Page 90 of Deception

Sister. She loved the way the word wrapped around her heart. It sounded as though neither of their lives had been rosy, but perhaps this could be a new start for both of them.

Now if she would just hear from Bri again. She’d called earlythis morning, and Dani had tried to talk her into contacting Madison. But the girl was so afraid, and other than Dani, she didn’t trust anyone. She’d have to turn her over to God. Briefly, she wondered where Madison stood with him...

Her eyes grew heavy and she let herself drift off to sleep. Dani didn’t know what woke her unless it was the nurse who was checking her IV. “What are you giving me now?” she asked, her mind groggy.

The nurse mumbled something unintelligible.

The skin on the back of Dani’s neck prickled, and she twisted so she could see what the nurse was doing. The person wore a white lab coat but their back was to Dani. She couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman, but whoever it was stuck a needle into the port on the IV bag.

“What are you doing?” she demanded just as the nurse pushed the plunger on the needle.

“Flushing the port.” The voice was low, rough, like a man’s ... or a woman trying to sound like a man.

Wait. Needles weren’t used to flush a port ... and Dani knew enough from her months caring for her adoptive mother before she died of cancer that continuously flowing IVs didn’t need flushing. And that wasn’t where you flushed a port, anyway.

The door opened, and Cathy bopped in. “I brought your ice cream.”

The nurse quickly withdrew the needle, capped it, pocketed it, and with a ducked head, hurried out of the room. Cathy shot the departing nurse a quizzical glance and set the small cup on the table.

“Do you know that nurse?” Dani asked.

“No, but I haven’t been here long, and we get new hires all the time. Do you know what the nurse did?”

“Flushed the port, but it looked more like the person was injecting medicine. Would you please check to see if the doctor ordered a new medication?”

As Cathy bolted from the room, Dani stared at the solution dripping from the bag into her IV line. Without flinching, she pulled the catheter from her hand and used a tissue to press against the vein. Better to have the catheter put in again than to risk dying if the nurse wasn’t who they were supposed to be.

The door to the room flew open, and the RN who’d given her meds earlier rushed into the room followed by the gangly CNA whose eyes were as big as saucers.

“Oh, good. You pulled the catheter out,” the RN said. “Whoever that nurse was, no one has charted that your IV was flushed, and from the description Cathy gave, that person doesn’t belong on this floor. I’ve called security, and because of the shooting yesterday, they called the chief of police. Can you describe the nurse? Or did you notice a name badge?”

“No. The person kept their back to me, and I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman.” She glanced at the RN’s name badge dangling from a clip on her pants pocket with her photo and name clearly visible. “I didn’t see a badge, either.”

“Me either,” Cathy said. “But the nurse had dark hair—that blue-black color—and was shorter than me and heavier.”

The RN wound the tubing up and removed the IV bag. “You have antibiotics scheduled soon, and we need to get a new IV line in. I’ll be right back.”

She started to trash the bag, and Dani said, “No! Save that for the police.”

“Of course. Don’t know what I was thinking.” The RN dropped it into a clear plastic bag.

Dani found her cell phone and texted Madison and Clayton about the nurse. Her phone immediately rang.

“What’s going on?” Madison’s voice was tight.

“I think someone just tried to kill me.”

A gasp came over the phone. “What?”

“Yeah.” Dani explained what happened. “The police are onthe way. Not sure how long it’ll take to test for what the person injected in my IV bag, but I have a bad feeling about it.”

“We’ll be right there. Some interesting things have happened around here too. We’ll be there in the next hour.”

Ten minutes later someone rapped on her door, and she said, “Come in.”

A muscular man stepped inside the room, his bald head shiny. “Ms. Parker? Police Chief Pete Nelson.” He showed his ID as he approached the hospital bed.

She compared the photo on the ID to the man, and satisfied, she shook the hand he extended. “I wasn’t expecting you this soon, but thank you for coming.”

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