The Iron Quill by Shelena Shorts

do. With his eyes still closed, he clenched his fists making the veins in his strong arms bulge. I placed my fingers on his arm and a cold chill went down my back. He was ice cold.
    “Jesus.” I jerked my hand back.
    I rushed over to the door, opened it, and shouted for blankets. John and the sergeant major looked impatient.
    “Thanks to you, he’s freezing. I have to get his body temperature back up or the medicine could send him into shock.”
    Satisfied with my explanation, they handed me blankets that I quickly used to cover his chest, and then I tapped a vein knowing I didn’t have much time.
    “Listen, this is only going to make you feel tired and delirious. Once I do this, I’ll be able to buy more time with you.”
    He turned his head away and began mumbling words, “Sophie,” and then something like, “Amelia help me. Amelia make him stop.”
    The way he said it made me feel even worse, like a fire of guilt was burning inside my brain but I pushed out his words and pressed the needle into his skin.
    It wouldn’t break the surface.
    I pressed harder and it
still
wouldn’t go in. I pulled back, looked at the needle, and checked it. Nothing was wrong with it, so I tried again. I pushed harder and it finally went into the skin, but it stopped short of the vein as if there was a barrier beneath his skin.
    Panicked images bombarded my brain. Bloody, screaming, freezing cold images. Then I saw a black and white photo of him with Dr. Oliver Thomas. Or not him. Someone who looked like him. No, it was him. “Jesus Christ.” I dropped the needle on the tray.
    The sergeant major opened the door, “Dr. Carter, are you finished?”
    I turned, my hand shaking, “Almost . . . one second.”
    He closed the door and I faced Weston again. This time he was watching me.
    “What’s going on? Who are you?” I whispered.
    His gaze was locked on mine as he answered softly, “You already know.”
    “No, I don’t. Tell me what’s going on!”
    A pounding at the door caused me to jump.
    “Shit. Listen, I’m going to inject this into the blanket, but you must pretend to be very tired and to see things that aren’t there. And when I ask you questions, you better come up with some answers. They are not playing around here!”
    He nodded subtly and the door came open just as I finished emptying the syringe.
    I stood quickly. “I’m done here, Sergeant. It will take effect in a few minutes.”
    “Good, Dr. Carter. Now we’re going to get somewhere.”
I grabbed the tray and needles before anyone could get any ideas, and then left the room feeling very strange. And something was bothering me about the way he’d said “Dr. Carter.” It no longer sounded like a name I should be proud of.

Chapter 7

THE ARREST
     
    I walked into the police station, clueless about where to start. It was nothing like TV.
    The desks were black with modern curved metal legs. Marble floors and cubicles separated by frosted glass. Once I got over the contemporary décor, I refocused on my purpose. I wasn’t about to speak with just anyone. It would be pointless to feed this information to an officer who was busy with unrelated cases.
    I searched for Officer Petty and the other officer who’d interviewed me after Andy’s death and were also handling Ms. Mary’s case. I’d met with them twice before and Officer Petty already noted how odd it was for me to be connected to two major crimes in such a short period. They would not ignore me, that’s for certain.
    Sure, I didn’t really like the way they both looked at me like I was hiding something, but they knew about Andy and Ms. Mary, and I believed they would be
very
interested in Tim.
    Turns out I was right. But somehow, it wasn’t the response I was looking for. Officer Petty was the only one who greeted me in the lobby, and he was the less friendly of the two.
    “Where’s the other officer?” I asked.
    “You mean Officer Wright?”
    “I guess so.”
    “He’s in court this