Chapter 6
Ed awoke in the morning shortly after the sun started pouring through the patio door leading to the balcony. The sun was striking him right in the eyes. It took several seconds for him to remember why he was sleeping on the couch. He rolled over and pulled the blanket up to his chin and closed his eyes. After fighting a losing battle to try and fall back asleep, he got up and started the coffee pot. Ed sat at the table in a half-asleep state waiting for the coffee to perk. Ed is one of those types that wander around in a daze until after the second cup of coffee, no matter how much sleep he had gotten the night before. The coffee pot quieted down and Ed got up and poured himself a cup of coffee. He drank the hot brew as fast as humanly possible and refilled his cup. The second cup was sipped a little slower and the caffeine started to hit his brain and shake out the cobwebs.
The events of the previous night were coming back to him and he was as confused as he had been last night. Something was not right with the entire situation. Why would George Bynum hire him to follow a girlfriend when he had a wife? Why would someone kill Bynum? Did the killing have anything to do with the girlfriend? Who had the pictures, Bynum, others, what about the police? Did the wife know about the girlfriend? Did the wife kill Bynum? Did the other men in the pictures kill Bynum? Was Bynum also blackmailing the men in the pictures? Did the police know the girlfriend's name yet? Was she the prime suspect? Ed put his face in his hands. The most important question was why was he getting involved in this mess?
Ed got up to check on the woman in his bed. He knocked softly and, hearing no answer, looking into the room. The woman had thrown the covers off during the night and was lying on her back with one leg hanging off of the bed. The shirt had come unbuttoned and had fallen open reveling her to his gaze. He went over to the bed and covered her again and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
Ed got his 3rd cup of coffee and went into his office and got a legal pad and a pencil and brought it back to the table. While drinking his coffee, he wrote a list of the questions that he needed answers to. On a second sheet he wrote a list of everyone who might want George Bynum dead. The second list was, by no means, complete, as he did not know all of the players in this game yet. Ed took a 3rd sheet and wrote down all of the facts that he knew. He laid all 3 sheets side by side and looked to see if an item on 1 sheet would answer a question on another sheet or even add a new question. After several minutes he decided that he was as confused as he was before he started this exercise and would need some input from Betty.
Ed got his 4th coffee from the pot and turned to sit down. Betty started out of the bedroom heading for the kitchen table. She had buttoned the shirt but had not put on the pajama pants. She sat down on the seat hard and put her head in her hands. Ed poured a cup of coffee for her and got some ice from the refrigerator and put it in a tall glass. He drew her glass of water and set the ice water and the coffee in front of her. He was sure what she would do, exactly the wrong thing. Ed was an expert on hangovers since his wife and he divorced. Ed told Betty where the bathroom was and waited. Betty took the ice water and drank almost all of it at once. She sat for about 90 seconds and her eyes got a weird look and she bolted for the bathroom. She hadn't had time to close the door and Ed could hear her emptying her guts into the toilet. He poured a glass of milk and took it into the bathroom. Betty wasn't throwing up anymore, but she was still hugging the toilet. Ed set the milk on the bathtub next to her and told her to sip it only. As he left the bathroom he heard her heaving again.
About a half an hour later she came into the kitchen carrying what was left of the milk. Ed cautioned her again to sip it only. He went to the bathroom and got 2 Tylenol for her and set them in front of her. He went in and started to draw a hot bath. He pulled the shower curtain shut to keep the heat and humidity in the tub area. When the tub was a little over half full he checked the temperature of the water. Ed went to the kitchen and took Betty by the hand and led her into the bathroom. She followed without a word.
"Get in the tub and keep adding water until it is as hot as you can stand," he told her, "I want you to sweat and keep the shower curtain closed because I'm going to come in here every so often with water or milk so we can sweat this out of you."
Ed turned and left the bathroom, shutting the door as he left. He heard the water running and knew that Betty was doing as she was told. He occasionally took another small glass of milk into her and handed it through the shower curtain. After the second glass of milk he handed 2 Pepto-Bismol tablets through the shower curtain. He told her to keep the tub filled with hot water and sweat the booze out. After an hour he heard her getting out of the tub. Ed went into the bedroom and got the 2 bags that she had brought her clothes in and knocked on the bathroom door and handed them to her as she hid behind the door.
Betty came out of the bathroom looking like she had been in a 24-hour race at Le Mans. She came to the table and sat down opposite Ed and gave him a half smile. Ed set a slice of bread in front of her and told her to eat it slowly.
"Did I... Did we..." she started to ask.
Ed pointed to the couch, "I slept on the couch. I gave you a pair of pajamas and you went to bed."
What he told her was the truth, just not the complete truth.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"With any kind of luck, I'll die by noontime," she said putting her face in her hands. "Seriously, I still feel rocky, but I feel much better than I did when I got up. I guess you can never teach a minister's daughter how to drink."
Ed told her what he knew about the murder of George Bynum and how he had found her and brought her to his apartment. He left off any serious questioning about her involvement with Bynum until she felt a little better. Ed got the blanket off of the couch and had her go out on the balcony with him. They sat on the balcony for over an hour and just made small talk and enjoyed watching the city wake up and start moving. Once Betty started to talk about George Bynum and Ed put his finger to his lips and pointed to the balcony below them. Ed got up and went into the living room and Betty followed him.