Page 53 of His Worst Crime
While Davey adjusted the bedclothes over himself, hoping his erection might go unnoticed, Ramon slunk back into one of the armchairs, sitting forward to hide his crotch, even as Saïd and Mariona swept into the room, with Simon Howard in their wake.
twenty-eight
Davey was sitting up in bed, waiting impatiently for a visit from Ramon, when a familiar but hated figure appeared behind the glass of the ward door. His heart fell into his stomach. What was he doing here? Perhaps he was having a bad dream? But the door pushed open slowly and he knew that the smirking face that peered in through the gap was all too real.
“What are you doing here?”
“Come to see how little Davey Dormouse is recovering from his horrible accident.”
“I don’t want to see you, Ned. Go away. You broke into the stables! That was my job!”
“All in a day’s work!” Ned grinned, collapsing into the same chair that Ramon sat in when he was here, and stretching his legs out under the bed. “Don’t be like that, Davey. We’re business partners.”
“We aren’t, we never were, just like I never wanted anything to do with your and Owen’s half-assed get-rich schemes. Anyway, why are you here? Didn’t they arrest you?”
Ned laughed. “Just a spot of burglary, nothing expensive nabbed. I have no previous offenses here, so I was back out on the street in a couple of hours.”
“How did you even find the stables? I never told you where they are.”
“Not hard, Davey boy. You were dropping hints all the while we were drinking together. Just so proud of your shitty little job there, you were, you couldn’t keep it dark. All I needed to do was put two and two together and ask a few questions. But I’d given you a job to do, and instead of doing it, you scarpered. So, I knew I’d have to do it myself. That means you owe me.”
“I don’t owe you! I want nothing more to do with you!”
“If you’d have done the job I’d given you, I wouldn’t have had to get anywhere near your precious stables, and I wouldn’t have got arrested. So you owe me.”
“What do you want, Ned? I’m not getting involved with you, not in any of your terrible schemes!”
“Oh, but you are, Davey Dormouse, that’s why I’m here.”
“No!” And David’s headache came back, sharp and painful. He searched for the buzzer to call the nurse, but it had slipped down off the bed, and Ned just sat there grinning evilly at him. All he could do was shut his eyes, hoping when he opened them again, Ned would have disappeared. He did so, waiting a few long seconds to give the dream time to dissipate. But when he opened his eyes, Ned remained sitting right there, large as life. However, the other figure now standing there in the doorway was Ramon.
With one step he was across the room and had Davey in his arms.”
“Are you OK? What’s happened? You look terrible.”
From the other side of the bed, Ned looked across at them, smirking.
“My oh my, Davey, you’ve been busy! Got yourself a boyfriend?”
“And who are you?” Ramon asked.
“That’s Ned,” Davey said. “The guy who broke into Carme’s. A friend of my brother’s. He tracked me down here.”
“Nice to make your acquaintance, Sir,” Ned sneered. “I had no idea he had such proclivities. You make a lovely couple.”
“And what are you doing here?” Ramon asked.”
“I had business with your lover boy.”
“No, he didn’t,” Davey protested. “I want nothing more to do with him. Ever.”
By that time Ramon had come around the bed and had his police badge up in Ned’s face.
“So you’re not family, and not invited. You have exactly one minute to leave this hospital and not come back before I arrest you for trespass. I probably needn’t remind you that with one offense on your record here already, another would mean you spend the rest of your time in Catalonia before your trial in the clink.” Ramon opened the ward door. “Now go.”
And he stood there, stock still, as Ned got up and eased his way past Ramon—for once careful with his gangly presence—and out the door. Ramon continued to watch him until he had disappeared down the corridor. Then he closed the door and turned to David.
“Are you alright?”
