She’d fainted in the middle of the robbery. Her dizziness had come on quickly. She’d been a little weak, but fine up until then, but as she was carrying a box of the bags of blood across the room everything had suddenly started to spin and then the floor had come up to meet her. Apparently, she’d hit her head as she fell. Great. She’d lost more blood.
“Well.” The older officer shifted and closed the notepad he’d been jotting in since she woke up. “We’ll head out and let them get you settled in a room.”
“A room?” she asked with alarm.
“The doctor said they want to keep you twenty-four hours for observation,” the younger officer said gently. “You really took a bad blow when your head hit the floor. Skull meeting hard tile is dangerous. They want to make sure all is well. No swelling on the brain or anything.”
“But we’ll expect you down at the police station when they release you tomorrow,” the older officer said sternly. “You’ll need to sign the paperwork this little jaunt of yours has caused.”
“Yes, of course,” Allie murmured, but knew she really couldn’t stay. Liam was special. He couldn’t be left alone for long.
“Officer Mannly?”
The older patrolman turned at that soft enquiry and smiled at the young nurse who had appeared at the opening in the curtain. “Yes?”
“There are two detectives talking to Dr. Whitehead. I think they’re here about Ms. Chambers, so I thought I’d give you a heads-up.”
“Detectives, huh?” Mannly said with disgust. “Thanks. We’ll go head them off and tell them they wasted a trip.”
When the nurse nodded and slipped away, he turned back to smile crookedly at Allie. “Get some rest. But don’t forget to come to the station tomorrow. And maybe without the cat costume.”
“Yes.” Allie managed a smile and murmured, “Thank you,” as the men slid through the opening in the curtain and out of sight, but her mind was on how to get out of there. Surely the hospital couldn’t hold her if she wanted to leave? She wasn’t under arrest. Thank God.
Deciding to just slip out to avoid any hassle, Allie slid off the gurney she’d awoken on, and then had to stop and grab at it to steady herself when the world wobbled around her. It was a full minute before the floor stopped moving, and then she released a small sigh and shuffled to the opening in the curtain. She was in bad shape, worse than she’d ever been. Allie loved Liam to bits, but that love was killing her.
Pushing that thought away for now, she paused and peered out. There were several doctors and nurses bustling around, moving from one curtained-off area to another. There were also two tall men all in black talking to the doctor who had treated her. One of the men was dressed in black leather pants, a black T-shirt, and a heavy black leather coat. The other was in a black suit and long coat. The detectives, Allie supposed as she watched Officer Mannly and his partner approach them.
Allie started to shift her attention away when a flash of silver caught her eye. It wasn’t from a wristwatch, or a ring one of the two detectives was wearing, but from their eyes. Her blood ran cold when she saw the metallic glitter in their depths. When one of the two new men then looked her way, she quickly ducked behind the curtain, her heart racing and the world wobbling again.
Allie forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths to steady herself. She was seriously low on blood at the moment. If she were a car they’d say she was running on fumes. At least, that’s how it felt. It was what had precipitated this risky and ridiculous venture of robbing the blood bank. It was also going to slow her down. But she needed to get out of there. And without those two “detectives” seeing her.
Allie considered her options and then crossed the small curtained-off room to the opposite side. There, she dropped to her knees and peered under the curtains. Not spotting any feet moving around in the next curtained-off area, she crawled quickly under. There was someone on the gurney here, but they were curled up on their side, clutching their stomach with their eyes squeezed closed in pain.
Thinking that was fortuitous, Allie quickly scrambled around the gurney to the opposite side. Still on all fours, she paused to check this new area. Here,