‘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
