I poked only my head out at first, half expecting Officer Willard to be at the top of the stairs, waiting for me to give up the charade. I heard nothing but the usual sounds of the city at midnight along with the distant sirens still at the fire. He wasn't at the top of the stairs. I looked around the dark stairwell as I gently removed the trash from on top of me. Fourteen concrete steps led up to street level. The back wall of rough-cut limestone blocks above me stretched high into the night sky. I had landed at the back door of a church. The door next to me felt like wood. The tall windows in the back wall of the church were made of stained glass and glowed faintly with green, red and yellow from a dim light source inside.

I readjusted my position and grimaced as I sat on the concrete floor and leaned back against the steps. The throbbing ache in my foot was a tremor that rocked me with every heartbeat. I reached into my pocket and took out my cigarettes and lighter. The pack had been crushed when I fell and I had to pull out five broken ones before I found one intact. I looked down at the shaking white cigarette as it flared red and noticed it was brown with blood on the ends. I left the lighter burning and looked down at my hands. They were covered in blood. Bending over slowly, I held the lighter next to my left foot. The bullet had torn through the rubber sole of the shoe and into the fleshy part of my heel. Blood dripped from the open wound onto the newspapers. I closed the lighter, closed my eyes and leaned back again as I drew on the cigarette.

The mind is an amazing thing and can clear up miraculously at the oddest times. I reclined against the stairs with my smoke and thought about what my options were. I couldn't walk, I couldn't limp or even crawl. If I got help, I'd need to go to the hospital without a police report of when, where, and how I was shot. Not likely without getting to a different location for help so I could lie about it. They could find out it was arson if they searched hard enough and there was no way I could chance standing trial for it, even if it meant I could sue for being shot. If I could just call Henry he would come and take me to a hospital. That was it.