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The poor woman behind the counter had died because the queen hadn’t told her left hand what her right hand was doing. And I wondered what had happened to the human, the one who’d thrown up on the murder scene, the one who’d been hired to drive Sigebert or Andre to the range . . . after I’d so thoughtfully left a message to tell them when Barry and I were going back to collect the evidence. I’d sealed the woman’s fate myself by leaving that phone message.

Mr. Cataliades took his departure, shaking our hands with his beaming smile, almost normal. He urged us once again to get to the airport.

“Sookie?” said Barry.

“Yeah.”

“I really want to be on that plane.”

“I know.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t think I can do it. Sit on the same plane with them.”

“They all got hurt,” Barry said.

“Yeah, but that isn’t payback.”

“You took care of that, didn’t you?”

I didn’t ask him what he meant. I knew what he could pick up out of my head.

“As much as I could,” I said.

“Maybe I don’t want to be on the same plane with you,” Barry said.

Of course it hurt, but I guess I deserved it.

I shrugged. “You gotta decide that on your own. All of us have different things we can live with.”

Barry considered that. “Yeah,” he said. “I know. But for right now, it’s better that we go our separate ways, here. I’m leaving for the airport to hang around until I can leave. Are you going to the hospital?”

I was too wary now to tell him. “I don’t know,” I said. “But I’m finding a car or a bus to take me home.”

He hugged me, no matter how upset he was about the choices I’d made. I could feel the affection and regret in his heart. I hugged him back. He’d made his own choices.

I left the maid ten dollars when I departed on foot about five minutes after Barry got in a cab. I waited until I got two blocks from the hotel, and then I asked a passerby how to get to St. Cosmas. It was a long ten-block hike, but the day was beautiful, cool and crisp with a bright sun. It felt good to be by myself. I might be wearing rubber-soled slippers, but I was dressed nicely enough, and I was clean. I ate a hot dog on my way to the hospital, a hot dog I’d bought from a street vendor, and that was something else I’d never done before. I bought a shapeless hat from a street vender, too, and stuffed all my hair up under it. The same guy had some dark glasses for sale. With the sky being so bright and the wind blowing in off the lake, the combination didn’t look too odd.

St. Cosmas was an old edifice, with lots of ornate architectural embellishment on the outside. It was huge, too. I asked about Quinn’s condition, and one of the women stationed at the busy visitors’ desk said she couldn’t give out that information. But to see if he was registered at the hospital, she’d had to look up his records, and I plucked his room number from her thoughts. I waited until all three of the women were occupied with other queries, and I slipped into the elevator and rode up.

Quinn was on the tenth floor. I’d never seen a hospital so large, and I’d never seen one so bustling. It was easy to stride around like I had a purpose and knew where I was going.

There was no one on guard outside his room.

I knocked lightly, and there wasn’t a sound from inside. I pushed open the door very gently and stepped inside. Quinn was asleep in the bed, and he was attached to machines and tubes. And he was a fast-healing shifter, so his injuries must have been grievous. His sister was by his side. Her bandaged head, which had been propped on her hand, jerked up as she became aware of my presence. I pulled off the sunglasses and the hat.

“You,” she said.

“Yeah, me, Sookie. What’s Frannie short for, anyway?”

“It’s really Francine, but everyone calls me Frannie.” She looked younger as she said it.

Though I was pleased at the decreased hostility, I decided I’d better stay on my side of the room. “How is he?” I asked, jerking my chin at the sleeping man.

“He fades in and out.” There was a moment of silence while she took a drink from a white plastic cup on