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Day 5
At her therapy session the next morning Sady asked Jane for sleeping pills. Jane frowned and said, "I don't like to have them prescribed by the doctor unless it's necessary. And you haven't been here long enough for me to be comfortable doing so. Since the environment is new to you, it may just take more adjustment. And you might not be here much longer. No, I don't think sleeping pills are a good idea."
Sady smiled and shrugged. That's what I thought. She talked a little more openly about her picture since her conversation with Frank.
"You want to keep those children safe, don't you Sandy-Sue?" Jane asked.
Sady nodded and they talked frankly about Sady's job, for the first time since Sady started therapy. "You might find it helpful to continue therapy even after you leave," Jane suggested. "That's totally up to you, but at least think about it. Your job has risks and it might be beneficial to get help as you learn to handle them." Sady promised to think about it.
She knew she would hug each of her co-workers when she got out, understanding now why they wanted her here. Sady thought about calling to have them pick her up, since there were no real thefts. But she decided she couldn't leave just yet. Not while the pill mystery remained.
Sady had been openly curious every time one of the guests had received the wrong medication, and she was given a sleeping pill that wasn't prescribed. Maybe someone had been listening to her questions and worried she might cause trouble. She could call the Knights and get released, but the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that someone was swapping out the patient's meds. And who would help them if she didn't?
She needed another opinion, so she went in search of Frank. Sady found him watching TV, and she sat next to him. "We need to talk," she whispered.
"Can it wait until after the showcase smack down?" Frank asked. Sady nodded and told him to meet her in the bushes when the show finished.
When he tracked her down, she yanked him into the bushes and said, "I think someone is taking the patient's meds, and swapping them out for a placebo."
Frank looked skeptical. "I haven't had any problems," he told her.
"What do you take?" she asked.
"Just blood pressure medicine and something for my cholesterol."
"But, you don't take anything for anxiety or sleep? No mood altering medications?" she asked.
He shook his head and asked, "Why? Does that make a difference?"
Sady told him both Lucy and Todd told her they'd been given the wrong medication. Frank patted her hand and said, "Honey, all the guests here aren't exactly painting with the full color wheel if you know what I mean. Maybe the pharmacy switched suppliers."
"I don't know, Frank. Both Lucy and Todd were taken away, and they both told me the same story about being given the wrong colored pills when they returned. They both take medicine for anxiety, and you know some of those meds can be sold on the streets. And then Kenny had something similar happen. Another thing- a nurse gave me a sleeping pill last night, Frank. But the doctor didn't order it."
"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. Sady smiled and told him she only rented it for a few minutes. "We need a plan," he told her. "We need to get to the pharmacy and catch them swapping pills."
"I don't think it's happening in the pharmacy. Those places all have cameras now. I think it's happening after the pills are put into the medicine cups. If the nurse knows which pills to take it would be easy to pocket them and substitute a sugar pill. And who'd believe a patient over a nurse?" Sady asked. "It's probably more than one of them, since it was a female nurse who gave me the sleeping pill, but Lucy told me a male nurse gave her the wrong meds."
"So we need to catch a nurse with a pocket full of pills," he said. "If we catch one, they'll likely implicate their partners. We'll need help for this job."
"I'll round them up and we can meet after lunch," Sady told him. They did a fist bump, and she grinned. "Make sure you tell Matt about that," she said.
After lunch Sady had Allison, Carolina, Lee, and Lou meet her and Frank in the bushes. "Do we have to throw more jello?" Lee asked. "I don't want to throw it away, now that we have the good flavor!"
"No jello throwing, Lee," Sady assured her. "This has to do with the medications and the guests. Do any of you think some of the meds are being switched out on the patients, like Lucy and Todd?"
Lou's hand went up immediately. Allison and Carolina thought about it for a minute, then nodded.
Lee said, "I saw one of the nurses take out one of Kenny's pills the other day. She pretended to spill the cup on her tray, but she had a bunch of blue pills on that tray and that's what she put back in Kenny's cup."
Lou glared at her. "And you're just now telling us this? What's wrong with you?"
"Like you'd believe me? If it had been your vitamins you'd have noticed, but no one's gonna steal your vitamins, because no one wants them!" Lee retorted.
"Uh, ladies, I think we're getting off track," Sady told them. "Lee, was that the day Kenny left?"
Lee thought about it and said, "I'm not sure, but I think so. It was in the morning- that I know."
"Do you know which nurse it was?" Frank asked.
"It was Patsy. She's the mean one," Lee replied.
"They're all mean," Lou said with a snort.
Before they became sidetracked again Sady said, "Well, she has to bring them with her when she picks up the med tray at the pharmacy. So she probably has a bottle of them in her pocket and dumps them on her tray before she starts the rounds in the cafeteria. When she’s finished she must put the pills she's stolen into her bottle. We might have to do this in two stages. The first is getting the bottle of fake pills from her pocket. I can have my friends test to see what they are. Then we need to get proof she’s switching pills."
"Well, for the first part Lee and I can distract her and get the bottle from her pocket," Lou said. "The problem will be once she realizes it's missing she's going to want to search everyone in the room. How are we going to get the bottle out of there?"
"I can help with that!" Lucy pushed her way into the bushes. "I'll put it in my new bra. I can almost fit a juice box in there. A bottle of pills won't be a problem. The gel will just mold around it, like it's not even there."
"Lucy, are you sure?" Sady looked at the others, not sure of Lucy's discretion.
"Absolutely! It's not right, them taking our medicine and giving us fake pills. Someone could get hurt, or worse. Count me in!" she insisted.
"Okay, so Lee and Lou will snag the bottle tomorrow morning at breakfast when Patsy brings in the tray. Allison, maybe you and Carolina should be on standby in case the girls need a little more time getting the bottle to Lucy to hide. Can you plan something as well?"
"I can pretend my husband and his dog stepped into the room and throw my tray," Carolina offered. "I've got a good arm!"
"Won't that get you in trouble?" Sady asked.
Carolina snorted. "I'll just tell them I slipped, and the tray flew out of my hands. What are they gonna do? If they call me a liar, I'll throw another tray," she laughed. "Dang, I wonder if I can make my stay permanent? I'm having a better time here than at home cleaning up after that stupid dog!"
"Just be careful," Sady cautioned. "We don't want to create too much commotion and bring the whole staff running. If you throw a tray, it could start a food fight."
Carolina grinned and Frank gave her a warning look. "Hey, I can dream," she defended herself. "I'll be good and use it only as a last resort, I promise."
"I'll see if I can get one of my co-workers to come by for the bottle," Sady said. "I'll also have them slip me a cell phone so we can get pictures of Patsy the next day, when she really is swapping out the pills." Sady didn't want them discovering she already had a cell phone.
"How are we going to do that without Patsy knowing?" Lee asked.
"We'll make a bunch of fake cameras with our new art supplies and pass them out," Allison suggested. "Sady, you can hide your real phone inside a fake camera and if all the guests have one, she'll never know."
"Allison, that's genius! We can set them on the tables. A few of the guests are bound to pick them up. If we pretend we're using them then Patsy probably won't even notice," Sady told her. "Maybe we should use the time we have this afternoon making fake cameras. Just don't tell anyone what they're for," she cautioned.
"She means you, big mouth," Lee told Lou.
"Me? I don't think so," Lou replied. Carolina rolled her eyes and shoved the twins out of the bushes, then followed them. The rest of the group left the bushes one at a time.
In the activity room Charlotte discovered they were making fake cameras and decided to help. "Hey, we can have a picture day and then at group therapy next week we can talk about the pictures we took. Let's make a camera for everyone!"
Charlotte gave the cameras wild embellishments. Some had feathers, others had eyes. Sady snagged a piece of styrofoam to hollow out later. If she did it in front of Charlotte, she'd have to explain.
Fortunately, Charlotte's enthusiasm for the project helped. At group therapy, the last session for the week, Charlotte brought up the idea to Dr. Alden. Some of the guests rolled their eyes, and others complained, but Dr. Alden said it was a good project for them. In other words, they didn't have a choice. Since Sady didn't need the fake cameras until Sunday morning, she suggested that everyone make their own. More groans, but Dr. Alden agreed. When the session broke up Sady heard the grumbling about stupid fake cameras, and dumb pretend pictures. A few of the guests chose more colorful words to describe the project. Sady grinned, thinking Matt would be in that category.
That night, after she harked out her sleeping pill, and before she went to bed, she had a texting chat with her friends. They agreed to be at the Harbor in the morning. Sady wasn't sure how she'd get the pills to them, since she didn’t arrange a visit through Nurse Gabby, but she knew she could count on them to work it out.