“Hey, respect the detective,” the older ambulance attendant said. “He’s a good spokesman for the department.”

Reading between the lines, I gathered that Detective Powers had been a recruitment point for the police since he’d been hired, and that had a lot to do with his promotion to detective. People were so thrilled to be questioned by a former football star that they told him things they hadn’t planned on spilling, just to keep his attention. So he was not highly regarded because of his cleverness or innate ability, but because he was an asset and was always willing to share the spotlight. Plus, he was regarded as being a genuinely nice guy.

It was a pleasure to tell his cohorts how brave he had been, and a pleasure to see the pride they took in that. The fact that they thought he’d been pretty much of an idiot to go running with me—well, that was left on the back burner.

I had a few speckles of blood on my face, and I went into my hotel room to scrub them off. The female officer, Kerri Sauer, went with me, and she also volunteered to follow me over to God’s Mercy, a gesture I appreciated.

“You ever watch Parker play?” she asked, as she watched me scrub his blood off with a washrag.

“No,” I said. “Did you? You must have been a kid.”

“I was. He was great. Him getting hurt, that was a terrible thing for the team. He did—still does—all kinds of stuff for kids at risk. He’s a great guy. You had his location when you called. That saved his life. He’s got a chance to make it.”

It seemed counterproductive to point out that Powers probably wouldn’t have gotten shot if he hadn’t been with me. I nodded and buried my face in towel so she couldn’t read my expression.

After I parked at the hospital and walked to the door, I waved to the patrol car, and it pulled out into the traffic. I had a crazy idea: if I couldn’t make money finding bodies anymore, could I be a police officer? I wondered if I could even pass the physical. Usually my right leg was okay, but every now and then it gave me fits. And I got awful headaches. So probably law enforcement wasn’t a career option for me. I shook my head and saw the movement reflected in the shiny walls of the elevator. I was just being silly.

I went through the hall on silent feet and opened Tolliver’s door carefully. It was dark inside, though the light in the bathroom was on and that door had been left open a crack.

“Harper?” he said, his voice thick with sleep.

“Yeah, it’s me. I missed you,” I said, keeping my voice down.

“Come here.”