A Body to die for

tried to pull her forward so she wouldn’t soil herself.
    She coughed a little. Over the sound, I heard a voice on the other side of the curtain say, “When I find out who let her in here before visiting hours, heads will roll.” The bastard doctor. I dropped the bedpan on Leeza’s chest. I had only seconds to hide. With nowhere else to go, I'slipped behind the curtains to the third sectioned-off bed in the row.
    A man lay there. He looked horrible. His face was broken out in a ghastly rash with red sores and large strips of white skin flakes. A large boil grew mercilessly on his chin, puffing out from his straggly goatee. His hands were meaty, wide and somehow familiar. “Freddie?” I asked in a whisper. His hair had partially fallen out on one side of his head, but those stubborn sideburns and big floppy ears remained unchanged.
    He opened his eyes and looked at me. “Wanda?” he asked.
    “My God. What happened?”
    “I’m surprised you recognized me.” His lips cracked as he spoke.
    “I never forget a haircut.” Well, half a haircut. “I suppose this was your destiny,” I said.
    “To look like my big screen namesake?” he asked. “You’re only the twelfth person to say that. These nurses have a real adorable sense of humor.”
    I blocked out Freddie’s voice for a second and tried to listen to what was going on in Leeza’s section. The male doctor I’d thwarted was talking to someone with a Jamaican accent, perhaps Annabelle. He said, “An impertinent young woman interrupted me while administering care to this patient. I’d like to know how you let her slip in here.”
    Annabelle said, “It must have been when I was saving someone’s life.” The pause I heard was in its second trimester. Finally, Annabelle said, “I’ll find her and be sure she gets what’s coming to her.”
    The doctor said, “Good. See to it this patient gets to X-ray. And she may need a sponge bath—arrange that with those other women.”
    “You mean the staff of highly trained certified nurses?”
    I heard some mumbling, and then silence. I risked peeking out of Freddie’s curtains into Leeza’s area. Annabelle sat on the edge of her bed, staring right at me. I smiled and pulled back the curtain. “Sorry if I got you in trouble.”
    “The nurses usually keep an eye on him—especially around the younger, female patients. They’re crazy busy, so I’ll thank you for your sister’s sake.”
    “Am I hereby ejected?”
    “Visiting hours start in five minutes. You can stay for twenty minutes, and then I’m hoping you’ll leave and not come back until my shift is over.”
    “Deal. Has anyone reported that asshole?” Annabelle sighed. “He’s the chief of staff’s son. He’s got an ‘offspring of God’ complex. Whenever anyone says, ‘Jesus Christ’ in his presence, he says, ‘Am I being paged?’”
    I gestured with my head for Annabelle to step outside the curtains with me. Once in the main room, in view of the countless beds, I whispered in her ear, “What’s wrong with the guy in here?” I pointed toward Freddie’s area. Annabelle hesitated. I said, “Turns out he’s a friend. Small neighborhood.”
    Her pause was premature. Then she said, “He came in this morning. Overdose. Anabolic steroids. Only problem is that we have no idea what kind. Until the lab guys figure out what he took, we can’t help him much.”
    Poor slob. “Will he die?”
    “He won’t die—at least I don’t think so. I’ve never seen an overdose of steroids before—and I’ve never seen this kind of dramatic facial degeneration either. Whatever he took must have been powerful.. He’s growing a coat of hair on his back, and his skin continues to peel away. His penis might shrivel beyond repair. I hope for your sake, he isn’t a special friend.”
    “God, no.” Larry’s notebook burned a giant hole in my purse. If I turned it over to Annabelle, I could save Freddie. But the lab people might then take the formula and market it themselves. Then I’ll be out my cut of the fortune. Then again, the stuff obviously doesn’t work. One look at Freddie was enough to convince me of that. I took the notebook out of my bag and gave it to Annabelle. “Take this before I change my mind.”
    Annabelle was puzzled. I said, “The steroid formula is in there.” I turned to go.
    She said, “Wait—what about your sister?”
    “She’s not really my sister.”
    Annabelle rolled her black eyes like eight balls. “I