Chapter 8 - The Woman in the Infirmary
I pounded the door until the replacement officer threatened restraints.
"Jo Alvarez needs medical attention," I said. "Where is she?"
"Not your business."
"She's my cellmate. If she misses medication, her blood pressure spikes. Document that I told you."
He rolled his eyes. "Everybody in here thinks they're a doctor."
At 11:40 p.m., the prison went still. Through my high window I could see a slice of courtyard and the blue emergency light above the infirmary entrance. A gurney crossed that slice. Two guards pushed it. I couldn't see the patient, only a gray head against a white pillow.
"Jo!" I screamed.
One of the guards looked up. The other hurried faster.
At 2:10 a.m. Nurse Helen Price arrived with a small brown paper bag. "Your pain medication," she said loudly. Then, beneath her breath: "Jo's alive. Barely."
"What happened?"
"She was found in laundry after falling down six steps. That's what the report says."
"And what do you say?"
Helen's eyes shone. "Six steps don't leave marks on both wrists."
Inside the paper bag was the standard blister pack and a strip of white cloth wrapped around a brass laundry token stamped 17. I stared at it. Helen had risked her job to bring me an object I didn't understand.
"Mina gave that to Jo before she died," she whispered. "Jo made me promise you'd get it if they came for her."
"What does it open?"
"Ask the person who wrote the laundry inventory."
"Jo wrote it?"
"No. A woman named Nora Bell. She was released eight months ago."
I couldn't believe it. Nora Bell had worked at HalePoint as a warehouse supervisor. She was also the company's star witness against me—the woman who swore she'd watched me sign the false medication orders.
Helen backed toward the door. "Do not tell anybody I was here."
Before she reached it, the corridor speaker cracked to life: "Nurse Price, report to Lieutenant Pike immediately. Bring all medication bags."
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She looked at my hands.
"Hide that token," she said. "Now."
