Chapter 2 - TWO DIFFERENT PILLS
“Call an ambulance!” I shouted.
Antonio was out of his chair before I reached Maria. She leaned forward, struggling to draw a full breath.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“The pills were different.” I held up the bottle. “These aren’t what was in her organizer.”
One of his bodyguards started toward the door. Antonio snapped, “Stay here.”
I crouched beside Maria. “Can you tell me what you’re feeling?”
“Tight,” she whispered. “My chest.”
“Did you eat anything?”
She shook her head.
Marco stood uselessly behind me. “Should we move her?”
“No.” I looked at Antonio. “Tell the dispatcher what she took. Bring the organizer and bottle for the paramedics.”
He was already calling.
Maria gripped my wrist. Her hand was cold. I kept talking to her while we waited, telling her the ambulance was coming, asking short questions she could answer with a nod. I had only studied nursing, never practiced, but I knew enough to keep her seated and watch her breathing.
The paramedics arrived in seven minutes. Antonio moved aside the instant they asked. That surprised me more than anything else he’d done.
As they wheeled Maria out, she caught his sleeve. “Don’t frighten the girl.”
“I won’t, Mama.”
He looked at me. “Come to the hospital. Tell the doctors what you saw.”
Marco stepped between us. “Sophie’s shift isn’t over.”
Antonio turned to him. Marco took a step back.
At the emergency department, a doctor took the pills, the bottle, and my account of the evening. Maria was awake but exhausted. They kept her for observation while they checked what she might have swallowed.
I sat in a hallway with my coat across my knees. At midnight, Antonio came out of her room carrying two paper cups of coffee.
“I didn’t ask what you wanted,” he said.
“Black is fine.”
He handed me one. “The doctor says she’s stable.”
Relief left me shaky.
“Her evening pills didn’t match the prescription,” he added. “They’re being identified.”
“Someone could have filled the organizer wrong.”
“Yes.”
The way he said it told me he didn’t believe that.
My phone buzzed. It was Marco.
Don’t come back tomorrow. We’ll mail your check.
I showed Antonio before I thought better of it.
His jaw tightened. “I’ll speak to him.”
“Please don’t. I can find another job.”
Before he could answer, his phone rang. He listened without speaking. Then his eyes lifted to mine.
May you like
“What?” I asked.
“The restaurant cameras were turned off tonight,” he said. “Eleven minutes before my mother arrived.”
