Everyone's Man – 40

 

The drive to the hospital was fairly silent. Keyes was driving his personal car, one that had earned him a raised eyebrow from Colin. "Are you on the take?" the young man had asked, half in amusement, half really wondering.

 

"Nope. Inherited from a family member," Keyes replied tersely as they got into his '70 Jaguar E-type roadster.

 

"How fast will it go?" Colin asked, running his hand over the leather upholstery.

 

"Fast enough."

 

"Not very talkative, are you?"

 

Keyes just nodded as he pulled out of the parking lot onto the street, checking both the traffic and for any signs of someone who might be interested in following them.

 

Feeling shut down, Colin turned away, and rested his head against the window as he watched the passing scenery. Soon, too soon in his opinion, they were pulling into the hospital's parking garage. His doctor met them at the back door of the building as planned, and led them to his office through empty hallways. When they got there he asked Keyes to wait while he examined Colin. The detective agreed once he'd established that the exam room was right next to the office and could only be entered from there.

 

Colin and the doctor returned half an hour later, the young man looking both relived and stressed. After telling Colin to call if anything changed, the doctor saw them out of the office.

 

Once they were back in the car Keyes asked, "Is everything all right?"

 

"Am I healed? Yeah." It was Colin's turn to give short answers as he stared out the windshield.

 

Keyes started to say something more, then shook his head. A few minutes later, they were headed back to the apartment. Suddenly, he pulled off the street into a parking space beside a small restaurant. Colin looked at him in surprise.

 

"I'm hungry," Keyes told him.

 

"So take me home. Then you can go eat."

 

"Out," Keyes said tersely.

 

Colin sighed but did as he was told, following the detective inside. Once they were seated at a table well back in the room, Keyes told him to order anything he wanted. After a quick look at the menu, Colin opted to test that, telling the hovering waiter he wanted the Surf and Turf. Keyes smiled slightly and ordered the same.

 

After the waiter left, Keyes rested his elbows on the table, tenting his fingers as he looked at Colin. "So?"

 

"If it's any of your business, there's nothing physically wrong with me now. Everything's healing just fine."

 

"Then your episode this morning was more mental. Emotional."

 

"They told you?" Colin didn't know whether to be angry, or for some reason, relieved.

 

Keyes shrugged. "I wanted to know why the sudden need to the see the doctor."