While being discharged I was instructed by the hospital doctor not to drive the trip back to Battle Ground just yet, so I found myself trying to decide if I could afford any of the hotels Chicago had to offer and asking Detective Vecchio if he wouldn't mind driving me to the nearest Best Western for the night.

"Don't be silly," Vecchio laughed. "You can stay at my house. Plenty of room for one more."

When we pulled into the driveway of the several-storied brick house, night had fallen, making it easy to see the shadows inside through the windows. The lights burned brightly, in a way that reminded me of a homey turn-of-the-century painting.

But when Detective Vecchio opened the driver's side door to get out, the noise of shouting and arguments came to our ears. He shut the door. We sat, staring straight ahead. A moment passed, and he spoke.

"Okay, change of plan. I'm going in to get a few things, then I'll take you over to Benny's."

"I don't know," I said, not crazy about a house full of shouting occupants, but not comfortable either with spending the night by myself. "A strange apartment in a strange city alone--"

"Don't be nuts!" he exclaimed. "I wouldn't let you stay there alone, in that tenement! I've been staying there with the wolf."

So I accepted.

I did not realize there was only one very narrow bed that the wolf Diefenbaker clearly wished to share. I did not anticipate how awkward Detective Vecchio and I would become once night settled in and we had finished up using the hall-shared bathroom. There was no television, no radio, no Ben. Nothing to hide behind. Neither of us seemed to know how to act, so we compensated by deciding to turn in early.

I was clean for the first time in days. Bathed, my hair washed, and in a pair of Vecchio's borrowed pajamas. The last thing that came to my mind before I nodded off was not a deep thought. I remembered I had not called back my family. I wondered if I had to, if they had to know. And then I fell asleep.