CHAPTER EIGHTEEN #2
The aftermath was like a dream. Maggie assumed someone else would call the police and ran straight to the two unconscious tellers.
She wasn’t a people doctor, but in this case, close enough.
Thankfully, they were already coming to, groggy, but alive.
She heaved a sigh of relief. At least everyone would live through this bank robbery.
***
“Well, every once in a while, it will scream ‘shut your dirty mouth’ in Maggie’s voice, but mostly it’s the sex stuff.”
Mr. Barnet snorted so hard his teeth fell out. “You’re going to kill me, son. I’m too old to be laughing so hard.”
Mitch had been complaining to Mr. B. about Harold, hoping for some sympathy, but getting none.
“That’s what you get for laughing at a man’s serious problems,” Mitch said.
He’d been to the hospital a couple of times since his first visit.
After his volunteer time, he’d sit around and shoot the shit with Mr. B.
They mostly just gave each other a hard time and watched TV, but he seemed to enjoy the company.
“So, what about this Maggie lady? You mention her a lot.” Mr. B. had reinserted his teeth and finally composed himself.
“Huh? No, I don’t. There’s nothing going on with us,” he said defensively.
“You should woo her,” Mr. B. stated with authority.
“Woo her?”
“Yes, nobody woos anyone anymore. It’s a damn shame.”
“Sure we do. We just don’t call it wooing.” Mitch rolled his eyes.
They were interrupted by a nurse who came in to check Mr. B.’s vitals. When she finished, she asked him if he’d like a snack.
“Watch this,” Mr. B. stage whispered to him. “May I get a Whopper with cheese and a side of fries, please?” he asked politely.
The nurse, Lisa, looked at him as if he’d lost his damn mind.
“Fine, how about a Whopper Junior with cheese, no fries?” he tried.
She stood firm, hands on her hips.
“Regular hamburger, no mayo?” Mr. B. gave his best smile.
“In your dreams.” She laughed. “Jello or pudding?”
“Oh, well, I guess I’ll go with jello then, Lisa. Thank you.”
Lisa’s eyebrows shot up, and a suspicious look came over her face as she headed out the door. He never called the nurses by their actual names. Or said thank you.
“That’s how you woo a woman.” Mr. B. sat back confidently.
“I hate to break this to you, but I think you’ve lost your touch, old man.”
Ten minutes later, Lisa returned and set a plain hamburger, a cup of jello, and a glass of milk on Mr. B.’s tray. “Don’t tell a soul I gave you this burger, you hear me?” She feigned sternness.
Mr. B. glanced over with a smug I told you so expression on his face.
“You’re a doll, Lisa. Don’t think I’ll forget about this,” he said as he greedily picked up the burger. She waved on the way out. Mr. B. looked over at Mitch and winked.
“What the…? How’d you do that?” Mitch stared in disbelief.
“It’s the wooing. The world needs more wooing,” he proclaimed, before digging into his burger.
“The wooing,” Mitch grumbled as he pulled his vibrating cell phone from his pocket. It was Adam.
In an attempt to be friendly at work that morning, Mitch had learned some very interesting things about Adam.
Officer Thomas had a brother that worked for Boston PD.
The brother didn’t know Adam personally, but apparently his reputation as a man-whore was well known throughout the department.
The rumor was that he’d left Boston because he’d already slept with everyone possible there and needed a new hunting ground.
Mitch doubted it was that extreme. Adam didn’t strike him as a one-night-stand sort of guy, and he was usually a pretty good judge of character.
Although, Adam had gone from giving a play-by-play of his every move to being borderline secretive about what he did at night and on the weekends.
Maybe he was out chasing skirts every night.
Whatever. What he did on his own time was his business.
As long as he stayed away from Jenny, Mitch couldn’t care less what he did.
“Hey, man, what’s up?”
He listened intently as Adam filled him in on the bank robbery.
Maggie had given her statement to the police and then called him to ask if he’d go with her to the police station.
They wanted her to sit immediately with a sketch artist to capture everything while it was still fresh in her mind.
He’d agreed and was calling to see if Mitch wanted to be there.
“She called you, man, not me. Why would I go?” Was he whining? God, I sound like a baby, he thought.
He didn’t want to admit that it peeved him that she hadn’t called him, but then again, if it was moral support she wanted, Adam was a better choice.
Just because they’d made out twice didn’t mean they had any kind of relationship. In all honesty, they were barely friends. Still, he’d have to analyze the pang of annoyance he was feeling later. Could he be jealous?
Adam told him the name of the bank and relayed that all the witnesses agreed the culprits were four Hispanic men. “Coincidence? Maybe. But Maggie also said the leader has some sort of birthmark near his right eye.”
“I’ll meet you at the station.” Mitch hung up and stood. “Gotta go, Mr. B. See you next week.”
Mr. B. waved but didn’t look away from the TV.