Chapter seven

Once the ambulance stopped at the OK hospital parking lot, Alvin and the others did not waste any time in getting Snow out of the vehicle and onto the stretcher.

"Is she still breathing?" Joe asked when he stared at Snow's pale face.

"Yeah, she is. But we have to hurry her inside. Time's not in her favor." the EMT lady shouted.

Once they rushed Snow into the building, other nurses met with them in the lobby and took over.

"What happened to her?" One of the nurses asked.

"She got attacked by a wild beast," Joe said.

"Okay, we will take over from here." A nurse suggested.

In a rush, the medical workers rolled the stretcher forward, leaving Alvin, Melvin, and Joe standing in the lobby as they carried Snow away.

The three men did not speak for some time until Melvin gazed down at his watch.

"I better get the remains of the corpse to my lab and run some tests," Melvin stated.

"Okay, bro. Be safe." Derrie said as he and his partner shook hands.

"I will," Melvin replied before leaving the group.

"Well, I too got to leave. My little girl will kill me if I miss bedtime story hour. However, Derrie and Alvin stay here and keep watch over the kid. Report to me if any news comes out. Tomorrow we will try to find out more information about the girl." Joe stated.

"Okay, boss. We will!" Alvin replied.

"Good," Joe said, then he bit his subordinate farewell and left the hospital.

"Do you think she can survive this?" Alvin asked his friend after they both got seated on the bench in the Lobby.

"I hope she does. But I have a bad feeling that she may be in more than physical pain." Derrie replied.

"Yeah, if she's related to those two corpses, then we wouldn't only have to worry about her physical health, but also her mental state." 

"Investigating this incident is not going to be simple."

"No, it won't."

The two officers sat there quietly as both their minds burned through various thoughts about the difficulties they were going to face while working on this case.

A few minutes after Alvin and Derrie's little conversation, they waited for a bit, but they got informed that Snow was going through surgery, so they decided to go out and get some cold air.

"Did you see that?" Alvin said when his eyes caught the shadow of something like a dog as he and his friend stood at the entrance of the hospital.

"Dude, stop being so edgy. I am sure that it was just some stray dog shadow on the wall." Derrie said with a giggle.

"I don't know. But that shadow seemed too huge to be a dog."

"Have you not seen a Caucasian Shepherd or a Saint Bernard? These breeds of dogs are huge."  

"You made a rational point?"

Alvin let the subject go for a while, yet his heart was not at peace.

The dog-like shadow faded in the back of the alley of the hospital before shifting into a human form. 

He then took a set of clothes and shoes from inside the bag that he had been carrying in his mouth and wore them.

"Snow is here. But how am I going to get to her?" He mumbled.

Alvin did not feel satisfied even after his friend's comment, so he took out his flashlight, left Derrie alone, and went to the Ally to check it out.

"Hey, kid. What are you doing here?" Alvin said when he noticed someone standing next to the garbage disposer.

"Officer, I am not a kid. If you must know, I turned eighteen today." The person said as they stepped closer to Alvin.

"Yellow? What an interesting eye color. Okay, young man. What's your name?"

"Angel."

Alvin intensely gazed at Angel and had an annoying feeling that something was off about him.

"Okay, Mr. What are you doing in the alley at such an hour, and did you see any dog?" Alvin asked.

"I am one of the janitors at the hospital, and I came here to dispose of the debris. As for the dog, I did not see one." Angel said with a bold expression.

"What happened to your uniform?" Alvin asked when he saw that Angel was wearing casual clothes.

Angel quickly looked down at his clothes, then he gazed back at Alvin and smiled.

"I changed since I am off my shift. It was the last garbage bag that I got rid of."

Somewhere in Alvin's police intuition, he felt like Angel was lying to him, yet he could not figure out why Angel was being deceitful, nor did he have any evidence to prove it.

"Sir, if you have no other questions to ask, I would like to take my leave. It is getting late, and I have to get home." Angel stated.

"I don't have any more questions, so you are free to go." Alvin asked with uncertainty in his tone.

"Thank you, officer." Angel replied.

"Alvin?" Derrie called out when he saw two dark figures standing in the Alley. He then shone his flashlight on Angel and Alvin.

"Yes. Did something happen to the girl?" Alvin asked.

"No, she's still in the operating room. I came out here because you were staying too long in this dark alley. Who is this young fellow?" 

"Oh, he's a janitor at the hospital. But his shift got done, so he's about to go home."

Alvin stared at Angel, then he gave him a soft smile before focusing on Derrie.

"Hello, officer." Angel friendly said.

"Good evening to you." Derrie responded.

A few seconds later, Angel walked away when he saw that Alvin and Derrie had nothing more to say.

"Don't you think that there is something off about him?" Alvin inquired from his partner.

"Like what?" Derrie asked as he watched Angel's back fade from the alley entrance.

"I don't know, but he has a predominant aroma surrounding him." 

"You are reading into too much. He is just a kid, there is nothing dominant about him."

"Maybe you are right."

Angel stood at the hospital's entrance for a while before turning around and walking away.

'Tonight is not the right time to get to her since the police are here. I will have to come back another time. Snow, for now, this is goodbye until we meet again.' Angel thought.