The Pain Nurse - [20]
“This is what Julius was afraid of. Your going off half-cocked. He’s really agitated about it. He was a good friend to you.”
“I was his friend.”
“Was.” Cindy shook her head. “You don’t make friends, Will. You don’t know how. You didn’t like my friends. I tried to open doors for you. You didn’t have to work in the sewer every day, making no money. I introduced you to people, my friends. But you wouldn’t even try.”
Her words stung him into silence.
Her gaze roved past him. “Will, you need someone to talk to. Doesn’t the hospital have…?”
“A shrink? Oh, there’s one exclusively for neuro-rehab. Lauren something. She’s been watching me, waiting for the big blowup. I don’t feel that way. I just want to get my life back. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t been wheeled down that hallway that night, hadn’t seen it. But that woman’s dead. And who will speak for her? J. J. Dodds? He just wants to be chief.”
“That’s a terrible thing to say.”
“Who spoke for Theresa Chambers? Nobody. We messed up. Bud killed her. He got away with it because he was a cop.”
“Theresa Chambers was killed by Craig Factor, Will. You know that.”
“Bud Chambers had been separated from his wife. She had a restraining order against him. He had beaten her up once, and the patrol guys let it go. We fucked this one up, Cindy.”
She winced from his profanity, or maybe because he called her Cindy. He couldn’t tell which.
“I understand how strongly you feel.” She touched his knee again. “But just because a cop is separated from his wife doesn’t mean he should be a suspect. We’ve been separated for more than a year.”
He realized she was making a joke. He forced himself to laugh even as his stomach dropped. It was time to shut up.
“I’ll try to do better. I won’t bother Dodds.”
They sat quietly, more aware of the overhead lights as the city was overtaken by the early dusk.
“I talked to the woman in charge of rehab today,” Will said. “She said you could talk to her about starting the process to get me out of here, bring me home.” He laughed. “Everything’s a ‘process’ now.”
Cindy sighed and nervously tugged at her skirt.
“It would be nice to come home for Christmas.”
“This is too soon,” she said. “I see how you need help to even get into your wheelchair. We’d have to modify the house with ramps…”
“So I’ll get a couple of big cops to wrestle me into a car.”
“And what about when you’re home? I can’t even begin to…”
He reached over and took her hand. “You won’t have to. I can be very self-sufficient. You’d be amazed at what I can accomplish just here in the hospital. I won’t be trouble. Pretty soon I’ll be walking.”
Her gaze moved past him, again. “We haven’t lived together in a long time.”
He felt a paw grip his insides. He said quietly, “I know.”
“Your doctors say you’ll need a lot of physical therapy.”
“I’ll get it. I’ll do a lot better on the outside. God, I can’t even sleep. Can’t you talk to them? Please, Cindy, get me out of this place.” He knew he was pleading. He couldn’t stop the urgent cadence of his voice.
“I brought your stuff.”
He could tell she was managing him.
He was too tired to fight her. Too scared. After a moment, he looked through the bag she had brought. Another two pairs of sweatpants and some T-shirts, a CD player and CDs, small packets of Kleenex, his wallet with cash inside.
“Thanks. I haven’t even been able to buy a Coke.” He paused. “I feel bad that I wasn’t able to get you a Christmas present. Remember, the doctors wouldn’t let me drive once they found the tumor.”
“It’s okay.” Her voice was barely audible. She was carrying the Coach handbag he had gotten her for Christmas two years before, meant as a peace offering as their marriage was coming apart, piece by piece. The room had emptied out completely. They were alone with the hospital smell and the Christmas garlands.
“Will, I can’t…”
He suddenly felt such heaviness. She could have just stood and walked away, simple movements that were both miracles in his new life. But she sat there and spoke.
“I’m not like you,” she said quietly. The harshness fell from her eyes, replaced by tears. “I’m not noble. I have a job. You have a…calling.” She didn’t speak the words like a compliment. He gripped her hand but she pulled it away. “I can’t put my whole life on a shelf to, to…put it right for the dead. I’m not a damsel in distress anymore, so what am I to you? I’m not a murder victim.”
“Cindy…”
“I can’t…” She waved him away, pulled into herself. Her face became red and tears streaked her cheeks.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not!” Her eyes were red and fierce. “You’re always so goddamned reasonable! It’s not okay. None of it is. And you know it! You’ve never even forgiven me…”
“That’s not true.” He felt a sucking hole in his middle. He reached for her again, but she pushed away.
“Wait, Will. Please. I’m not…I can’t. You and I, we’re just too different. I can’t do this.”
“Can’t do what?”
“I thought I could. I had thought it all through. I wanted to wait for all this to be over. I prayed you would be all right, and I’m so glad you came through the surgery. But this is never going to be over. Don’t you get it? Will, I can’t do this. I can’t take care of you, be your nurse.”
In this "prequel" to the popular David Mapstone mysteries, author Jon Talton takes us back to 1999, when everything dot-com was making money, the Y2K bug was the greatest danger facing the world, and the good times seemed as if they would never end.It was a time before David and Lindsey were together, before Mike Peralta was sherriff, and before David had rid himself of the sexy and mysterious Gretchen.In Phoenix, it's the sweet season and Christmas and the new millennium are only weeks away. But history professor David Mapstone, just hired by the Sheriff's Office, still finds trouble, chasing a robber into an abandoned warehouse and discovering a gruesome crime from six decades ago.Mapstone begins an investigation into a Depression-era kidnapping that transfixed Arizona and the nation: the disappearance of a cattle baron's grandsons, their bodies never found.
The private-detective business starts out badly for former Phoenix Deputy David Mapstone, who has teamed up with his old friend and boss, Sheriff Mike Peralta. Their first client is gunned down just after hiring them. The case: A suspicious death investigation involving a young Arizona woman who fell from a condo tower in San Diego. The police call Grace Hunter's death a suicide, but the client doesn't buy it. He's her brother. Or is he? After his murder, police find multiple driver's licenses and his real identity is a mystery.
A cache of diamonds is stolen in Phoenix. The prime suspect is former Maricopa County Sheriff Mike Peralta, now a private investigator. Disappearing into Arizona's mountainous High Country, Peralta leaves his business partner and longtime friend David Mapstone with a stark choice. He can cooperate with the FBI, or strike out on his own to find Peralta and what really happened. Mapstone knows he can count on his wife Lindsey, one of the top "good hackers" in law enforcement. But what if they've both been betrayed? Mapstone is tested further when the new sheriff wants him back as a deputy, putting to use his historian's expertise to solve a very special cold case.
Cincinnati homicide Detective Will Borders now walks with a cane and lives alone with constant discomfort. He's lucky to be alive. He's lucky to have a job, as public information officer for the department. But when a star cop is brutally murdered, he's assigned to find her killer. The crime bears a chilling similarity to killings on the peaceful college campus nearby, where his friend Cheryl Beth Wilson is teaching nursing. The two young victims were her students. Most homicides are routine, the suspects readily apparent.
A handsome young New York professor comes to Phoenix to research his new book. But when he's brutally murdered, police connect him to one of the world's most deadly drug cartels. This shouldn't be a case for historian-turned-deputy David Mapstone – except the victim has been dating David's sister-in-law Robin and now she's a target, too. David's wife Lindsey is in Washington with an elite anti-cyber terror unit and she makes one demand of him: protect Robin.This won't be an easy job with the city police suspicious of Robin and trying to pressure her.
Валерий Борисович Гусев родился в 1941 году в Рязани. Окончил Московский институт инженеров сельскохозяйственного производства имени В. П. Горячкина, там же преподавал. Затем работал редактором "Международного сельскохозяйственного журнала".Повести, рассказы, очерки Валерия Гусева публиковались в периодической печати и сборниках, он — дипломант Всесоюзного конкурса Союза писателей и МВД СССР, лауреат конкурса журнала "Социалистическая законность".Приключенческие повести В. Гусева рассказывают о молодых сотрудниках милиции, об их поиске, романтическом увлечении своей работой, об их несокрушимой вере, что самый справедливый закон — советский."Шпагу князю Оболенскому" — первая книга Валерия Гусева.Иллюстрация на обложке и внутренние иллюстрации Бориса Алексеевича Федотова.Содержание:Конкур со шпагойШпагу князю Оболенскому!Первое делоДо осенних дождей…Выстрелы в ночиЛеонид Словин.
В заброшенном складе на городской окраине обнаружен растерзанный труп шестилетней Глории Саммерс, поиски которой безуспешно ведет полиция. Вскоре исчезает еще одна девочка из той же школы — Эмили Моррисон. Удается задержать убийцу Глории, но он упорно отрицает свою причастность к пропаже Эмили. Резник принимается за дело…
В сборник «Последний идол» вошли произведения Александра Звягинцева разных лет и разных жанров. Они объединены общей темой исторической памяти и личной ответственности человека в схватке со злом, которое порой предстает в самых неожиданных обличиях. Публикуются рассказы из циклов о делах следователей Багринцева и Северина, прокуроров Ольгина и Шип — уже известных читателям по сборнику Звягинцева «Кто-то из вас должен умереть!» (2012). Впервые увидит свет пьеса «Последний идол», а также цикл очерков писателя о событиях вокруг значительных фигур общественной и политической жизни России XIX–XX веков — от Петра Столыпина до Солженицына, от Александра Керенского до Льва Шейнина.
В книге рассказывается история главного героя, который сталкивается с различными проблемами и препятствиями на протяжении всего своего путешествия. По пути он встречает множество второстепенных персонажей, которые играют важные роли в истории. Благодаря опыту главного героя книга исследует такие темы, как любовь, потеря, надежда и стойкость. По мере того, как главный герой преодолевает свои трудности, он усваивает ценные уроки жизни и растет как личность.
Синтия Тейлор привыкла получать все, что захочет. Как оказалось, крепкий брак, великолепный дом и двое прелестных детишек — совсем не предел ее мечтаний. Муж ее сестры Селесты зарабатывает больше, и он не последний человек в криминальном мире. Затащить его в постель, изменив своему супругу и предав родную сестру? Это самое меньшее, на что способна Синтия! Она не остановится, даже разбив жизни собственных детей…
Ведущая программы областного ТВ «Женское счастье» Ирина Лебедева вместе со своей бригадой, режиссером, редактором и оператором становится свидетельницей жестокого преступления. Приехав в цирк снимать очередную передачу, Ирина и ее коллеги видят, как от страшного взрыва погибает молодая актриса Камилла Маранелли. Кто повинен в смерти кокетливой женщины? Ревнивый муж? Или старшая сестра Маргарита, которая завидовала бешеному успеху Камиллы? Или супруг Маргариты, возглавляющий их цирковую группу?.. Молодая журналистка, вопреки нежеланию руководителей телецентра, начинает собственное расследование убийства.