Free Promises of Mercy(Montana Promises-Book 1) by Vella Day

your mouth shut. One word and you’re gone.”
     
    * *
     
    Cade had interrogated scores of criminals in his career, but never had he felt as much of a shit as he did now. But facts were facts. Amber Delacroix was his most likely suspect.
    “Let me explain how I see this.” He switched his gaze between his best friend and the woman Stone clearly cared for. “You are a highly competent oncology nurse. When I spoke with your supervisor, Ms. White, she attested to that fact.”
    “You did what?” She pulled out of Stone’s grasp and fisted her hands. “Why would you go to her?”
    He refused to let her accusation make him feel guilty. He waited for her to ask a follow up question, but when she didn’t, he wanted to satisfy his curiosity. “Is that a problem?”
    Her jaw loosened. “A problem? Why would it be a problem to have a detective ask my boss a question about whether she thought I was capable of a mercy killing?”
    “I never said anything about a mercy killing.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Emma Luther was a vibrant seventeen-year old girl who had inoperable brain cancer. It made my heart ache every time I treated her. It killed me to see her pain grow more intense each day.” She leaned forward. “Did I wish she were pain free? Yes. Did I wish the good Lord would take her sooner rather than later? Hell, yes. But, did I give her some huge dose of Ativan? No damn way.”
    She leaned back in her seat and glared. While he couldn’t see her leg bounce, he heard the light whoosh of the material against the seat.
    Sometimes this job sucked. Maybe he wanted to solve Emma’s murder so much, he willingly grasped at anything. Her parents stopped by everyday begging for news. They kept saying Emma was braver than they all were. Not only was it terribly sad for anyone that young to die, but the young girl been a star athlete with colleges recruiting her. Fuck . Was he being too hasty bringing in Amber? No. A month was too long for any family to wait for closure. He was convinced that whoever had put Emma out of her misery had been the same person to kill Chris Delacroix.
    He refocused his attention on the woman in front of him. Cade scribbled a note that she’d mentioned Ativan but not the neuromuscular blocker. Neither he nor Dan Hartwick had leaked that information.
    “How do you explain your signature for Emma’s second dose?” He’d asked her this before, but perhaps in her agitated state, she’d tell him more.
    Five pharmaceutical technicians worked at the hospital. The one who gave out the second dosage swore there was no record of Amber having requested the first dosage. Clearly, someone was lying.
    “Like I told you. I can’t. But if I wanted to give her a dose big enough to kill her, why wouldn’t I have signed out the usual small doses several times, instead of asking for a large dosage, which from what you told me, the killer did. Only a surgeon would have asked for that much, not an oncology nurse.”
    “I don’t know, but then I’m not a medical professional or the one accused of murder.”
    Alarm raced across her face. “Are you accusing me of murder?”
    He didn’t have any concrete evidence. Everything was circumstantial, which wasn’t enough to hold her. “Where were you between 1:00 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. the day your brother died?”
    Her respiration increased, and she now looked pissed. “Do I need a lawyer?”
    “Do you need one?” He shouldn’t have been on autopilot, but the years of being with the scum of the earth had hardened him.
    “I do if you plan on arresting me.”
    “Not yet.”
    “Cade,” Stone said. “Why are you being such a dick?”
    “Because I want justice for Emma Luther and Chris Delacroix.” Cade shoved back his chair and stood. “Leave.”
    Cade’s cousin had died in a hit and run when she was sixteen. It might not be the same as watching a young girl waste away from brain cancer or seeing a once vibrant man turn helpless , but he’d wanted justice.