Free Darkness Before Dawn by Ace Collins

table, her heart racing as she looked down
     at the stacks of papers. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead and a chill ran down
     the back of her neck. Using all the courage she possessed, she forced herhands back to the Thursday stack. Taking the pile of forms in her hands, she walked
     across the room, sat down in a chair behind the desk and began to look at them. She
     passed over Jerry Bates’s form without so much as a glance. She stopped at Steve’s
     for a brief instant, took a painful look at her wedding ring, and then moved on. The
     third admit, a six-year-old girl named Amy, didn’t interest the nurse at all. The
     fourth, a stroke victim, and the fifth, a heart attack, didn’t cause Meg to pause
     more than a few seconds. She passed by the next three admits just as quickly. But
     when she got to number ten, a man named Kenneth James, she immediately stopped to
     carefully study the report.
    James had been injured in a car wreck. He’d received stitches above his right eye
     and then he had been sent home. “It’s him,” Meg whispered, but then her heart sank.
Come on dummy. Look at the age, this guy’s fifty-two
. Putting the report at the back of the stack, she continued her search.
    Meg scanned form after form, occasionally glancing down the hall to check if Lena
     had appeared. Then, just as she was about to give up, James A. Thomas’s file appeared.
     She checked the admit time. It fit. She checked his age. Seventeen, perfect! She then
     checked the cause of his injuries and discovered they had resulted from an automobile
     accident. Her heart surged to full race mode. He’d been patched up and released, and
     further more, he had had blood taken for an alcohol level check. The numbers clearly
     indicated he had been drunk. The test showed he’d hit 1.4.
    Taking out her pen and finding a scratch pad on Lena’s desk, she wrote down the name
     James A. Thomas and followed it with 1034 East Walnut Street. Finally, after gleaning
     all she could from the paperwork, she scanned the remainder of that night’s forms
     to see if any of those patients also could have fit the profile of Steve’s murderer.
     None did. Restacking thepapers on the table, she went to her station, checked in, and paged Paul. Once she’d
     given the doctor the information he needed, she headed directly back to her post and
     tried to go about her duties. Yet for the rest of the shift, she could do nothing
     more than go through the motions. Her mind was a thousand miles away from her job.
     A name, an address, and a vow of revenge tumbled over and through her thoughts and
     nothing short of a patient going code red could have changed that focus.

11
    M EG COULDN ’ T WAIT TO GO HOME . A ND WHEN THE TIME CAME, SHE HUR -riedly set about the routine that all nurses have to do before checking out. It was
     time for inventory.
    Earlier in her shift, Heather had been swung to another wing to cover for a sick nurse.
     Meg hadn’t seen her since ten.
    “Meg!” Startled by Heather’s voice, the nurse paused in her counting. Seeing that
     she had her attention, Heather continued. “How’s your day?”
    “Fine,” Meg sighed. “Just like any other.” She went back to her count.
    “How about we grab a bite to eat at Pizza Hut tonight?” Heather asked. Countless times
     over the last four years she and Meg had hit Pizza Hut on nights when Steve was either
     working late or out of town. “Eating with me might be better than being by yourself
     tonight.”
    Waiting a few seconds to conclude her count and sign out, Meg shook her head. “Not
     tonight, Heather, I’ve got something to do.” Without so much as a wave, she headed
     down the hall. From the corner of her eye, she saw Heather grab her coat from her
     locker and reach behind the desk for her purse.
    “Are you sure, Meg?” Heather pleaded as she caught her in the parking lot. “I hate
     to eat alone. I mean . . .”
    “I know what you mean,” Meg replied. Her