At nine o’clock, Randy washed down two painkillers with a shot of brandy and fell asleep where he lay.
* * * *
Although the sunlight streaming through his front window did its very best to get Randy’s attention, it was his bladder that convinced him to wake up. The hobble down the hallway to the bathroom not only ensured his wakefulness, it had Randy wondering whether he should call Vaughn and check to see if Vaughn had been serious about the offer to drive him in for X-rays. He heard the plows go by while he was in the kitchen brewing coffee and making toast. An hour later, as he dressed, the pained rumble and grumble-squeak stop of the school bus picking up the O’Connell babies also made itself known. Wolf was shaking off the snow and pulling itself back into business.
By nine-thirty,
