Tarnished Brass by Matt Lincoln

Author:Matt Lincoln [Lincoln, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

14

ETHAN

Istood there, frozen in disbelief, as Diane’s condition deteriorated rapidly before my eyes. One moment, she was talking with us, and the next, she was convulsing on the hospital bed, blood pouring from her nose and mouth. The sight of her writhing in agony was almost too much to bear.

The room erupted into chaos as doctors and nurses rushed in. They shouted orders to each other, their voices rising above the beeping of the machines and the ragged gasps of Diane’s labored breathing.

“What happened?” one of the doctors demanded, his gaze sweeping over us accusingly. “What did you do?”

I shook my head, my mind racing to make sense of it all. “Nothing,” I managed to choke out. “She was fine, and then… then this.”

The doctors pushed us aside, their attention focused solely on Diane as they worked to stabilize her. We were ushered out of the room, the door slamming shut behind us with a finality that made my heart sink. I leaned against the wall, my head spinning with questions and fears.

And then, like a bolt of lightning, a memory flashed through my mind. Diane, asking for water. Price, handing her a glass from the pitcher beside the bed. The pitcher that had been there when we arrived, unattended and unguarded.

“The water,” I whispered. “Price, the pitcher... It was already in the room when we got here.”

Price’s eyes widened, her face draining of color. “I… I didn’t think…” she stammered. “I just poured her a glass. I didn’t know...”

“We’ve been here the entire time!” Rivers argued. “How did that even happen?!”

“You said the only people in and out have been staff,” I reminded him. “Did any of them bring in fresh water for her?”

“I don’t know!” Rivers shouted, his voice edging on panic. He forced himself to think, which seemed to calm him somewhat. “Actually, yes. I remember a nurse bringing water in.”

“They may have been dressed as a nurse to slip by you,” I thought out loud. “Or they knew the water was for Diane and slipped something into it before the real nurse delivered it.”

“Dammit,” Price gasped. “I can’t believe this. We were here the entire time, and something still went wrong.”

“This isn’t your fault,” I assured her, though I didn’t think she’d believe me. “This was a carefully calculated move. You can’t blame yourself.”

“Sure, I can,” she muttered under her breath before turning away.

I didn’t try to argue further with her. There wasn’t anything I could say to make her feel better. Not now, not at this moment.

“If someone put something in there,” Robbie said slowly, his brow furrowed in thought, “they must have done it before we arrived. But why not just kill her outright? Why poison her and leave her alive?”

I thought back to the interrogation with the gang members, remembering what they had said about Chapman’s plan.

“The perp,” I said, my mind racing ahead. “He said that Chapman didn’t want to draw attention to an outright murder. That he wanted to make it look like a suicide or an accident.

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