"You're a friend of the woman hit by the cab?" he asked.
Rune nodded.
He said, "She's transitioned from a deteriorating status."
Rune stared at him. He stared back, waiting for a response.
Finally he tried again. "She's in a stable situation."
"I--" She shook her head, his words not making sense to her.
"She'll be okay," the doctor said.
Rune started to cry.
He continued. "She has a concussion. But there isn't much blood loss. Some bad contusions."
"What's a contusion?"
"A bruise."
"Oh," Rune said softly.
Stephanie, who didn't want to get bruised for her audition.
She asked him, "Is she awake?"
"No. She won't be for a while."
"Thank you, doctor." She hugged him hard. He endured this for a moment then retreated wearily back through the swinging doors.
At the nurses' station Rune asked for a piece of paper and a pen.
Rune wrote:
Steph:
I'm leaving. Thanks for everything. Don't come near me, don't try to contact me. I'll only get you hurt again. Love, R.
She handed the note to the nurse. "Please give this to her when she wakes up. Oh, and please tell her I'm sorry."
Running again.
Looking behind her, as often as she looked forward. Past garbage cans, litter on the street, puddles. Past the fake, gaudy gold of the Puck Building in SoHo, surrounded by the sour smell of the fringe of the Lower East Side. Running, running. Rune felt the trickle of sweat down her back and sides, the
pain in her feet as they slammed on the concrete through the thin soles of her cheap boots.
Air flooded into her lungs and stung her chest.
A block from her loft Rune pressed against the side of a building and looked behind her. No one was following. It was just a peaceful, shabby street. She checked out the street in front of her loft: No police cars, even unmarked ones. Familiar shadows, familiar trash, the same broken-down blue van that had been there for days, plastered with parking tickets. She waited until her pounding heart calmed.
If Emily and Pretty Boy found out about her place, would they come here? Probably not. They'd know the police would be staking it out. Besides, they were probably gone themselves. She'd been the fall guy they needed; their job was done. They'd probably left town.
Which is what I'm going to do. Right now.
Round on the ends and hi in the middle, it's O-Hi-O.
Rune walked around the block then snuck through the plywood fence of the construction site. Workers in hard hats came and went.