“In the screenplay.”
“God, that’s annoying.”
“It means there’s more of them working with our villain. And so our supporting character needs to be protected.”
“I know, I know,” he said. “I’ll take her to your place after work. How’s that? It went pretty well before. Your building’s secure. And you can update us on whatever you get out of Sky.”
“Sounds good.” I smiled. “For the screenplay.”
Spike ended the call without saying goodbye.
—
Five minutes later, we were at Mass General. I got out of the car quickly and headed for the elevators, checking my watch as I ran. I had about twenty minutes before visiting hours ended. I wondered if that was enough time for the truth to work itself out. I hoped so.
I arrived at Sky’s floor and headed directly for her room, bumping squarely into Maurice from behind. He was still wearing his security guard uniform, along with a heavy coat, and he was talking to one of the nurses. He turned around when I bumped into him. “Sunny!” he said. “Good to see you.” Sky’s room was empty.
I looked around. “What’s going on?” I said.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Maurice said, turning back to the nurse. “This young lady says Sky was discharged an hour ago. But I was told by Sky herself that she was being kept overnight for observation.”
The nurse shook her head. “That was never the plan, though,”she said. “She was never told that. She was probably just confused.”
Maurice turned to me, his eyes widening slightly. “Probably,” he said. The nurse left. I looked at him.
“She clearly told me tomorrow morning,” he said.
“Me too,” I said. “She even texted back ‘Sure’ when I asked if I could stop by the hospital tonight.”
“Really?”
I nodded.
“It’s almost like…I don’t know…she didn’t want anyone to find out when she was leaving.”
Something passed between us—a knowledge that neither one of us seemed to want to voice.
I cleared my throat. “I told my dad about you, by the way,” I said. “He told me to tell you hi.”
“Phil’s a great guy,” he said.
“He feels the same about you.”
“That’s good to know,” he said. “Because I was going through some things back then.”
I gave him a smile that I hoped looked understanding. “We all go through things,” I said.
“True story,” he said.
“Maurice?”
“Yeah?”
“I think Sky may be up to something.”
He breathed out loudly. “Oh, man, I’m so glad you said that.”
“You are?”
