Dr. Gianakous leaned down over Brooklyn’s head, presumably to listen to her breathing, then sat up again and checked her eyes with a small flashlight.
“What’s her name?” he asked.
“Brooklyn,” Jonah said.
“Brooklyn,” Dr. Gianakous said, snapping his fingers in front of her. “Brooklyn, do you know where you are?”
“Jonah?” she weakly said.
“I’m here,” Jonah said, grabbing her hand. “I’m here.”
There was a sweetness and affection in his voice I hadn’t expected. Not that I didn’t wish Jonah well; I just hadn’t gotten the sense when he’d initially told me that this date was anything more than casual.
“Brooklyn, do you know what’s happened to you?” the doctor asked.
“Medicine,” she said.
“You’re taking medicine?” he asked, obviously surprised. Brooklyn was a vampire, with presumably the same quick-healing propensities as the rest of us. She shouldn’t have needed medicine.
“Taking it,” she confirmed with a weak nod.
The doctor looked at Jonah. “Why does she have medicine?”
Jonah shook his head. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know her that well. We were supposed to have a date earlier this week, but she didn’t show up.”
“Brooklyn, what medicine did you take? Brooklyn?” The doctor snapped his fingers again, but Brooklyn’s gaze was unfocused.
An ambulance, lights and sirens on full, screamed to a stop in front of the building, and two EMTs rolled a gurney inside.
“Will they be able to help her?” Jonah asked.
“I’ll go with her,” Gianakous said. “I’ll make sure she gets what she needs.”
“Call me if there’s an update?”
“Of course,” he said, and began reciting her stats to the EMTs as they placed her on the gurney. Within seconds, she was in the ambulance, and it was roaring away.
Jonah looked completely out of sorts, shell-shocked by the quick turn of events.
I put a hand on his back. “Are you okay?”
“I hardly know what to think. I’m just—this just happened so fast.”
“You haven’t known her very long?”
He shook his head. “We met for coffee. That’s all. Then she stood me up for the date.”
And yet she showed up here, looking for Jonah, and at a location to which the Grey House vampires had only just decided to move. That seemed oddly coincidental.
“Jonah, if she was looking for you, how did she know to find you here?”
He looked at me apologetically.
“You told her you were moving,” I said as the realization hit me.
“It’s Valentine’s Day,” he said. “I was thinking about her, so I left her a message. I told her we’d be here.”
The always cool, always careful captain of the Grey House guards sounded remorseful, guilty even.
“It was Valentine’s Day,” he said again, as if that justified and explained every stupid thing people did for love and companionship. To be fair, it probably explained a fair percentage of them.
It was time to be a friend, as well as a partner. “She came to you for help. If she hadn’t known where you were, she might not have made it.”
“It was such a stupid thing to do,” he said. “To reveal where we were going.”
“And it probably saved her life.”
Jonah reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He held them out to me.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“The keys to her apartment. I can’t leave, but you can. See if you can find anything there.”
I took the keys, and stared at them. Exactly what did “coffee” mean these days? “Where did you get her keys?”
Jonah rolled his eyes. “Her pocket, about three minutes ago. Merit, she’s a good person, and a smart one. She’s got military training. She wouldn’t starve herself. Something happened to her.”
“I’m not sure she’d be thrilled to learn I was breaking into her apartment.”
“As you pointed out, she came here for help. We’re helping. And you aren’t breaking in. You have the keys.”
I wasn’t sure the CPD would find that argument compelling, but I agreed it was important to find out what had happened.
“What about my invitation? I can’t go in without one.”
“That’s etiquette,” Jonah said, growing exasperation in his voice. “I’m pretty sure she’ll forgive the breach.”
Under the circumstances, I guessed he was right. So I nodded and put the keys in my pocket. “Are the RG members still outside?”
He nodded. “They’re in the cars. They’ll stay until I give them the all-clear.”