“You’re becoming a real wit, Koko. So tell me about him.”
“Nothing to tell. He was just going into a store up the street when I saw him.”
“I guess it’s possible he’s just some guy who lives around here.”
“What else is possible?”
“Maybe he’s the mayor of Charleston, scouting for people to welcome to his fair city.”
Her face was pensive. “I don’t know how Erin will feel about this. Me, I’m glad you got those razor blades.”
She roused herself from the bed. “I’m going to the library. I don’t expect to find anything, but I’ve got to do something or go mad in this room.”
“Library’s closed today. It’s Sunday.”
“We could go to a movie.”
“I’m for that. Point out this dude if you see him on the street again.”
I had already made up my mind that Erin’s date with Archer was the last thing she would do solo. I wasn’t leaving Koko alone anymore, either. I left a note under Erin’s door telling her to stay put and we drove out to a suburban mall theater. Three hours later we came out frustrated: the film had been like the weather, lousy. “At least it got us through the afternoon,” Koko said. “Just one more day of this. I’ll kill that woman at Fort Sumter if she plays around with us.”
Erin was there when we got to the motel.
“I hope your lunch was charming,” I said.
“Lunch was fine. I waited two hours and ate alone. Archer never showed up.”
In the morning we learned why.
CHAPTER 34
The story was on the front page of the second section in the
“I’m going to see him,” Erin said.
“We’ll all go.”
“I don’t think that’s wise.”
“Maybe not but we’re going with you anyway. We’ll try not to get in your way.”
Roper Hospital was on Calhoun Street near the Ashley River. Erin inquired about Archer at the desk and was given his room number. His condition had been upgraded to good. Koko and I sat in the lobby, where we could watch the flow of people coming and going, and Erin went up in the elevator alone.
We had only been there a few minutes when Dean Treadwell appeared. “Here we go,” I said softly. I got up, motioned Koko to come with me, and we followed him across the lobby to the elevators. We stood waiting in a small crowd, and when an elevator arrived we all got in the same car. Up we went, picking up doctors and nurses until we were all packed tightly together. Dean stared at the floor. The door opened and he got out. We were a few steps behind him as he moved down the hall. I didn’t know till that moment what I would do, but suddenly the sound of Erin’s voice moved me to his side.
“Hey, Dean.”
He stopped and looked at me but I didn’t seem to register. “How’d you know me?”
“I’m a psychic. I looked at your face and you looked like a Dean.”
“That’s interesting,” he said, but the flat tone of voice said it really wasn’t. “‘Scuse me now, I’ve got to go see somebody.”
I put a hand on his arm. “Uh-uh.”
His eyes opened wider.
“He’s got company,” I said. “One visitor at a time.”
He coughed that raspy smoker’s cough I had first heard on the telephone. “Who the hell are you?” he said, coughing into his fist. “You don’t look like any doctor.”
“That’s misleading. I took my Ph.D. in mayhem and hell-raising.”
“So you’re a wise guy.” His eyes narrowed. “Haven’t I seen you before?” He looked at Koko, searching for help.
“This is Ma Barker,” I said. “Ma, this is Dean Treadwell.”
“Hi, Dean,” Koko said with a perfect edge of joyous malice. That was too good to have been intentional, but I winked at her.
