Page 89 of A Rose of Steel
“There isn’t anything wrong with our relationship.”
“You sure?”
“Oh goodness, Auntie,” I said. “Do you want to investigate this thing or not.”
“Go right ahead,” she passed her hand in front of me, palm up as if she was serving something up. “I’ll just step back,” which she did, “and get the tissues ready.”
“Who’s going to cry?” I asked. “Have you ever seen me cry about Alex?”
“I always have a new travel-size pack of tissues on hand.” She patted her handbag.
I ignored her and punched in Alex’s number. While it rang I started getting nervous. I glared at Auntie. She was the one making this complicated and me anxious. She was such a troublemaker.
“Hi, Baby,” he said. “I was just thinking about you.”
Seemed like he was always saying that when I called, yet he didn’t call. I guess the thoughts were good enough.
“Hi Alex,” I said. I drew in a breath. “Can we talk later? If that’s okay.”
“Sure. What’s going on?”
“Got a question about what happened that day at the house.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“Did the best man—a guy in a military uniform—give you an inhaler right before you got into the ambulance?”
“Yeah. He did.”
I let out the breath. He had said it so matter-of-factly, no hesitation in his answer. “You sure?” I said, which I knew was ridiculous to ask, he’d just said he had.
“Yeah. Of course,” he said. “The guy pulled it out of his pocket and told me Bumper had dropped it when he fell.”
“Then what did you do with it?”
“Gave it to the paramedic for him to put with the patient’s personal effects. Remember I’d taken off his bowtie when I first started the rescue? And then, at some point we had to get him out of that jacket, too.”
“So then what?”
“I intubated him.”
“No, I mean with the inhaler.”
“It went with him in the ambulance. No one thought he’d been poisoned then, so no reason to do anything special with it,” Alex said. “Would have been with all his other stuff.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Is that all you needed?”
“Yes. I guess that’s all.”
“Okay. Call me then when you can talk. I’m going back to Chicago tomorrow. I’m not going to get a chance, I don’t think, to get back up there.”
“It’s all right.” I paused. “Okay, then. I’ll call you.”
“Okay, baby. Talk to you soon.”
“What did he say?” Auntie said, before I could even click off.
