Blood Debt - By Tanya Huff Page 0,90

decision."

"And if I tell you to get rid of him, I take it it will cost me as much as if I tell you to go ahead."

He didn't seem to expect an answer, so she waited silently.

"Well," he sighed at last, pausing to drink a mouth?ful of tepid tea. "As I've said before, it's a waste of money if you hire a specialist and then don't listen to them. You're the doctor, and if you believe this is our best possible chance for this match ..."

"I do."

"Then go ahead. I'll call our buyer." All at once, he jabbed finger at her. "You're sure he's healthy?"

"I'm positive."

"Good. Because after that last fiasco, a satisfied cus?tomer can only be good for business."

"... midmorning showers are expected to clear by noon and the greater Vancouver region will enjoy a beautiful afternoon with temperatures reaching a high of twenty-seven degrees. The department of Parks and Recreation reports ..."

Tony hit the mute button and frowned. Television had become an immediate news source-the camera crews occasionally arrived at crime scenes before the police. Even if they were keeping the whole black market kidney thing under wraps during their investi-gation, there should've been something about a Met?ropolitan Toronto Police Officer beaten up and strapped to a bed in a North Vancouver clinic.

Henry had said the police were going to the clinic, so the police had gone to the clinic. That much was inevitable.

"Okay, so the rest of the country hates Toronto- they still wouldn't have just left him there, would they?"

He put the sound back on for the baseball scores, set the VCR to record the news at noon and at six, and turned off the TV, unable to shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

"You're overreacting," he told himself as he stuffed a clean shirt in his backpack. "So it didn't make the early news; so what? It was probably too early." He picked up his roller blades, then he sighed and put them down again. Scribbling, I'll be at Gerry's and the phone number on a piece of paper, he stuck it to the fridge with a Gandydancer magnet.

Henry'd thought it would all be over by sunset, that there'd be no uneasy spirits waiting at the foot of his bed. Tony didn't plan on being around when Doug and his handless friend arrived to prove him wrong.

"Is he awake?"

"Yeah. He had a piss and a glass of water. We going to feed him?"

"Of course we're going to feed him. Go and see if there's any food in the kitchenette."

"I'm not cooking for him," Sullivan grumbled.

Dr. Mui paused on her way to the bedroom and half turned, the black bag she carried bumping against her legs. "I beg your pardon?"

The big man shuffled in place for a moment, defi?antly meeting her gaze, then his eyes dropped, he mumbled inaudibly, and headed toward the fridge.

"Make enough for yourself as well, you'll be staying here as long as he is."

He leaned back over the counter, looking worried. "What about the clinic?"

"Harry and Tom can manage without you for a few days." She waited pointedly for him to continue doing as he'd been told, then went into the bedroom. "I know you're awake, Detective. Open your eyes."

Celluci'd heard that voice before, back in the clinic. This was the woman the orderly had been talking to in the hall, the woman who'd sedated him. Although he hadn't mentioned it to Vicki-it'd been hard enough to convince her to leave him as it was-he thought that the lack of emotion in the quiet voice, the cold, clinical discussion of his fate, had made her sound the way he'd always assumed vampires should sound-as though people were cattle. She sounded a lot more like a member of the bloodsucking undead than Vicki ever had.

Except that the sun was up and this woman was still walking around and he had to admit, she certainly didn't look as dangerous as she sounded. Watching her cross to the bed, he suddenly remembered a line from the first Addams Family movie, "I'm a homicidal maniac, we look just like everyone else." All thing con?sidered, it wasn't very comforting.

"So." He was pleased to hear he sounded a lot less shaky than he felt. "What are you planning?"

"So," Dr. Mui mimicked his tone, mocking him. "How much do you know?" When trying to decide whether or not Richard had panicked unnecessarily when he'd brought the detective in, she'd had him try beating the answer to that