“Let’s get him up on the bench,” the woman said, and hands gripped his arms and helped him upward.
“What happened to you, Stone?” Dino asked.
“How the hell should I know?” Stone said irritably. “I was unconscious, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah, that was kind of the point,” Dino said. “Do you have any idea how you got that way?”
“Well, I was sitting at a table with you and Tommy, having a drink, and then I woke up here.”
“Nothing in between?” Dino asked.
“I’ve got a headache,” Stone said, rubbing the back of his neck and fi nding it sore.
The woman spoke again. “He should really be in a hospital,” she said.
“I don’t need to go to a hospital,” Stone retorted. “I need some aspirin and a drink.”
She explored the back of his head and his neck with her fi ngers, and he winced when she got to his neck. “Seems like a blow to the back of the neck, rather than his head, so I think we can discount a skull fracture or a concussion.”
“Who the hell are you?” Stone grumbled. “And where’s that drink?”
“Oh, all right, give him what he wants,” she said, sounding exasperated. “Get him into bed and keep him there until morning, and call me if he’s still disoriented when he wakes up.” She handed Dino a card. “Good night, Mr. Barrington,” she said. “I hope you feel better tomorrow.”
Tommy put a glass of bourbon and two aspirin into Stone’s hand.
“There you go.”
Stone washed down the aspirin with the bourbon and took a deep breath. “That’s better,” he said.
“Can you stand up?” Tommy asked.
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L o i t e r i n g w i t h I n t e n t
“Sure I can.” He stood up and held on to Tommy’s shoulder for a moment. “I’m hungry. We hadn’t ordered dinner, had we?”
“No, we hadn’t, but the doctor said you should be in bed.”
“What doctor?”
“The woman who just washed her hands of you and left,” Dino said. “Come on, Tommy, let’s get him inside; he’s not going to cooperate.”
The three men went back into the restaurant and sat down at their table.
Stone was still rubbing his neck.
“You want some ice on that?” Tommy asked.
“I don’t want to make a spectacle of myself,” Stone said. “People are staring at me as it is.” He took another slug of the bourbon, and it began reaching the places it should, including the back of his neck.
“Now, will you guys tell me what the hell happened?”
“I directed you to a guy at the bar,” Tommy said. “You showed me his picture. Evan Keating?”
“I don’t remember that,” Stone said.
“You walked over to him and apparently introduced yourself, gave him your card, then the two of you walked outside.”