The balloons didn’t move.
“Hello over there,” Geoff called. “You can come in.”
“Hi,doc. I’m happy to see you’re up and around.” O’Malley grinned, set down the balloons on the table by Geoff’s bed. “Thought you might want a little company. How are you feeling?”
“Not bad for someone who’s been battered and abused. How about yourself?”
O’Malley lifted his right arm. “Shoulder’s coming along. My ribs are pretty sore, though. Thank God for flak jackets.” “I have to admit, you had me believing you were dead when Balassi shot you.”
O’Malley patted his chest. “Takes more than a couple of slugs to knock off a tough old Irish cop like Donald O’Malley.”
“Guess so. Is this a social visit, or an official visit from the homicide squad, detective?”
“A little of both, I suppose. I wanted to stop by and say thanks. You saved my life, you know.”
“I did what I had to do.”
O’Malley opened his tweed sport coat, reached into his breast pocket, removed a well worn leather flask and a couple of shot glasses, set them down on the table. He filled each glass to the rim with an amber fluid. “Mind if I pull up a chair?”
“Be my guest.” Geoff motioned to the side chair with his hand. O’Malley slid the chair to the side of Geoff’s bed, raised his shot glass, waited for Geoff to do the same.
Geoff hesitated at first. His conscience told him he shouldn’t be drinking in a hospital room, particularly given the medications he was taking.
O’Malley must have sensed Geoff’s hesitation. “Don’t worry, doc. It won’t kill you. Glenlivit, single malt, aged twenty-five years.” O’Malley winked, sniffed the vapors. “Only the best. As we say down at the station house, L’Chaim.”
Geoff smiled, clanged his glass to O’Malley’s, downed the whisky.
O’Malley did the same, slammed down the glass, settled into the chair. “Another round?”
Geoff nodded as O’Malley poured. “Tell me something, detective. Did you really think I was involved in all those murders? Kapinsky, the security guard, my own patients?”
O’Malley stared at Geoff, his emerald eyes smiling warmly. He removed a piece of Juicy fruit, crumpled the wrapper, put the stick of gum in his mouth. “Of course not, doc. I never thought you had it in you to do any of that stuff. Besides, you didn’t have a reason. No motive.”
“So why did you act like you believed otherwise?”
“Had to play my role, smoke out the perpetrators,” O’Malley said. “I knew sooner or later, someone’d screw up. They always do. I just sit and wait, catch them as they float down the river, so to speak.”
“Tell me one more thing, captain. Ever read any Sherlock Holmes mysteries?”
O’Malley’s eyes twinkled, his lips formed a deeply creased smile. “A few.”
“How about Sign of the Four?”
“You mean, the one where Sherlock Holmes says to Watson, ‘when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’ That one?”
Geoff returned the smile. “That’s the one.”
“You’d make a damn good detective, doc, you know that? If you ever decide to make a career change, call me. We’d make a pretty good team, you and me.”
“How about another round, Detective O’Malley? I’ve got a few more questions I’d like you to answer.”
About the Author
Fredric A. Stern, M.D., was born in New York City and attended Tufts University, where he majored in Greek and Roman Studies. He received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
A cosmetic surgeon and enologist, Dr. Stern currently practices in the Seattle area, where he lives with his wife. He is currently writing his next medical thriller, Genome.
Table of Contents
The Endorphin Conspiracy
The Endorphin Conspiracy© 2012 by Fredric A. Stern
To Ana, my soul mate, for her never- ending support, faith and love.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, wheth...
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Epilogue
About the Author
The Endorphin Conspiracy Page 25