CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Debra came, bearing gifts and a dazzling smile. The gift was a case of hard-to-find German beer I had mentioned I had a desire to taste. An expensive gift I planned to repay. But it was her smile which I appreciated the most. The young, tom-boyish blond could generate warmth in a meat locker deep freeze. She came bouncing into the apartment, kissed Gramps on the cheek as if they were old friends and then she smiled at me and brushed my cheek with her lips as well.
“So, how’s the big, bruised detective tonight? Still sore?”
I grinned and nodded. The rib cage hurt like hell even though the curtain of drugs I was taking hid most of the pain. But I didn’t mind the pain. I understood pain. Pain and I were old friends.
“Say, what’s for supper? I’m starved!”
She shrugged a t
