Free Eleven Days by Donald Harstad Page A

you a good one in the head.”
    “Thanks, doc. I thought it was my foot.”
    “No shit, really. Don’t you just hate the way those head wounds bleed?” Directed at Mike.
    “You’re a lot of help.”
    “Who did it?”
    I just looked at him. “My assailant, dumb-ass.”

8
Wednesday, April 24

03:32 hours
    The drive into the hospital was uneventful, except that Dan, behind me, had headlights that were slightly out of adjustment. They made my head ache.
    At the hospital, I was checked over by a nurse in the emergency room. She decided I should see a doctor. Earned her keep, I guess. My good friend Dr. Henry Zimmer was on call. At 3:30 A.M . I wondered just how long the friendship would last.
    Doc Z arrived in good time and decided I needed stitches in my head. Also X rays of head and upper torso. I had to take off my uniform jacket and saw how much blood was on it for the first time. Trashed one shirt, too. Blood had soaked through. The jacket was also torn on the left shoulder, where he had hit the mike. Damn.
    My bulletproof vest was okay, and Doc Z was of the opinion that it might have saved me from a back injury. I was, too.
    My right shoulder was really sore by now, but the X rays showed no breaks. Same on the left. I hadn’t been aware of it, but my shoulder must have caught a part ofthe blow to the head. Henry was also of the opinion that, had that not been the case, I might have sustained a severe head injury. Again, I had to agree.
    Lamar, who had been called by Sally when it had become apparent that I was dead, arrived at the hospital just as I was being stitched up.
    He barged into the ER, looking worried and pissed off at the same time.
    “You okay?”
    “Yeah, I guess so.”
    “What the hell happened?”
    I told him.
    “And you stood up, and he hit you?”
    “Yeah, I must have been almost on top of him when I knelt down in the field. Just didn’t see him. He must have thought it was time to go when I stood up, and he heard me talking to another car. Figured we’d get him, I guess.”
    “Yeah. You able to get a good look at him?”
    “No. Nothing at all, except I think he’s about my height or so, but I’m not even sure about that. Runs like a deer … Not very patriotic, either.” I couldn’t resist.
    “What?”
    “The way I was standing when he hit me the first time—looked just like the Statue of Liberty.”
    Lamar grinned. So did Henry.
    “Well,” said Lamar, “from now on, at least for a while, we’ll send two of you out to check those places.”
    “Okay by me.”
    Henry dropped the bomb. “Carl, it won’t be you for a while. You get three or four days off.”
    I gave him a look.
    “You have a mild concussion. With your history of two skull fractures and three concussions, we aren’t going to take any chances. Are we?”
    Silence from both me and Lamar.
    “Good, I’m going to let you go home, unless you want to stay here. But no bright lights, and no exertion for awhile. And if you become nauseated again, get right back up here. Understand?”
    “Yes.”
    Lamar and I left and went to the office. I told him about possibly identifying the unknown body, and he seemed pleased. I had to do my report on the incident before I went home. Took about an hour. I was very surprised to note, from the radio logs, that I had been out of it for six minutes. Even longer than Mike had guessed.
    Sally looked very concerned. It’s hard on a dispatcher to have something happen to a cop and not to be able to do anything about it. She really thought I had been killed. Good dispatchers always assume the worst. At least I think that would have been the worst.
    Before I left the office, Mike called in. He and the boss had just been to the Herkaman house. Crucifix there, too. He had gone out with Lamar, implementing our new two-man policy. Hester, who was staying at the only motel in town, was to be notified at 07:00.
    I got home and had a little trouble backing the patrol car into the garage.