Chapter 13

The sounds of the monitors next to my bed were the first things that registered when I finally came alive again.  I opened my eyes.  The light was dim, but it still hurt if I didn’t squint.  I could see that I was in a hospital room.  Little by little I began to remember that I’d suffered a terrible blow on the head and that there was blood as a result.

“Do I  have a concussion?” I said with a mouth that felt like I’d eaten a cup of sand.

Nora rushed to my bedside.  “You’re awake.  Good.”

“Do I have a concussion?” I asked again.

“Of course you have a concussion.  Whoever hit you over the head struck you so hard that they literally cracked your skull,” she said in a worried and reprimanding tone.  “What the devil were you doing in that sketchy part of the city? And, in a deserted building, no less.  Who knows what kind of sordid c