“Just when I thought perps couldn’t surprise me anymore. .” He shook his head. “I called the squad. Police and detectives will be on their way. What about an ambulance?” asked Garnett.
“One of my staff called nine-one-one. I’m going to ride with Mike to the hospital, if they let me. I want my crime scene people to come down here and look around. I thought Neva might want to meet us at the hospital. She and Mike are dating.” Garnett nodded. Diane let out a deep breath. “I also told the Van Ross family to go home. I’m sorry. I was thinking of the kids. I did instruct them not to talk among themselves.”
“Just as well. I think most of our people are going to go home anyway. The mayor and the governor’s man already left.” He paused, then asked, “Did you see anyone suspicious?”
“No. I’ve been scanning the crowd.” Diane shrugged in frustration. “There are just so many people I don’t know.”
At the sound of the ambulance she left Garnett to attend to the policing and she hurried back to Mike, who was trying to get up off the ground. Korey was still applying pressure to the wound, and Andie had a hand on Mike’s shoulder, trying to keep him still. Kendel went to wait for the ambulance so she could lead the paramedics to Mike.
“I’m feeling better,” Mike said.
“The ambulance is here,” said Diane. “Stay where you are.”
The ambulance parked on the grass shoulder of the roadway, and two paramedics hurried with their equipment to where Mike lay, shooing everyone out of the way. Korey stood back, blood dripping from his hand. Chief Garnett came forward and offered him his handkerchief.
The female paramedic, a black woman who wore her hair in waves tight against her head like a twenties blues singer, took Mike’s blood pressure and nodded to the male who began hooking him up to a drip.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Someone stabbed him,” Diane told her.
“At a funeral?”
“We don’t know who or why,” said Diane.
“What’s the world coming to?” She looked in Mike’s eyes with a light. “Can you talk to me, baby?”
“Sure, what would you like to talk about?” His voice was husky, and words trailed off at the end.
She smiled at him. “Do you have any allergies?”
“No.”
“What’s your name?”
“Mike Seger.”
“Okay, Mike Seger, we’re going to take you to the hospital and you’re going to be just fine.”
As they loaded him onto the stretcher, Diane gave instructions to Korey and the others to go back to the museum after they talked to the police.
“May I ride with him to the hospital?” asked Diane.
“And you are?” asked the woman.
“Yes, she can,” whispered Mike, reaching out his hand, which Diane grasped.
“My name is Diane Fallon,” she said as she walked down to the ambulance with them.
“Oh, the museum crime scene lady,” said the male paramedic, a blond-haired, blue-eyed guy who looked too young for the job, but Diane noticed that he was efficient and sure in everything he did. “Sure you can ride.”
Diane was surprised and grateful as she climbed in the back that he recognized her. She tried to stay out of the way as much as she could in the tiny space.
“He’s looking good,” the woman told her.
It took under ten minutes to get to the hospital. They carried Mike in, and Diane went to the waiting room.
The room had a shabby look to it, no doubt from years of use by thousands of people. The vinyl chairs were brightly colored either red, blue, green or orange. A large blond-wood coffee table with a pile of magazines sat in the center. She rifled through the magazines on the table, looking for something that might hold her interest long enough to pass the time. She picked up the same magazine twice and put it down. Her head was starting to hurt right in the middle of her forehead. Finally she went outside and called Frank on her cell.
“Hey, babe. I was just trying to get in touch with you. My partner’s meeting with a Rosewood detective today. He called me and said someone was stabbed at a funeral. Was it the one you went to?”
“Yes. It was Mike.”
“My God. Your caving partner Mike? How is he?”
“I don’t know. The doctor hasn’t come out yet. Frank, what kind of maniac stabs someone at a funeral, of all places?”
“I don’t know. I’ll come over when I get home. You doing okay?”
“I’m fine. All that adrenaline’s keeping me going, but I think it’s about to wear off. I’m getting a terrible headache.”
“Try not to worry. Mike’s a strong guy. Let me know when you find out something.”
“I will. I think I see Neva’s car pulling into the parking lot. I’ll talk with you later.”
Korey, Andie and Kendel pulled in beside Neva. They all piled out of their vehicles and headed toward Diane.
“I thought I told you guys to go back to the museum.”
“We were going to, but decided we’d rather be here,” said Andie. “Heard anything?”
Diane shook her head. “No, but it hasn’t been that long.” She turned to Neva, who was looking at her with wide, tear-filled eyes. “He was conscious and very coherent the whole time. He even joked with the paramedics. He’s going to be all right,” Diane said with more conviction than she felt.
“If he’s joking, that’s good.” Neva tried to smile. “Mike’s really healthy.” She nodded as if agreeing with herself. “He’ll be fine.”
“David and Jin arrived before we left the cemetery,” said Andie. “They want us to call when we know something about Mike.”
“Let’s go sit down,” said Diane. She put an arm around Neva’s shoulders and led them all to the waiting room. With the excitement wearing down, Diane was starting to have more aches and pains. There was a dull throb in her foot as well as her tricep muscle, and her head was getting worse. She was glad to sit. She dug in her purse for a couple of aspirin, spotting a water fountain. The pills were hard going down. She took several more sips of water before she went back to the others.
“You okay, Neva?” Diane asked, sitting back down in her red chair.
Neva nodded. “This is just so weird-and scary. Makes me wonder if it’s some serial perp who’s going to start showing up in public places stabbing people.”
“If he does,” said Korey, “it shouldn’t be too hard to catch him. I mean, how often would he be able to get away with something like that?”
“None of us saw a thing,” said Andie.
“We weren’t looking,” said Korey.
All of them sat in the colorful chairs and did the magazine shuffle that Diane had finally given up on, opting to stare at the rainbow-colored carpet instead.
“Did you have a chance to look at your witch this morning?” asked Korey. They all looked toward Diane with anticipation.
“No, but she has had visitors.” Diane told Korey, Neva and Kendel about the Wiccan and the Druid. They all listened with rapt attention, as if glad for the least distraction. Andie added a description of Caitlin’s shades of purple.
“And they actually thought you’d give the bones to them?” asked Kendel.
“Apparently that was their hope,” said Diane.
They all lapsed into silence after that. Diane was lost in her thoughts when the waiting room’s double swinging doors opened and a doctor in scrubs emerged.
