Blood Red

thrust it toward Lauren. “I do not know everything, but I research what clues come my way. Read that.. It’s a copy of a newspaper article, and it may help you. But don’t read it now. Get away from here. Go back to those who will help you. If you care anything for others, keep away from me. And when you leave here, bathe yourself in holy water.”

Susan hurried up the aisle.

Lauren rose, more confused than ever. “Susan, wait!”

But Susan was gone.

Lauren hurried from the pew herself. In the aisle, she genuflected and crossed herself. And she didn’t forget to dab herself liberally with holy water before she made her way back to the side aisle and out into the alley.

It was quiet.

Dark.

Shadowed.

Surely there were people nearby, she told herself. It was early, especially by New Orleans standards. Carriages would be clip-clopping late into the night and musicians playing on street corners.

But the narrow alley seemed ancient, shrouded in a strange sense of decaying elegance. There was a breeze, and it whispered in a strangely cool tongue.

She heard something in the air.

Like a flock of birds overhead.

Or bats.

She looked up into the darkness of the sky.

Once upon a time she would have thought only that the night was merely alive with creatures who rested in the eaves by day and hunted by night.

But now she knew better. Now she knew…

That she was their prey.

Bobby Munro was in the lobby when Mark and Heidi returned to the hospital. He looked distraught. Downright ill.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asked anxiously.

“Lauren’s missing. She’s not in the hospital. I’ve looked everywhere,” Bobby told him.

Tension tightened Mark’s muscles, and he clenched his jaw tightly, fighting against fury and fear. “I’ll look for her. You need to get back to Deanna. Heidi, go with Bobby.”

Heidi looked at him, a slow smile curving her lips as she rolled a strand of blond hair around her finger. A look of purely wicked lasciviousness crossed her face.

“He’s coming, you know. He’s coming back. He’s going to kill you.”

“Do something with her, will you?” Mark said to Bobby in frustration. Something was clearly wrong with Heidi, but he had no time to worry about her right now.

“I’ll do my best,” Bobby told him, but Mark had already turned and left the hospital.

He left his car in the lot. It was imperative that he find Lauren immediately, and in the crowded Quarter, he would do better on foot.

Leticia Lockwood finally signed off on her last patient. She bade goodnight to her fellow nurses and headed out to the parking lot. She was probably the last person on her shift to leave, but she didn’t mind. She felt herself blessed to have gotten through nursing school. She loved her work and was happy to do what she could to help others—and get paid for it.

She smiled as she headed for her car. Aunt Judy didn’t know it yet, but they were headed to church tonight. She thought her aunt would be pleased. Thanks to her, Leticia had managed to keep her goal in mind and ignore many a temptation. Like Tyrone Martin, back when they were in high school. Tyrone had been about the best looking guy ever to run down a football field. But he had gotten into drugs. Then shoplifting. And now he was doing six years in the state pen. While others had fallen for him, she had not. She had refused his cocaine, his pot—and his determination to get her into bed, and she was glad of it. He had several illegitimate kids, and their mothers were all on welfare. Aunt Judy’s forceful resolve had made her stick to her books. Her aunt had never threatened her with violence, but Leticia had wanted to please her aunt; so she’d tried hard to do the right things.

But tonight…

She’d promised the new deacon at their Baptist church that she would be there. She was going for the singing. And for Pete Rosman, the man she’d been looking for all her life. And he liked her; she knew it. They were both people who liked to do things. They were proactive and believed that if everybody just put some elbow grease into life, things would be better for everyone.

As she headed for her car, she saw a man. He was bent over by a tree, and he didn’t look well. She frowned, instantly concerned.

“Are you all right?” she called.

He put out a hand and waved weakly at her. She hurried over to him. He was handsome, she decided. Too pale, obviously sick.

She took his hand. “Come on…emergency is right over there. I’ll help you.”

“No, no….” He flashed her an engaging smile. “I’m so sorry, I’m all right. I just need to sit down for a minute. I was out with friends, and I guess I had too much to drink.”

“It’s a familiar story around here,” she murmured.