Claws For Concern

“Let’s go, then,” I said. “Stewart is going to look after Diesel while we’re gone. We can grab lunch after the hospital.”

“Sounds good,” Jack said. “Stewart, thanks for your help.”

“My pleasure.” Stewart pushed back from the table and stood. “Come on, Diesel, let’s go upstairs. Dante wants to play with you.” He explained to Jack that Dante was his dog before he walked over to the door into the hall. “Come on, boy.”

Diesel looked at me as if to ask permission. He uttered a plaintive meow.

“Go with Stewart,” I said. “I have to go out now, and you can’t come with me.” The cat stared at me for a moment. Then he turned and followed Stewart out of the room.

Jack chuckled. “That cat of yours is quite a character. Does he understand everything you say to him?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Much of the time he seems to, but I’m never completely sure. He is very smart, I do know that.” I rose from the table. “Would you like me to drive?”

“If you don’t mind, that would be good,” Jack said. “The AC in my car is acting up, and I can’t count on it working half the time.”

“I know how that is,” I said as I led the way to the garage. “I went through a Houston summer once without a working AC in the car.”

“Brutal.”

Once we both had our seat belts fastened and Jack’s backpack stowed securely in the backseat, we drove to the hospital. On the way we discussed the approach we wanted to take with both Bill Delaney and Leann Finch, should the latter be at the hospital and available for a meeting.

“Bill Delaney first, though,” Jack said, and I agreed.

“I want to find out whether he knew Leann Finch back in Tullahoma,” I said.

“Speaking of Tullahoma,” Jack said, “tomorrow we need to talk to Elizabeth Barber. I know where she lives, but talking to her at home might not be a good idea. I found out she has a part-time job as a vet tech with one of the veterinarians in Tullahoma. A friend of mine takes her dogs to that vet. I thought we should try there.”

“Why there?” I asked. “Surely it would be better to talk to her at home.”

“Catch her off guard at work and rattle her a little,” Jack said. “But if she isn’t working tomorrow, we’ll have to try her at home.”

“Okay.” Since Jack was the one who suggested we work together, I had no problem with him taking the lead and directing the investigation. I would speak up, though, if I disagreed with him on what I considered an important point.

I pulled into a parking space, and we left the car. Jack shrugged his backpack onto his shoulders as we walked.

“I hope Delaney is in his room and not off having some kind of test,” I said. “I’m not fond of hospitals, and I don’t want to have to sit around waiting.”

“I don’t care for them, either,” Jack said. “But if he isn’t in his room, we can go see if Dr. Finch is on duty today.”

A couple of minutes later we stood at the closed door of Bill Delaney’s room. I tapped on the door, and a voice bade us enter.

Delaney looked slightly better today, I thought, despite the fact that he was still heavily bandaged. His color had improved, and he appeared more alert than when I saw him yesterday. He was reclined at a comfortable-looking angle in bed, and the television set mounted on the wall was on with the volume set at a low level.

I approached the bed. “Good morning, Mr. Delaney. How are you feeling today?”

Delaney regarded me warily. “About the same, I guess. They’ve given me pain pills so I don’t feel much of anything. Who’s that?” He indicated Jack with a movement of his head.

I introduced Jack. “He’s a friend of mine from Tullahoma, and he and I are working on something together. He wanted to come with me to see how you are and to talk to you, if you feel up to it.”

“Talk about what?” Delaney asked, still wary.

“We’ll come back to that in a minute.” Jack and I had agreed that we would try to get him to talk about the hit-and-run first, then move into talking about the Barber case. “Jack was shocked when I told him that somebody hit you deliberately and drove off.”

“That could be considered attempted murder, you know,” Jack said. “Charlie is worried about you, and I can’t say I blame him. If whoever hit you finds out you’re still alive, he might try again.”

Delaney’s expression changed from wary to blank. I figured he planned to stonewall us as he had done with me yesterday. I had to get through to him somehow, though. Jack remained near my side, ready to step in on the right cue.

“I think you’re wrong.” Delaney shifted his gaze toward the television screen. “Nobody tried to run me down. Just an accident.”

“I’m sorry, Bill, I simply don’t believe that.” I used his given name deliberately to try to establish a more personal connection. “My daughter is a bright, observant young woman, and I believe what she tells me.”

“I told you, I got no claim on you. Why don’t you go away?” Delaney said, sounding weary.