arm, shoulder and thigh. Then I lay down on the bed and she rubbed arnica gently onto the bruises.
'I don't think anything is broken in your arm,' she said. 'As to the rest, you should probably get X-rays. I wouldn't be surprised if your second metacarpal showed a fracture. That bone isn't that hard to break.'
'I practise karate,' I told her. 'I've broken it before.'
'Your patella is awfully swollen,' she said. 'Can you straighten your leg?'
I tried. Couldn't do it.
'And there's your clavicle. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a break. How much Tylenol have you taken?'
'Four extra-strength.'
'Any alcohol?'
'No.'
She reached into her pocket and took out a small vial. 'These are Tylenol 3s. You can take one now and one in four hours.'
'Thanks.'
'But you have to wait the four hours. Promise?'
'Yes.'
'I work at Cook County Hospital,' she said, handing me a slip of paper with a phone number. 'I start at eight in the morning. If you come in at seven forty-five, I can get you X-rayed.'
'I'll see how I feel in the morning.'
'You worried about the cost?'
'No.'
'You should be,' she smiled.
'Thank you.'
I told her where my wallet was, and to help herself to her fee.
'Don't forget,' Nola said. 'Four hours until the next pill.'
'I won't.'
I didn't wait the whole four hours. But I did wait until the door had closed behind her.
Then I called Jenn at home.
'Cancel your flight,' I said.
'Why? What happened?'
'I'll tell you when you get here.'
'But you said-'
'I didn't say not to come. I need you to come by car. Tonight.'
'Why?'
''Cause I need you to bring something you can't take on a plane.'
'What's that?'
'Dante Ryan,' I said.
CHAPTER 42
I must have slept with my hands clenched into fists. I could barely get them open far enough to pry the top off the vial of Tylenol 3s Nola had left. I did, though, and took two. Struggled to make a pot of coffee without burning myself, then limped down the hall wrapped in a complimentary bathrobe and refilled the bucket with ice.
The bruises were ugly. Like someone had rubbed my forearm and knee with blueberries. I couldn't see the one on my shoulder without a mirror and didn't see the point in trying. I lay naked in the tub with ice on my arm and my knee, waiting for the codeine to hit. Pondered the wisdom of taking two more.
One codeine, two codeine, three codeine, four
If that doesn't do it, take a few more.
I wondered if Jenn had been able to find Ryan and, if so, where they were. Still in Ontario? On I-94 by now?
When the ice had melted, I got out of the bath and started filling it with hot water. Nola had said alternating between cold and hot would help reduce inflammation and relax 'the insulted areas.' I towelled off and slipped back
