Undercover at City Hospital
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Carol Marinelli
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CHAPTER ONE
‘YOU know that you don’t have to accept this assignment, Constable Gray?’ Inspector Eddie Bandford did his best impersonation of a friendly yet professional smile and Bella did the same, reminding herself to keep her hands neatly folded in her lap and to stare her senior in the eye. A natural fidget, it took Bella a supreme effort to do what seemingly came naturally to most people over the age of five—sit still for five minutes! ‘You know,’ Inspector Bandford continued, his voice so assured, his platitudes so emphatic Bella almost believed him, ‘that if you decided this isn’t for you, in no way will it impact on your application to be a detective.’
‘Absolutely.’ Bella nodded, her response equally emphatic, her clear green eyes unblinking as she stared assuredly back. ‘But I want to do this, Inspector Bandford. In fact, I’m thrilled that I’m even being considered.’
Another friendly yet professional smile.
Another pause as he eyed the file in front of him, and had she had a bell in her pocket, Bella would have been sorely tempted to ring it, to call for some time out.
Cut the bull, Eddie, she wanted to snarl. You know as well as I do that if I turn this down, my application to be a detective will be fed into the shredder by the time I hit the lifts. You know as well as I do that the only reason, the only reason, I’m being considered for this role is that I happen to have been stupid enough to keep my nursing registration up to date and that I’m practically the only cop in Melbourne who can work my way around the inside of an emergency room instead of hovering in the waiting room.
‘It doesn’t worry you?’ Inspector Bandford closed the case file and picked up another, flicking through it with agonizing slowness as Bella felt her stomach turn to liquid as her senior read through her personal record. ‘Going back to nursing, I mean. I understand you left because—’
‘Because I realised that I wanted to be a policewoman,’ Bella broke in, her voice amazingly even, nodding when he looked up to affirm her point. But even with a hefty dash of assertion added to her words still she registered the tiny flicker of doubt in Inspector Bandford’s expression and moved quickly to quell it. ‘That all happened years ago,’ Bella said firmly, waving an almost dismissive hand at the personal file he was holding. ‘I dealt with all that long ago.’
‘But even so…’
She could hear the hesitancy in his voice, her inquisitive eyes taking in the deepening frown between his eyes, and Bella pulled on every last reserve she had to drag out a small laugh.
‘I thought you wanted me to take the job, Inspector.’
‘No,’ Eddie corrected her. ‘I’ve merely asked you to come in here to discuss the possibility, that’s all. Detective Miller and I both agree that this business with drugs going missing at Melbourne City has been going on for long enough. Unfortunately, all the usual channels of investigation have been exhausted. All the staff have been extensively interviewed, we’ve had surveillance in place from the waiting room, even hidden cameras in the drug room…’
‘Which have been repeatedly sabotaged…’ It was Bella breaking in now, her curious mind switching in an instant to the puzzle that needed to be fixed, focusing on the task that could be hers if only Eddie Bandford gave the final nod of approval.
‘Clearly, from our observations it’s someone senior that’s taking the drugs.’ After a long moment of hesitation he handed her a list of subjects and Bella snapped them out of his hand like an eager puppy taking a treat. ‘Someone with good access…’
‘Most doctors and nurses would have access to the drug cupboards,’ Bella pointed out, but Eddie shook his head.
‘Only a few very senior staff knew that we were installing cameras in the drug room. Not only that, most of the drugs have been taken soon after the pharmacist has stocked up the cupboards and there’s a decent haul to be had. Whoever’s taking the drugs knows what they’re doing, knows exactly how the system works and knows that we’re watching them.’
‘Why has Dr Ramirez been ruled out?’ Bella asked, reading down the line of suspects. ‘He was the most likely suspect for a while and from this I can see why. He’s the consultant of the department, recently lost a child, been involved in a major accident, there are a lot of stressors…’
‘There are,’ Eddie agreed. ‘And, as you say, he was one of the prime suspects, until he headed off for an extended break in Spain and the thefts continued.’
‘Shame!’ Bella gave a rueful laugh.
Eddie reciprocated with one of his own, but as her eyes worked the list again they both went quiet. He did nothing to fill the silence, watching as his junior mulled the situation over, processed all the information she had been given that afternoon, chewing on her bottom lip in quiet contemplation, a hand that had been clenched in her lap moving to her head and automatically freeing a blond strand of neatly tied-back hair and twirling it around her fingers. If Eddie Bandford had had any doubts about the validity of sending in one of his uniformed constables as an undercover nurse, they wavered then—Isabella Gray was the natural born detective that she insisted she was on rather too many occasions. Petite, dizzy and terribly blond she may be, but that was a gift in itself. Not for a second would you imagine the razor-sharp mind behind that rather scatty exterior, the shrewdness behind those trusting green eyes, and perhaps more relevantly the aloofness behind that dazzling smile. Isabella Gray had, by police standards, the enviable natural ability to make people open up to her while giving away absolutely nothing of herself, coupled with a brain, that came up in just a few moments with an extremely pertinent observation.
‘It all seems so calculated. You’d expect an addict to have made a mistake by now.’ A tiny shake of her head, her strand of hair forgotten as she nibbled on her thumbnail. ‘I mean, I know they can be cunning and manipulative, but this has been going on for so long that you’d think by now there would have been some clear sign there was an addict in their midst, some air of desperation, some sort of slip-up.’
‘You would,’ Eddie agreed, and Bella didn’t even look up, staring over and over at the list before her. All the main suspects were highly qualified, all incredibly well respected by their peers. How sad that amongst this impressive list lay a thief.
‘And the quantities…’ Bella said, more to herself than to the inspector. They were talking a lot of drugs.
A lot.
The nursing part of her brain might be rather rusty, but from the figures before her there was more than enough going missing to feed one person’s habit.
‘Do we think they might be selling them?’
We.
It had been deliberate.
Slip in we, force her toe in the door just a touch, and subliminally let him know she was part of this now. But Eddie had been around the block too many times to miss a trick.
‘Detective Miller thinks that’s a distinct possibility.’ Bella’s cheeks went pink as Eddie gently pulled her back. ‘Which is why he’s taking the unusual step of requesting a nurse go in undercover. Only the CEO and one of the nursing supervisors would know. There’s a chance after all that the perpetrator isn’t on our list of suspects. But more to the point, the people on the list in front of you are, for the most part, well liked, respected and extremely trusted—the last thing we want is even a hint that whoever is sent in is anything other than a nurse, because otherwise someone will end up revealing it in supposed confidence.’
‘Whoever?’ Bella questioned, tired of the games now. She wanted this—badly. OK, after what had happened to Danny, she’d sworn she’d never step foot inside an emergency room as a professional, sworn she’d never go back to nursing, but she wasn’t going back, Bella consoled herself. She was going forward, taking on a job that, if she performed well, would surely move her that difficult inch over the line to being accepted to train as a detective.
She had to do this.
‘I haven’t made my mind up yet. Look, Bella, I know you say that what happened in your previous nursing career is all in the past, that you’re over it, but I’m yet to be convinced. This could be dangerous. As you’ve rightly pointed out, Detective Miller is leaning towards the possibility that these drugs aren’t being used to sustain one person’s habit, that this could be part of a drug ring, and I don’t need to tell you how ruthless those type of people can be. Naturally there will be back-up, we’ll have an undercover officer in the waiting room at all times, but even so, the last thing we need is to send someone in there with emotional issues—’
‘I don’t have issues,’ Bella broke in forcibly. ‘I’m not going to break down on the job, for heaven’s sake. Surely you know me well enough by now to know that much.’
‘I don’t know you, though, Bella.’ Eddie remained unmoved. The only concession was that he dropped her title and called her by her name. ‘No one in the station really knows you. Sure, you’re friendly, personable and well liked by your colleagues but, as we’ve discussed before, on many occasions, you never really let anyone in.’
‘And as I’ve said—on many occasions,’ Bella added dryly, ‘has it ever affected my work? Has the fact I’m not exactly the station’s social butterfly ever once impacted on my professionalism?’
‘No.’ Eddie answered, tight-lipped.
‘Have I, even once, brought my problems to the station?’
‘No.’
‘So let me do this.’ Bella leaned forward a fraction in her chair. ‘I’m more than up to it.’
‘I’ll speak with Detective Miller some more and let you know. Thank you for staying behind. I know your shift should have ended an hour ago.’ Eddie nodded to the door and Bella knew it was all she was going to get from him for now, knew that even though he’d invited her in to discuss the possibility of going in as an undercover nurse, this particular interview was far from over, and that appearing too eager, too needy wasn’t going to help matters. Taking her cue, she headed for the door, the professional smile back in place. ‘No, thank you for considering me, Inspector. I’ll look forward to hearing your decision.’
‘One more thing, Constable Gray. Have you ever worked at Melbourne City?’
Bella shook her head. ‘I did my training in a suburban hospital.’
‘So no one at Melbourne City would know that you left nursing to join the police?’
‘I can’t say for sure,’ Bella admitted honestly. ‘There’s a big turnover in hospitals, people pop up all over the place. But my departure was fairly low key at the time. I guess there might be a few people who will recognize me, but they wouldn’t know that I’d joined the police.’
‘I’ll bear it in mind.’
The interview was definitely over now. Eddie picked up his pen and started to write, clearly assuming that the door would quietly close, but Bella stood there until he looked up, and from the frown that formed he was clearly slightly irritated to find she was still there.
‘I said I’d let you know, Bella,’ he sighed. ‘There’s nothing more to say until I’ve spoken with Detective Miller.’
‘But there is.’ Her voice was clear, the compulsive fidgeting that was so much Bella still now, and from her stance Eddie knew that what Bella was about to say was non-negotiable, that whatever was on her mind had already been decided. Putting down his pen, he offered her his undivided attention.
‘You said that if I get the role I would be going in as an RN?’
‘That’s right.’ Eddie nodded. ‘We could have put you in as a student or a nurse’s aide but Detective Miller felt you’d have better access to the critical patients and senior staff if you went in as a fully qualified RN with a certificate in emergency nursing. And given that you’ve got all the credentials, Bella, we may as well use them.’
‘Agreed.’ Bella nodded. ‘So long as you explain to Detective Miller that if I get the role, I will not compromise patient care under any circumstance. If I’m going in as part of the team, people will be depending on me…’
‘You’re a police officer,’ Eddie started, but Bella shook her head.
‘I’m a nurse, too. I want this, Eddie, you know how much I want this role, but unless we set down some ground rules, unless you and Detective Miller understand where I’m coming from, you might as well put a thick red line through my name. I cannot and will not compromise a patient in my care.’
‘I think you’re being a bit melodramatic here, Bella. You’re only going to be there for a couple of weeks.’
‘Have you ever done a shift in Emergency?’ Two spots of colour flamed on her cheeks, but apart from that Bella kept her temper firmly in check as Eddie shook his head. ‘Then take it from me, I’m not being melodramatic.’
Stepping out into the late afternoon sun, Bella dragged in a deep calming breath, but it didn’t work, her heart rate still skipping along way too fast, her brain still reeling from the unexpected carrot that had been dangled before her.
Boarding a tram, she took her usual seat at the back, only this time she didn’t eye her fellow travellers, didn’t play her usual game of people-watching, guessing who everyone was and where they were all going. Instead, she rested her head against the window and tried to quell the flurry of nerves that danced inside her; tried and failed to envisage herself back in an emergency room; tried and failed to envisage her detective application going through if she turned down the role on ‘personal grounds’. And yet…it wasn’t just nerves that were dancing as Bella stepped off the tram and walked the five-minute distance to her destination. It was excitement—pure, unadulterated excitement.
She’d be going undercover.
Undercover!
Using her own mind, her own people skills, working out clues—in fact, being everything that she wanted to be…
Except a nurse.
Stopping at the milk bar, Bella bought a magazine and chatted to Sandra, the owner, for a couple of minutes. After a very respectable pause, which the two women knew was just for effect, she decided to spoil herself with a bar of chocolate as if it were an occasional treat, not a daily essential.
‘How’s Danny?’ Ringing up the till, Sandra asked her usual question.
‘Good,’ Bella replied, just as Australians always did. Half the family could be being held at gunpoint and the answer would be the same.
Good.
‘How’s Danny?’ Bella asked Tania, the young nurse who was feeding him, putting down her chocolate and magazines on his locker and pulling up a chair before taking over the bowl of puréed mince and vegetables.
‘Good.’ Tania smiled brightly. ‘He’s just not very hungry.’
‘Still?’ Bella sighed. ‘He hasn’t eaten much all week.’
‘The doctor’s been in to see him, he couldn’t find anything wrong. He said we were to try giving him some nutritional supplements, there’s some in the fridge, I’ll go and fetch you one. Can I get you a coffee or anything?’
‘I’m fine, thanks.’ Bella shook her head, stirring the unattractive meal around the plate.
‘Maybe later—with your chocolate perhaps?’
‘Maybe later,’ Bella agreed.
Another pleasant but pointless conversation, another pretence at normal that, even after all these years, merely felt false.
‘How was your day, Danny?’
He didn’t even look at her, didn’t smile, didn’t shrug, and didn’t say ‘good’. He didn’t say anything at all, just let out a moan when Bella tried to persuade him to eat the shepherd’s pie.
‘Come on, Danny,’ Bella pleaded. ‘You have to eat something. If you don’t, they’re going to put the nasogastric tube down again and you know how much you hate that.’ Lecture over, Bella forced a smile, rued the fact that even after all this time, even though she came in just about every single day, the mere sight of him could still bring her to the verge of tears. That gorgeous, athletic body, atrophied now, his blond sun-bleached hair that she’d loved so much, crudely cut now, courtesy of the mobile hairdresser more used to elderly clients. But Bella tried not to let her hurt show, tried so hard, just as she always did, to carry on chatting as if the person sitting opposite her was as animated and as interested in life as her, carried on chatting as if it were her gorgeous, vibrant, sexy fiancé she was coming home to. ‘You haven’t asked how I am! Well, I’m good, actually. Really good, in fact. You’ll never guess what Inspector Miller called me into his office for today…’
