CHAPTER TWO
"I'd like to see Miss Barbara Thomas." The nurse behind the sixth floor station stared up at the source of the deep, resonant voice. It came from a man about twenty-five years old, six foot three, about two hundred and twenty pounds. He had thick, curly black hair and a five o'clock shadow that started to show about one o'clock.
"Let's see," said the nurse, shuffling through her files. "Miss Thomas is in 606, down the hall to your left.
"Is this gentleman visiting Barbara Thomas?" Dr. Ridgeman had come up behind him.
"Yes, doctor, I am. Are you the one who operated on her?"
"I did. Follow me. I'll take you to her room."
"Much obliged," Jim Strapling said. "And thank you nurse."
"You're welcome," she sighed, secretly hoping that Miss Thomas would have an extended visit on
