“Seeing that woman walking her dog really makes me miss Spirit and Trixie,” Kat said. “I should probably give Stella a call and see how they’re all doing.”
“Have you thought about the questions we should ask the hospital staff when we get there?” Annette was getting nervous about interviewing her mother’s nurses and others who possibly witnessed something nefarious or suspicious. Maybe one of them even disliked her enough to harm her…although that seemed a little far fetched.
“Those nurses and other staff members were there the whole time. We were not. It’s worth a shot.”
“You know, Kat. I don’t feel like someone who just lost their mother should feel.”
“She was hateful to you, Annette. I’m happy you’re free of her. People’s lives were destroyed because of Edith Morris.”
When Kat and Annette arrived at the hospital, they first stopped by Vanessa’s room to tell her Jack would be there in the morning to pick her up after she was discharged.
“I am so ready to leave this place,” she said. “I know all of the nurses think I had something to do with Mrs. Morris’, or should I say, dear Grandma’s, death.”
“Why do you think that?” Kat asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe they’re afraid I saw something.”
Kat told Vanessa they were there to talk with the nurses and other staff who were working during the time Mrs. Morris was killed. “Is there anything you can remember that might have been a little out of the ordinary at any time that day or night?”
“There is something that keeps coming back to me,” Vanessa said. “There was a nurse on that night that I had never seen here before and I haven’t seen her since. She looked familiar to me, but I don’t know why.”
The hospital administrator was very helpful. She gathered the employee records and developed a timeline of that night. Then she brought each person in to voluntarily answer some questions.
Kat and Annette had talked to several employees before they finally stumbled onto something.
“I understand you were the nurse assigned to Mrs. Morris until 10:00 p.m., Miss Sims.”
Kat was aware that this nurse would most likely be the one able to remember something.
“Yes…I was…at least most of that time. I had an emergency, (or so I thought), with one of my other patient’s. Another nurse checked Mrs. Morris’ vitals for me.”
“What time did this all happen?” Annette asked. And what was this nurse’s name?”
“It must have been around 8:30. I don’t know who the other nurse was. I pulled Mrs. Morris’ chart and saw that another nurse had noted the vitals and that the patient was resting comfortably.”
“You don’t remember the nurse’s name?”
“No, I assumed it was JoAnne or Susan. They were the only other nurses who were working on this floor.”
“Thank you, Nurse Sims. You’ve been very helpful.” Kat and Annette both knew what their next step would be.
Back in the administrator’s office, they repeated what Nurse Sims had told them.
“I’m not at all happy that Nurse Sims didn’t verify who made the notes. I’ll get the file and take a look. Stay here. This will only take a minute.”
When she returned, she had a puzzled look on her face.
“This is not the signature of any of the nurse’s whom we’ve determined were on duty that night and there was no emergency. We’ll definitely do some further investigating on our end. If we are able to verify who wrote these notes, I will be in touch.”
“Thank you,” Annette said. “We’re grateful for any help you can give us.”
“Certainly…and please accept my condolences.”
“Miss Morris,” they heard someone say. “Your niece asked if you were still here. She would like to see you, again.”
Annette and Kat went back to Vanessa’s room. “I remembered something else about the nurse. The one I haven’t seen since she was in my grandmother’s room that night.”
“What do remember, honey?”
“This might sound funny,” Vanessa said. “But she smelled like hamburgers.”
Those 70ish Girls 