The Psychiatrist: Trilogy to The Doll Collector

Chapter 16: Maria

There was a hard knock on my bedroom door. It jolted me awake, sending my nerves into a frenzy. Someone knocking this early was never good. Especially not around this place. My body was trembling as my legs numbly carried me to the door. My appearance was surely a mess, but I opened the door anyway. Sheriff Honeycomb and Dr. Lamb were on the other side.

Shit, someone else had died.

I wanted to sink down and disappear. The looks on their faces confirmed that they were here to take me away in cuffs. I could just picture it now, my face all over the news. My parents would see it, the information would link and I would forever be known as the Doll Collector's Mistress. They'd say he'd groomed me to do his bidding and I didn't even remember if I was killing these people.

"Jordana, I apologize for waking you, but Trent Marner was found dead this morning." Sheriff Honeycomb said.

Oh no, I was expecting it, but now it was hitting me hard. I wanted to buckle down and sob. Sheriff Honeycomb looked like he was two seconds from grabbing his handcuffs and reading me my rights.

"I swear to god, I was asleep this whole time." I said, nearly on the verge of tears.

The truth was, I truly had no idea if that was correct.

"Jordana, calm down." Charley began, stepping around Wes to put her arm around me.

But it was too late, I was ready to completely break down. She walked me to my bed and sat me down, gripping me by my shaking shoulders.

"Jordana, relax." she ordered this time.

I bit my tongue in an effort to stop.

"It was Nurse Drucker. She... she hanged herself in her room." Her voice was incredibly soft, almost as if she was holding back emotion.

"It's a classic admission of guilt." Sheriff Honeycomb added.

His tone was also somber. I wiped the moisture off of my cheeks and took in a deep breath.

"It was her this whole time?" I asked.

"We believe so. It looks like she killed Trent and then hanged herself to avoid capture. All the evidence points to her. She was always the last nurse to see each patient before they died. It was in her logs. The Lair was her assignment and she had easy access to both their files and the drugs to kill them."

"Drugs?"

"The natural deaths weren't so natural. We found a syringe containing remnants of potassium chloride."

"... Heart attacks."

I released a humorless laugh. Smart, induced heart attacked that were virtually undetectable in an autopsy. I took in another deep breath and shook my head. For a minute there, I saw my mugshot.

"Jordana, we need you down at the hospital, though." Charley said.

I nodded, standing up.

"We'll give you some time to change and go over." she said, nodding her head to Sheriff Honeycomb to follow her out.

As she shut the door, I pulled on my dress clothes. I couldn't believe that Nurse Drucker had done this, she had made me doubt myself. I zipped up my shoes and grabbed my phone, sliding it into my lab coat pocket.

Something sharped pricked the tip of my finger. I yanked it out, seeing a small puncture wound in my skin. I reached back into my pocket, removing a used syringe.

What the hell was this?

There was a little liquid left at the bottom of the plunger. My heart picked up its pace, as I finished pushing in the plunger to collect the liquid on the tip of my finger. What I was about to do was stupid on a variety if levels, but I needed to know. I dropped the liquid onto my tongue. Salty. Potassium chloride was salty.