Page 29 of Code Trauma

Andy shut the door and heard the deadbolt engage. He took a deep breath then reassured himself that he was only going to be three minutes away. The police station was just around the corner from the hospital. He could be back fast if he had to be. But if he thought he would need to do that, should he leave her?

The door opened. “Go, Andy, I’ll be fine. Mann is in custody, and I’m going to sleep a bit, then work.”

He sighed and nodded. “Okay, see you in a little while.”

He hurried to the sheriff’s office and walked inside to find a woman matching the sheriff’s description sitting in the lobby. It could only be Victoria Mann. “Mrs. Mann?”

She stood. “You’re the man the sheriff said wanted to talk to me?”

“If you don’t mind. I just had a few questions that were nagging at me—about Garrett.”

“Okay, if it helps me make sure I get my fair share in the divorce, then I’m happy to answer.”

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “So, the pictures that you found on Garrett’s phone. You said you got a tip that they were there.”

“Yes, someone left a note under my windshield wiper and said they hated to be the bearer of bad news, but that I needed to find a time to check his phone, that he had a girlfriend.” She spread her hands, then clasped them at her waist. “And the person was right. Obviously.”

“And the pictures in his desk?”

“Some of the same.” She swallowed hard. “I’m very angry with Garrett because of this whole stalking thing, but I honestly don’t see him as someone who’d do the other stuff that they’re accusing him of.”

“What other stuff?”

“They’re saying he switched the drugs in the chopper. Drugs that killed a woman. The sheriff asked me if I’d noticed anything at home—drug vials and whatnot. So before you ask, the answer is no. Why would he bring that stuff home when he was at the hospital?”

“So, drugs were switched?”

“Yes, while I was talking to Garrett, the sheriff came in and said the report had come back that epinephrine was found in a Decadron bottle. They suspect that someone switched them out, and as a result, the nurse, Holly, had inadvertently given the patient a lethal dose of the epinephrine.” She frowned. “I think I remembered all that correctly.”

“Oh no.”

“That’s not all. There were other medications that had been tampered with as well. According to the sheriff, someone was going to die in that chopper—and soon. If it hadn’t been the Decadron and epinephrine tragedy, it would have been something else.”

Then this was a premeditated murder, not just a crime of opportunity.

“But,” she went on, “like I said, I just can’t see Garrett having any part of that. He loves being a doctor.” She clicked her tongue. “Much more than he loves being a husband, obviously. As much as I don’t want to defend the two-timing jerk, I have to admit he’d never do anything to jeopardize his career.”

Andy processed the words. “When did you find out about Holly? That he was obsessed with her?”

She frowned. “This morning when I found the note.”

“Do you still have the note?”

“No, I threw it away.”

“Okay, then?—”

The sheriff stepped out of the interrogation room. “Andy, a word?”

“Of course.”

Andy stepped over to the sheriff, out of earshot of Mrs. Mann. “Dr. Mann decided to talk a little more,” the sheriff said. “I’ll fill you in on that in just a minute, but I also just got word that one of the forensics guys said while the photos were real, they were all uploaded at the same time to the cloud from the hospital coffee shop. Of course, I wanted to know who did the uploading, and hospital security checked the date and time and sent me three pictures of the people in there using a laptop. And two using their phones.” He turned his iPad around and showed Andy the pictures.

Andy lifted his gaze. “You’re kidding me. Her?”

“I called and she clocked out about two minutes ago.”

“She’s going after Holly. She was in the ER lobby when we left. What if she followed us to the motel?”

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