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“Hang on a minute,” says the doctor angrily.
But Zael ignores her. He turns to Storm and says, “Rachel’s blood was all over her clothes when she was found. She had the murder weapon in her hands, and your own forensics teams said that the knife was covered in Rachel’s blood. It’s time to take her in and get this case over and done with.”
The doctor looks scandalized. “I will not be discharging my patient until I am satisfied she no longer needs medical care.”
“And what’s the press going to say about that?” DI Zael snarls. “They’ll say that this hospital is pandering to a werewolf who might well be the Wolf-Claw Killer is what! How will your other patients like that?”
The doctor goes pale with anger. She looks to Storm for help.
“We don’t have the full facts yet,” says Storm. “And until we do, India Lawrenson is going to stay here getting the medical care that she needs.”
“Then this one is on you,” says DI Zael. “If she hurts anyone, any hospital staff or patients, I’ll be holding you to account. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Chapter 12
DIANA
“Can we speak to India?” Storm asks the doctor.
“For ten minutes maximum,” the doctor says. “And don’t say anything to distress her. She does not know that her friend Rachel is dead.”
Before going into the room to speak to India, Storm instructs an unhappy DI Zael that Leo will be conducting the interview and that DI Zael is not to interfere. DI Zael looks mutinous, but he gives a grudging nod. He follows Storm and Leo sulkily into the room while I remain outside.
At least he got to go inside. I’m just glad he’s not sulking outside with me. It bugs me that Storm never let me go in. I worry he might have caught on to the fact that my psychic powers are on the blink. I tell myself to stop being so paranoid. How could he possibly know that?
As the men go in, I wave at India. It goes unnoticed as she does not look up. She keeps staring down at her bedclothes. DI Zael shuts the door firmly behind him, the smarmy git. At least he doesn’t think to shut the blinds in the door, allowing me to see in. Unfortunately the glass is thick enough to muffle their voices. I can’t hear a thing.
Storm and DI Zael stand some distance back from the bed while Leo approaches India. She fidgets uncomfortably, clearly sensing a more dominant werewolf in the room, but she refuses to look towards him. He says something to her. She does not reply. He tries again but she closes her eyes, as if determined to shut him out.
DI Zael makes a move towards the bed, looking like he is going to shout at her, but Storm puts his arm out to stop him. I see him say something quietly that makes DI Zael’s mouth turn down at the corners.
Leo sits down on the chair beside Indi
a’s bed, all the better to be at her eye level. He continues speaking to her. He looks charming and earnest, first staying back to give her space, but then leaning in towards her slightly as if to encourage a sense of camaraderie. His voice is probably soft. Leo is good with people like that when he chooses to be. India keeps staring at her bed sheet, picking at it, looking like she wishes she could crawl under it and melt away.
After a few minutes of this I open the door and slip into the room. Zael glowers at me but I ignore him. I go to the bed and sit down on its edge, next to India.
“Hi India,” I say. “Do you remember me?”
Her fingers stop picking at the bed sheet momentarily. Now she looks up at me, recognizing my voice. “Diana,” she says, as if searching her mind for how she knows me. A moment later she finds it. “We were supposed to have lunch.”
I nod. “I waited for you, but I guess you had more urgent things on your mind, huh?”
She gives a little laugh that is half sob. “I can’t remember,” she says. “What happened to me?”
“What do you remember?” Leo says.
She flinches at the sound of his voice. Her eyes turn towards him, but they rise only to the level of his chest. She doesn’t look into his face. She doesn’t say anything.
“This is Leo,” I tell her. “Agent Leo Kane. And that’s Agent Storm over there. They are my friends. You can trust them.”
I don’t introduce Detective Inspector Zael and this does not escape his notice. He gets a sour look on his face.
“We want to help you,” I tell her. “But we need your help. We need to know what you remember.”
She shakes her head. “Nothing.”
“Sure you do. You told me you were going to a bar to celebrate Rachel’s birthday.”
