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"Hello, can so tiles? And he fell froot hurt real bad? And we didn’t knohat to do? So we brought him here, but there’s a lot of blood and we’re really scared? Can you help us?"
She hopes the tears plus the ditz can scramble anyone’s BS detectors as effectively as Hush Puppy once scrambled radar There are ru DNA decoders in the field She can only hope that they haven’t trickled down to hospitals yet
E and rush to their aid In a second Dylan’s on a gurney, being wheeled through the AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY doors
"Is he going to be okay?" asks Risa, in panic that’s only partially feigned "Because our parents are out of town? And we didn’t knohat to do?"
"We’ll take care of hi tone "Don’t you worry" The nurse glances at Kiana, who has Dylan’s blood on her clothes, then heads off into the e closed, and Risa rolls over to the admissions desk, with a carefully planned wallet of false inforanized, and intentionally designed to make Risa appear helpless and flustered
"We’ll sort this all out later," the ad on to the next person in line
- - -
An hour of waiting with no word Kiana’s been pacing, nonervous just plays into their cover story Finally the sahtly teary-eyed, and Risa feels a pit in her stomach, as if Dylan, who she didn’t know before today, really is her brother
"Honey, I’ to have to prepare yourself"
Risa grips the wheels of her chair, feeling a well of e to bubble from deep inside her Kiana puts her head in her hands
"I’m sorry," the nurse says, "but your brother was just too badly injured We did everything we could"
Risa just looks at her in disbelief and shock The nurse puts her hand on Risa’s, patting it gently "I can’t i to have to notify your parents We’ve been trying, but no one picks up at the nu the in front of her face, shakes her head
"Well then," says the nurse, "we’ll have to keep trying In the meantime, if there’s anyone else you can call"
"Can you give us a few moments?" Risa asks quietly
"Of course, dear" The nurse squeezes her hand reassuringly and goes back through the eency room doors, where Dylan’s body waits to be claimed by parents that don’t exist Risa wipes her tears away, trying to find comfort in the fact that she did the best that she could
And then Kiana says, "It’s just like the other ti occurs to her She wonders how similar it is
"Kianayou do knoe’re supposed to go to a different hospital each tiht?"
By the look on Kiana’s face, Risa can tell she never learned that particular protocol "Shouldn’t it be the closest hospital in an eency?" Kiana asks
The sudden dread that Risa feels is balanced with an equal amount of hope "The other times you were here, did you see that same nurse?"
"I think so At least once That’s bad, isn’t it?"
"Yes and no I’ll be back"
Risa rolls herself toward the AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL doors and pushes her way through She finds herself in a hallway that’srooency rooe kids with parents who s" vanish upon pronouncenized Kiana--there is no question in Risa’s mind Which means there’s more than one level of deception here
"Excuse me," someone says from farther down the hall, "you’re not supposed to be in here"
But Risa doesn’t care She rolls into a large room marked RECOVERY It’s subdivided by curtains into cubicles with hospital beds, and she begins to pull back each curtain one by one An empty bed An old woman Another empty bed, and finally, Dylan Ward His wound has been dressed; an IV leads into his arm He’s unconscious, but abut dead
Just then the nurse comes up behind Risa and turns her chair around The woman is nowhere near as teary-eyed as before
"You need to leave right now, or I’ll call security"
Risa locks the brake, so the chair can’t be wheeled away "You told me he was dead!"
"And you toldhih in her voice to e whatsoever Unfortunately, she doesn’t
"He’s in no condition to travel--and even if he was, I would never turn an AWOL Unwind over to anyone but the Juvenile Authority"
"Is that what you did with the others? Gave them to the Juvey-cops?"
"That’s my business," the nurse tells her, as cold as can be
"At least giveif the other two are still alive"