Blood Red

“Thank you.”

Mark left the hospital. As he did, he saw night was coming.

His cell phone rang. It was Sean.

“Meet me at the morgue.”

“Now?”

“It’s as good a time as any.”

“Lauren.”

Lauren jumped. She had dozed off in a chair.

She looked across the room, thinking Heidi, who was relaxing in another chair, had spoken.

Heidi stared at her.

Then they both stared at Deanna.

Lauren blinked.

This time it seemed Deanna really was conscious. Lauren and Heidi both leaped up, almost crashing into each other in their rush to reach Deanna’s side.

“Hey!” Heidi said.

“Deanna,” Lauren breathed.

“’m thirsty,” Deanna murmured.

“I’ve got it,” Heidi immediately said.

Lauren smiled and lifted Deanna’s head so Heidi could hold the glass in place. Deanna took an eager sip.

“Go slow,” Lauren warned.

Deanna nodded, drank, and sagged back against her pillow.

Her eyes closed for a minute, then flew open again.

“Jonas,” she said.

“Jonas,” Lauren repeated blankly. Then she frowned. Where was Jonas? He had stayed by Deanna’s side for so long, but today…

Deanna had been alone, all alone, while Bobby had battled with Leticia, while pure madness had broken out….

Where had Jonas been?

“He’s been with me, hasn’t he?” Deanna asked softly.

“Yes, honey, he hung around,” Heidi assured her, smoothing back her hair.

Deanna stared at Lauren. “Jonas is good,” she said firmly.

Then why the hell had he disappeared right when Deanna needed him most? Lauren wondered.

Bernie Gibbs was on night duty at the morgue. His job was to sit at the desk and deal with whatever the doctors might need help with, and sign the paperwork for whatever dear souls might depart this world in the darkness. Since the doctors never needed help at night, mainly he read books and signed for bodies when they were brought in.

He was often on night duty. Actually, he liked it, liked the silence. He’d gotten through three years at Tulane by working here. He heard about some weird stuff now and then, but it didn’t bother him any. He’d always been the kind of kid who could sit through the most gruesome horror movie. Now that he was premed, he’d already seen a hell of a lot worse anything Hollyweird could come up with.

Tonight he was in pretty good shape. He had borrowed a popular new spy thriller from the library, and it was just as engrossing as the reviews had promised. He was actually glad to be at work, where the stiffs never interrupted him just when he was at the best part of a book.

He gotten one call from Lieutenant Canady, who’d said he would be coming by. He hadn’t explained why, just told Bernie to keep an eye out for him. But that was cool. Canady was a good guy. He was hell on wheels if you were a crook, but if you were just an average Joe, schlepping along, he didn’t mind what you did with your free time. But Canady hadn’t shown yet.

There was a sudden noise—right when his spy was meeting up with his Asian nemesis. It startled him from his concentration on the book, and he cocked his head to listen.

Nothing.

He wondered what the hell the noise had been. Something must have fallen in back. He turned his attention back to his book, but he couldn’t help wondering what could have fallen?

He set his book down, swearing softly. Had a door been left open? Or did they have rats or something?

Shit.

He decided he’d better check it out.

He stood, and looked around. He didn’t have a weapon. Attendants at the morgue didn’t usually have problems with their…charges. But what if some jerk had broken in? He looked around and saw his book. “Great,” he muttered aloud. He could just see the headline. Courageous Night Attendant at Morgue Foils Thief with Spy Novel