Free Nothing But Trouble by Erin Kern

office full of men, no less As much as Rebecca didn't
like her, she had to give the woman credit for what she did for a
living. That kind of work environment, surrounded by that much
testosterone, could not have been easy. She must work long hours
and be on her feet all day long. Actually, she was the perfect
candidate for a drug like Adderall. The medicine, when used
correctly, provided energy, discipline and a focused mind. Perhaps
Danielle needed that extra pick-me-up, but didn't have ADHD so she
couldn't get a prescription. Was she using her daughter to get the
medicine illegally from a friend?
    But what Rebecca didn't know was the
connection between Danielle and Dr. Gross. Almost all Dr. Gross'
patients, who were on Adderall XR, knew the doctor on some kind of
personal level. That much Rebecca knew because Trouble was such a
small town, and almost everyone there either went to high school
together or were distant relatives. How was Danielle connected?
    The even more disturbing thought was
Danielle's work at the shop. If in fact, Danielle was addicted to
the drug, then how was that affecting her job? Adderall was one of
the most dangerous drugs to abuse. It could cause loss of sleep,
headaches, anorexia and even heart attacks.
    During medical school, Rebecca had excelled
in the drug and medicine curriculum. Because of that, she was
especially good at recognizing signs of withdraw and abuse. In just
the short amount of time she'd seen Danielle the other day, she'd
thought she'd picked up subtle signs of withdrawal. The only thing
was, Rebecca didn't put two and two together until hours later.
    When she finally had her list made, Rebecca
sat back and stared at the names. Most of the patients were
middle-aged, and all had kids who saw Dr. Gross and had been
diagnosed with ADHD and were on 30 mg of Adderall XR. To sum things
up, Dr. Gross had three times as many patients on Adderall XR than
she had. In fact, Rebecca only had five patients on Adderall XR.
All her other patients were on the lowest dosage of Adderall.
    The whole thing was so strange, and Rebecca
was kicking herself for not noticing this before.
    The other question was, should she say
something to R.J? But how could she do that without violating the
patient confidentiality she was bound to? On the other hand,
shouldn't he know if his manager was having problems with drug
abuse? Maybe she could drop hints about Danielle's behavior without
actually talking to him about it and telling him things she wasn't
supposed to.
    Rebecca leaned back in her chair and stared
at the ceiling. She shouldn't be doing this. Her worry over R.J.'s
manager was conflicting with her guilt for snooping through Dr.
Gross' records. She'd invaded his patients' privacy and that was
inexcusable. She wasn't that sort of doctor. Hell, she wasn't that
sort of person.
    The low rumble in her stomach reminded her
she'd worked through lunch. The practice closed down for an hour so
they could grab something to eat. Without even realizing it,
Rebecca had sat in her office while everyone else had left for
their lunch break. But, instead of leaving, she decided to dig into
her tuna salad. If she finished up early enough, she could take off
for an early weekend. So she worked through lunch on the monotonous
things she hated doing. She'd much rather be tending to a newborn
or treating an eight year old for the flu. Paperwork always put her
to sleep, but it was a necessary evil.
    Hours later, she was finally finished and had
seen Dr. Gross stroll by her office. Going on gut instinct, Rebecca
shot out of her chair and followed him down the hallway. She tried
to tell herself this was just to alleviate her own suspicions. Dr.
Gross would deny everything, tell her she was crazy for even
thinking that, and everything would be peachy keen.
    In a perfect world…
    When she came to Dr. Gross's office, the
older man had just sank down into his chair. He leaned back and dug
the heels of his hands into his eye sockets.