Early the next morning I received the personnel files I requisitioned under Doctor Patterson's authority. Gaining his cooperation was assured because of the circumstances surrounding Bee-Bo's unannounced visit to Cody's room and the potential danger the criminal posed.

"Astatula General Hospital wants no part of the risk Bee-Bo presents," Doctor Patterson agreed with me when I approached him about why I wanted the files.

Accepting the folders at the room door, I neatly spread them out on the countertop so I could leaf through the pages each file presented.

I learned several pieces of information about various hospital employees involved in Cody's care but nothing that raised a red flag.

"So far so good," I determined running the palm of my hand across my face in contemplation.

Restacking the files I suddenly realized one was conspicuously absent. This immediately caught my attention.

"Could it be possible?" I asked myself knowing at the moment I trusted no one until I cleared their file.

Meddling into another man's business is a bad bet. Or so I have been told several times over the course of my life. Usually by some deranged madman I hunted in the line of duty. When it came to Bee-Bo interference was a lethal proposition. Taking no action against him was a lost cause.

I picked up the receiver on the telephone in Cody's room and dialed a number I was becoming all too familiar with. The phone range several times but there was no answer.

Just the voice of Miranda Browning stating "We're sorry but no one is available to take your call."

Then on the line came that famous, "Please leave your name, number, and a brief message and we will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you."

Next to be heard was the slight pause these messages always contain and that extremely annoying:

"BEEP.........!"

I did not leave a message but I would be calling this number back shortly. Doctor Donald Patterson had some serious explaining to do about a couple of issues. Neither one of them would wait long.

I never encountered Doctor Patterson before this situation with Cody arose. Now I had some misgivings. When my still inner voice tells me something experience has taught me to listen. And an alarm was sounding loudly.

But, I did not dwell in Neverland for long. A rustling emitted from Cody's bed. Quickly it yanked me back into the environment I dwelt in for the last six weeks. Was my Little Man finally waking up from his lengthy slumber? I could only hope he was. In my book Cody had already been gone much too long!

"Dad!" I heard a frightened Cody cry out with a tone of uncertainty about his surroundings in his voice . He sounded like a lost little lamb.

This was the first time Cody ever called me by that name and I was not about to correct him. Nor would I ever forget it. Lightning quick I moved across the room beside Cody and placed the palms of my hands on the top rail of his bed.

Then I thought to myself, "You blatant idiot, Daniels! Give that boy what you both need the most."

I reached down and hugged Cody as tightly as his laying flat on his back would allow me to. I could tell we both needed that hug more than we ever needed anything else before.

Noticing his blue eyes open for the first time in 42 days I gave Cody the biggest smile I could muster and asked him, "So, you decided to rejoin the land of the living did you, Little Man?"

He softly replied, "Yes."

He did not need to say anything more. It was all I could do to keep the moisture building up inside me out of my eyes.

I asked Cody, "You've been gone a long time. How do you feel son?"

Cody's eyes grew wider as he surveyed the room he was in for the first time. He saw all the stuffed animals scattered around the room. And, wouldn't you know it? The one he wanted was the grey wolf Bee-Bo left him upon his unwanted visit.

Why didn't it surprise me of all the stuffed toys in the room Cody would want that wolf? Should I allow the boy to have the toy his heart desired although he had no idea what the story behind it was? Or should I forbid him from possessing that wolf because it came from a very dangerous criminal who threatened to harm Cody? Under the circumstances, a very tough dilemma.

"Daniels, why didn't you throw that blasted wolf out the window when you had the chance?" I angrily, and silently, demanded of myself not wanting Cody to hear my question.

I tried another approach. "You have lots of furballs all waiting for you to claim them, Cody," I tried encouraging his desire for any one of the others and divert his attention off the wolf. To no avail. Of course.

Wolves are Cody's favorite animals. The blanket on his bed at home is wolf-imprinted. Several of his playshirts have different wolf scenes emblazoned on them. And Cody owns a variety of other trinkets of the lone hunter species.

I reached over to pick a furry teddy bear up to give to Cody. This one wore a military uniform. Cody constantly enjoys playing with his toy soldiers.

"They always win the war!" he readily declares every time I catch him in his bedroom tinkering around with his green Army men.

The slight frown on Cody's face when he saw me pick up the bear told me he had no current interest in the stuffed toy I preferred him to have. Reluctantly I reached for the wolf and Cody's eyes lit up bright and shiny like a Christmas tree all aglow. That monster was what Cody wanted and he would not be satisfied with anything else.

I picked the wolf up from where it stood guard like a sentry on a dark night and asked Cody, "What are you going to name him?"

"Blazer," he told me without hesitation.

As much as I despised Bee-Bo, and as much as I hated where this wolf came from, I knew this was a battle royal I could not win. I laid Blazer across the middle of Cody's chest. He squeezed the wolf tightly with his right arm.

When I looked down at Cody he was asleep...again!

"No!" I vehemently protested like a little boy about to be severely punished for a crime he did not commit, "This is not fair!" I stammered.