Merry Sister Mary and the One and Only Killer

26: Sister Mary Fails to Save a Life

It is a cruel injustice that our good intentions can bring about the most devastating of consequences. Certainly such events we never could have predicted and even if we knew what was to come, who can say, it can be changed, for once we realize our mistake it is already too late.

My intent on speaking with Father Blanchard was for the sole purpose of uncovering the final clue to this mystery, but in my goal driven mind I forgot the one loose end. Ms. Annette, framed and jailed under crimes I knew for certain she did not commit, was to be my greatest failure yet.

I saw it happen, like in slow motion. I exited room number two and walked down the hall. I brushed by Susan who in her hands was carrying Ms. Annette's diabetic kit. The poor woman had sat in silence in Room 3 for the last few hours contemplating her fate. The time came when her blood sugar dropped and she needed her medical kit. Susan was kind enough to drive from Stanton Manor to deliver it, but what she carried in her arms was no saving grace. It was death.

I stopped Investigator Dorsey and Sergeant Leblanc at the end of the hall to discuss my final plan for attack, convince them I knew the players of this deadly game and how to stop them. Yet before I could tell them what I knew, Susan had entered Room 3 and in moments a horrifying scream erupted into the hall.

Susan tumbled backwards as the cop nearby opened the door. She pointed and screamed into the room, crying out, "She is dying! Someone help! Someone do something!"

Every person present glided down the hall to Ms. Annette's room. There we witnessed a terrible sight. The woman was convulsing on the floor. An empty syringe resting by her side.

"What's happening to her?"

"It's poison!" I shouted picking up the syringe and tossing it on the table. "The same poison I bet used on Mrs. Stanton." I knelt down and lifted Annette's head on my lap. I knew there was nothing I could do. In minutes she would in dead.

I could hear down the hall cries for an ambulance, the yelling of men confused as to what they could do and what was happening. I ran my fingers through Annette's hair. Her breathing becoming ever more shallow. I clutched her hands, praying with all my might that God could in this moment save her. A few minutes passed and I felt Annette's grip get weaker and weaker. A smile formed on her face. I heard the whisper of a word, "Mary." She had gone.