The Last Witness Read Online Free Page B

was on wheels, and apart from a little dust, in good working order. The doctor took a cloth and wiped it off before giving a nod to Hodgson who grudgingly got up from the chair. His right knee with the new titanium joint didn’t take to the task with the dexterity of his left.
    “I think I need a little oil in there,” Hodgson said, climbing onto the scale with the two balance beams.
    The doctor slid the first weight over to the far end of the scale, the three-hundred-pound marker. Then he started playing with the smaller, second weight. He kept nudging it across. Bit by bit.
    “Let’s see what we have here. Uh-huh. Three hundred and twenty-seven pounds. And you were what? Three-thirty before the operation? You have a knee replacement which is prettyinvasive surgery and after all is said and done and you’re starting to feel better we’ve lost a grand total of three pounds.”
    “We?” said Hodgson, staring at the two weights in front of him. “At least that’s something.”
    “Lieutenant, you don’t fool me. We both know you lost a good twenty pounds after the cut and now you’re putting it back on. You’re not following that chart, are you? What did you have for breakfast this morning?”
    “I didn’t have breakfast. Just coffee.”
    “One coffee?”
    “Two.”
    “Sugar?”
    Hodgson didn’t say anything. He was still looking at the two weights.
    “Lieutenant, a knee replacement is serious business. You put your life on hold. You put your job on hold and I’m sure you want to get back to being a cop, don’t you?”
    “That’s for sure. The past few weeks I’ve been going crazy sitting around doing nothing but I’m pretty well healed now. Tomorrow is my first day back.”
    “Well that’s good news but it’s not so good if you don’t follow the rules. And the first rule is to gain control of your weight or you’re going to be right back in here with your other knee.”
    “My other knee is fine. It was always the right one that bothered me.”
    “Lieutenant, believe it or not they’re both connected to the same body and your body is just too damn …” He searched for the word. “Huge. It’s too huge for your own good. That’s what got you into all this trouble in the first place. Your weight.”
    He glared at the big man.
    “Doctors call it morbid obesity but that’s really a fancy way of saying you eat too much. Too much of the wrong food. And you don’t get enough exercise. Not nearly enough. You’re still a young man. You’re only …”
    “Fifty-four.”
    “Fifty-four years old and you have a knee replacement. What’s it going to be like when you’re sixty-four? Or seventy-four? We’ll have to do your whole body over with new joints and that won’t be easy. Not for a man your size. Why I think that knee of yours was the biggest one I’ve ever done. What are you smiling about?”
    “What you said. About doing my whole body over. I’d be a cop made of titanium. Think of the possibilities.”
    The doctor shook his head and told him to step off the scale. It was a good thing because Hodgson didn’t want to keep looking at that number with the two threes and the zero staring him in the face, the smaller of the two weights a crack to the left of the ‘thirty’. Three hundred and twenty-seven pounds. He dropped his great bulk into the chair.
    “Lieutenant, you have weak quads. Those are the muscles in front of the thighs. You have to build those muscles up and you have to lose some weight. That’s the only way you’re going to avoid having another knee replacement.”
    “I hear you, Doc.”
    “But what are you doing about it? Hey it’s your life. If you want to be back here in two years for your other knee I can always use the work. Are you still wearing those compression stockings?”
    “No. I got rid of them after a few days. As soon as the pain started going away. Actually, the knee feels pretty good now. Just a little stiff. That’s all.”
    “That’s normal.