Luck of the Devil

by Patricia Eimer

  “We have no problem with the search of the locker or personal items since she has no expectation of privacy within the workplace. Or to the reissuance of her statement,” Matt said. “But was she subjected to drug testing when the incident was reported?”

  Dr. Turnbow looked at Doris.

  “Yes, she was,” Doris said. “She voluntarily gave us a sample right after reporting the incident yesterday. Very efficient and helpful in this whole matter, I just want to say that up front. She even called Doug in security to do the preliminary search of her locker.”

  “So, you want to re-subject my client to a drug test you performed just yesterday? Did she happen to fail the first test?”

  “No.” Doris handed him the drug screen. “She passed it perfectly fine.”

  “No inconclusive test results?”

  “Nope, the results came back decisively negative for any foreign substances.”

  “So why is she being re-subjected to the test?”

  The door opened, and a dark-haired man in jeans and a black windbreaker sauntered into the room without bothering to knock. “Because a police officer wasn’t present when she was tested the first time, and we’re requesting another sample for processing by our independent toxicology lab. I’m Detective Kastellero, Pittsburgh PD. And you are?”

  “Matt Andrews, Miss Bettincourt’s legal counsel. The Pittsburgh police routinely use Rogers Hospital for rushed toxicology reports on persons of interest. I’m sure any judge will tell you that a lab equipped to look for the presence of drugs in a victim’s system is also perfectly capable of handling a sample from a complaining witness.”

  “That would be true, but we have a warrant compelling Miss Bettincourt to provide a urine sample for drug testing. Specifically, the presence of morphine.”

  “Which she did,” Matt said smoothly. “And that sample has already been processed and found free of drugs by Rogers’s toxicology staff.”

  “That sample was run by the laboratory where Miss Bettincourt is employed,” Kastellero argued.

  “Could I see your warrant?” Matt grinned at the man wolfishly, and I got the distinct impression he was enjoying himself.

  The detective handed over a folded sheet of paper and Matt made a show of opening it and reading it thoroughly. “This just says you need a drug test done to test for the presence of morphine in Miss Bettincourt’s system. It doesn’t specify any lab or exclude Rogers Hospital from performing the test. So it’s a moot point. You have the negative test results. Therefore, another identical test performed less than twenty-four hours after the first is nothing more than harassment.”

  “Fine,” the detective said. He leaned back as far as he could in his seat. “My partner is going through Miss Bettincourt’s locker with the head of hospital security right now.”

  “Wonderful that you’ve learned to split responsibilities.” Matt leaned back in his own chair, mimicking the other man. “The mayor must be so proud to have men of your intellect protecting the city. Now, what would you like clarified in Miss Bettincourt’s statement?”

  Detective Kastellero leaned forward and crossed his hands on top of the table. “When did you first notice the medication missing?”

  “When I came on shift at seven,” I said.

  “Walk me through your morning,” he said.

  “It was normal. I came into the hospital, put my lunch and my purse in my locker, clocked in, and made my way to pediatric surgery on the sixth floor. Bernice, the night shift charge nurse, gave me a report on all of our patients that were on the floor already, and we discussed the incoming patients and what their expected needs were.”

  “And was anyone expected to need a higher than usual dose of morphine?”

  “No, all of the expected patients were general surgical procedures. But we do keep a large quantity of pain relievers in our medication room because of our unplanned patients. In our ward, it’s not the patients you are expecting who need the most care, it’s the ones who show up from the ER.”

  “Right,” Detective Kastellero said. “So you got the report and talked about your patients. Then what happened?”

  “We followed the standard procedure and went into the medication room to count our pharmacy stores. That’s when we found the morphine missing.”

  “And your statement is that it just suddenly disappeared?”

  “I don’t know if it suddenly disappeared or if it was stolen,” I said. “All I’m saying is that the morphine was in the locker when I counted it out with Bernice three nights ago, and when I counted the next morning it was gone.”

  “So, if the morphine was there when my client left, and wasn’t there when she returned, shouldn’t you be more interested in speaking with the woman who was on shift when the medication went missing?” Matt asked.

  “We’ve already spoken to Mrs. Daniels,” Detective Kastellero said. “And looked at the medication dispensary system.”

  “It requires you to swipe your ID badge when you go into the room and when you open the narcotics closet to log out a medication,” I said. “It keeps us from using a medication and forgetting to log it out.”

  “Right,” Kastellero said. “So, it was there when you left and gone when you came back, simple as that?”

  “Simple as that,” I said.

  “And what would you say if I told you that your MEDTECH system short-circuited during Nurse Daniels’s shift?”

  “I’d tell you security should have been notified immediately. The system is hardwired to their department in case of malfunction,” I answered.

  “But they weren’t. It seems no alarm was sent out. Do you think that’s weird?”

  “I think that’s very weird,” I said. “But I still don’t see what it has to do with me.”

  “Do you think someone could have intentionally sabotaged the system?”

  “Sure, I mean, I have no idea how, but I bet there’s someone out there if you look hard enough. MEDTECH probably has someone on staff for just that sort of work when they’re planning a system.”

  “An electrical engineer, perhaps?”

  I swallowed and looked down at my hands. I knew where this was going.

  “Like your ex-fiancé perhaps? He used to work for MEDTECH, didn’t he?”

  “I highly doubt my ex-fiancé would have been able to sabotage the MEDTECH system at Rogers Hospital since he’s currently residing in an inpatient treatment facility in Illinois.”

  His eyes widened and narrowed so quickly, I barely registered his shock. Someone hadn’t done his homework. “True, but he could have taught you how to work on one. And, if I were going to sabotage a secured system to malfunction, I would set it up to happen while I wasn’t on shift. Then I’d sneak back in to steal everything while no one was looking.”

  “I don’t know anything about a malfunctioning system because it was working when I counted out with Bernice and it was working when I counted back in with her the next morning. If it malfunctioned, I didn’t notice. And neither did Bernice.” My wings tingled, and all the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something about this wasn’t right. Meds going missing and the MEDTECH system failing?

  I should have listened to the ghost and skipped Sally’s office. Even Harold’s exorcism would have been better than this group. If it weren’t for the fact that people would be suspicious to see all of them go missing, I’d just enchant Matt stupid for a few minutes and turn the rest of them into shoes. I bet Blondie would make a fabulous pair of sandals.

  “This is all just speculation. You’re trying to make a case against my client based on the fact that a computer malfunctioned when she was off work?” Matt said.

  “A case where two young men died,” Kastellero said. “And your client was nowhere to be found. There’s absolutely no record of her leaving that night. She left the floor at the end of her shift, went to her locker to retrieve some items—”

  “I went to retrieve my purse.”

  “She clocked out,” K
astellero continued, “and then she went back upstairs to the sixth floor.”

  “To speak with the head of pediatric surgery about the incident,” I said.

  “A man you just accused of inappropriate behavior? Why were you meeting with him alone?”

  Aside from cleaning up his corpse? “Because of the missing medication. He wanted to speak about it and he needed to be completely up to date.”

  “So why not discuss it somewhere public?”

  “Because it involved matters of patient care,” I said. For once, bureaucracy worked in my favor. “And patient care should always be discussed privately. It’s not meant for public debate.”

  “But you didn’t have a witness?”

  “No, there were no witnesses. I told him about the issue, then he asked me a few questions about it, and I left.” Truth, minus the parts where Lisa ate him.

  “So why don’t any of the cameras record you leaving the hospital, Miss Bettincourt?”

  I should’ve known that would come back to bite me in the ass. “I have no idea. I got in the sixth floor elevator in the physicians’ wing, went to the first floor, and left through the west parking lot.”

  “It seems our security was breached in more than one place this week,” Dr. Turnbow said quietly and shifted in his seat. “Whoever broke into our MEDTECH system also took down our security cameras the next night.”

  Kastellero shifted in his seat. “I see.”

  “It seems to me,” Matt said, “that your problem isn’t with Miss Bettincourt but with the Rogers Hospital security department. Their systems failed. Shouldn’t they be the ones you’re talking to, instead of the woman who brought it to your attention?”

  “We’ve already spoken with them. Just one last question, Miss Bettincourt.”

  “Yes?”

  “Where were you that night? Since you weren’t here at the hospital?”

  “She was with me,” Matt said, and I looked over at him in shock. “All night.”

  “And were you somewhere public?”

  “No,” Matt said smoothly, although I couldn’t help but notice the twitch at the corner of his eye. “We had a quiet night in.”

  “I see,” Detective Kastellero said. There was a tap on the door and we all looked up. Another man in a gray suit opened the door and stuck his head inside. He looked at Kastellero and shook his head briefly.

  “That must mean there was nothing of interest in my client’s locker.” Matt snagged my purse, then upended it on the conference room table. He removed a heavy, gold fountain pen from his shirt pocket and used its tip to move around the various bits of crap that lived inside my purse until they were lined up neatly on the table. “Wow. A wallet, two tubes of lip gloss, one phone, an e-reader, hand sanitizer, a bottle of Tylenol Extra Strength, and fifteen receipts. It’s like Pandora’s Box for a hardened cybercriminal capable of taking down an entire hospital’s security system. And to think she disguises herself each day as a simple pediatric nurse. What horror does lurk in the heart of men, eh, Detective Kastellero?”

  Kastellero’s nostrils flared, and he shot Matt a curt nod. “Fine, but we may have more questions for you as the case progresses, Miss Bettincourt.”

  “You’ll contact my office if you need her again.” Matt handed me my purse.

  I shoveled things inside, silently grateful I had cleaned it out two weeks earlier and no tampons had flown out.

  When I was done, Matt took my elbow and helped me stand, energy crackling down his fingertips and across my wrist. I tried to keep my cool, but couldn’t help shivering. With a brief nod at the other two attorneys, and at Doris and Dr. Turnbow, he turned and led me from the room.

  “Just one last thing, Miss Bettincourt,” Detective Kastellero said quietly.

  I stopped. “Yes?”

  “Do you even care that two young men are dead?”

  “Of course I do,” I said. “But they aren’t my patients and I had nothing to do with it.”

  “Right,” Matt said. “I think we’re leaving now.”

  I followed him out of the conference room and into the hallway. “Thank you for—”

  “Don’t say anything until after we’re out of the hospital. That vulture is looking for a scapegoat and he’s decided you’re his best chance. I don’t know why, but he’s definitely looking to pin this on you.”

  I nodded and shoved my hands into my hoodie pocket. My phone wasn’t there. I must have put it in my purse. I opened it and rooted around.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I left my parents at my apartment and I told them I’d call on my way home. But I can’t find my phone.”

  He sighed. “Did you leave it in the conference room?”

  “I must have,” I said. “Just wait right here and I’ll go get it.”

  “I’ll come with you,” he said. We made our way back down the hall and past the rest of the group that had been in there with us.

  “Is something wrong?” Blondie asked.

  “I just forgot to pick up my phone,” I said.

  “I’ll go with you,” the brunette offered.

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Sally said. “Faith is more than capable of retrieving her own phone. And I’m sure you have other work to do.”

  “Well—”

  “Go on, now.” She made a shooing motion before she led me back into HR and closed the door firmly in her face.

  I looked at Matt through the door’s window and smiled apologetically.

  “They both give me the creeps,” she said.

  I walked toward the closed conference room door. “I think they train them that way in law school.”

  “Funny, that man of yours isn’t creepy at all.”

  “Uh-huh,” I said and pushed the door open. Sitting in the middle of the conference table was my phone, with a plain white envelope tucked underneath it. My wings tingled again, and a fluttery buildup of energy joined the hairs on the back of my neck. That hadn’t been here before.

  I walked to the table and grabbed my phone, shoving it in my pocket before I picked up the envelope and opened it. Inside was a packet of photos printed on a home printer. With shaking hands, I took them out and flipped through them.

  Lisa talking with Harold.

  Lisa seducing Harold.

  Lisa draining the life out of Harold.

  Lisa and I with Harold’s body wrapped in the carpet from in front of the elevators with me touching Harold’s obviously dead body.

  Someone had seen. They knew. Oh shit, somehow we’d been exposed. I gagged and fought the urge to vomit. We were six floors up. My hands trembled and the paper in my hands rustled loudly. I opened the sheet of notebook paper stuck behind the pictures.

  I will expose the wicked and they shall tremble at my wrath.

  Chapter Ten

  Someone knew Lisa had killed Harold. Someone not only knew Lisa had killed Harold, but they knew she’d done it by less-than-normal means. Which meant they also knew she was a demon. And by association, so was I.

  Oh, this was bad. This was very, very bad. My stomach rolled, and I took a couple of deep breaths to calm down before I faced Sally again.

  I stepped out of the conference room, my trembling hands shoved into the pocket of my hoodie and clutching the envelope full of pictures.

  “Is everything okay?” Sally asked.

  “Fine,” I said quickly, and hoped my voice didn’t squeak. “Perfectly fine. Just peachy.”

  “Did you find your phone?”

  “Yeah, it was on the seat cushion. You know how it is.”

  “Oh yeah.” Sally laughed. “I don’t know why they make phones so slippery. Personally, I suspect they do it on purpose so they fall out of your pocket. Then you’ve got to go in and buy another one and it’s always higher priced than the one you had before because your contract doesn’t allow for another phone. It’s all a conspiracy.”

  “Probably.” I pointed at the door with my thumb. “Do you need me for a
nything else?”

  “No, no, get out of here, sweetheart. I’m just entering your extra hours.”

  Like that was my biggest problem at the moment? “That’s not really necessary. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

  “Of course it is,” Sally insisted. “You’re supposed to be on vacation and we called you in. I’ve added four hours of overtime onto your paycheck.”

  “Well, thanks for that. I appreciate it.” I smiled at her. “But I’m going to get out of here.”

  Before I completely lost it.

  “I don’t blame you,” Sally said. “If I were you, I’d take that cute boyfriend of yours out for a thank you lunch, and maybe see if he can’t take the afternoon off. Then you can properly say thank you.”

  “Sally!”

  “What?” She laughed. “It’s just us girls in here. And, honey, I have to tell you if you’re keeping something back from that man, you’re crazier than a bedbug.”

  “Okay, I’m going to go now,” I said and fled HR, sliding to a halt in front of Matt.

  “Ready?” His lips twitched and he covered his mouth with his fist, hiding a fake cough.

  Damn it, Sally. “How much did you hear?”

  He cleared his throat, which did nothing to hide the twinkle in his eyes. “Hear what?”

  “You heard every word, didn’t you?”

  “Every word of what?” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his side. “Your HR representative telling you how handsome your boyfriend was? Or the part about how you owe me lunch?”

  “I’m not even surprised you were eavesdropping.”

  “Who said I was eavesdropping? They could have heard your HR lady from down the hall. She screeches like a parrot.” When we reached the elevator, he hit the UP button. The door slid open and he led me inside. Once the door closed, he turned to me, not bothering to hide his smile as his eyes slid from my toes to my eyes.

  I shuddered, my demonic half screaming at me to thank him as Sally had suggested. “You’re not just going to conveniently forget those parts of the conversation, are you?”

  “Oh no, I’m not,” Matt said, his sinful lips tugging into a smile. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “I had to tell my boss I was bailing on a daylong pretrial negotiation to save my girlfriend’s butt. That means you’ll be attending at least one business dinner with me to play the role you’ve cast yourself in. And if you’re charming, they may request you come to two or three. Consider it punishment.”