Twenty – FourOf course, obeying Castronovo was out of the question. A gulf had opened between Ben and Erin. Their idyllic relationship suddenly felt a dozen strains. Without his girlfriend's companionship, Ben needed his best friend more than ever. Especially as, now Ruzicki was dead, that friend was the only one with insight (however crazy) concerning recent events. Ben made a beeline for Nestor, a temporary resident in the same place you'd find any so-called 'attempted suicide' – the Duncan Memorial Psychiatric Unit, known by local medicos as 'Four East'.
“Did you see him? Did you see Soomnalung?” Nestor demanded when Ben arrived.
“Yes and no.” Ben explained the burn patient's alias, a fact to which only he, Nestor and Bennie Bagtas were privy.
“No kidding? The cops don't even know? A
