Dr. Marsters was a cordial, balding man who looked to be in his early sixties. After checking Angel’s vitals and asking a lot of questions Angel didn’t know how to answer, Marsters finally told him he’d been found starkers in the alley behind the Hyperion. Naked, but without so much as a scratch on him.
“You’re as healthy as a horse, which is why the memory loss is so befuddling. At this point, I might assume amnesia brought on by traumatic stress, but I have to tell you the condition is so rare that most neurologists consider it a myth. And considering your physical condition—the lack of physical trauma, I have a hard time swallowing that theory myself. So the question becomes, Mr. Angel, why are you lying to me?”
Angel glowered at him. “When can I leave?”
The doctor sighed and shook his head. “Be straight with me, and I’ll sign you out of here this afternoon, providing you have someone to take you home, wherever that might be. Keep lying to me, and you’ll stay in that bed until Psychology can see you on Thursday.”
“What day is it?”
“Tuesday, September the sixteenth.”
Angel’s breath hitched. September? He died in the alley in May. Three months, assuming. . .
“What year?” Angel whispered.
“Thursday it will be, then,” Marsters said, scribbling on his chart. “And it’s 2004, just for the record.”
Angel released his held breath. Only three months. Not that it really mattered. Nothing mattered until he could figure out why he was back, who brought him, and what they were going to throw at him next.
Nothing mattered.
Still, he was relieved he’d only lost three months. It might have been three years. Or three-hundred. It might have been a whole different world.
“The nurse, Jeannie . . . she said you’d let me make a phone call.”
Marsters gestured with his pen to the table beside the bed. “Dial nine for an outside line, then zero if you need long-distance.”
“Thank-you.”
“If you decide to change your mind about waiting for Psych, have the nurse give me a holler. But decide quick, because I’m leaving in an hour,” Marsters said, walking out of the room.
Angel looked at the phone. He stared at it for a long time before he found the nerve to pick it up and dial.
His muscles grew more taut with each ring.
“Hello?”
“I have a collect call from Angel,” the operator droned. “Will you accept the charges?”
An endless two seconds of silence followed. “Yeah. Sure.”
Another endless two seconds as the operator clicked off.
“Listen, asshole. I don’t know who the hell you are, but if I ever find out, I’ll . . .”
“Connor. It’s me.”
Angel heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. “Dad?”
The word echoed through his head, and Angel smiled. “Yeah.”
“Dad,” Connor breathed. “Where have you been? I went looking for you, but the other one said you got dusted. His words. He saw it happen, he said. Lying son-of-a-bitch. I should have known better than to believe a vampire, but he was one of yours, so I figured . . .”
“Connor.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m at County General. I need you to come get me. Can you?”
“The hospital? What are you doing at the hospital? Is someone hurt?”
“They seem to think . . .well, they think I’m crazy. Can you come?”
“I’m on my way. I’m walking out the door.”
“No. Not now. Tonight, after visiting hours. You’ll have to sneak in, and find a way to sneak me out. Can you do that?”
“Sure, but I don’t understand . . .”
“You will when you get here. Oh . . . and do you think you can bring me some clothes? I kinda . . .don’t have any.”
“This just keeps getting weirder.” Connor sighed. “Yeah. Just don’t expect anything fancy. My wallet can’t handle leather and Armani.”
“Shoes, too.”
“Weirder and weirder.”
“Thanks, Connor.”
“Midnight,” Connor said. He hung up.
Angel held the dead phone in his hand, thinking. Spike. Spike told Connor he was dead. Which meant Spike wasn’t.
Good. Great. Spike wasn’t dead, but was he alive? That was the question. Had Spike received the Shanshu, like Angel believed he would?
He needed to know. If Spike Shanshued, then it meant that he, Angel, did not. And that put a whole new spin on the beating heart issue.
He needed to find Spike.
But then, that shouldn’t be too hard.
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