Deadly Diversion: A Medical Thriller Read Online Free PDF

off.
    “Still—”
    “It will never happen again, Monika, I promise.”
    I didn’t know how to respond so I sat down.
    “Please, don’t report me. It would ruin everything I’ve worked for, and you know yourself he was about to die. We all did. Bringing him back—or trying to—I doubt we could have—”
    “That wasn’t for you to decide, Bart,” I said before he could justify his actions any more. “It’s the ethical thing to do and, more than that, it’s the law. You know that.” When he hesitated, I asked, “Don’t you?”
    “Yes, yes, yes, but—”
    “There are no buts!”
    He backed up, palms raised in surrender. “You’re right, you’re right. And it won’t happen again, I promise you.”
    “I can understand what you mean,” I said with a sigh. “We bring them back to nothing and the family’s kept in limbo and then they die anyway. It goes on way too long for so many.”
    “We’re so busy, I know I miss some things.”
    “We all do these days. By the way, did you do the counts this morning?”
    “Yes,” he said with a quick smile. “Jessie and I checked all the narcotics and everything’s okay. None are missing.”
    “Good.”
    “Please, Monika, don’t report me. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll code them all, immediately, no matter what code’s been ordered. I promise.” Another smile.
    “Okay, but—”
    “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said, folding his hands prayerlike in front of his chest. “You don’t know what this means to me,” he added, bowing as he backed up.
    “But if I’m asked, I have to tell the truth.”
    “You won’t be sorry,” he added, turning quickly. “I promise, I promise.”
    “I hope not,” I said to his retreating back.
     
    I WAS CHARTING AT the nurses’ station when I heard Ruby’s chair squeaking. Her back was to me, and at first I thought she was crying.
    Just then Huey’s girlfriend, Noni, passed the desk, heading toward Huey’s room.
    “Stop!” I ordered.
    She turned around, surprise on her face. “Me?”
    “Yes.”
    She stood at the counter with a small frown on her face. “Anything wrong? Not Huey?” She fingered the top of a small, brown, paper lunch bag.
    “He’s fine,” I reassured her. “We’re.. .that is, the nurse is in there now. You’ll have to wait.” Thank goodness the curtain was drawn across his cubicle.
    Noni was a small, contained young woman with straight black hair that swung loosely around her face. Her brown eyes had just a hint of a slant that gave her an exotic look, reflecting a mix of Far Eastern and, I suspected, Spanish heritage.
    “Uh, it’s going to be a while. Why don’t you go get a cup of coffee and come back a little later?”
    “Can’t I just interrupt a minute?” She turned toward his room.
    “No, no.” My words stopped her. “They’re in the middle of a, uh, procedure. They can’t stop now. Just give us fifteen minutes. Can you do that?” I hoped I looked earnest.
    She checked her watch. “I’d better go on to work.” Huey had told us she worked at the Ambassador, the gambling boat on the Mississippi.
    Before the doors had swung shut behind her, Ruby was bent over the desk laughing. “My God, girl, you conned her right outta here.”
    “Whew. That was close.”
    “She was barreling right on in there.” Ruby pointed to Huey’s room. “I gotta hand it to you, you’re good!”
    We both laughed, picturing Huey’s wife and girlfriend meeting over his bed.
    Serena came out of another patient’s room. Ruby told her what was so funny. “I can’t see anyone wanting him,” Serena said, with the characteristic bias of a twenty-year-old. “It’s not like he’s good-looking or anything.”
    “You wrong there, girl,” Ruby said as Jessie joined us. “That guy’s a lover.”
    “Uh-huh,” Jessie added with skepticism in her voice.
    “He the king,” Ruby said, giggling. “King. Get it? His name—Castle.”
    Jessie waved a dismissal.
    Ruby’s dark skin