Blood Debt

he'd lock himself away until sunset. Tony suddenly wanted to prolong that moment. "You, uh, got a question for the ghosts? One that'll cover both of them?"
    "Vicki suggests I ask if they were killed by the same person."
    "You figure she knows what she's talking about?"
    "It is why I asked her to come here, but, hopefully, it won't be a problem. Hopefully, they'll be resting in peace by sunset." He opened the door, reached out, and stroked Tony's cheek with two fingers. All he could think of to say was "good-bye," but he didn't want to say that yet, so he said nothing at all.

    "I can't stand it. This bedroom exudes pink even in full dark." Vicki punched the pillow into another shape and threw herself back down, fully aware that the bedroom had nothing to do with her mood and equally aware that she had nothing else to take it out on.
    The ride back to the condo had been easier than the ride to Project Hope. The more time she and Henry spent together, the more they forced the truce to endure, the easier it got. But she still wanted to kill something.
    Not Henry.
    Mike.
    "It was a mistake leaving him there. I know it. I just know it. After all these years," she asked the night as it fled, "why have I suddenly decided to start listening to…"
    Eleven
    "WHAT is going on here?"
    The question cut through the argument at the nurse's station, leaving silence in its wake. The two police constables and the night nurse turned toward the voice, three very different faces wearing identical expressions of relief that said as clearly as if they spoke aloud, Thank God, here's someone who knows what to do.

    The night nurse took a step forward. "Dr. Mui, these two police officers want to have a look around. Apparently someone reported seeing a body carried in through the back door late this afternoon."
    "Really." Dr. Mui slowly swept a peremptory gaze from the nurse over to the police. "As there was no one admitted to the hospice this afternoon, I'm afraid your informant was mistaken."
    "This body wasn't on a stretcher, it was allegedly flung over the shoulder of a large man in a red Tshirt. I doubt that's the way your patients usually arrive, Doctor… ?"
    "Mui." Ebony brows rose into a finely drawn arc. "And you are?"
    "Police Constable Potter, ma'am." She nodded at her partner. "This is Police Constable Kessin. Do you usually come in at this hour, Doctor? It's barely five; a little early to start your day."
    "I am often in at odd hours." Not that it's any of your business, her tone added. "You can ask Nurse Damone if you don't believe me. As it happens, I have a patient who has just moved to status four— he'll be dead within the week unless a match is found. I came in to check on him. You have both signed organ donor cards, I assume?"
    She so pointedly awaited an answer, it would have been impossible not to give her one.
    After a ragged duet of "Yes, ma'am," Dr. Mui nodded. "Good. As you'll be dead, you'll certainly have no use for otherwise healthy organs. Hundreds of people die every year for no other reason than the lack of those signatures. Now then, about this, as you say, alleged body. If you intend to search the premises, I assume you have a warrant?"
    PC Potter blinked, taken slightly aback by the lecture and the sudden change of subject. "Warrant, Doctor?"
    "Warrant, Constable."
    Fighting the feeling that she was back in Catholic School—it helped only a little that none of the nuns had been Asian—Potter cleared her throat and glanced down at her occurrence book for support. "We had hoped we could have a look around without having to get a warrant."
    "Had you. I see."
    "We can get one if we need one." PC Kessin wished he'd kept his mouth shut as the doctor's level gaze moved over to him. He couldn't help the sudden suspicion she was measuring him and finding him wanting. We'll take none of his organs. He's an idiot.
    "Of course you can." Her inflection suggested the exact opposite but before either constable could decide to be insulted, she continued.
    "Fortunately, since I've arrived, that won't be necessary." When it appeared that PC Potter was about to speak, she added with some exasperation, "We have a dozen very sick people in this building, Officers. I'm sure you didn't expect Nurse Damone to allow you to wander about on your own or to leave her station and accompany you.
    Since I'm here, that's no longer a problem. What would you like to see first?"
    Just In from the back door, the hall jogs to the left.