Bones by Jan Burke

left hand, saw the ring, and went back to cutting the pants.
    He did his best to repack the backpack while Newly finished dressing. He had just fit the cookset in when he came across something that, at first glance, he thought was a cellular phone--but he quickly realized it couldn't be.
    "Is this a GPS receiver?" he asked.
    Newly looked up from his efforts to put a sock on his right foot--although not broken or in a cast, it was badly blistered. Seeing it, Frank didn't feel so bad about fetching the backpack.
    "Yes," Newly answered, holding out a hand. "Here--I'll show you how it works."
    He spent a few minutes proudly demonstrating the unit, then asked Frank to help him put one of his hiking boots--the only shoes he had with him--on his tender right foot.
    The nurse Frank had met earlier brought a wheelchair in and offered to escort them down to the hospital lobby.
    "Everybody knows that you don't let patients leave without wheeling them out of here," Newly said.
    "Undoubtedly thanks to people in your profession," she said.
    He laughed and cheerfully admitted that it just might be so. As she helped Newly out of the bed, Newly put an arm around her shoulder and winked broadly at Frank. Frank ignored it and answered the nurse's question about what he did for a living. This resulted in an animated conversation that lasted until they reached the lobby. He left them to get the car; by the time he brought it around to where they waited, Frank could see that in another few minutes, she might have gladly rolled Newly out into traffic.
    Frank had already put the backpack on the backseat, and now he opened the car door as the nurse was bending to lower the wheelchair's footrest. Newly said, "Frank is married to a good-looking brunette, you know. But I'm available!"
    "Phil," she said, helping him to stand up, "as surprising as that news is to me, I have to tell you this: There are lots of women who would pursue Frank even though he's married. But even though you're single--well, let's just say, I hope you're rich."
    She was moving away before he shouted, "I am!"
    She didn't look back.
    "Well, how do you like that!" he said, laughing.
    He joked about himself when recounting the tale of blistering his feet. "And the worst part," he said, "is the number of lectures I've endured from this foot specialist at the hospital."
    He proceeded to give an imitation of the man; it made Frank laugh, and in this good humor he gave in to Newly's request that they stop off at a pharmacy not far from the lawyer's home. Newly insisted on trying to walk into the store on his own.
    "Look," he said, "while I'm in there, could you rearrange my pack a little? I left the GPS on top, and I'm afraid it will fall out and break. Cost me about six hundred, you know, so I'd rather not smash it on my driveway."
    Frank looked at him sharply, and saw, for the first time that day, the intelligent member of the Bar Association he had met in the courtroom--not the clowning klutz of the past hour or so.
    Newly smiled and said, "Play around with the GPS if you like. This may take a while."
    He was hobbling into the store before Frank could respond.
    Frank knew a clear invitation when he heard one, and hesitated only long enough to try to figure out if Newly was setting him up somehow, or worse, setting the department up for problems by using him in some way. But he couldn't see how Newly could use this against him, and if it meant he'd know where Irene was right now, he'd risk it.
    He wasn't going to ignore his instincts; he was going up there. If she didn't need him, fine. She might even be angry with him. At that thought, he smiled to himself. It wouldn't be the first time.
    But the next thought sobered him--it was one thing to imagine that he might hike up there for no real reason, that she was fine. It was another to think of her hurt or in danger. If she was in trouble and he stayed home, he'd never forgive himself.
    By the time Newly came out, he had written down every