there were feet and legs in white shoes and pants. Fortunately, even as she spotted them, they turned from the gurney and moved out of the curtained area. The moment they did, Allie crawled under the curtain here too and scrambled toward the opposite side.
“Hello?” The question was part surprise and part dismay from the gurney. The voice sounded like an old woman’s, but Allie didn’t glance around to see if her guess was right. She merely muttered, “Hello, sorry,” and scrambled out the other side of the curtained area where she climbed carefully to her feet. It was the end of the examination rooms, if you could call curtained-off areas that. This was a small alcove with cupboards and a sink right next to a door that she suspected led to the rest of the hospital and other exits. She moved to the end of the uncurtained alcove and risked a peek out.
The doctor had moved away from the two detectives and they were now talking to the police officers. The detectives’ expressions were oddly concentrated. The sight merely made her more determined than ever to leave as quickly as she could. She needed to get home, grab Liam and the Go bags she always kept packed, and get the hell out of Toronto. She’d hoped the city would allow them to stay lost longer, and it had seemed to work. They’d managed to stay here for four months instead of the usual two or three, but they’d been found again and it was time to move.
The very idea was a depressing one to Allie. She was exhausted in body, heart, and mind and just wanted to curl up and sleep for a week . . . or maybe a year. But she didn’t have that option. She just had to suck it up and keep moving. For Liam.
“So, we have handled the police and the doctors,” Magnus murmured as the police officers moved away, their memories of the events surrounding Allie Chambers removed.
“Yeah.” Tybo scanned the emergency area, no doubt checking the minds and memories of the nurses and doctors present to be sure they hadn’t missed anyone. “Mortimer will have to send someone to erase any physical evidence. The 911 call and so on.”
“Is that necessary? I didn’t even think it was necessary to remove the events from the minds of the doctors and police. They all seemed to think it was just a mistake. That she was there for innocent purposes.”
“But she’s a possible life mate to you, Magnus, so that’s a connection to us and we need to remove anything that connects to us.”
“Of course,” Magnus said quietly, knowing that was true. He should have realized that at once, but he was a little distracted at the prospect of meeting his life mate. A possible life mate, he reminded himself. Just because she might suit him didn’t mean she would agree to become his life mate. Sighing, he straightened his shoulders. “So? We approach her now and get her out of here?”
“No.”
Magnus turned on him sharply. “No?”
“I mean, we can’t approach her,” Tybo said with a grimace. “At least, not here. She left while we were dealing with the police officers.”
“What?” Magnus asked with dismay. “What do you mean she left? Why did you not stop her?”
“Because I didn’t want her causing a ruckus here after we’d worked so hard to erase everyone’s memories,” Tybo said soothingly. “But it’s fine. We have her address. We’ll just go to her home and you can . . .” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Introduce yourself or something. Speaking of which, how did you plan to handle things?”
“I—” Magnus scowled. “Well, not like this. A seemingly accidental encounter, maybe. Something that appears random or natural, and then I would woo her.”
“Woo?” Tybo grinned.
“What?” Magnus asked, his eyes narrowing.
“Nothing,” the younger man said at once, but his grin widened. “You’re just showing your age. Wooing is kind of old school.”
“The word or the activity?” Magnus asked with irritation.
“Both,” Tybo decided, and then clapped a hand on his shoulder and used the hold to urge him toward the exit. “I’m afraid the accidental encounter thing is out. We need to find out what she was really up to tonight.”
“We know what she was up to,” Magnus pointed out as they exited the emergency area. “She was moving some blood she forgot to take care of before leaving work that day and—”
“Maybe,” Tybo interrupted. “But we need to find out for