My vision swam and my stomach lurched. I sucked in air, blinking hard. Don’t be sick, Emma. Don’t be sick, don’t be sick, don’t be sick.
‘Are you alright?’ The doctor’s voice seemed to come from far away.
I tried to focus on him; he still looked blurry, but I was regaining control. I was aware of everyone else in the room staring at me. As Lukas wrapped an arm around my waist and drew me close, I risked a glance at him. His expression was mild, betraying no flicker of disgust or revulsion. ‘She’s under a lot of stress, doctor,’ he said. ‘We all are.’
‘Of course, of course. I can only imagine how difficult this is for you all.’ The doctor smiled uneasily and took a step back, clearly attempting to put more space between himself and me. I couldn’t blame him. ‘I have some news. I couldn’t call it good news – not yet – but it’s not bad news either.’
I pushed away what had just happened and held my breath.
‘We’ve had surgical teams working on Frederick and Owen. Both of them remain in a critical condition. Frederick has been placed into an induced coma while he recovers from the worst of his injuries. We’ve removed his spleen and resolved the issue of internal haemorrhaging, but his body has undergone a massive trauma and the next few days will be vital to his recovery. At this point we’re cautiously optimistic, but it will be a long journey.’
Fred’s mother gave a choked sob. Buffy went over and hugged her. ‘He’s strong,’ she said. ‘Fred will pull through, I know he will.’
‘What about Owen?’ Liza whispered, standing next to Catherine.
‘He has lost a lot of blood but our main concern is that, despite the passenger side of the vehicle taking the brunt of the damage, Owen banged his head quite severely. There’s a lot of swelling in his brain. We’ve stabilised him and he’s in intensive care, but I’m afraid that we can’t say what will happen. There’s a possibility of brain damage, but at this point it’s a waiting game. We won’t know more until he wakes up.Ifhe wakes up.’
Tears rolled unchecked down Liza’s cheeks. ‘Can I see him?’
‘Of course. I can take you to him now. I should warn you that there are a lot of machines and tubes around his body.’
‘Can we see Frederick?’ his dad asked.
‘If you follow me, I’ll take you to him, too.’
Buffy clapped her hands together. ‘Great! Let’s go!’
I glanced at her. ‘Buffy.’
She looked my way and I shook my head in warning. This time was for his parents, not for us. She scowled but then she nodded at Fred’s mum and dad and stepped back. A moment later only she, Lukas and I were left in the little waiting room. ‘It’s good, right?’ Buffy said, as much to herself as to us. ‘It could be a lot worse.’
It couldalwaysbe a lot worse. ‘Both of them are tough,’ I said. ‘They will pull through.’ They had to pull through. I needed them.
She looked at me more closely. ‘What was that shit you were spouting when the doctor came in? Pennies? Wishes? You sounded like you did when you were harping on about that tip-off for Baker Street.’
I scratched my neck. ‘Uh…’
‘Don’t worry about that now,’ Lukas said. ‘We have bigger concerns.’ His tone was grim. ‘These events cannot be coincidental. Somebody is framing you for Alan Cobain’s murder and Supernatural Squad is a charred shell. Now the two remaining Supe Squad police officers are half dead. Supe Squad is being targeted.’
‘Bad things come in threes,’ I said, then nudged Lukas sharply in the ribs. This wasn’t the place for this conversation.
‘In the space of a day, Supe Squad has been destroyed. Only Liza is left standing, and she’s neither an active officer nor is she in any fit state to continue with work,’ Lukas persisted.
Buffy’s snarl returned. ‘You’re saying that you think all this has been deliberate?’ Her voice rose. ‘That somebody tried to kill Fred?MyFred? And that they’re still out there? What if they try again?’
If she tried to turn into a wolf again, I’d have no choice but to bring her down. I watched her, ready to act.
‘I’ll arrange for a guard to be put on both their rooms,’ Lukas told her, already drawing out his phone to make the arrangements.
‘No. The wolves will do this, not the vampires.’ She glared at him, as if daring him to disagree, but at least she was controlling her inner beast. Protecting Fred meant that she had an agenda that her werewolf form couldn’t help with.
‘Call in more werewolves if you wish,’ he said mildly.
‘I do wish.’ Her eyes spat fire at us. ‘Wait here.’ She gave a menacing wave of her hand. ‘I mean it. Don’t go anywhere.’ Then she stomped out of the room.
As soon as she’d gone, Lukas asked, ‘Do you think I’m wrong? Do you think all this is a coincidence?’
Mutely, I shook my head. It felt implausible but it could easily be true. I couldn’t be killed so somebody had killed Cobain instead, knowing that my name would emerge as a suspect. Between the strands of hair found at the scene and the anonymous tip-off that was obviously a lie, it was a reasonable theory. And it was compounded by someone consigning Supe Squad to ashes forever and trying to kill Fred and Owen.
