“Don’t you worry,” Muna said. “We’re two blocks from the emergency room. Step on it, Deek.” Stunned, I looked a question. “Yep, Deek’s driving. We didn’t want to wait for the ambulance, us being so close like we were. You lay back now. Don’t worry about a thing.”

“My bag.”

“I got that right here.”

I struggled up, my head throbbing. “Let me see.”

Muna handed it to me, and I searched it feverishly. My gun was still there, though it hadn’t done me a bit of good. The copies I’d made from Spada’s files were gone. The thugs had taken them. “My phone?”

“I have that, too. It must have fallen out. I found it by the curb.”

I eased back down, smiling. Then I began to laugh. The thugs would go back to Spada, their job accomplished, but I still had a duplicate set of the copies.

“She’s laughing,” Muna said. “Why are you laughing? Step on it, Deek. She’s delirious. Good thing I called your emergency numbers.”

I stopped laughing. “Whoa, whoa. What?”

“I found them in your phone. I called the numbers with stars next to them, Detective Mickerson, Mrs. Vincent. I figured they were your go-to people. They’re meeting us at the hospital, so just relax till we get there. Good old Muna Steele’s got everything all worked out.”

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. I was never going to hear the end of this. Deek suddenly took a corner on two wheels, and it took another half block before my brain swung back to its central position. Muna patted my head to soothe me.

“Truthfully, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that gun in your purse. I don’t care for guns myself. I don’t hold to violence of any kind.”

I opened one eye, looked up at her incredulously. “You keep a bat behind Deek’s counter.”

“Sure do. People are crazy. But a bat’s civilized.”

I closed my eyes again, tired now of talking. “Would you mind letting me out at the bus stop? I’ll walk home.”

“Shush. We’re here. Open up, Deek.”

The car jolted to a stop and the car’s overhead light went on when Deek got out on the driver’s side. The light felt like the sun and nearly burned my corneas, filling my eyes with dancing spots, which were now the least of my worries. When the back door swung open, Deek, still in his greasy apron, reached in and lifted me out like a sack of potatoes.

“I’m fine. I don’t need to be carried. I can walk in on my own.”

“Keep quiet.” His face held its usual scowl. “How do you think you got in the car in the first place?”

I nearly choked on surprise. “You?”

“Well, it sure as hell wasn’t Muna.”

Chapter 37

Chapter 37