Page 65 of The Last Grift
Exam room three’s door was ajar, and Casey rapped his knuckles against it before pushing inside. Elton sat in a chair next to the gurney on the opposite side of the small room.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Casey said, transferring his attention to the figure in the bed.
Propped up in the hospital bed and covered with a thin blanket, Gordon looked like he’d been through a grinder and was lucky to have made it out the other side. One eye appeared to be swollen shut, the other was just closed. His forehead and the right side of his face had deep scratches that made his existing scar look like no big deal, and a dark bruise was blooming on his left cheek. His left arm was wrapped with bandages, his fingers just poking out beyond the dressing, and an IV tube was hooked up to his other wrist.
Elton glanced from Casey to Karne. “Damn good to see you.”
“Fill us in,” said Casey.
“Somebody took a shot at him, got him in the arm. But it looks worse than it really is. I thought the wound was starting to show signs of infection, and he’s lost some blood. The doc who stitched him up says he’ll make a full recovery as long as he takes it easy. Wants to keep him overnight for observation.”
“He’ll really be okay?” Karne asked, a frown drawing his eyebrows together. Casey was surprised at the level of concern he was seeing in Charming Fucker’s eyes.
Elton nodded. “Yep. Prognosis is good. Just need to get rid of the infection.”
“Heya, Gordon.” Casey broke the silence and lowered himself onto the seat next to the bed. “We’ve been worried about you. I gotta tell ya, I was scared, thought maybe you’d gone over with your truck.”
The lids of Gordon’s good eye rose. “Hey, Casey,” he rasped.
Casey gestured Gabriel’s direction. “Gordon, this is Gabriel Karne. You might remember him from an incident at your work the other day.”
Gordon’s eye widened and his tired gaze focused on Gabriel. “Oh, weird, the ball buster. That was the highlight of my week. The rest was kinda crappy.” Gordon half-smiled.
“Can you tell us what’s been going on? Do you know who shot you?” Casey asked.
Gordon slowly moved his head in a sort of nod. Casey figured he was exhausted.
“I doubt we have much time before the sheriff gets here. Damn the rules, but the hospital had to call it in,” Elton said urgently.
Under the overhead light of the room, Casey realized that Karne was looking a bit worse for wear. “Grab a chair already.”
“Do you have an attorney, Gordon?” Casey asked. No way was anybody from the Sheriff’s Office talking to Gordon without representation.
Karne grabbed a chair and dragged it over to sit by Elton.
“Yes, he does,” Elton answered impatiently before Gordon could respond.
“Okay, that’s good. Can you tell us what happened this week? How did your truck end up down the embankment by the fort?” That seemed like a good a question as any to start with. They could go from there.
Gordon stared back at Casey with his one eye. Even with the pain medication, fear wrapped around him like a blanket.
“Go on, son.” Elton prompted. “You know Casey. And Gabriel is also a friend.”
“Right. Okay.” Gordon shook his head again, slowly, as if dislodging cobwebs inside his skull and took a breath. “Um. After I got off work, I went up to my place. I just like to go up there and clear my head, you know? It’s my special place.”
Casey nodded again. “This was Tuesday afternoon?”
“Yeah, I guess it was. I got there and somebody was driving away.” He frowned at the memory. “Which pissed meoff.”
“Did you see who it was?” If Gordon had seen the driver, that could be helpful. Could also be nothing, seeing as it was a public road.
“No.” Gordon gestured with his right hand. “Going the back way. Cutting over to the fire road that runs to the lake past where that Snowcap Estates is going to be. I’ve posted plenty of No Trespassing signs, but people do it anyway.”
Fire roads crisscrossed The Valley, but they weren’t well maintained. The truck Gordon had seen had to be all off-road equipped or the driver was an idiot. Or the county had done some road work that Casey wasn’t aware of.
“Could you tell who was driving? Recognize the vehicle or anything?”
“No.” He moved his head side to side. “No, it was just a pickup truck.”
