to hamburgers.”
The woman looked disappointed. “I don’t know what we’re going to do about you. You’re probably bent on setting a new world record. I can almost hear you growing fat.”
“By the way, Dumpy,” Steimberg cut in. “Ten years ago when you came here you were much thinner. How did you get to be an XXL?”
“Well,” the Pole thought back. “I was poor back then and my wife was young and beautiful.”
“I don’t see what that’s got to do with it!” Arty said.
“Well, back then when I opened the fridge and looked inside, I shut it back and got in bed next to my wife. Now I want to get in bed with her but when I lift the blanket and see what’s under it I give up and go to the fridge instead!”
They all burst out laughing.
“Shame on you, Dumpy, to speak like that about your own wife,” Mary reprimanded him like a true feminist. “As long as we’re young and beautiful you treat us like princesses. Years after, when we are fat and wrinkled, you throw us away like we were withered flowers and seek refuge in the arms of your mistresses.”
“Bullshit!” Dumpy said trying to defend himself. “Mistresses you said? I wish! I don’t think I could find one, not even in a women’s prison. As for getting old, you’ve nothing to worry about, Mary. In twenty years’ time you’ll still have the Viagra effect on men.”
Mary blushed slightly. “Stop that, you, jerk!” she pretended to get angry.
“Let’s get to work, shall we?” Mark cut their merrymaking short. “Arty, have you found out who the Majestic assassins are?”
“Yes, the dead one is Randy Garr and the one in hospital is Mario Vinotti. They both belong to the Genovese clan. They’re Rudy Weiss’s men, to be more precise.”
“What?” Mark stretched his eyes in surprise. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I’ve talked to Monelli, the agent who busted Weiss last year. He recognized them in the pictures on the spot.”
“Hmm, that’s strange, very strange,” Mark mumbled. “Sean, which hospital is he in?”
“Bellevue, where Vinotti is also under surveillance.”
“In that case, you and me are going to pay them a visit. Maybe we’ll find something new.”
“And what am I supposed to do?” Mary asked.
“You’ll try to find out as much as you can about Weiss. We might pay him a visit when we get back from the hospital.”
Meanwhile Dumpy had finished his second hamburger. He was full for the time being so he started paying attention to what was going on in the office. “It’s kind of boring without Sean around. Don’t you miss him?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, like we’d miss a headache,” Arty answered.
* * * * * * *
As they were walking down the corridors in Bellevue, Mark was thrilled to find that, wherever he was or whatever he did, Dorothy Wheller was on his mind all the time. At the table, under the shower, or even at the office, his mind was filled with her charming presence. Sometimes he felt he was going crazy, with all those tempting pictures he recalled. His feelings subjected one after the other, Mark felt helpless for the first time in his life.
When they got to Sean’s ward, a young appetizing blonde was just coming out. Arty and Mark knocked at the door, then went in. Paulardis, dressed in navy blue pajamas, was bent over a small table looking through a magazine.
“Hi, Sean,” Mark said. “Life’s good here at Bellevue, isn’t it? They’ve even provided you with navy blue pajamas and nudie magazines! By the way, who’s that blonde babe we saw walking out of here just now?”
“She’s quite a stunner, ain’t she?” the Greek murmured admiringly. “Good looking but not available. Yesterday I asked her if I could take her out to dinner next Saturday. She said I’d better ask my doctor.”
“And did you?”
“No, thank God for that! Another patient told me he’s her fiancé.”
“I’m glad you’ve still got your sense of humor about you. I was afraid they might have taken it out,” Mark said.
Arty produced a big bag of exotic fruits. “Here, choke on them!”
“When are they going to let you go?” Mark asked.
“Friday morning the squad will be reunited. I know you’re lost without me. But where’s Mary? Why didn’t she come?”
“I gave her a special assignment. But she wished you all the best. Now, if it’s OK with you we’ll be leaving, Sean. We’ve got to call on the guy who shot you.”
“What? He’s here, too?” Paulardis looked surprised. “Mark, I’ve always said you’re too nice to these scums. Just give me the number of his ward and by tomorrow I’ll have told you what his mother’s milk tasted like.”
“Relax, man! We’ll take your advice: we’ll do it the hard way!”
* * * * * * *
They had to wait for almost twenty minutes before they were allowed to see Vinotti. In the meantime two doctors gave him another IV. When they finally let them in, one of the doctors showed them the fingers of his hand.
“We’ve got five minutes,” Mark translated the gesture.
Inside, the bandit, pale-faced, IV needles in both arms, was plugged to all sorts of machines. His condition did not seem to be stable at all.
“Listen, Vinotti,” Mark said kindly, ‘we’ve only got a few minutes. Help us and we’ll help you! I promise you that!”
The patient glanced at them indifferently. “What do you want?”
“Tell us who hired you to kill the senator!”
“I don’t know his name!”
“At least tell us what he looked like,” Arty insisted. “Tall?”
“So-so.”
“Fat, thin?”
“So-so,” Vinotti repeated stubbornly.
“How are we supposed to find a so-so guy?” Mark asked.
“You might as well wait, he might want to give it to your mother,” the bandit advised him grinning.
The man was trying to look tough and defying, which wasn’t the right attitude in a hospital ward, with guards posted outside. Mark felt his blood rush to his cheeks. Losing his patience he grabbed Vinotti by the lapel of his pajamas.
“Listen to me, idiot! Do you think a jerk like Weiss is going to get you out of the shit you’re in? Well, you’re
