A Stoneybrook Mystery Collection

by Eryn Scott

  The nurse's eyes narrowed as they took in Hadley. “Unless you’re family, I wouldn’t recommend that. She’s not in a place for visitors.”

  Hadley’s chest tightened with frustration. Was this nurse not going to allow her to see Brenda?

  “Oh, it’s kind of important,” she said lamely, wishing she had a more compelling reason to give the nurse.

  Actually, she had a very compelling reason, but not one she could say aloud. Without knowing who this supplier was, she couldn’t just tell anyone why she was there. She swallowed, smiling awkwardly at the nurse. Heck, this woman could be the supplier for all she knew.

  After a moment, the nurse sighed. “Okay, just wanted to warn you that she’s far from pleasant right now. It’s your funeral if you want to walk into that.” Cocking an eyebrow, the nurse went back to her chart.

  Relief whooshed through Hadley in a long exhale. “Makes you wonder why she checked herself in, if she’s so miserable,” she wondered aloud, turning back toward Brenda’s room.

  The nurse pushed back her shoulders. “She didn’t. A man brought her in, said he found her unconscious and was worried about her.”

  Hadley froze. A man. “What did he look like?” She spun back around to the nurse.

  She shrugged. “Um … tall guy, hunched over, blond hair.”

  “Dennis,” Hadley whispered to herself. “Thanks,” she told the nurse.

  So Dennis was the one who brought Brenda here, Hadley mused, still unsure if that made him more or less likely to be the one who took Miranda.

  Unable to solve that quandary, Hadley turned toward the room, steeling her reserve for what she was about to see. The rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor rang through the otherwise silent room. The woman in question sat, propped up by the electronic hospital bed. Her closed eyelids twitched above dark circles, and her damp hair clung awkwardly to clammy skin.

  Sleeping. Hadley clenched her fingers in frustration. She wasn’t about to wake a sleeping patient. She turned to leave.

  “Don’t act like I can’t hear you stomping around.” Brenda’s voice was so tightly strung, Hadley worried it might snap like an overextended rubber band.

  When Hadley glanced back, Brenda’s eyes were open, and her face was contorted into a scowl.

  “What do you want?” she snapped the question at Hadley.

  “I’m trying to help find Miranda,” Hadley said, fighting to keep any annoyance from her tone. Had Brenda completely given up on her daughter?

  At her daughter’s name, Brenda’s face softened out of the scowl it had been in, but her body language remained tense. As if she were in a room with a wild animal, Hadley slowly moved to sit in the chair near the foot of Brenda’s bed.

  “If I ask you some questions, will you promise to tell me the truth?” Hadley asked, her voice measured.

  Brenda pulled her bedsheets higher over her arms and shivered. Her face darkened. “I have nothing to hide, anymore.”

  Hadley breathed deep. She knew addiction was a disease and that the woman in front of her was probably going through severe withdrawals, so she gathered all of her empathy.

  “So you knew Miranda was getting the drugs for you?” Hadley asked, instead of the more pressing question of How could you? ringing through her brain.

  “Painkillers,” Brenda amended. “And she said it was safe.” Brenda spat out the answer. “She asked me to quit, and I did—for a while. But the pain was so bad still.” The woman’s expression darkened. “Miranda told me she knew how to get some, from a friend. She made me promise I would only take them when I needed to.”

  “And how often was that?”

  Brenda’s gaze snapped up to meet Hadley’s. “Whenever I was in pain.”

  Feeling her heart rate rise, Hadley tried to calm herself. She nodded in an attempt to appease Brenda. After a quick check over one shoulder to make sure no hospital staff were outside the room, Hadley asked, “Did you ever buy the drugs from someone?”

  “Painkillers,” Brenda corrected again. “And no. Other than what Miranda’s been getting me for the past few months, the ones I took were always prescribed.”

  So it’s possible one of the nurses around here is the supplier. He or she could watch for patients who come in to get more meds and are turned away, then tell a dealer like Zack to meet them in the parking lot. Hadley picked at her nails while she thought. She hadn’t repainted them since the purple the other day, knowing any polish would be chipped off immediately until the girl was found.

  “Were you ever approached?” Hadley asked after a moment.

  Brenda paused. “This summer. The first time I got kicked out.” She used air quotes around the last two words and rolled her eyes. “Some kid told me he had what I needed. At first, I thought he was trying to hit on me.” Brenda snorted out a wry laugh. “But then I realized he had to be half my age and that couldn’t be it. When I figured out what he was offering, I told him no right away. I’m not a drug addict,” she almost yelled the last part, ripping the blanket off her arm, apparently done with being cold and back to the hot and sweaty phase.

  Says the woman who’s going through drug withdrawals right in front of me. Hadley rubbed at her aching temples. This line of questioning wasn’t getting her anywhere. She needed to figure out which person in the hospital would not only have access to the drugs, but would know when patients were being cut off. With the emergency room, hospital, pharmacy, and clinic all within the same complex, doctors and nurses were constantly moving from building to building.

  “Do you remember the name of the nurse who kicked you out that first time? Or what they looked like?” Hadley asked, realizing after she asked the question how silly it was; any hospital employee could’ve been the one to tip off Zack.

  Brenda shook her head, sending a sneer toward the hallway where the nurses’ station stood. “The nurses were always different, and they either treated me like a child or a criminal. Dr. Kennedy was the only one who cared.”

  Hadley’s ears perked up at the name. Kennedy was the doctor who’d seen Gran the other day. Broken back, broken hip, they were all broken bones and would be treated by the same physician.

  Brenda continued, adding, “It was fine until one time, he must’ve forgotten to call in my prescription, and when I asked them to contact him, those pharmacists got all nosy and started asking too many questions. They talked with his nurses, not him, and before I knew it, I was getting cut off. After that, they wouldn’t even let me see Kennedy.”

  Remembering the kind way the man had talked to Gran, how he’d complimented her on her toughness and offered the pain medications to help, an idea hit Hadley.

  “How long was Dr. Kennedy prescribing you the pain meds after your back surgery, Brenda?” she asked.

  Brenda’s face pinched with discomfort and she slipped right back into her defensive tone. “A few months, at most.” Her red eyes shifted around the room, looking anywhere but at Hadley.

  So much longer than that, it sounds, Hadley mused. She knew little about spinal fractures, but while she was sure they would be more intensive than almost any other type of break, more than three months on pain meds seemed excessive.

  Kennedy’s smiling face as he wrote up Gran’s prescription was vivid in Hadley’s memory. Her cheeks grew hot as an idea formed in her brain. What if the supplier wasn’t only watching out for people who have become addicted and then getting cut off? What if the supplier was the person getting these people addicted in the first place?

  Her pulse pounded in her ears. Kennedy would have access to the medications and know exactly when to tip Zack off about the patients he knew were about to need a different way to get their fix. Regarding the time Brenda had mentioned, Hadley highly doubted Kennedy had forgotten to call in the prescription at all.

  But what would Kennedy want with Miranda? She was just a teenage girl. She was keeping him in business. Hadley thought back to Zack’s red-light ticket. If the dealers went to the old hospital all the time t
o pick up supplies, they would be extra careful about not getting caught on camera. Doing so would’ve blown their whole cover.

  Jaxon’s blanched face and swiveling, anxious eyes came back to mind.

  Unless, Zack was worried this time wasn’t going to be like every other time, Hadley thought, with a start. The picture had shown Zack’s car almost halfway through the intersection before his wheels were turning right. What if Zack had gotten the ticket on purpose to point to the old hospital?

  It was possible this hadn’t been just any old supply drop. Zack knew one of his fellow dealers had already died. He must’ve worried he was in trouble too. And if Miranda had followed him, hoping to buy from a different dealer, she could’ve stumbled on a meeting between Zack and the supplier.

  Hadley realized Brenda was glaring at her with a wrinkled brow, making her aware of how long she’d been sitting there, silently conjecturing. Smiling, Hadley stood awkwardly and waved.

  “Uh, okay. Thanks for talking to me, Brenda. I—I’ll see you around. Feel better.” She stumbled out of the hospital room before Brenda could say anything in response.

  The hallway closed in on Hadley, with all of its beeping machines, hurrying hospital staff, and spinning walls. She held on to a railing running along the wall beside her until she could get her balance back.

  She needed to call Paul. Checking her phone, she saw he still hadn’t texted her back.

  “Are you okay?” The nurse who’d been sitting at the station, monitoring the equipment walked around the desk and approached Hadley.

  Hadley swiped at her hot forehead. “Yeah, I—” She cut her sentence short and met the nurse's gaze. “Do you know where I might be able to find Dr. Kennedy?”

  The nurse’s smile faded. “I’m so sorry, hon. You’ve just missed him.”

  “Do you know when he’ll be back tomorrow?” Hadley tried to keep the disappointment from her face.

  “I’m afraid he won’t be back for a few days. He’s taking some time off to celebrate his mom’s ninetieth birthday. Isn't that sweet?”

  Despite the saccharine expression on the nurse’s face, Hadley’s stomach dropped. Taking a few days off? That could not be good.

  23

  Thanking the nurse, Hadley stumbled down the hall and into an elevator. She tried calling Paul.

  He answered on the second ring. “Had, what’s up?”

  “I think it’s Kennedy. He’s a doctor at Grande County. I think he’s the one who’s been supplying the dealers with painkillers. I think he killed the two victims, and I think he has Miranda.”

  Paul was silent on the other end. “Kennedy?” he asked finally.

  “Yes,” Hadley said as she exited the elevator and walked out of the hospital. She waited until she was in the parking lot to tell Paul all of the details.

  “Okay, I’ll tell McKay and see if they can do a search of his house, and I’ll have him post a detail on Jaxon until we’re sure he’s out of danger. We’re all the way up by the border. We got sent on some wild-goose chase with Dennis’s credit card.”

  Hadley’s breath caught in her throat. “You found Dennis?”

  “No,” Paul grumbled. “Someone sure wanted us to think he was trying to flee the country, though. Look, Had. I’ve gotta go.”

  She hung up the call and stood next to her van in the parking lot, feeling helpless. Kennedy was leaving. Was he bringing Miranda with or leaving her behind? Was he even the actual killer? Goodness knew she’d been wrong before.

  And where was Dennis? The thought seemed like it was only adding to the pile of worries in her mind. She imagined him dropping Brenda off at the ER.

  “And you disappeared hours later,” Hadley said the words aloud, as if Dennis might hear her and tell her what had happened. “What did you find out that made you run back to town and take out all of your money?”

  Paul had confirmed Dennis’s car was still parked at his house, but it was possible he’d driven Brenda’s. Hadley scanned the lot, her attention falling on Brenda’s red Camry with a Garfield license plate rim.

  She knew he’d gone back to Stoneybrook after dropping her off, but he must’ve come back. Furrowing her brow, she went back into the hospital and asked the girl at the front desk to check for his name. Was it possible something happened and he’d checked himself in?

  “I’m sorry. There are no patients by that name,” the woman at the front desk said, shaking her head.

  Hadley’s shoulders slumped forward and she rested her elbows on the counter, defeated. “Okay.” She rubbed at her eyes. “Thanks anywa—” Hadley’s voice cut out as her eyes caught on a black-and-white security photo printed out and taped to the receptionist’s desk. Hadley hadn’t seen it before, but could tell from this angle that it was Dennis.

  “That’s him. That’s the guy I’m looking for.” Hadley narrowed her eyes. “Why is he banned?” she asked, reading the word written along the top of the printout.

  The receptionist glanced down at the picture and her cheeks turned red. “Oh, that’s ... um …” She moved to try to cover it up, but must’ve realized it was futile. “He got in a fight with one of our doctors and isn’t allowed back.”

  Hadley stood up straight. “With Kennedy?” Her pulse was so fast now, she almost felt light-headed.

  There was no need for a verbal confirmation from the woman—the way her eyes widened at his name was enough for Hadley. “But he’s got to be around somewhere,” she mused aloud, thinking of the car parked in the lot.

  The woman leaned forward. “He came back,” she whispered, checking over her shoulder. “We saw him drive up and had security all ready in case he walked inside, but he didn’t.” She pointed out the front door at the traffic light. “He walked that way.”

  Hadley let her gaze follow the woman’s finger. The road to the old hospital. Why would he go there?

  She thanked the woman and left, running her thumbnail over her other nails as she thought. Dennis got in a fight with Kennedy, went home to get all of his money, and then walked over to the old hospital.

  Sure she couldn’t possibly wait around until Paul came back from chasing his false suspect, Hadley got in her van and started it up. At the light, instead of turning left to go back home, Hadley gunned the accelerator and went straight down the hill toward the old hospital. She could at least check to see if Kennedy was there, or if there was any sign of Dennis.

  The road wound two times before the old building came into view. It was boarded up and covered in moss. But other than exuding an eeriness that made Hadley shiver, it showed no signs of life.

  Hadley exhaled in relief. Kennedy wasn’t there. No one was around, in fact. Parking the van, she slipped quietly out and then fished her phone from her pocket. The lavender spray was still in her right pocket, and she patted it just to make sure. Approaching the building, Hadley dialed the newest contact in her phone.

  “Hey,” Jaxon said, still sounding just as high strung as before.

  “First, do not open your door for anyone until I call you back. I think I know who your supplier is, and I’m not sure if he’s out to get you too, but stay inside, whatever you do.”

  An audible gulp came through the line. “Are the police on their way?”

  “They will be soon,” she said. “In the meantime, can you tell me how to get inside the old hospital where you guys pick up your supplies?”

  “Why?” Jaxon’s voice lowered.

  Hadley wrinkled her nose, his hesitation palpable even through the phone. “Uh … so I can let my brother know when they get there.” She hated lying, but guessed it was the only way she was going to get the information out of the kid.

  “He’ll go around back and find the fifth set of windows on the ground floor from the left. The bottom one is unlocked. He’s got to slide it up and climb in. Then he’ll be in a locker room of sorts. That’s where we would get the stuff. The supplier would put it in a different locker each time, and text us the combination an hour before we were s
et to pick it up.”

  “Okay, thanks. I’ll let him know. Stay inside and stay safe, Jaxon.”

  “You too, Hadley.”

  She hung up and pulled in one steadying, deep breath before following the pathway around the hospital toward the back. It had been built into a hill, so the backside of the building sat much lower than the side facing the parking lot.

  Counting the banks of long windows running up all four stories of the building, she stopped next to the fifth set. Hooking her fingers under the sash, she heaved up.

  The window creaked upward.

  Using a nearby rock for a boost, Hadley wriggled into the opening, landing on the other side with a decidedly ungraceful flop. She grunted and heaved as she righted herself on the bench sitting just below the window. In her effort, her boot slammed into the side of the locker, sending a crashing sound pulsating through the air and almost stopping her heart.

  She just sat there panting for a moment, waiting for anything to happen. When it didn’t, she stood, pushing her hair back out of her face, and took in her surroundings.

  Jaxon had been right. It looked like an old employee locker room, probably for doctors and nurses to change before or after shifts. There was a bank of lockers to her right, benches running down the middle of the room, and a wall of mirrors and sinks to her left. Everything was covered in about two inches of dust and was either chipped, stained, or rotten. The smell of decay was so heavy in the air, Hadley had the urge to swat it away like smoke.

  She scanned the room and her heart sank. It wasn’t as if she were expecting to see one of Miranda’s signature cupcake earrings on the floor or anything—even though it would’ve made things so much easier—but she hadn’t expected the absolute nothing she did find. There were footprints marking the dusty floor, but even those remained solely in front of the lockers. No tracks led out of the room.

  Hadley exhaled. Miranda wasn’t here.

  Heart heavy, she decided to look around a little more before leaving. She tiptoed around the bank of lockers, cringing as she realized she was creating clear tracks and that she’d be stupidly easy to follow.