Page 20 of Guarding Glenda

“I’ll give you some space,” I told them. “Do you want more coffee?”

“I’m good,” she said.

Linny went outside and Bama was getting the last bit of coffee. “Hey, man.”

I asked, “Need me to brew another pot?”

He downed the half mug. “Nah. Just a little hit. Late meet up last night. We may have a problem.”

Leaning on the counter and crossing my arms, I asked, “With what?”

“Who is the better question. You know Manny, that EMT that helped move Glenda?”

I nodded, waiting for more of the story.

He reached into the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. “He’s in hot water because of the transport. Boss wrote him up and said he had to turn the rig over since he lost the paperwork for that run.”

“Fucking sucks. But why is that a problem for us?”

He took a huge gulp of water, downing half the plastic bottle. “Because cops were sniffing around after Ollie being killed, then a bunch of bikers and another cop were found dead not too far from here.”

Running my hand over my face, I said, “Great. But we tied up loose ends, right?”

He shrugged. “We thought so. But you know those fuckers are always looking for a reason to make a bust and don’t like how they can’t pin anything on us yet.”

“We have a few guys on the payroll, though.”

He nodded. “Yeah. But when another pig is involved, sometimes that complicates things. I’m sure it’ll blow over. But we gotta keep our heads down for a minute.”

“Well that works out good for me.”

“How’s she doing?” he asked.

I craned my neck to see if they were still talking outside. “She had a nightmare last night.”

“Oh, man. Yeah, she had a couple shitty ones a while back with me.”

The reminder that she’d run to him stung even harder now. “Anyway, once she got back to sleep it was alright. She managed to walk a little by herself this morning, but she’s still moving gingerly.”

“That’s good.”

I knew it was good that she was making improvements, but I had no intentions of letting her go. The faster she recovered, the harder it would be to win her over. But she didn’t have a way to leave, anyway.

Sam opened the backdoor and came in.

“You’re early today,” I said.

“Yeah, going to the clinic right after this, but I have something to do after work, so I had to shuffle things around. She’s doing well from the sound of it. No real reason for me to keep coming by, but if she needs anything, you can bring her to see me.”

“Doc, she had a nightmare last night,” Bama said.

Sam’s lips turned down at the edges. “She needs to go back to group. She’s on the mend but will be slow going a few more days. But by next week, she needs to get back to it.”

Bama said, “I can talk to Linny. Maybe she’ll listen to her?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I told them both.

“You shouldn’t talk about me like I’m not right fucking here.”