She shook her head and looked around, lost. “I don’t know. Something bad.”
“Something bad is going to happen if you don’t take your pills?” Drew asked gently, trying to draw more details out of her.
Bethany nodded. She began to sob. “I can’t remember. I’m so scared but I can’t remember.”
“What is going to happen?” he questioned her, but she just shook her head and kept crying.
Noah gave Drew a look of warning as he crouched beside her, putting a hand on her knee. “It’s okay Beth. We’re right here and nothing bad is going to happen. I promise.”
Piaget set down three white tablets and a glass of water. “Here Bethany. There are your pills. You should take them now.”
Bethany gratefully scooped them up and swallowed as Piaget flashed the concerned group of men the container of Tic-tac’s that she had substituted.
“What is going on?” Max frowned in concern.
“That’s what I hope to find out,” Drew used Max’s proffered phone and put the call on speaker as he dialed Kelly’s number. It rang twice before a child picked up.
“You’ve reached Kelly Ramesly’s phone. How can I direct your call?”
“Caiden, we need to speak to Kelly,” Max said. “It’s Max Ramesly.”
“Hey Max. I’ll get her,” Caiden replied. “Mom! Phone!”
A moment later they could hear Kelly. “Hello?”
“Kelly, this is Andrew Colborne,” Drew identified himself.
“Hey! I always wondered what happened,” Kelly said excitedly. “Are you okay? Did you recover fully from the stabbing?”
“I’m fine,” Drew said shortly, ignoring the surprised looks he received. “I’m a detective with the local police department. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions since you’re a nurse and should have some expertise on medications.”
“Okay,” she consented. “I’m not a doctor but I’ll help if I can.”
“Great,” Drew asked her if she knew the doctors that had prescribed the medications and what her opinion of them was.
“The one doctor I don’t know. He must be in private practice or at another hospital. The other two doctors consult at Mercy hospital,” Kelly confirmed. “To be totally honest, I think Dr. Mendes is a drug pusher. He doesn’t really do any therapies, nor does he appear to be overly concerned about his patients. Dr. Holly Urshman is a good doctor. She cares about her patients and puts in the extra effort. She has a good reputation.”
Drew had sorted out the containers of medications. “She’s the major prescriber of a patient I’m investigating. In fact, she prescribed nine different medications in just the past three days for this one person.”
“That doesn’t sound like her,” Kelly sounded surprised.
“Can you receive picture texts?” he asked. “I’d like to show you what has been prescribed and get your take on what it’s supposed to do for the patient.”
“Okay,” Kelly agreed.
Drew began to send her pictures of each container, starting with the most recent prescriptions and their dosages.
“I divided them up based on their optimal results,” Noah said of the groupings he’d made. “Most of these are sedative in nature.”
“The patient is on all of that?” Kelly’s tone conveyed her disbelief. “At those doses?”
“Yes. Those are all in the last three days. Six weeks ago, she was prescribed…” Drew continued with the medications. “Then Dr. Mendes prescribed…”
He finished with the first doctor’s prescriptions and waited to see what Kelly would say.
“This makes absolutely no sense,” she said, confused.
“What do you mean, Tinkerbell?” Drew absently used the nickname he’d given her at the hospital when he’d met her.
