"I do, I'm a lab tech here."
"Do you keep diazepam in the office?"
"Yes, for nervous patients, as an alternative to sedation."
"Okay, we're going to advise the ER of that possibility. We're heading out now." Jaswinder felt the stretcher being moved.
"Mr. and Mrs. Pandher, you can meet us at the ER, Surrey Memorial ER, okay?"
"I'm going to call Dr. Parker, that okay with you Detective?" Carl's voice.
"Good idea. Then I'd like to have a brief chat with you about tonight, all right? I'm going to call my office have have them put out an APB to track down Cheryl's whereabouts."
The clinic door closed before Jaswinder heard the reply.
Chapter 18
Everything seemed to be a swirl for Jaswinder. In the ambulance she was aware that things were being done to her. That squeezing on her arm kept coming and going. She was hooked up to something. A poke in her arm.
"Hey, it looks like an injection mark here." Someone else came over. They kneeled by her, turning her arm around. "Yeah, I see it. It's already starting to bruise."
Then, there was a beeping sound. People were talking, a siren was screaming. After awhile they must have arrived at the hospital. Jaswinder felt herself being jostled some more.
"Can you hear me, Jaswinder?”
Move your head so they know, she told herself.
"That's good. We're going to measure and monitor your vital signs, including temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure. Tests, such as an EKG, may be done to check your heart functions. Your parents have consented to this for you, Jaswinder, okay?"
Move your head again, Jaswinder. Hey, it was easier that time.
"The paramedic mentioned diazepam. Have you taken diazepam?"
It would be impossible to explain right now what had happened. She nodded her head again. Explanations could come later.
"Okay, we're going to give you an antidote to diazepam. You'll feel an improvement very quickly."
Good.
Some time passed and then, by some miracle things began to get better. Jaswinder could move her arms and legs and when she opened her mouth to speak words that she could understand came out. “What's happening?”
“Good, you're feeling better. Well, Jaswinder, the blood tests have confirmed you received an overdose of diazepam. I gather you know that. You didn't take this yourself, did you?” A woman in a lab coat was standing at her bedside. Jaswinder read her nametag: Dr. Jessica Peaceman.
She shook her head. "No." A wave of exhaustion spread through her body.
"No, that's the information I was given. We've treated you with a medicine called Anexate which basically counter-acts the effects of diazepam. It seems to be doing the job but you might find that you feel very tired as it takes effect.
By the next time the doctor came by a little later, Jaswinder had already been up to use the bathroom. She still felt wobbly but compared to previously, much better, she decided. The doctor must have agreed because her parents were allowed to come in from the waiting room.
"You can thank your friend, Manisha. She made the phone calls that got things going." Jaswinder smiled. She felt too tired to talk so listened to them express their love and worry. After her parents had satisfied themselves that she was going to recover, Jovan came in with a large bunch of flowers, almost hiding his head.
“I'll have to do this more often, Jovan,” she joked. She made an effort to rouse herself.
“You must be feeling better, if you can say that, Jaswinder. I'm really glad.” He reached over and hugged her, squishing the flowers.” I should have made you stop all that detective work, Jaswinder. See what happened.”
“I know, I know. But everything has turned out. I think. Have they found Cheryl? It was her.”
“Yeah, it seems you were able to get that across to the Detective. When I got to the clinic you'd already left in the ambulance.”
“Poor Dr. Parker. At least this wasn't during clinic hours.”
“Jaswinder, he was really worried about you. He said he felt terrible. He had no idea you were doing all that investigation, although he said he knew how smart you are.”
The nurse came around the corner. “We're going to be moving Jaswinder up to a ward so I think she should have a rest after that. You can visit again tomorrow afternoon.”
The next morning Detective Osborne appeared at Jaswinder's bedside after a not-very-appealing breakfast. She felt almost back to normal so the breakfast hardly mattered, she decided.
He stood looking at her with a serious look on his face. “You took an awful chance, Jaswinder. You know that, don't you?”
What could she say to that? “I did remember your advice about never being alone with anyone in the clinic. The problem was, I thought Carl was still in his room. But Cheryl had sent him on a fake trip to SDL labs, without telling anyone.”
“Humph. Well, you can thank your friend, Manisha, for tracking me down. But I blame myself for not letting you know that the bag with the gloves wasn't there when a junior officer went looking for it.”
“Did you find Cheryl?”
“No, not yet, but we will. It’s not that easy to hide out as some people think.” He continued, “She changed her name after her fiancé was murdered, you know. Didn’t want to take a chance that his low-life gang would track her down. MacKenzie isn’t her real name, it’s Jussock. I just hope we find her before Plinsky's co-workers do. I suspect they would deal with her rather harshly.
By the way, we tracked down that license number you gave us of the car that was in front of your house and later outside the station. It's leased to known associates of Plinsky.” Probably they were watching the rest of you but you were the only one astute enough to notice.”
“I almost feel sorry for Cheryl. Her life has been ruined. Was it true, what she said about Plinsky? After she injected the diazepam, she wasted ten minutes of her getaway time, telling me what had happened with Plinsky and trying to get me to understand why she had done it.”
“Plinsky was a waste of space, off the record, of course. I won't miss him. Okay, Jaswinder, it looks like you're a lot better. Hopefully, you won't have the opportunity to get involved in any more murder investigations. I am going to recommend a citizen's citation for you. We just hadn't been able to make that connection between Cheryl and her fiancé. That's a definite gap in the system. We were spinning our wheels, in the investigation, frankly. When Manisha called with the name, Keith Jagger, it didn't take me long to connect the dots. I headed over to the clinic almost right away.”
“So you'd already discounted Jim Buckle?”
“Yeah, we had.”
“At least you were able to get him to stop coming around to protest.”
“When I read the report on him, I felt a bit sorry for him. I was able to give him a lead for a job. I don't think you'll see him again.”
Jaswinder saw Joven poke his head around the corner of the open door. She smiled at him and he came over to her bedside carrying another large bouquet of flowers.
“Well, even if I was a little slow picking up on Cheryl, I hope I can recognize when three's a crowd. I'll be in touch, Jaswinder.”
He turned and headed out the door as Jovan put his arms around Jaswinder, managing to crush the flowers between them again.
Operatory of Death: A Jaswinder Mystery Page 14