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“Have that fil

led before he leaves the hospital,” he ordered.

“Yes, Doctor,” Lari said.

Pencil-line mustache pointed at Matt.

Lari reached over and snatched the bandage on Matt’s forehead off.

He didn’t utter an expletive this time, but it took a good deal of effort.

Pencil-line mustache grunted.

“Nice job,” Doctor Two opined. “Who did it?”

“Who else?” Doctor One answered, just a trifle smugly.

Pencil-line mustache looked from one to the other. Both shook their heads no.

Pencil-line mustache finally acknowledged that a human being was in the bed.

“You will be given a medication before leaving—”

“‘Medication’?” Matt interrupted. “Is that something like medicine?”

“—which should take care of the possibility of infection,” Pencil-line went on. “The dressing should be changed daily. Your personal physician can handle that. Your only problem that I can see is your personal hygiene, in other words, bathing. Until that suppuration, in other words that oozing, stops, I don’t think you should immerse that leg, in other words, get it wet.”

“I see,” Matt said solemnly.

“The best way to handle the problem, in my experience, is with Saran Wrap. In other words, you wrap the leg with Saran Wrap, holding it in place with Scotch tape, and when you get in the bathtub, you keep the leg out of the water.”

“Do I take the bandage off, or do I wrap the Saran Wrap over the bandage?”

“Leave the dressing—that’s a dressing, not a bandage—on.”

“Yes, sir.”

“In a week or so, in his good judgment, whatever he thinks is appropriate, your personal physician will remove the sutures, in other words those stitches.”

“In other words, whatever he decides, right?”

“Right,” Pencil-line said. A suspicion that he was being mocked had just been born.

“Got it,” Matt said.

“Nurse, you may replace the dressing,” Pencil-line said.

“Yes, Doctor,” Lari said.

Pencil-line nodded at Matt. His lips bent in what could have been a smile, and he marched out of the room. Doctors One and Two followed him.

“You’re a wise guy, aren’t you?” Lari said, when they were alone.

“No. I’m a cop. A wise-guy is a gangster. Who was that guy, in other words, Pencil-line, anyway?”

“Chief of Surgery. He’s a very good surgeon.”

“In other words, he cuts good, right?”