concerned. “It would have been Emily Dore. You may
not know her. I believe you have Avery Almquist and
Trudy Womack on the night shift.”
“Yes,” Judith said, recalling the young male nurse
who made his rounds silently and efficiently. “I really
haven’t had much chance to talk to him. I’m always
half asleep when he comes in.”
“He’s very professional,” Heather said, moving
toward the door. “Are you certain about that whiskey?”
“Yes,” Judith said. “You can check with your repairman, Curly. He’s the one who told me.”
“I will,” Heather said. “I’ll check with Emily and
Trudy, too, when they come on for the night shift.”
186
Mary Daheim
“Hey,” Renie called out as Heather started into the
hall, “what about me? I’m famished.”
“That’s too bad,” Heather said. She looked apologetic, but kept on moving into the hall and out of sight.
“Great,” Renie said in disgust. “I can’t believe they
don’t have a lousy ham sandwich.”
“You have about ten pounds of food over there,” Judith said. “You won’t starve.”
“I wanted some meat,” Renie said. “I don’t have any
meat.”
“You’ll live,” Judith said, “which is more than I can say
for some of the other patients. At least we found out that
Margie Randall brought that juice to Joaquin Somosa.
The next question is, who brought it to the hospital?”
Renie scowled at Judith. “I thought the next question would be, what was in the juice?”
Judith stared at her cousin. “You’re right. That should
be the next question. Why weren’t those vessels, as
Margie might call them, tested for drugs? Joan Fremont’s Italian sodas, Joaquin Somosa’s juice, Bob Randall’s Wild Turkey—why weren’t the residues checked?”
Renie shrugged. “How do you know they weren’t?”
Judith stared even harder. “You’re right. We don’t.
Maybe they were, maybe that’s how those reports
about illicit drugs came about.” Briefly, she chewed on
her lower lip. “Then again, maybe the residues weren’t
there to test.”
“You’re not making sense,” Renie remarked.
Judith gave her cousin an ironic look. “Nothing
about this case makes sense.”
Renie nodded faintly. “I know. That’s what scares me.”
Judith said nothing. But of course she agreed.
TWELVE
UNFORTUNATELY, BOTH JUDITH and Renie began to
suffer considerable pain as the afternoon wore on.
Renie pressed the buzzer again, summoning Heather,
who explained to the cousins that they were both hurting more because their anesthetic had almost worn
off.
“It stays in your system for twelve to thirty-six
hours,” Heather said. “I’ll get some pain medication
