A few minutes later, the front doors to the lobby opened, and Elizabeth came up to me with a plastic bag in her hand.

“Here you go. I have a whole pack of them.” She handed me a fresh box of straws that changed color if any foreign chemicals or substances were added to a drink.

“Elizabeth, thank you so much for this.”

“No problem.”

“What can I bring you that would make you smile on your shift? Please anything, I must repay this favor.”

“You can just get me a grilled veggie wrap from Buckwheat’s if you really insist.”

“You bet, thanks again. You have no idea.”

Elizabeth nodded and headed out of the lobby while I returned to my room.

I tried falling back asleep, but I couldn’t. I lay down in bed, my mind racing with what could have happened or what drug could have done that to me. I mentally went through the possibilities, but nothing was making sense. A few hours passed by as I was sprawled over the mattress. Checking my phone, Foster texted me saying that my blood work could be done at any time today at St Mary’s. Still no word from Vicky, but I didn’t expect her to answer me right away.

As soon as I saw the text, I threw some clothes on and rushed out of the inn. I went to Buckwheat’s for a quick breakfast, and I didn’t see the server I had hoped to see. It was a staff I wasn’t familiar with.

Perhaps this is the weekday crew; I might have to wait another weekend before seeing the familiar faces at Buckwheat’s.

I scarfed down an omelet and raced out of the restaurant, and hopped into my car. Driving to St Mary’s hospital, I called Martha.

“Yellow, g-man. What can I do for you?” She answered.

“Have you ever heard of anyone going to Club Novus and not remembering the rest of the evening?”

“No?”

“Well, I went there last night, and I can’t remember a damn thing that happened to me after a certain point. I don’t think anyone put anything in my drink because I had my drink next to me the entire time. It’s possible someone slipped something in at the bar, but I have no idea, and to be honest, I’m pretty freaked out about it.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. That’s horrifying. We should get together and talk about it more and investigate.”

“Yeah, sure, at the moment, though, I’m going to the hospital to get some blood work done to try and figure out what the hell happened.”

“You should. Let me know when you’re done. Come by my office, and we can talk about it more.”

“Sounds good. I’ll talk to you later. Thanks, Martha.”

The call ended, and I continued my quiet traffic-less commute to St Mary’s hospital. When I arrived, I went through the main lobby and went to a counter that seemed to point people in the necessary directions. There was one person in front of me, and while I waited, I checked my phone, and I saw that I had a missed call from Vicky. I contemplated calling her back, but the person in front of me was receiving help. They were already walking in the direction they needed to go.

“I can help whoever is next,” the woman at the counter said.

I approached. “Yes, I have some special testing that needs to be done. An appointment was made this morning, Edward Wright.”

“Sounds good. Just let me look you up here.” She fixed her attention on the computer monitor and typed in my name. “All right, so what you’re going to do is walk straight down the center here, and you’ll see a special area for lab testing on the left. Talk to the desk clerk there, and they will get you started.”

“Thanks.” I strolled through the massive atrium of the hospital lobby down the center path until I saw a collection of chairs and uncomfortable couches in the area to the left.

“Lab work,” was the sign out front.

I approached the counter and was immediately taken in to receive a hypodermic needle to the arm, where they extracted vials upon vials of blood.

“Are you okay?” The nurse asked me.

“I’m hanging in there. Just picturing myself on a beach somewhere.” I laughed to myself.

“You’re looking a little weak. I’m going to give you some apple juice and a cookie after this.”

I did feel light-headed. My vision grew darker.

“Stay with me now, young man.”

For whatever reason, the only thing I could think of to keep me conscious was the investigation. “Any idea what happened with the blood stealing that happened the other night?”

“Yeah, that was on the news, but that’s all I know about it. Don’t worry though, your blood’s not going to go missing. We have to work on this right away.”

“Thank you, just curious.”

I was clinging on to consciousness, and she finally removed the pinching needle after what felt like a lifetime.

“You’re all done, sir. You can lay down if you’d like, but I’m going to get you a cookie and apple juice. Getting your blood sugar going will help.”

“Thank you,” I uttered.

After I snacked on the cookie and drank the apple juice, my arm felt a little tender, but I was back to normal for the most part. I stepped outside and looked at the front of the building from the sidewalk, and called Vicky.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Hey, how are you?”

Vicky took a deep breath. “I’m doing okay, I guess. How about you? I got your text, and I’m pretty worried. To be honest, I remember everything pretty clearly from last night. No glitches in the matrix on my end. Do you have any idea what happened to you after I left?”

“Uh, yeah, the server actually sat down where you were sitting, and we talked for a little bit. But then she left the table, and I approached the dance floor, and that’s all I can remember. I went back to my room, though, and typed in some notes around 1:30 AM, before they even closed, but it’s freaky because I have no memory doing any of that.”

“Yeah, I can imagine, that’s so scary. I’m really sorry to hear about that.”

“It’s okay. Fortunately, I seem to be fine. What about you? What’s going on with your grandpa? I’ve been thinking about him this morning.”

“He’s... I don’t know. It’s hard to tell. Still unconscious and has a myriad of machines hooked up to him. I just got here a few minutes ago. My mom said he was stable.”

“You’re at the hospital right now?”

“Yeah.”

“What room number, I’m actually here at the moment, and I’d like to say hello.”

“Oh, uh, sure. Uh, he’s in room 517. Are you really here right now?”

“Yeah, I can explain. I’ll see you in a moment,” I said as I went back inside and found the gift shop to buy some flowers.

Going up the elevator, I made it to the 5th floor and found room 517. There was no one there, except an unconscious old man attached to various cables with Vicky sitting by his side, reading a book.

“Hey,” she said, her face lit up. “You didn’t have to bring flowers.”

I placed them on a little table across from the hospital bed. “It was the least I could do. How’s my friend doing? Good to see you again.” I held her grandpa’s hand for a moment.

The only reply was the beep from his heart monitor.

“Thank you very much for coming. It means a lot.”

“I figured if I was already here, I’d pay a visit. That’s pretty nice that your grandpa has a room to himself.”

“Yeah, I guess my mom hooked that up. The perks of having your mom as a doctor. Apparently, they’re not too crowded, so it wasn’t an issue finding an empty room for him which I’m thankful for,” Vicky said.

“Has your mom talked at all about what happened with the missing blood incident?”

“She hasn’t mentioned it at all.”

“Huh. That’s a little strange.”

“I know, but then again, I haven’t really seen her a whole lot lately. I do my own thing, and we work at different times, kind of. I’m sure she’s probably a little freaked out about it.”

“Is it strange to you that she hasn’t brought that incident up at all?”

Vicky’s head bobbled from side to side. “Yes and no. She talks about work so much that I’ve actually told her to stop. Like, I call her out on it whenever she brings up any drama or any issues. We’ve had a whole conversation about how she needs to separate work from her home life and keep those two starkly separate. She agrees so, whenever she starts with ‘you wouldn’t believe the day I had,’ I just say, ‘nor do I care to hear about it. You’re home now,’ and that’s where it ends.”

I rubbed my chin. “I don’t mean to bother her at work, but do you think she might remember if she saw a limousine out in front of the hospital?”

“A limousine at the hospital? Was it some bougie dude who couldn’t be bothered to go in an emergency truck?” Vicky chortled.

“The blood that went missing at the hospital. Someone gave the blood to someone in a limousine.”

“That’s wild. Uh, you could certainly try and ask her.”

“If you were to rent a limo, where would you go?”

Vicky chuckled. “I might ask my neighbor.”

I paused. “What makes you say that?”

“One of my neighbors who lives down the street has a limo in his garage.”

“Really? Does he loan it out to people or something?”

“He might. I have no idea. I rarely see him take that thing out, to begin with. He’s a really nice guy, though.”

“Why does your neighbor have a limo?”

Vicky shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s like a retired mechanic, I think, and loves to collect cars. His garage barn is massive. I’ve talked to him before at a neighborhood party, and he seemed like a really nice guy. I feel like he’d loan me a limo if I wanted one.”

“Interesting. I might ask him a few questions. Leave no stone unturned. Do you know his name by chance?”

“Yeah, Rudy. Don’t know his last name, though. He’s a few houses down from me.”

“Thank you for this information. I’m glad I said something.” I smiled. Inquiring further, I was able to get his address from Vicky. “Could I take you out to lunch? I’m incredibly grateful for the information you gave me. I think I’m going to stop by Rudy’s house and ask him a few questions.”

“That’s okay. I’d like to stay here with my grandpa. My mom will be bringing me lunch from the cafeteria.”

“I understand. I’ll let you know if anything develops out of this. Thank you for everything.”

I left the hospital and went back to downtown Wilton to get a submarine sandwich from the shop that Mickey mentioned to me. After devouring a cheesesteak inside the tiny shop, I went to the police station to meet Martha.

“I’m hoping I have a break in the case here. When I met with Vicky a few hours ago, she gave me some intriguing information about Rudy, who owns a limousine. Do you know him?”

“Yeah, I think I know who Vicky is talking about.”

“I was going to stop by his house and knock on his door. Ask him a few questions. Would you want to come with me?”

“Boy, howdy, do I ever,” Martha said and smiled. “I love your intuition, g-man. You might be onto something.”