"She may need another blood transfusion, Mrs. Jones," the doctor said, and as soon as she started to get to her feet, he held up a hand. "No, ma"am. You can"t donate any more today. We have supplies, don"t worry."
"I"d prefer to know the source," the woman said. "I know, I know, the blood supply is safer than ever, but still... "
"I"m A-positive," Maxie said.
"Me, too," Lydia put in.
The doc shook his head. "Not what we need for her, though you"re welcome to donate anyway. Anyone for A-neg?"
Lou raised his hand like a schoolkid.
"You"re elected." The doctor sent Lou off with a nurse, and he thought it pretty ironic that he was entertaining the notion that vampires might be real even as he let some pretty young thing drain a pint from his veins.
"Can we see her?" Stormy"s mother asked.
The doctor nodded. "Absolutely." He led the two parents away, and Max noticed with a wrenching ache in her belly the way Mr. Jones held his wife close to his side, all but holding her up, like he was loaning some of his strength to her.
She sighed and turned to Lydia. "We need to talk."
"You poor thing." Lydia hugged her again. "I know what you"re going through. When Kimbra died, I just... "
"She was more to you than a best friend, though, wasn"t she?"
Lydia looked at her for a moment, smiled gently, sadly. "Am I that obvious?"
"I saw the photo you have in your wallet when you opened it the other day. The two of you, arm in arm. The way you were looking at her."
"I loved her," Lydia said softly. "She was my whole life. And even though it"s not the same, I can see you love Stormy. I can see the hurt in your eyes. G.o.d, it"s like looking into a mirror a few weeks ago."
Max swiped at her eyes. "We don"t have time for a pity party here. We need to get our stories straight about last night. And then we need to get rid of that tape in the answering machine."
Lydia frowned at her. "Get our stories straight?"
"Lou sat in his car outside my place all night long," Max told her.
Lydia nodded in agreement. "Right I remember when you spotted him out there. I thought it was real sweet of him."
"Exactly. So that"s two of us who can swear that Lou never left our sight."
"Except that he did," Lydia said softly. "Remember? After he dropped you, he took off for a while? He was back in no time, but-"
"Yeah, and the d.a.m.n fool told them so." Max licked her lips. "I had to think fast, so I said that when Lou left, I followed him. Made up some line about suspecting he was seeing some other woman and being jealous. I confirmed what he told them, that he"d gone to the station and then come straight back to my place."
Lydia nodded slowly. "I didn"t know you and Lou were-"
"We aren"t."
"So you lied to the police."
"I know he didn"t do this. You know it, too."
Lydia turned away, drew a deep breath, finally blew it out with a sigh. "Of course I know it." She turned to face Max again. "I was there, after all, when you left to go follow him. I tried to tell you Lou was a one-woman man, but you just had to make sure."
Max bit her lip. "You could have been sleeping upstairs. You could have no knowledge one way or the other."
"Two witnesses are better than one. Especially if they think that one is the suspect"s lover, Maxine."
Max nodded. "Thank you."
"No need. I like Lou. We"ve been friends a long time."
"He doesn"t know I made it up. He would never let me do it."
"Understood," Lydia said. "You mentioned the answering machine?"
"Yeah, we need to erase the message." Then she shook her head. "But there might be a clue in it. I should find a way to keep a copy."
"We could just put in a new tape," Lydia suggested.
"It"s not on tape. It stores the messages electronically."
"Buy a new machine," Lydia said. "Take the old one and stash it somewhere safe."
Max nodded slowly. "It"s a good plan. Later I can transfer the message to tape and destroy the machine, just for good measure. But for now, that"s the fastest solution. And we have to get it done before they decide to search my place."
"I"ll take care of it. Stay here, see your friend."
Max nodded. "Use cash. And buy it someplace busy, like Wal-Mart, where they won"t remember you. And don"t make your appearance too memorable."
Biting her lip, Lydia frowned hard at her. "Just what are we dealing with here, hon?"
"The government. A part of the CIA, I think. A secret part that may not even exist anymore, but the man who shot Stormy was a part of it."
Lydia nodded slowly. "You called them... vampire hunters."
"That"s exactly what they were. Maybe still are." She sighed. "Look, I"ll tell you everything I know. But you can"t mention it to a soul. That"s what got Stormy shot."
"Okay. Understood. But not now. This isn"t the time or the place. I"ll go take care of that machine of yours, and we"ll talk later."
"May as well meet up at the police station," Max said. "They"re going to want sworn statements from all of us."
"Noon?" Lydia said.
"Noon"s good."
"See you then."
After Lydia left, Max waited around until Lou finally returned from donating blood with a bandage on his arm. He looked at her as if checking her over, like he was searching for signs as to how she was holding up, and while her independent-woman side thought it was hopelessly old-fashioned of him, the rest of her loved it that he worried.
"I"m okay," she told him before he bothered to ask.
"No, you"re not, but I don"t see how you could be." He looked around. "Where"s Lydia?"
"Had some things to do. She"s gonna meet us at the station at noon, so we can give them our statements."
"And then what?"
She shrugged. "I"m gonna go home, make some tapes of my voice for Stormy"s mom to play for her, gather up a few CDs and my programmable player, and get it all set up in her room. Then I"m gonna pack."
"Pack?"
"I hate to leave Stormy, Lou. But according to what I"ve been able to find out online, that screenwriter lives in Maine. And we really do need to talk to her. She"s the only lead we have right now, besides Stiles, and we can"t find him."
"If he knows about the films, we"re as likely to find him in Maine as anywhere else."
She blinked twice, then stared at him. "We? Does that mean you"re going with me?"
"Yep."
"Will they let you, before this case is solved?"
"Nope. I"ll just have to be sneaky. Good thing I"ve got an expert to help me on that." He gave her a smile, lopsided and sad, but real.
She thought about hugging the big lug, but Storm"s parents came walking up to her then, her crying softly, him holding her. "Go on in, Maxine," Mr. Jones said. "We cleared it with the doctor, and we both think hearing your voice will do her a world of good." He pointed her down the hall. "Two-oh-seven."
"Okay. You two ought to get something to eat, and maybe rest a bit. I know you want to be here, but you"re gonna need time off, too. If you go getting sick, you won"t be much help to Stormy, after all."
"We"ll be fine. Go on, go see her now."
She glanced at Lou. "Go ahead, Maxie. Take your time. I"ll be here waiting."
Sending him a grateful nod, she went down the hall, searched for the door marked 207, and found it. There was a moment, though, when she almost couldn"t go in. She stood with her hand on the door, not pushing it open, and she wondered if some deluded part of her mind thought this wouldn"t be real until she saw it with her own eyes. Or if she was just afraid Stormy would die while she was in there.
Didn"t matter. Stormy mattered. That was all. She swallowed her fear, pushed the door open, peered inside.
It did not look like Stormy lying in that bed, and for the barest instant Max thought she had the wrong room. But then logic made her look more closely. Yes, she was more still and pale than she had ever been, and her eyebrow ring had been removed. Her short, bleached hair had vanished. It might be swathed by the skullcap of bandages she wore, or it might have been shaved. Max didn"t know.
But the elfin face and fine-boned features were Stormy"s. There were leads going from her head to a monitor, from her chest to another, from her nostrils to an oxygen pump, from her wrist to an IV bag, and from somewhere under the sheets to a bag at the foot of the bed, which she did not want to think about.
The nurse smiled at Max. "Well, Tempest, you have a visitor. Isn"t that nice?"
"Call her Stormy," Max said firmly. "Make sure you tell the other nurses, too. She wouldn"t answer to Tempest even if she was fully awake."
The nurse nodded, turning with her hands on her hips. "And here I was thinking what a gorgeous name you had. I love Tempest!" Then she shrugged. "I suppose Stormy is nice, too, though." She was leaning in, adjusting the covers and talking to Stormy as if she were wide awake and hearing every word.
Max liked the nurse. She liked her att.i.tude. She liked the caring in her eyes. "I"m Maxine," she told the nurse, as she came closer.
"And do you have a preferred nickname, too?"
"Mad Max, but don"t spread it around."
The nurse laughed, patting Stormy"s shoulder. "Did you hear that? Mad Max. Girl, I like your friends. Well, have a seat Mad Max, and I"ll give you two some private time."
Max sat down, and the nurse left. The constant beeps of the monitors were dragging. Steady and almost hypnotic. "Man, we"re gonna have to get them to turn off the sound on these contraptions, Stormy. You think?" She leaned closer, clasped Storm"s hand. "It"s Max, honey. I"m here, and I know what happened, okay? I know it wasn"t Lou. I don"t want you to worry about that."
No response. She lay there completely silent and still.
"I know you"re in there, Storm. I know you can hear me." She spoke louder, more firmly. "Everything is fine. Your parents are fine, I"m fine. And the man who did this is going down. Understand?"
Still nothing. Just the monotonous beeps.
"You have to focus, hon. Focus every ounce of your energy on waking up. You hear me? That"s all I want you thinking about. And you might as well know you aren"t going to get a moment"s peace until you do. I"m getting your favorite CDs, and someone"s gonna be in here talking your d.a.m.n multiply pierced ears off until you wake up. No one"s gonna leave you alone. You got that?"
The beeping patterns changed. Picked up speed a little.
Max glanced around her at the machines, as if she would know a d.a.m.n thing by looking at them. But something had agitated Stormy. What had she just said? No one"s gonna leave you alone. She licked her lips. "Being alone worries you, does it?"
Again the pace picked up.
"No one will leave you alone. I"m gonna have someone guarding your door, and someone else in here with you, twenty-four-seven. I promise you, you"re safe here. Okay?"
She couldn"t tell if she had eased Stormy"s mind or not. But the beeps slowly resumed their former pattern.
"Keep trying to wake up, hon."
The nurse came back in, told Max it was time to go. Max nodded. "I gotta leave for a bit, babe, but I promise you"re not gonna be left alone. I promise." She turned to the nurse. "Can you stay with her until her mom gets back?"
"Of course I"m staying. It"s almost time for my program!" She reached for the remote, flicked on the room"s television, and pulled up a chair. "I hope you like Pa.s.sions, girl, "cause I never miss it," she told Stormy.
"She loves it," Max said. "I"ll see you later, Storm. Don"t be scared, hon. I"ve got your back, okay?"
The nurse nodded in approval, and Max left the room. Back in the waiting room, she went to Lou, leaned against his chest and hoped he wouldn"t complain. He didn"t. He hugged her instead. "We need to get guards on her room, Lou. If he finds out she"s alive, he might come back."
"He would have no reason to."
"What if she saw him?"
"Hon, you saw him. You already know what he looks like, as well as his name. Being ID"d is not on his list of worries for some reason."
"Still... "
Sighing, he nodded. "I"ll get right on it."
She closed her eyes. "We have time to get some breakfast?"
"Yeah. I phoned in, told them we"d be coming in at noon to talk to IAD and give our statements. We have a couple of hours yet." He took her arm, and they walked to the elevators together.