Killer Dreams

Chapter One Two years later Fentway University Hospital Baltimore, Maryland What's going on? You're not supposed to be here." Sophie Dunston looked up from the chart to see Kathy VanBoskirk, the head night nurse, standing in the doorway. "An overnight apnea study." "You worked all day and now you're monitoring an overnighter?" Kathy came into the room and glanced at the bed on the other side of the double glass panel. "Ah, an infant. The light dawns." "Not so much an infant any longer. Elspeth's fourteen months," Sophie said. "She'd stopped having incidents three months ago and now they're back. She just stops breathing in the middle of the night and her doctor can't find any reason for it. Her mother is worried sick." "Then where is she?" "She works nights." "So do you. Days and nights." Kathy gazed at the sleeping baby. "Lord, she's beautiful. Makes my biological clock start ticking. My kid is fifteen now and there's nothing lovable about him. I'm hoping he'll turn back into a human being in another six years. Think I have a chance?" "Don is just your typical teenager. He'll get there." Sophie rubbed her eyes. They felt as if they had sand in them. It was almost five and the sleep study would be over soon. Then she'd run the errand that was on the top of her list before getting to bed and grabbing a few hours of shut-eye before she had to get back for her first one o'clock session with the Cartwright child. "And he offered to clean my car last week when you had him at the office." "He probably wanted a chance to swipe it." Kathy grimaced. "Or maybe he wanted the chance to score with an older woman. He thinks you're cool-looking." "Yeah, sure." Right now, Sophie felt older than her years, frumpy, and ugly as sin. She turned back the chart and checked Elspeth's case history. She'd had an apnea episode about 1:00 a.m. and nothing since. There might be something there that would help her pin down "There's a message for you at the nurses' station," Kathy said. Sophie stiffened. "Home?" Kathy quickly shook her head. "No. God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to panic you. I didn't think. The message came in during the shift change at seven and they forgot to give it to you." She paused. "How is Michael?" "Sometimes terrible. Sometimes okay." She tried to smile. "But all the time wonderful." Kathy nodded. "Yes, he is." "But in five years I'll probably be pulling my hair out like you're doing." She changed the subject. "So who left the message?" "It's from Gerald Kennett again. Aren't you going to call him back?" "No." She checked Elspeth's meds. Allergies? "Sophie, it wouldn't hurt to talk to him. He offered you a job that will pay you more in a month than you make in a year here at the university. And he might even up the salary since he keeps after you. I'd jump at it." "Then you call him back. I like my work here and the people I work with. I don't want to have to answer to any pharmaceutical company." "You worked forJohansen, Iris is the author of 'Killer Dreams', published 2007 under ISBN 9780553591309 and ISBN 0553591304.