Package Deal (73 page)

“
You’
re awake!” She smiled and laughed and cried
,
all at the same time. “Yes, it’s a promise.” She
kissed him on both cheeks
and his lips,
and then
grabbed the buzzer for the nurse.

The oldest of the three nurses
assigned to Marcus’s care
entered the room.
“It looks like he’s still pretty groggy. Why don’t you give him a bit more time and then you can come back and talk to him.”

Marcus’ eye
lid
s fluttered.

“I see what you mean. Are
you sure he’s out of danger now,
that he’s not going to start bleeding again?”

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Later that afternoon, the
same
nurse preceded
Amanda as she entered the room.

“Professor Dunbar, you gave us a scare yesterday. That’s not nice. We d
on’t like patients to do that.
”
The woman
bustled about the bed, stepping around Amanda after checking his vitals and the
different
IV bags
suspended
around the bed.
She
noted the readings on the various monitors,
and asked,
“So,
tell me. H
ow are we feeling
now
?”

“
We—
the royal we
?
” He licked his lips.“
Well,
w
e
are feeling like shit
if you must know
, but at least I’m a
wake
,” he replied.
“
And
I’m dry as
a desert
.”

The nurse held the straw and a glass of water for him to sip.

After
she’d pulled the glass away
, Marcus said,
“Amanda,
I just thought of something. C
ould you tell Leonard I may not make it to class today
—or is
it
tomorrow
?”

She laughed out
l
ou
d. “I think he
’s
figured that out already. He’s one of the people who said you were Dracula—drinking everyone’s blood yesterday
—and it isn’t even Halloween
for two more weeks
.
But
I’ll tell him.
I’ll tell everyone.”

He looked over at her, his eyes bleary.
“I feel
weak as a soggy rag.
Don’t you have class today—or is it Sunday? I can’t remember what day it is.” He yawned.

“I
t’
s Monday.
I’ll call Mike and give him an
other
update—now that you’
re awake.
I have
an early
class
tomorrow
, and
I promised Cece I would bring
her back to see you after you’
re awake. Maybe
tomorrow
afternoon?
After my last class?
”

He nodded.
“I’ll hold you to that. Reading
will make me stronger, I’m sure.
”
Then
he descended into sleep.

The nurse checked him and turned to Amanda. “He’s asleep, not unconscious. You go
on home
. We’ll watch him,
don’t you worry.”

“
Make sure
Eeyore
stays next to him.
” Amanda placed the
stuffed animal
between his cheek and his chin.
“That
little
donkey
has healing powers.”

She
called Mike with the
latest
news
,
then
went
home.
The next morning when
she arrived
for
her first class, students were
still
talking a
bout the attack in the English d
epartment and how Professor Dunbar had captured the bad guy, but was now in the hospital.

Evan approached Amanda
as she came out of the lecture hall
. “I hear your buddy, Marcus, got hurt.”

She looked
up
at him.

“
My blood type makes me
a universal donor.
”
He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “
I
went
to the hospital
yesterday
and donate
d
in his name.”

She smiled at him.
“Thank you, Evan. I’m s
ure he’
ll
appreciate
knowing that
. He
lost a lot of blood.”

“Too bad we can’t use it to repair old Shakespeare.
Beatrice
’s been moping around
ever since she came in
and saw
the empty space in the entrance wall
.”

Amanda smiled. “I’ll talk to her. Maybe we c
an
find
a similar
sculpture
to replace him
.”

Between classes,
she returned to the office
.
Greg Hillier was waiting for her.

“I have something you may want, Amanda
—forgot to
mention
it
this morning
. Give me your hand.”He dropped her necklace into her palm. It was stained with blood
but,
except for the broken chain, appeared undamaged.

“Where did you find it?”

“
One of the
police
officers
brought
it to me after they finished their investigation and gave
the cleaning people permission
to put the office back together again. It was u
nder one of Shakespeare’s hands
,
lying
next to your door.
I called J
anine
Foote in the a
rt department to see if she t
hought old Will was repai
rable. She seems to think it’s possible, so we swept up all the pieces and he’s
now
in her capable hands. If she calls me back and says it’s a lost cause, we’ll plan a burial service that satisfies
Beatrice
and try to find something else for
that part of our entrance wall.” H
e smiled.
“How is Marcus faring?
Leonard says
we almost lost him.”

Amanda smiled. “He’s doing better now. I need to thank
Ian
for the loan of his shirt—I, we
used it to try to stop the bleeding.” Her eyes filled.
“I think it went to the hospital with Marcus, but I have no idea where it went after that.”

“I’m sure
Ian
thought it all in a day’s work.Did you know he used to be a
paramedic
before he got his degree?”

“No wonder he knew just what to do.”

“You go on to class. Tell Marcus we expect a full recovery—and if he needs more blood, just let us know. I suspect there’ll be a line
of people
at the blood bank wanting to contribute.”

Amanda went off to her
thir
d class of the day smiling—until she
remembered
the papers she
’d
intended to give back to
her
students
.Realizing her mistake, she changed her plan, and
engaged the stud
ents in a free-ranging question-and-
answer
period
about anything they wanted to talk about. The bulk of their questions center
ed on the fight in the English d
epartment until she
finally
called a halt.

“No more of this
.
Let’s talk about Shakespeare.
”

An English major laughed. “Which one? The
sculpture
in the office that got creamed—or the guy who died in 1616?”

“
J
im
,” Amanda
repli
ed. “How about the one who lived in the
seventeenth
century? The other one is
being repaired by
the a
rt d
epartment.”

The
students
laughed
,
and Amanda let them out earl
y
with plans to return to the hospital
.

Carlton
s
lou
ched against the chair in the interrogation room. He mumbled to himself then
rose
and wandered around the room.

D
etective
Will Park
stood up and leaned against the wall
,
watching the man pick a
t a scab on his face and r
ake
his hands through his dark hair
.
A real sleaze
ball, in his opinion.
“Time to sit down,
Professor
Winslow.
”

Rex
Mahoney
,
Will’s
partner
, remained seated.

Carlton returned to his seat facing
Rex
. When he did so, Will took a
chair
next to the disheveled professor. The blood on
Carlton’s
shirt was a dark red stain,
blending
at the edges with the dirt that had
worked
its way into the fabric.
His hair was stiff with grease and dirt, and the stains on his pants suggested the man had been sleeping on park benches or grassy areas.

“
Let’s go over this again
.
”
Rex
looked at his notes. “
T
he other man says you attacked him. What do you have to say about that?”

Carlton glared at the detective. “He
threatened me and then he shoved me against the wall
!
He’s been
out to get
me ever since I came on campus.
”

“Why is that?” Will asked.

“
He’
s
hot for
my office
-
mate
. I’ve seen them at the movies, at different parties together.”

“
Oh, so
you’re interested in
her
, too
—
romantically
speaking
?”
Rex
asked.

“I didn’t say that. I just said—”

“
Wha
t about in the last couple days?
”Will
tw
irled his pen. “
What did
you
do to provoke him
,
to make him attack you
?”

Carlton gulped, and cleared his throat. “Can I have some water?”

Rex
pointed to
a glass of water
he had placed on the table
.
“Well?”

“Dunbar says you were holding a knife to the lady’s throat
,” Will interrupted
.
“
Why were you doing that?”

“I
just
went in there to get my things. She
hid
them
somewhere
,
and
I couldn’t
find
them
!
I just wanted to scare her so she would give them back.
I couldn’t find them and then her kid started screaming.
”
Carlton’s eyes widened and his pupils dilated. “
I was just trying to get away
from the noise, the screaming
.” He drank the water in several gulps.

Will
looked at
Rex
, one eyebrow
cock
ed
.
“Her kid? What kid? Dunbar never mentioned a kid.”