“No sweat. I’ll be waiting out here, the chairs are more comfortable than standing around.”
Noah winced as he sat up and then slid off the gurney. The nurse had laid his clothing on a stool nearby and he was just putting his pants on when she came in again.
“Well, heck,” she said. “I must be losing my touch. Here we’ve got a good-looking guy who really ought to stay with us for a couple of days, and he can’t wait to get away. Time for me to go back to the hairdresser and get rid of this gray.” She held out a clipboard and pointed at a signature line. “Sign right there, Bud, or you’re not going anyplace.”
Noah signed where she indicated and handed it back. “Sorry about taking off so soon,” he said. “Got work to do. And you don’t have enough gray in your hair to worry about, but I’m engaged.”
The nurse grinned. “Is that the excuse you use with all the women who think you’re hot? Doctor says to remind you to come back if you have any problems at all.” She winked at him and was gone.
Noah managed to get his shirt on and then sat on the stool to put on his socks, which was when he noticed that he didn’t have any shoes. He’d heard about explosions snatching people right out of their footwear, and decided there must be some truth to it. He opened the curtain and spotted Gravois sitting in the waiting area.
The detective got up and walked toward him. “You got a bit of a limp there,” he said. “You sure you don’t want to stick around here a while?”
“Quite sure,” Noah said. “There’s a nurse back there who seems to think of me as cougar bait. I need to get out there and find my people. Incidentally, any idea where my phone might’ve gone?”
“Everything that was in the room has been bagged and tagged, but after Gallagher talked to State, we had it all put away in a separate locker. We never made it to the second room, so anything that was in there is still waiting for you.”
The detective’s car was parked in a special slot near the door that was reserved for police, and he opened the front passenger door for Noah before going around to get behind the wheel. “I’ll take you to our storage warehouse first, if you want, so you can change clothes and look for your phone.”
Noah nodded. “That would be appreciated. I hope my shoes are there.”
“They probably are—like I said, everything got bagged and tagged. The lieutenant still has your wallet, but he’ll meet us there.”
“Good, I’m gonna need it.”
TWENTY-ONE
Detective Gravois drove directly to the police evidence repository, a large warehouse-like building divided into hundreds of storage lockers. A sergeant at the front desk of the building escorted them back to the locker where all of the gathered evidence from Noah’s room had been hastily stashed away on orders from the State Department. He opened the space and then left Noah and the detective alone.
“I hope you don’t embarrass too easily,” Noah said. “That’s my suitcase, and I’m going to change clothes real quick.”
“Never been in a police locker room, have you? Go ahead, won’t bother me.”
Noah laid the suitcase on the floor and popped it open, then stripped down to his underwear again. Ten minutes later he was dressed in jeans and a blue polo shirt, with a pair of sneakers on his feet. He stuffed his scorched and torn clothing into a trash bag that was lying on the floor, then began looking through the rest of the items.
A box marked “Devices, Electronic” caught his eye and he pulled the top off. Neil’s computer was inside, along with the radio receiver Captain Hayes had given him and both his and Neil’s cell phones. He picked up his phone and pressed the power button, and nodded when it came to life. The screen on it was cracked but it was still functional. He quickly scrolled through the menu to find the speed down button for Doc Parker, but then decided to wait until he was alone before calling in.
The phone buzzed suddenly and he saw the icon for voicemails appear, followed instantly by another for text messages. He slipped the phone into his pocket and continued looking through boxes. He found his pistol in the second box, still in its holster, and slipped it onto the back of his belt.
That prompted him to look for his lightweight jacket, and he found it in a box marked “Closet” and slipped it on. He turned to face Gravois.
“Obviously, I don’t have any way to take all the stuff with me at the moment. Can it stay here for a day or so?”
The detective nodded. “That won’t be any problem. Even when we return evidence to civilians, we give them a couple of weeks to come and get it. It’ll all be safe here for now.”
“Thank you,” Noah said. “Now, if we can track down the Lieutenant with my wallet...”