Diane pushed through the crowd of people hurrying over to Mike. A middle-aged man was trying to help him to his feet, but Mike was resisting. The whole scene looked odd, but she couldn’t see what was wrong.
“Mike, buddy,” she heard Korey say as he knelt beside him. “What’s the matter?”
Pain arced through Diane’s foot when someone stepped on it as she attempted to push through a clump of people. When “excuse me” didn’t work, she tried gently pushing the person away. She apparently had pulled a tricep muscle at the gym this morning climbing the rock wall, for she felt a twinge in her muscle.
“Move it, dammit,” she said, not meaning to say it as loud as she did, but it got the person’s attention. They muttered, “Sorry,” and moved.
Mike was still on his knees, leaning forward with a hand on the grass. The man-Diane thought she recognized him as a local businessman-was still trying to help Mike up, and Korey was arguing with him.
“Something’s wrong, man. Let him go.”
“He just fell, needs a little help up.”
“Mike?” Diane knelt beside him opposite Korey.
She put a hand on his back and immediately pulled it away. Her palm and fingers were bright red.
“He’s hurt,” said Diane. “Korey, help me get his coat off.”
The man let go of his arm. “Is that blood?”
Diane ignored him as she and Korey pulled off Mike’s dark suit coat. She heard several people gasp at the large wet red stain on his white shirt.
Korey looked wide-eyed. “Jesus, buddy, what happened?”
“I don’t know. I just feel funny,” whispered Mike.
The blood was near the right side of his waist and was seeping down into his pants. Diane carefully pulled up his shirt and looked at his wound.
“Someone call nine-one-one. Mike, I want you to lie down on the grass here and stay calm,” Diane said. What the hell happened?
Diane heard Kendel giving directions. She must have already been calling.
“What is it?” asked Mike, as Diane helped him lie on his side.
“You’ve been stabbed.” Diane tried to keep her voice calm. All the organs and vessels in his lower back that could have been cut ran through her mind, and it frightened her.
“Stabbed? Jesus. How?”
“Just lie down. Help is coming.”
There was no blood on the front of his shirt, but she pulled it up just the same and checked him for any more wounds.
“Korey, stay with him.” She pulled a handkerchief from Mike’s suit coat and put it over the wound. “Put some pressure here. If the blood soaks through. .”
“Got it covered, Dr. F. I took the first-aid training for our department.”
Diane had sent all the docents and a staff member from each department to take courses in first aid. She was glad Korey was the one who had gone from the conservation lab.
“I’m going to talk to the chief of detectives,” she said, and Korey nodded.
“Take it easy, buddy; we have help coming,” said Korey.
Diane stood up. Andie and Kendel knelt beside Mike, covering him with his coat. Diane headed for the chief of detectives, stopping first next to Vanessa’s son when she saw little Alexis standing with her parents, looking scared. Vanessa’s son looked at her hand and gave her a handkerchief to wipe off the blood. Her hand shook as she took it. Who would do this-and why? The fear that settled in the pit of her stomach made her nauseated. Dammit, get yourself under control.
“What happened to him?” he asked.
“He was stabbed.”
Vanessa sucked in her breath.
“Take Alexis and your family home,” continued Diane. “Don’t talk about this with one another. The police will want to ask you individually what you remember. But for now, get your family home.”
He nodded and began to collect his family.
Diane took a deep breath and tried to find the objectivity she had at any other crime scene. She took her cell from her pocket and dialed her crime scene lab as she scanned the crowd and the cemetery. David Goldstein, one of her crime scene specialists, answered, and Diane briefly explained what had happened.
“What? At the cemetery?” said David.
“I want you and Jin to come and take a look around. There’ve been a lot of people here, so I doubt you’ll find anything right around where Mike was standing, but look behind the trees and large monuments in the area. Someone may have been standing, waiting for an opportunity.”
“How is Mike?”
“I don’t know. He’s conscious.”
“What about Neva?”
“She’s not at the funeral. I think she’s at home. Would you call her?”
“Sure. You all right?”
“I’m trying to hold on. Come as quickly as you can.” Diane folded her phone and slipped it into the pocket of her jacket.
Douglas Garnett, the Rosewood chief of detectives, was asking all the people to go sit in their cars until someone could come talk to them. But news of what had happened was running through the crowd like an electric current, and people were already hurrying to leave. Andie and Kendel were making sure the exiting crowd gave Mike a wide berth.
“What can we do to help?” Diane heard Steve Taggart ask Garnett.
“Take your family to your car and wait for the police. Encourage others to do the same. Someone will come and interview you just as soon as we can get them there.” Garnett was looking out over the crowd of people leaving.
“Most of their names will be in the guest book,” said Diane. “But I doubt our perp signed it.”
“What kind of nut comes to a funeral and stabs someone?” said Garnett. “Does this guy-Mike-have enemies?”
“Not that I know of. It seems like only a nut would take a chance like this.”
“Just when I thought perps couldn’t surprise me anymore. .” He shook his head. “I called the squad. Police and detectives will be on their way. What about an ambulance?” asked Garnett.
“One of my staff called nine-one-one. I’m going to ride with Mike to the hospital, if they let me. I want my crime scene people to come down here and look around. I thought Neva might want to meet us at the hospital. She and Mike are dating.” Garnett nodded. Diane let out a deep breath. “I also told the Van Ross family to go home. I’m sorry. I was thinking of the kids. I did instruct them not to talk among themselves.”
“Just as well. I think most of our people are going to go home anyway. The mayor and the governor’s man already left.” He paused, then asked, “Did you see anyone suspicious?”
“No. I’ve been scanning the crowd.” Diane shrugged in frustration. “There are just so many people I don’t know.”
At the sound of the ambulance she left Garnett to attend to the policing and she hurried back to Mike, who was trying to get up off the ground. Korey was still applying pressure to the wound, and Andie had a hand on Mike’s shoulder, trying to keep him still. Kendel went to wait for the ambulance so she could lead the paramedics to Mike.
“I’m feeling better,” Mike said.
“The ambulance is here,” said Diane. “Stay where you are.”
The ambulance parked on the grass shoulder of the roadway, and two paramedics hurried with their equipment to where Mike lay, shooing everyone out of the way. Korey stood back, blood dripping from his hand. Chief Garnett came forward and offered him his handkerchief.
The female paramedic, a black woman who wore her hair in waves tight against her head like a twenties blues singer, took Mike’s blood pressure and nodded to the male who began hooking him up to a drip.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Someone stabbed him,” Diane told her.
“At a funeral?”
“We don’t know who or why,” said Diane.
“What’s the world coming to?” She looked in Mike’s eyes with a light. “Can you talk to me, baby?”
“Sure, what would you like to talk about?” His voice was husky, and words trailed off at the end.
She smiled at him. “Do you have any allergies?”
“No.”
“What’s your name?”
“Mike Seger.”
“Okay, Mike Seger, we’re going to take you to the hospital and you’re going to be just fine.”
As they loaded him onto the stretcher, Diane gave instructions to Korey and the others to go back to the museum after they talked to the police.
“May I ride with him to the hospital?” asked Diane.
“And you are?” asked the woman.
“Yes, she can,” whispered Mike, reaching out his hand, which Diane grasped.
“My name is Diane Fallon,” she said as she walked down to the ambulance with them.
“Oh, the museum crime scene lady,” said the male paramedic, a blond-haired, blue-eyed guy who looked too young for the job, but Diane noticed that he was efficient and sure in everything he did. “Sure you can ride.”
Diane was surprised and grateful as she climbed in the back that he recognized her. She tried to stay out of the way as much as she could in the tiny space.
“He’s looking good,” the woman told her.
She must see how terrified I am, Diane thought. She hoped Mike hadn’t noticed. She reached out and stroked his hair. “Good thing you stay in such great shape.”
It took under ten minutes to get to the hospital. They carried Mike in, and Diane went to the waiting room.
The room had a shabby look to it, no doubt from years of use by thousands of people. The vinyl chairs were brightly colored either red, blue, green or orange. A large blond-wood coffee table with a pile of magazines sat in the center. She rifled through the magazines on the table, looking for something that might hold her interest long enough to pass the time. She picked up the same magazine twice and put it down. Her head was starting to hurt right in the middle of her forehead. Finally she went outside and called Frank on her cell.
“Hey, babe. I was just trying to get in touch with you. My partner’s meeting with a Rosewood detective today. He called me and said someone was stabbed at a funeral. Was it the one you went to?”
“Yes. It was Mike.”
“My God. Your caving partner Mike? How is he?”
“I don’t know. The doctor hasn’t come out yet. Frank, what kind of maniac stabs someone at a funeral, of all places?”
“I don’t know. I’ll come over when I get home. You doing okay?”
“I’m fine. All that adrenaline’s keeping me going, but I think it’s about to wear off. I’m getting a terrible headache.”
“Try not to worry. Mike’s a strong guy. Let me know when you find out something.”
“I will. I think I see Neva’s car pulling into the parking lot. I’ll talk with you later.”
Korey, Andie and Kendel pulled in beside Neva. They all piled out of their vehicles and headed toward Diane.
“I thought I told you guys to go back to the museum.”
“We were going to, but decided we’d rather be here,” said Andie. “Heard anything?”
Diane shook her head. “No, but it hasn’t been that long.” She turned to Neva, who was looking at her with wide, tear-filled eyes. “He was conscious and very coherent the whole time. He even joked with the paramedics. He’s going to be all right,” Diane said with more conviction than she felt.
“If he’s joking, that’s good.” Neva tried to smile. “Mike’s really healthy.” She nodded as if agreeing with herself. “He’ll be fine.”
“David and Jin arrived before we left the cemetery,” said Andie. “They want us to call when we know something about Mike.”
“Let’s go sit down,” said Diane. She put an arm around Neva’s shoulders and led them all to the waiting room. With the excitement wearing down, Diane was starting to have more aches and pains. There was a dull throb in her foot as well as her tricep muscle, and her head was getting worse. She was glad to sit. She dug in her purse for a couple of aspirin, spotting a water fountain. The pills were hard going down. She took several more sips of water before she went back to the others.
“You okay, Neva?” Diane asked, sitting back down in her red chair.
Neva nodded. “This is just so weird-and scary. Makes me wonder if it’s some serial perp who’s going to start showing up in public places stabbing people.”
“If he does,” said Korey, “it shouldn’t be too hard to catch him. I mean, how often would he be able to get away with something like that?”
“None of us saw a thing,” said Andie.
“We weren’t looking,” said Korey.
All of them sat in the colorful chairs and did the magazine shuffle that Diane had finally given up on, opting to stare at the rainbow-colored carpet instead.
“Did you have a chance to look at your witch this morning?” asked Korey. They all looked toward Diane with anticipation.
“No, but she has had visitors.” Diane told Korey, Neva and Kendel about the Wiccan and the Druid. They all listened with rapt attention, as if glad for the least distraction. Andie added a description of Caitlin’s shades of purple.
“And they actually thought you’d give the bones to them?” asked Kendel.
“Apparently that was their hope,” said Diane.
They all lapsed into silence after that. Diane was lost in her thoughts when the waiting room’s double swinging doors opened and a doctor in scrubs emerged.