Etched in Shadow: A Cassie Quinn Mystery

by L. T. Ryan

  “Oh.” Vanessa looked down at a ring Cassie hadn’t even noticed. “Thank you. Yeah. We’re getting married next month, actually.”

  “I’m happy for you.” Jason sounded like he meant it, but Cassie saw sadness in his eyes, too.

  Vanessa stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. “Look, I know this is awkward.” She glanced at Cassie and gave her a sympathetic smile. “We haven’t talked in a decade. I can’t speak for you, but I know I’ve changed a lot over the years. There are things I regret saying. There are things I regret not saying. At the end of the day, I know I made the right choice for me. I hope you feel the same way. And if you don’t”—she chewed the inside of her cheek before committing to her words—“I’d like to know that, too. If there’s anything I can do to help—”

  “I feel the same way.”

  Cassie felt like a voyeur. She wished with every fiber of her being she’d chosen to sit on the outside of their booth. Maybe then she could’ve excused herself and given them a moment.

  “Cassie.” Vanessa was looking at her now. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just needed to say something, or I’d regret it.”

  “No, I totally understand.” And she did. But when Jason turned to her with an unreadable expression, she still wished she could be anywhere but here. “I can leave, if—”

  “No.” Jason slipped his hand under the table and wound his fingers through hers. “I want you to stay.”

  “Okay.” She squeezed his hand. “Then I’ll stay.”

  Vanessa smiled, a hint of hidden knowledge in her eyes. “You guys are cute together.”

  Cassie didn’t know what to say. She and Jason had been enjoying their time together, but they hadn’t discussed what life would be like once they returned to Savannah. Being co-workers always complicated things.

  And if you throw ghosts and murder investigations on top of that, it was bound to get out of hand.

  But Vanessa didn’t give either of them time to fumble through an explanation of whatever it was going on between them. Her face sobered, and her eyebrows pinched together. “How’s Janelle holding up?”

  “As good as can be expected.” Jason shook his head. “You know how quiet she is. It’s impossible to read her. Even harder now than it was before.”

  “I’m sure Kiki is keeping an eye on her.”

  “Like a hawk.” He chuckled. “I think they’ve gone out for lunch every day this week.”

  “Good. She needs to know people are looking out for her. And Kiki needs someone to take care of.”

  Jason raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you should’ve gotten that psychology degree instead.”

  Vanessa took a sip of water, but the glass couldn’t hide her smile. “Maybe if the nursing thing doesn’t work out.”

  “Stacey said you wanted to talk to me and I don’t think it had anything to do with our breakup.”

  “Unfortunately, no. That would’ve been easier, believe it or not.”

  “Do you know something?” Jason leaned forward. “About Jasmine?”

  “No. Or, well, I don’t know.” Vanessa splayed her hands across the table like she was bracing herself for what came next. She glanced around the diner before continuing. “I think something’s going on at the hospital. I’m not sure if Jasmine got caught in the crossfire.”

  “What do you mean something’s going on?” Cassie asked. Her mind flashed to the Ghost Doctor and the dream she had. “Like what?”

  “I think the hospital is lying about the way people have died.” She lowered her voice even more. “I think they’re trying to avoid more malpractice lawsuits.”

  “Can you prove it?”

  “If I could, I would’ve gone to someone in HR.” Her smile was tight now. “Or the press.”

  Jason leaned back with a huff. “So, what’s the next step?”

  Before Vanessa could respond, the waitress arrived, expertly carrying all three plates at once. “Our world-famous Reuben.” She set the plate down in front of Cassie. “Bacon cheeseburger and fries for the gentleman.” She set the last plate down in front of Vanessa. “And the classic burger for the lady. Can I get y’all anything else?”

  “I think we’re all set.” Jason hit the woman with a wide smile. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, hon. Holler if you need anything.”

  Cassie waited until she left. “We need proof. We need to see if Jasmine’s death wasn’t what they said it was. And if we can find that out, we’ll need to see if she’s connected to what happened to Mark Galanis. And that other woman.” Cassie hoped Vanessa didn’t ask who. “Or anyone else. Then we’ll need to find a connection.”

  Vanessa looked down at her burger, but it appeared as though the last thing she wanted to do was pick it up and take a bite. “I’ve got an idea.” She peered through the top of her lashes at Jason. There was fear and desperation in her eyes. “I could pull some records. Maybe we’d find a connection that way.”

  Jason was already shaking his head by the time she finished her sentence. “You could get fired.”

  “Jasmine is dead.” Vanessa whispered the sentence like the air had been stolen from her lungs. “And Mark? Too many people we know. Too many people gone too soon.”

  “We don’t know that for sure.”

  “Which is why we need to find out.” Her eyes hardened. “I know the risks. And I’m willing to take them.” She sighed. Her body slumped. “But I’ve already looked at everything, and I have no idea what I’m doing. I was never good at connecting the dots like you were. I know you’ll see something I missed.”

  Jason looked at Cassie, and she shrugged. It wasn’t up to her. And it wasn’t up to Jason, either. Vanessa had made her choice. She could live with the consequences. And if they found their next lead, the risk would pay off.

  “Okay.” Jason picked up a fry and shoved it into his mouth. “Lunch first. Then we break the law.”

  19

  After lunch, Vanessa had led them to a private room in the back of the E.R. and left them while she gathered the information they needed. Jason and Cassie had waited in near silence, scared to make a sound lest they draw attention to themselves. Cassie read through the posters on the wall to waste time. For the most part, everything was ordinary as long as you ignored the ghosts drifting in and out every few minutes.

  At least Jason had no idea what was going on. Ignorance really was bliss.

  There was a tiny knock on the door. Cassie and Jason exchanged looks before the door swung open, and Vanessa slipped through. She closed it with a click behind her and pressed the lock on the handle. They weren’t about to take any chances.

  “We have fifteen minutes until I’m needed elsewhere,” Vanessa explained. “If someone catches us, I can lie and say you two wanted to speak to me privately about an issue, but they’ll be expecting documentation of your visit afterward, and I’d rather avoid any kind of paper trail if we can.”

  “The sooner we’re out of here, the better.” Jason pointed to the file in her hands. “Ready?”

  “No.” But she placed the folder on the bed between them anyway. “But it’s too late now.”

  All three of them pulled up a chair as Vanessa flipped open the folder. The first piece of paper held a list of names. There had to be at least fifty of them. “These are some of the patients who died of complications within the last six months.”

  Jason ran a finger down the page. “Have you noticed any connections?”

  “Connections, no. But there were some interesting cases.” She flipped the page over to reveal individual patient information. If someone caught Vanessa sharing this with them, they’d undoubtedly fire her. “Here are some people I remember coming through the emergency room. People who seemed to stabilize and then crash. Obviously, that can happen from time to time, but this was more frequent than it should’ve been. And I wasn’t the only one who noticed.”

  “Other people were talking about it, too?”

&nb
sp; She nodded. “A couple. A few of my friends. Martin, one of the nurses, overheard a doctor yelling about it in the breakroom. Then Stacey mentioned something, and I realized it wasn’t just here. It was happening all over the hospital.”

  “Which means there’s less likely to be a connection between the patients,” Cassie offered.

  “Right.” Vanessa gestured to the notes. “Different doctors. Different nurses. Different wings of the hospital. Their conditions were different. The ways they died were different.”

  Jason picked up the first two pages and scanned them side by side. “Even if something is going on here, and the hospital is trying to cover it up, a few of these patients have to be the real deal. The question is how we separate the real ones from the suspicious ones.”

  “Have any of the patients jumped out at you?” Cassie asked. “Even if you couldn’t find a connection, have any of them seemed stranger than the others?”

  “Strange how?”

  Cassie caught Jason’s look of warning out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored him. They needed answers. “Abnormal in any way. Maybe a doctor went against procedure and the risk didn’t pay off. Or a patient was halfway out the door when they collapsed. Or the family made a scene because they didn’t think the staff was doing their job. Something that tells us the person died when she shouldn’t have under normal circumstances.”

  “Lots of families make scenes.” Vanessa sounded tired. “You can’t blame them, but it doesn’t make our jobs any easier.”

  “So, that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.” Cassie kept her voice gentle, but she could feel the desperation building. “Anything else?”

  Vanessa flipped through the paperwork. She pulled out a few charts. “Here’s Jasmine and Mark.” She handed them to Jason, who took them like they were made of glass. “And a third patient that I remembered coming through here.”

  Cassie took that one. “What was so memorable?”

  “He’d been stabbed. The blade had perforated his lung and his liver. He was left to bleed out on the sidewalk, but someone found him and brought him in.” Vanessa shook her head at the memory. “We almost lost him on the table, but they stemmed the bleeding and patched him up.”

  “Let me guess,” Cassie interrupted, “he died of complications a few days later.”

  “Exactly.” Vanessa sat up a little straighter. “But the strange part was that he still had stitches in from his last fight. I went looking through his charts, but we hadn’t operated on him the first time. He’d been to the Tulane Medical Center. I called and talked to a nurse over there.” She rolled her eyes. “Not an enlightening conversation.”

  Cassie lifted an eyebrow in question.

  “Every time we go to a function or a convention or a seminar, he hits on me. His name is Alan Wolcott.”

  Jason looked up. “He hits on you even though he knows you’re engaged?

  Vanessa and Cassie exchanged a knowing look.

  “He doesn’t care,” Vanessa said. “I told him it makes me uncomfortable, and he made such a scene about how I need to loosen up and stop being so self-obsessed.” She rolled her eyes again. “As if he’s not the one making passes at me every chance he gets.”

  “Sounds like a charmer.” Cassie said. “Did you get any information out of him?”

  “Actually, yes. The one upside, I guess,” she speculated. “He remembered the guy coming in. Said he was in some gang or something, so it wasn’t a surprise that someone stabbed him again.” She shook her head. “I’m sure his commentary never gets old. Anyway, he also told me they almost lost him in recovery. His organs started to shut down, but they saved his life. Only for him to wind up here and go through the same thing.”

  “Could this be happening at two different hospitals? If so, we have a much bigger issue on our hands.” Cassie looked over at Jason, who had been quiet for too long. “Find anything?”

  “No.” He placed Jasmine and Mark’s notes back in the folder. “It’s nothing we didn’t already know.”

  The squeal of a sneaker came from the other side of the door, followed by an eruption of laughter. Someone was right outside. All three of them froze, eyes wide, and waited for the door handle to jiggle. Seconds ticked by. Then a full minute. The laughter faded. They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

  Vanessa checked her watch. “Our time’s up. If I’m gone any longer, someone’s gonna ask questions.”

  Jason stood. “Thank you for your help.”

  Cassie seconded him. “It means a lot. I know you took a risk putting this together.”

  “I want to help.” Her hazel eyes glossed over with tears. “If something’s going on, and I don’t do something about it, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I wish I could’ve given you more.”

  Jason flipped the folder shut and held it out for Vanessa. “You gave us another lead. That’s more than we could’ve hoped for.”

  Vanessa pushed the folder away. “Those are for you. Just make sure no one else sees them. Or they’ll do more than fire me.”

  Cassie took the folder from Jason and slipped it into her purse. “We promise. And we’ll keep you updated if we figure anything else out.”

  “Thanks.” Vanessa’s gaze landed on Jason. “It was nice seeing you again. You look good.” She laughed awkwardly. “Happy, I mean. I think Savannah’s treating you well.”

  “Thank you.” He looked at Cassie and smiled. “I think it was the right decision.”

  20

  Vanessa had had the forethought to bring along a clipboard with a random array of papers. She held it to her chest as she left the room, stepping aside to let Cassie and Jason out. No one paid them any mind, even though Cassie felt like a neon sign pointed to the papers folded into her purse.

  Vanessa spared them a small smile and then parted ways. The plan was to separate as soon as possible, with Vanessa heading back to the nurse’s station to resume her shift, and Cassie and Jason making a beeline for the exit. If they looked like they knew where they were going, no one would stop them. The ward was too busy to worry about a couple of people leaving on their own accord.

  But the universe had a different idea.

  Cassie felt a pull on her senses, like an invisible line attached to the back of her head. Someone tugged on the other end. She twisted, just in time to catch the skirt of someone’s dress disappear around the corner.

  “She’s here.”

  “Who?” Jason had his eyes on the exit. “We should go.”

  Cassie looked up at him. She’d already made her decision. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “What?” He looked at her now. “No. Why?”

  “The Ghost Doctor. She’s here.” Cassie turned to stare at the spot she’d last seen her. “I need to know more about her. I have to figure out how she’s involved.”

  “If they find out we’re not supposed to be here, it could get back to Vanessa.” He lowered his voice. “And then they’ll know about what she gave us.”

  “They have no reason to think we don’t know where we’re going.” She started down the hall. “And the more we stand here arguing, the more suspicious we’ll look. You go, I’ll meet you.”

  Jason sighed behind her, but it wasn’t until his shoulder bumped hers that she realized he’d followed her. “I want to know what’s going on, too,” he explained. “Even if I can’t see what you can see.”

  Cassie nodded but didn’t respond. They had turned the corner, but the Ghost Doctor was nowhere in sight. Had she lost her so soon? Cassie had a feeling the doctor was coaxing her forward. She wanted to be followed. Cassie just had to be patient.

  They stopped to glance inside each room that lined the hallway. Vanessa had taken them to a room in minor care, which meant most of the patients here just needed a couple of stitches or some meds to get them back on their feet. They had drawn most of the curtains for privacy, but it didn’t matter. Cassie knew the Ghost Doctor wasn’t here. She could feel the invisible line tugging her forwa
rd.

  “There’s bound to be security around here somewhere,” Jason whispered. “What’s your plan if we get stopped?”

  “I don’t have a plan.”

  Jason winced. “At least you’re honest.”

  Cassie hoped she’d find what she needed before anyone noticed them roaming the halls aimlessly. She kept a quick pace, with Jason on her heels, to make it look like she knew where she was going. It would work for a short time, but she felt the clock ticking.

  Ahead, a pair of double doors led to the short-stay wing. People who’d had surgery or needed to stay for overnight observation would be through there. Cassie skidded to a stop and pressed her face against the glass. At the end of the hall, the Ghost Doctor waited for her. As soon as their eyes locked, the doctor turned and walked straight through a wall.

  Cassie had already pushed through the doors and was halfway down the hall before Jason caught up to her. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be back here.”

  “It’ll just take a minute,” she said, though she had no way of knowing that. “She went into one of these rooms.”

  Cassie peered into each one as she passed, just to be sure, but the invisible line tugged her forward until she was standing outside the last door on the right. It was open, with the curtain pulled back as if someone had left the room for just a moment.

  The brightness of the room illuminated the man on the bed. His skin was yellow and bruised, and he looked deflated, like a balloon with all the air let out. His skin sagged off his bones, which only added to the effect. Cassie couldn’t tell what was wrong with him at a glance.

  As harrowing as he was to look at, the man on the bed did not hold Cassie’s attention. The Ghost Doctor drew her gaze as she hovered over the man, like she was inspecting every freckle and mole on his body. She laid her spectral hand on his head and looked up at the ceiling, as if calculating his exact temperature. She shook her head. Prognosis not good.

  Cassie had been so focused on tracking down the Ghost Doctor that she hadn’t thought of what to do once she found her. Should she stand back and observe? She’d already seen what the doctor could do from her dream, but more data could paint a better picture. If she wanted to save this patient, however, she had to act. But how could you fight a ghost? Even if she chased the doctor off now, Cassie couldn’t watch over this stranger for the next ten minutes, let alone the several days it would take for him to recover. Besides, there was a whole hospital of victims to choose from. The Ghost Doctor had free rein and the ability to appear wherever she wanted.