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Michael’s Hospital. Do you know where that is?”
    I nodded my head — big mistake.
    â€œThe X-rays show no skull fractures, just bruising in this area here.”
    He went to touch it and I cringed in my chair. Detective Winn rolled his eyes.
    â€œI can’t do much about the chip in your front tooth right now,” the doctor said. “The force of the hit to the back of your head jammed your mouth into the faucet. It’s badly swollen, but that will go down in a few days. You can take a couple of 222s when you need to ease the pain. Come back in two days to have that head wound redressed. And if you have any symptoms of a concussion you need to contact your own doctor right away.”
    I held out my hand to catch the pills and then he pivoted around on his paper slippers and flew out of the emergency room, lab coat literally flapping in the wind. I guessed I didn’t help make his day any easier.
    â€œHere,” said Winn and he handed me a plastic baggie filled with cotton-batten rolls. I touched my head and whimpered.
    â€œIf you expect me to feel sorry for you, I don’t. You’re lucky someone called the police.”
    â€œWho called?” is what I said, but it came out sounding more like “Ru walled.”
    Winn interpreted my slurred question accurately. His job would require him to listen to a lot of punched-up drunks.
    â€œI don’t know, Ms. Walker, but I have a feeling you do.” Suddenly I was so tired I wanted to lie down on one of the gurneys parked against the wall. I felt as if I could sleep for a week.
    Winn ordered a policewoman waiting outside the room to drive me home and see that I got tucked in safely, but not before telling me he would arrange a time for another interview when I felt better.
    My son, Jon, over six feet tall and built like a rugby player, came to the door the minute the blue and white pulled up to the curb. The police must have called him at school. His number is in my wallet in case of emergency. My mother’s number is, too, but heaven forbid she find out any unfortunate information that I haven’t already screened. She’d just stare at me and shake her head until I wanted to strangle her.
    Jon was in his fourth year at a local college, studying environmental science. His young face was lined with concern. Together the rookie and my boy helped me through the front door and upstairs to bed.
    As I eased the covers up to my swollen chin, sinking into the feathery pillows, I could hear them talking downstairs in the hall. She was probably close to the same age as Jon, around early twenties. Halfway to dreamland I heard the pretty rookie giggle.

chapter three
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    I went back to work Monday morning after taking two days off to recuperate. My head ached and the room tilted sideways if I stood up fast. The chip in my tooth was barely noticeable, but my jaw was still visibly swollen. The painkillers the doctor gave me made me sleep through the nights without waking once. Something I didn’t mind at all. Detective Winn called several times only to have my son answer and tell him I was sleeping. Jon kept a tight vigil and although I felt fine, he would shake his head and mouth “NO” whenever the phone rang.
    I’d have to postpone any rigorous exercise for a few more days and my regularly planned visit to the gym this afternoon would have to wait. Because I do my own shopping for the restaurant, which includes lifting heavy cases of beer, wine, and liquor in and out of my car’s trunk and because my office is up forty steep steps to the second floor, I’m in better shape than if I used a StairMaster.
    Unfortunately, my routine of pounding the track at the gym would be missed. With state-of-the-art headphones and a player full of hardcore rhythm and blues, I get so high on endorphins that I should be issued a safety rope. My present condition, incapable of bending over without feeling dizzy, was hardly a