You're nobody 'til somebody kills you

Fifty-one

The closest hospital was in Antioch; it only took the ambulance seven minutes to get Jerry there. I was impressed. By the time I parked and got inside he was already in emergency.

“You’ll have to wait out here, sir,” a nurse told me, pointing to a waiting room.

I went and sat for ten minutes before I got up and found a phone. I called Dean’s number in Beverly Hills. Jeannie said he was in New York but asked me what I needed. When I told her that Jerry was in the hospital she said she’d call their doctor and have him come right over there.

“I know Dean would want to help, Eddie,” she said.

“Thanks, Jeannie.”

I was still in the waiting room when Dean’s doctor came walking in. I didn’t know him, but somehow he picked me out.

“I’ll get in there and see what’s going on,” he promised. “Sit tight.”

I figured I had done everything I could, so I did just that.

Fred Otash showed up about an hour after Jerry had been brought in.

“How is he?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “They’re workin’ on him. I called Dean Martin and Jeannie sent over their doctor.”

Otash sat next to me.

“What’d you find out?”

“Not much,” he admitted. “Looks to me like Jerry must have had his head in the refrigerator when somebody came up behind and hit him.”

“That’s about the only way somebody would’ve been able to take him.”

“Before I left, Detective Stanze arrived at the house,” he told me. “He’ll be in here soon.”

“Fine,” I said. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

Otash fell silent, but sat with me.

Twenty minutes after Otash arrived, Stanze walked in.

“How is he?” he asked.

“We’re still waitin’,” I said.

“Looks like somebody jimmied the back door more than once,” Stanze said. “They must’ve been in there when Jerry came in. First he surprised them, then they surprised him. There was a lot of blood, but that’s what happens with head wounds.”

Stanze sat on the other side of me.

“What were you guys doing?” he asked.

“Fred had called and said, he was comin’ over,” I explained. “Jerry went into the main house to find some coffee. When he didn’t come back I went lookin’ for him, found him out cold on the floor.”

“That’s it?” Stanze asked.

“That’s it, Detective,” I said. “We weren’t doin’ anythin’ but tryin’ to make coffee.”

Stanze nodded.

“You don’t mind I’ll stick around a while.”

“I don’t mind.”

At that point his partner walked in with two bags filled with coffee containers.

“I didn’t know who’d be here,” he said, handing them out.

“Can’t have too much coffee,” Otash said.

Bailey nodded, sat down across from us, and put the other bag of coffees on the table next to him.

“You don’t mind I’ll stay a while,” he said to me. “I kinda like the big lug.”

“Sure.”

We sat quietly and drank our coffee.

The emergency room doctor came out with Dean’s doctor in tow an hour and a half after they brought Jerry in.

“He’s got a hard head,” he said. “He has a hairline fracture of the skull, and we had to drain some blood to take pressure off his brain.”

“How do you do that?” I asked.

“We had to drill a hole in the skull to drain the blood out,” the doctor said.

I heard a sharp intake of breath from somebody, probably Bailey.

“He has a fracture and you had to drill a hole?” I asked.

“That’s right.”

“How is he?”

“He’s unconscious, but we’re very optimistic.”

“And what’s that mean?”

“It means most people wake up within hours of an injury like this,” the doctor said. “Some wake up … later.”

“How much later?”

“Depends. Days, week, months …”

“Years?”

“Sometimes.”

“Never?” I asked. “Is there a chance he might never wake up?”

“There’s always that chance,” the doctor said. “We should know more later tonight, or tomorrow.”

“Doctor,” Stanze said, showing his ID, “did he ever say a word? Anything?”

“Nothing,” the doctor said.

Dean’s doctor looked at me and said, “They’ve done all they can.”

“Yeah,” I said to both doctors, “thanks.”

“Leave your information with the front desk,” the emergency room doctor said, “including a number where we can get ahold of you.”

“Yeah, okay.”

The doctor turned and left.

“Eddie, we’ll be back in the morning to see if he’s awake and can make a statement,” Stanze said.

“How about putting a man on his door, Stanze?” I asked. “I mean, somebody did try to kill him.”

“Well, we don’t know that for sure-the intent, I mean, but you’re right. I’ll put a uniform on his door.”

“Okay, thanks. Give them my name and description, will you? I’ll be comin’ back.”

“Yeah, I’ll leave orders nobody gets in but you or Otash.”

Bailey grabbed the bag of extra coffee. “You want me to leave these?”

“We’re going to go out for coffee and something to eat,” Otash said.

Bailey nodded.

He and Stanze left.

“Come on, Eddie,” Otash said. “Let’s leave your info and then go.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, “okay.”

At the desk they took my number, and when I asked about making payment they said that Dean Martin’s wife had called and all bills were to be sent to them.

“Your friend has friends in high places,” the nurse said, smiling.

“Yeah,” I said, “he does.”

Otash took me by the arm. “Come on, Eddie.”

I let him guide me outside.