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Chapter Seven

It wasn't until she was leaving the hospital that she had realised she hadn't even bothered to look at the woman's name.

Now, Aurelia brought herself to her knees, hushing Jonathon as he began to speak. She reached down and grabbed a handful of Ellis's uniform, twisting him until he was lying on his back. The syringe had punctured his chest, close to the heart. He must have fallen on it when she'd pushed him. Out of habit, she pulled the needle out of his chest and then turned to look at Jonathon.

"He's dead," she said, hardly believing it herself.

Jonathon's eyes clouded. "Dead." It wasn't a question. It was clear that the trauma doctor was gone; it was a simple restatement of what she had just said.

"That syringe was meant for you," said Aurelia softly.

"I see."

She closed her eyes for a second. "What should I do?" she whispered, half to herself.

Jonathon managed to slide himself closer to her, close enough that he could put a hand on her leg. "Aurelia, I was here; I saw everything. It was an accident, but Gods, the man was trying to kill me!"

"What if they don't believe me, us?" she said, her eyes still closed as though she could block out the dead man on the floor in front of her. The man she had killed.

"They will believe me," he said firmly.

She was shaking now, her entire body trembling with adrenaline that couldn't be used. "But..." Her voice trailed off.

"But nothing," said Jonathon, coming even closer. "There was no way you could have done this deliberately; think, Aurelia."

At this, she opened her eyes and stared at him dumbly. Think about what?
He smiled gently. "Your number hasn't been logged into the system, remember? There was no way for you to open the cupboard and take out the injection. Me neither. Ellis was the only one who could have taken that vial out of that cupboard."

With a rush of relief that slowed her heartbeat, Aurelia realised he was right. Without her data in the system, her handprint wouldn't open the door, and she'd told Elza that less than an hour ago. In fact, the cupboard would log anyone whose print had been used to open it, as the vial would log the number used to unlock it.

"How did he expect to get away with this?" she asked.

Jonathon shrugged. "Maybe he didn't."

There were so many questions buzzing around in her mind that she didn't know which to ask, and Jonathon probably couldn't answer them anyway. Aurelia struggled to understand the situation, that she had killed someone. Then Jonathon's hand tightened on her thigh, and the door gave a small click as it prepared to slide open.

"So," began Elza, but she didn't finish.

The door slid quietly shut behind her as she stood, taking in the scene before her. Aurelia was about to leap to her own defence, to explain things, but she found that the words just wouldn't come. Elza's eyes moved from the dead doctor on the floor to the vial lock casing lying beside him and the syringe that was still in Aurelia's hand. Then, coolly and calmly, she stepped over the body of Ellis and supported Jonathon's weight as he lumbered to his feet and climbed back onto his bed. After she had done this, she turned and helped Aurelia, whose head was still spinning. Both patients back in bed, Elza nodded in satisfaction and went back to the door, hitting keys on a pad on the wall and sending a locking mechanism shooting across the door itself.

"Now," she said, turning back to face them. "Perhaps you should tell me what's going on here?"

Aurelia looked at Jonathon, who nodded at her. "Go ahead," he said.