Page 15 of Sins of the Fathers
“Do we know when the ‘error’ happened?” Dawson sensed that he had to be the objective one here since the others were too upset for analysis. He worried about Knox too—they had been friends all his life, close at one time, although less so in recent years. But compared to the others, Dawson realized he had the best shot at keeping some emotional distance and a clear head.
“I know when Knox got his most recent meds,” Colt replied. “I didn’t recognize the nurse, but then again, we’ve only been here for a couple of days, and I figured there were people who worked different rotations I hadn’t seen before. That’s the only reason I paid attention, but she didn’t act strange. Nothing about the way she gave him the meds seemed unusual. I would have said something if it had.”
Dawson could read Colt’s self-inflicted judgment clearly in the man’s expression. As much as he longed to lift his friend’s guilt, he knew that right now Colt wouldn’t be able to hear any consolation.
“Do we know who the nurse was?” Dawson pressed. “Is she a regular you just hadn’t met, or someone filling in last-minute? A hospital employee or a temp?” An ugly suspicion had begun to form in his mind, and he hoped by all that was holy that he was wrong.
Colt shrugged, looking helpless and angry. “I asked all those questions. The hospital brass hasn’t gotten back to me, and the treatment staff was too busy saving Knox.”
“We’d better go back out to the hall—they need to find us when there’s news,” Grady pointed out.
“Look sharp,” Denny muttered. Dawson and the others turned to see Dr. Fairchild coming toward them, looking harried.
Colt and Grady hurried to meet her, while Denny and Dawson hung back, close enough to hear but letting the others take the lead.
“How’s Knox?” Grady practically vibrated with tension.
“Do you know what drug did this?” Colt followed up.
Dr. Fairchild held up a hand to stay their questions. “Knox is alive, and we don’t believe he suffered any permanent damage, largely because we were able to intervene so quickly.” She looked to Colt. “Which happened thanks to your quick thinking.”
Colt looked down, and his cheeks colored. “Just watching out for him.”
“Knox is back in the ICU, and he’s unconscious, but as far as all our scans can tell, it’s a normal reaction to the stress that the medication error put on his body,” she continued. “So I’d like to ask you not to visit him tonight. Let him get a solid twelve hours of sleep. Rest really is the best medicine.”
“Begging your pardon, but after what just happened, I think we should have one person in the room with Knox at all times,” Denny said. “We’ll let him sleep, and we won’t get in the way of the staff, but until we know all the details about the medication ‘error,’ I’m going to have to insist.”
Dawson could see understanding dawn on her face. “You think that someone did it on purpose?” she said, eyes wide.
“I think it’s a possibility that needs to be ruled out,” Denny replied. “You know what the Kings are known for—besides the auto body shops. We’ve made our share of enemies. There’s just something off about this whole ‘overdose’ situation that makes my Spidey sense tingle.”
Dr. Fairchild swallowed hard, then nodded. “Alright. That can be arranged. It’s not normal protocol, but exceptions can be made. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you.” Denny cleared his throat. “Has anyone talked to the nurse who administered the medicine? I assume the hospital would like to know how this could happen.”
Dr. Fairchild looked uncomfortable. “We’re looking into that. There seems to have been some confusion over the rotation assignments. The usual nurse wasn’t on duty.”
“I saw the nurse who gave the most recent meds,” Colt volunteered. “I can describe her.”
Fairchild led him to the nurses’ station, and Colt gave the description to the duty nurse.
“We didn’t have anyone matching that description on the roster last night,” the nurse said, clearly concerned. “I’m calling security. They can check the video feeds.”
Dawson and Grady waited for Knox to be transferred to a room while Denny and Colt went with the nurse. They came back half an hour later, looking out of sorts.
“Well, it just gets murkier,” Denny grumbled. “No one recognizes the ‘nurse’ who gave Knox the wrong meds. But we did get one good frame of her face off one of the security videos, so I sent it to our whiz kid friends to see if they can dig up any intel.”
Through the years, they had made friends with others in the supernatural hunting community beyond Cunanoon Mountain. Some of those allies were well-versed in the occult, while others were excellent hackers and data miners armed with both skills and magic.
“I still want to know why,” Colt fumed. “Knox doesn’t even hunt—hasn’t for years. Why him…and why now?”
“Once he wakes up, we’ll talk to him, maybe get some answers,” Dawson replied. “Right now, we’ve got to make sure that happens.” He sighed. “I’ll call the auto body shop and the hardware store and let them know to have someone cover our shifts for the next couple of days. We don’t need whatever this is bleeding over to the civilian businesses.”
The other King legacy—besides monster hunting—was a chain of auto body shops across Transylvania County, started by their great-grandfather. That income supported their monster hunting activities, and nearly everyone had a role to play. Grady didn’t have the mechanical aptitude that came so easily to Dawson. But while Dawson was great with the nuts and bolts side of cars, Grady was good with computers. That made learning the high-tech side of diagnostics and onboard systems easy.
Denny’s phone rang with a tone Dawson knew meant hunter business. He swore under his breath and walked down the hall, talking in quiet tones until he ducked into an alcove for privacy. When he came back, he looked concerned and pissed off.
“We’ve got a situation. Two packless coyote shifters were found murdered near a barn where they’d been squatting. Looks like they might have Syndicate ties. You know Sheriff Rollins isn’t going to like that one bit,” Denny said.
