Page 65 of Bewicched

“Arwyn, you want to tell me what happened here?” she asked, taking out her small notebook.

“We came to see my aunt—”

Hernández glanced over her shoulder at the hospital bed. “This is your aunt?”

I nodded while Mom cried silently beside me. “Mom was having a bad night, thinking about Aunt Sylvia here all alone, so we came to sit with her, talk to her like the nurse yesterday told us to do.”

“It’s after hours,” the detective reminded us.

I shrugged. “We wanted to try and no one stopped us, so we came in to see her.”

The male detective put gloves on and reached down to roll the dead nurse onto her back.

“Sir, wait,” I said. “She has some kind of medication in her pocket. She came in while we were talking and filled a syringe with whatever’s in that vial. Then she added it to the IV. Less than a minute later, Aunt Sylvia’s heart had stopped and alarms were going off.”

“This is Detective Osso,” Hernández said. “Arthur, could you check her pockets?”

He nodded, checked the pockets and came up with a vial. He walked to the door and asked the security guard to get the doctor. His voice was a deep baritone rumble that called up visions of dark cozy places and long rests.

Wait. I caught Declan’s eye and tried to ask the question I was thinking through my WTF expression. He kept his focus on the detective but eventually nodded.

I knew Detective Hernández had asked me something but my mind was buzzing with excitement. A bear shifter? Seriously? How did I not know there was such a thing.Damn.

“Arwyn?”

“Right. Right. Sorry. What was that again?”

“Do you know this nurse? See her last time you were here?” Detective Hernández glanced at her partner and scribbled a quick note.

“No.” I turned to check with my mom.

Mom shook her head, wiping her face, and said, “She wasn’t one of the nurses I’ve seen going in and out.”

The guard pushed open the door and the doctor was back. Detective Osso took the evidence bag out of his pocket and showed the doctor.

“Is this the medication this patient should be receiving?”

The doctor’s annoyance at being called back morphed into confusion with a side of fear. “Of course not. Where did you get this?”

28

Just a Little One?

“So this isn’t something commonly given to coma patients?”

The doctor glanced at us and then said, “If I could talk with you in the hall?”

Detective Osso walked the doctor out.

“Let’s go over this again. Exactly what happened?” Hernández asked.

“Barbiturate, neuromuscular, terminal patient,” Declan mumbled, clearly forgetting we had a mundane in the room.

Detective Hernández pinned Declan with a look. “What about barbiturates?”

Declan’s face went blank. I think he was shocked to have slipped so badly. He pointed at the door. “I have excellent hearing. The doctor just told your partner that vial contained euthanasia medication.”

“Is that so?” she asked, clearly not believing him.

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