by Saless
Chapter 65

Jill woke early and dressed, and then went to see if Erica was awake yet. She was, and already itching to go see Sarah. Jill managed to convince her to eat breakfast first, so the two of them went back to Jill's apartment and started cooking. Vash woke soon after and followed his nose into the kitchen.

Mmm, smells good! I hope you made enough for me? Vash said, looking pleadingly up at Jill and Erica with his eyes as wide as they would go (which was unnaturally wide, in his case).

"Whoa, put those away, they should be qualified as a lethal weapon!" Jill said, laughing. "Cats, or cat-like creatures, shouldn't be able to do puppy dog eyes better than puppies do!"

Vash grinned and turned back to the bedroom to wake Mike, his head and tail held high. Erica and Jill laughed at his antics and got back to work. Vash was back quickly and settled on a chair at the table and watched them, his tail waving back and forth. Mike arrived, showered and dressed, just before they finished.

"Good morning." he said as he took a seat next to Vash.

"Good morning Mike, we're just about done." Jill said with a quick smile for Mike. They were soon absorbed in their meal, though Jill and Mike were still talking via Vash.

Are you okay Vash? Mike asked.

I'm fine. I'm sorry I failed to protect Sarah, but I gather from your thoughts that someone else took care of John. Vash replied.

Yeah, we don't know who, but we figured it was someone else who was hurt by John. Maybe someone who works with Sarah. What I'm even more curious about, though, is how he got the drop on you. Mike said.

He didn't. When I sensed him I warned Sarah, but when she turned and saw him there she froze. He was ranting insanely and promising to do all kinds of horrible things to her. I hit him with a few kinetic blasts, but he shrugged them off and kept coming. I was preparing another when he spun around and kicked, aiming at Sarah's head. Unfortunately for me, I was on her shoulder at the time. He caught me in the head instead, and I was thrown clear of Sarah and hit the ground hard. The next thing I knew was waking up here. Vash explained.

I'm just glad you're both alright. Although I'm not sure how much this is going to set things back with our plans regarding Sarah's repressed memory. Jill said.

I don't know, I haven't been near Sarah since I was knocked out. How is Erica? Vash asked, somewhat frustrated at his inability to sense Erica's thoughts or emotions.

She was pretty out of it yesterday, but she seems better now. Jill replied.

Hopefully she'll be able to handle the emotions she'll be picking up when she gets closer to Sarah. They're likely to be intense. Vash said.

Is there any particular reason we're leaving Erica out of this conversation? Mike asked as he wolfed down the last of his breakfast.

Best not to remind her of recent events any more than we have to. Vash replied.

Just then Erica finished her own meal and picked up her and Mike's dishes to wash them. Once finished she waited impatiently for Jill to finish hers. Vash finished off the last of it and Mike helped Erica clean up the rest of the dishes. "Okay, let's go!" Erica said impatiently.

Mike and Jill exchanged amused glances and Mike grabbed his keys. Vash jumped up on Jill's shoulder.

"You're coming along?" Jill asked, surprised.

Sarah will likely need all the help she can get. Vash replied. Jill nodded and they piled into Mike's car. As soon as they arrived at the hospital Erica was out of the car and hurrying inside. Mike and Jill had to almost run to keep up with her, and Vash was nearly seen before he became invisible. When they got to Sarah's room she was still asleep. As they all got settled in the same positions as the previous day a couple of police officers arrived.

One officer was male, older, with graying hair. The younger officer was female and looked to be in her mid twenties. The older officer said, "I assume this is Sean Kinsley?" while pointing at Sarah.

"Her name is Sarah!" Erica growled.

"Her legal name is Sean." He replied evenly. "And I meant no offense. Are you Erica Keller?"

Erica relaxed a little and nodded. "Did you need to talk to me?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yes, and Michael Levins. Is that you?" he asked, pointing at Mike. Mike nodded. "Good, you're all here then. You can call me George, and this is my partner Lorie. Michael has already given a statement, but we need to ask a few more questions. Especially of Erica and Sean, since they haven't given statements yet."

Erica shrugged, "Okay, but Sarah's still asleep."

"Then we'll talk to you two first. Michael, why don't we go to the cafeteria and talk, okay?" George said. Mike nodded and followed him out.

"Do you need me to go, too?" Jill asked after Mike and George left.

Lorie shook her head, "No, that's not necessary. Are you a friend of Sean's?" Jill nodded.

"Okay. So, Erica, I just need you to tell me what you saw." Lorie said, pulling a notepad and pencil out of her pocket. Erica nodded and told her everything she remembered, except for the shape shifting and Jill's presence. "Do you have any idea who might have stabbed Mr. Green?" Lorie asked after Erica was finished.

"Mr. Green?" Erica asked, "Do you mean John?" Officer Lorie nodded. "No, we don't have any idea. We've been wondering about it ourselves. Sarah said that lots of people were happy to see him gone, but that's all I know."

"What about you, do you know anyone who would want to hurt Mr. Green?" she asked Jill.

Jill shook her head and said, "Not really. I mean, none of us liked him because of the way he treated Sarah, but I don't have any idea who could have stabbed him."

Lorie nodded, scribbling in her notebook. Just then Sarah stirred, but didn't wake up. "It looks like Sean should be awake soon. I have one more question for you. How is it that nobody had any idea that Sean had ever been male until they talked to you? Even the doctors who examined her to see if she'd been raped didn't notice anything unusual." she said.

Erica was at a loss to answer that question, but Jill spoke up before Lorie could become suspicious. "Sarah was in a big hurry to complete her transition. She went to some doctor in Mexico or something to have the surgery. I guess it's a lot cheaper there, and they don't require their patients to go through the usual process." Jill said, hoping what Vash had suggested would make sense to the police officer.

Lorie nodded and jotted it down in her notebook. "I thought it might be something like that. She's lucky her surgery was such a success. A lot of the time surgeries performed on the cheap like that end up leaving the patient scarred or worse. They don't have the same hygienic standards as we do here." She said. "I'm going to see if George is done, and then we'll be back to talk to Sean." With that Lorie left the room and Erica and Jill both breathed sighs of relief.

"Where did you come up with that?!" Erica asked a moment later.

"Vash suggested it. He was rooting around in her memories for things we could use almost as soon as she walked in the door." Jill replied.

"Useful little guy, isn't he?" Erica said with a grin.

Jill grinned back and said, "Yeah, he is. I thought we were in trouble for a minute there, but Vash's idea worked like a charm!"

Of course! Vash said primly. Jill laughed and then had to explain the joke to Erica. She laughed as well. A commotion from the bed drew both of their attention as Sarah was finally waking up.

"Erica?" she said softly, reaching out blindly.

Erica grasped Sarah's hand in hers and said, "I'm here, honey, everything's fine."

Sarah put her other hand on top of Erica's and sighed in relief. "John?" she asked, tensing up.

"He's not here. The police have him." Erica replied firmly. "You don't have to worry about him anymore."

"He…he didn't…you know…" Sarah said haltingly, trailing off at the end in fear of the answer.

Tears were streaming down Erica's face as she pulled their entwined hands to her chest. "No dear, he didn't. Someone stabbed him in the back before he could do anything. He won't be in any shape to hurt anyone for a while." she said.

"That's one of the reasons we wanted to talk to all of you." George said as he, Mike, and Lorie walked back into the room. Sarah shrank back and the police officers stopped short so as not to frighten her further. "Mr. John Green died this morning from his wounds."

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