“Christie sends her thoughts and prayers,” I told him. “She mentioned that she’d like to see you, if you’re up for it.”

“I would very much like to meet her. I still regret not being able to attend your wedding.” He grimaced as he repositioned himself on the bed. “So then, you have the Matchmaker in custody?”

I debated how much speculation to allow myself. “It’s quite possible, yes. None of the people we picked up are talking, but I think there’s enough to keep them on. We’ll see what else we can come up with—besides the assault against you.”

“I don’t intend to press charges, Patrick.”

“What? Why not?”

“Time. It is a precious commodity, my boy. With each passing year, that becomes more and more clear to me. I would rather not spend my life conferring with lawyers and appearing in court.”

“It’s not your life, Calvin. It’s just some of your time.”

“Time is life, my boy.”

“Calvin, I—”

He shook his head with firm resolve.

Alright, you can sort all that out later.

I laid a hand softly on his arm. “Okay. I hear you.”

“Good thing you aren’t the one on this bed,” he said.

“Why’s that?”

“As I recall, you have a certain reticence towards being poked with needles.”

“I don’t prefer it. No.”

“You don’t prefer it to what?”

“Getting shot. Stabbed. Drowned. Things like that.”

“Minor things.”

“Right.”

After taking a few breaths to regroup, he asked, “By the way, did you ever catch the young man who was bereft of his nose?”

“No. He got away.”

“I see.”

“Calvin, I’ve been thinking. We assumed that Joe from the basement was the Matchmaker, but what if someone else is the true puppet master?”

He contemplated that. “Mr. Noseless, for instance.”

“Yes. He might very well have been much more than the doorman. He limped like the man I chased in the subway. No one from the basement will tell us anything about him. Also, someone killed the electricity down there after he left.”

“That’s not enough.”

“No. Not yet.”

Calvin smiled weakly. “It appears I taught you well.”

“Assume nothing. Test everything—”

“And the truth will rear its head,” he said, finishing the axiom for me.

We sat in silence for a few minutes and, despite the case’s urgency, it felt like the right thing to do. Finally, he patted my hand. “You have work to do. This case will not solve itself while you sit here waiting for me to convalesce.”

“I’ll be back later to check on you.”

“Tell your wife that I’m glad to have her visit anytime, if she desires.”

“I will.”

++++

Timothy let out a sigh of relief as Blake Neeson finally left.