Inertia (Gravity Series, 3.5) (The Gravity Series) (9 page)

“What if I still can’t sleep? Even with the medication?”

“Don’t worry, it really won’t give you much of a choice.” At least he could give her the truth. He injected the syringe into her IV, watching the liquid dart inside, then sat down on the bed and watched her eyes begin to droop.

“Look, about the other night,” she said, fighting it. She clutched the sleeve of his lab coat, unaware she was doing it. “Please don’t tell Phillip about what you saw between Henry and me.”

She was slurring. If the nurse hadn’t been there, he could have easily taken a pillow and smothered her. Idiots like Phillip were just not tough enough. You had to get rid of your problems before they engulfed you, like a sneaky little bitch of a wife snooping in your email inbox and threatening to take your daughter and go to the cops. A bullet easily takes care of that.

“Why?” Briggs asked benignly.

“He’s not supposed to know.”

Briggs almost broke out laughing. So naive. Teenagers thinking they were actually good at keeping secrets. “

“But, honey…he already knows.”

Her features bunched up in confusion for a moment, before sleep smoothed the look away. He got off of the bed and threw the needle away in the sharps box.

The nurse followed him out of the room. “I don’t know what you gave her, and I don’t want to know,” she hissed. Not as complacent as he thought. He just smiled at her solemnly. “But she better wake up later.”

“She just needed to rest,” he said. Prepared for this issue, he transferred the bottle he’d sneaked out of the pharmacy into her hand. “Nothing unusual. Nothing that needs to go in the chart. She’ll wake up rested and refreshed. Understood?”

The woman’s eyes darted between the full bottle of her vice and the doctor’s face. Then she nodded, slipping it away. “Yes, doctor.”

###

“I just need something,” Claire Donovan said, grasping her purse on her lap like a lifeline. He could tell she was very uncomfortable being there. She was shaking like a leaf. “I’ve heard you’re the best doctor is town. I’ve been having these panic attacks and bad dreams. I missed a few doses of my medication and it scared me badly.”

“How long have you been taking the Valium?” Briggs asked, perusing her chart.

“Years.”

He flipped the chart shut and put it beneath his arm. “Then it’s simply a case of needing to up your dose. When you’re on benzodiazepines for an extended time, your body adjusts to them and you need a stronger dose to regain the desired effect.”

He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, maintaining eye contact. His old resident would have been proud that his bedside manner had improved so.
Make the patient trust you, and your word becomes God.
“I’ll just up the milligrams.”

“I don’t really want anyone to know about it…” Claire began.

“Don’t worry. I know we have some right in our pharmacy, and I can fill it for you myself. No one needs to know.”

She smiled at him like he’d solved all of her problems.

As he walked to the pharmacy, he couldn’t help the private smile on his lips. He could destroy one obstacle. As easy as switching a few little pills. Then it was only a matter of waiting. He had time.