'Something funny, Junior?'
'You are making a big mistake,' said Chip. 'If I wasn't the victim, I'd really feel sorry for you.'
Huenengarth smiled. 'That so?'
'Very much so.'
'Junior, here, thinks this is funny, gents. He wheeled on Chip: 'What the fuck do you think is going on here? You think one of Daddy's attorneys is going to get you out of this? We've got you on videotape trying to kill your kid-everything from loading the needle to sticking it in. Want to guess where the camera is?'
Chip kept smiling but panic fueled his eyes. They blinked, popped, raced around the room. Suddenly he shut them and dropped his head to his chest, muttering.
o'What's that?' said Huenengarth. 'What'd you say?'
'Discussion closed.'
Huenengarth came closer. Atttempted murder's not some dinky-shit Chapter Eleven. What kind of scum would do this to his own flesh and
blood?'
Chip kept his head down.
'Well,' said Huenengarth, you can always start a new project-Cliff Notes for jailhouse lawyers. Those big bucks in maximum lockup are gonna love your educated anus.'
Chip didn't move. His body had gone loose-meditative-and Milo had to work at holding him upright.
A sound came from the bed. Cassie shifting position. Chip looked at her.
She moved again, but remained asleep.
A terrible look came onto his face-disappointment at an unfinished job.
Enough hatred to fuel a war.
All three of us saw it. The room got very small.
Huenengarth reddened and puffed like a bullfrog.
'Happy rest of your life, fuckhead,' he whispered. Then he stomped out.
When the door closed, Chip snickered, but it sounded forced.
Milo pushed him toward the door. They got out just before Stephanie arrived with the emergency team.
I watched Cassie sleep. Stephanie left with the team, but came back about a half hour later.
'How's Cindy doing?' I said.
'She'll probably have a monster headache but she'll survive.'
'She may need to be detoxed,' I said, lowering my voice to a whisper.
'He said she was habituated, though he denied dosing her-made a real big point of saying he didn't have any drugs on him. But I'm sure he slipped it in her coffee, did it plenty of times before tonight. Every time I saw him here, he had a cup with him.'
She shook her head, sat on the bed, and pulled her stethoscope from around her neck. Warming the disk with her breath, she placed it on Cassie's chest and listened.
When she was through, I said, Any dope in Cassie's system?'
'No, just low sugar. Her whisper was weak. She lifted Cassie's free arm and took a pulse. 'Nice and regular.' She put the arm down.
