Chapter One
Dr. Mara Maxwell sat at the nurse’s station, updating a few of her patients’ charts on a busy night. Every month on the full moon, the hospital filled up with careless people who needed medical attention. It was like someone let all the crazies out for the night. The closer it got to Halloween, the more people showed up with injuries from falls while hanging decorations. Even being a smaller sister hospital to Gavin Memorial, they still had their fair share of patients.
Mara covered her mouth and let out a soft yawn. It’d been a long shift, and she still had a few hours to go. She’d worked a double since Dr. Phenix decided halfway through his shift that he had more important things to do. When the nurses couldn’t get him on the phone, they called her.
The loud blaring of a television sounded from the patient’s room next to the nurse’s station. A recap of the news played. Mara paused when the anchorman reported another shifter had gone missing. That was the fourth person this month. A woman disappeared last week.
It had touched a nerve when she saw the picture of a young woman flash across the screen the day after being reported missing. She still hadn’t been found. The squeal of a witch’s laugh snapped her out of her thoughts. For crying out loud! Her heart thudded a million miles per hour, and she cursed under her breath. The motion-activated Halloween decoration went off every time someone walked by.
“Dr. Maxwell,” Mara heard Sarah, one of the nurses call out. “You’re being called on by the patient in 304. He swears his leg’s going to fall off and insists that a doctor look at it.”
“I swear that man’s going to drive me crazy.” With a sigh, she closed the file she’d been working on. “I’ll grab some bandages and put his mind at ease.”
“You want some help?” Sarah offered, her smile sympathetic.
“No, I’ve got it,” she sighed. “You can finish your rounds. You know if you’re late with meds, 311 will be buzzing you non-stop.”
“You’re right,” Sarah rolled her eyes. “Needy people.”
When Sarah headed down the hall with her cart, Mara went to the supply room for bandages and wrapping; and maybe a painkiller to shut up patient 304’s whiny ass. She would have to give him a lesson on wasting resources. The supply room door slung open when she reached for the doorknob; Dr. Phenix nearly plowed her over on his way out.
“Whoa,” Mara caught herself on the door jamb before she went down. “Where have you been?”
“I had a meeting.”
“In the supply room?” she asked with a chuckle, finding what he said ridiculous.
“No. Of course not,” he said in a snippy, irritating tone. “There’s much more to running a hospital than tending to patients. That’s why I hired you, remember?”
She frowned at his continued attitude. “Yes, but you don’t just go missing halfway through your shift. If we’d known you had meetings, there would’ve been coverage for you.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “It ran late,” he snapped and glanced at his watch. “I have to go.” He nudged past her and rushed down the hall as if he were late for another meeting. Like they had meetings day and night at that place. He must have been up to something and was using a meeting as an excuse.
Rolling her eyes, she walked into the supply room. One of the cabinet drawers was ajar like someone was in too much of a hurry to close it properly. She popped her head out the door and glanced down the hallway in time to see Dr. Phenix get into the elevator.
Curiosity got the best of her. She wanted to know where he kept disappearing to. After the elevator closed, she rushed down the hall to see where he took the supplies. She watched each number light up as the elevator descended. It didn’t stop until it reached the basement levels.
“Basement one? What the hell are you doing down there?” Mara spoke to herself, tempted to get in the elevator and follow him down. The basements were used for storage, mostly old beds and out of date machines. Was she seriously standing there debating following the doctor?
She grumbled about needing to stop her conspiracy theories. The doctor was probably taking naps down there. It was time to go back to work and stop wasting time. She turned back and continued the task she’d set out to do.
In the supply room, shelves were in disarray. Mara had been in the room an hour ago, and nothing was out of place. After a quick browse of the supplies, she concluded that IV lines, syringes, and electrodes were missing. There was no way that many could have been used in the last hour.
Dr. Phenix must have had them tucked in his lab coat. Her curiosity was beyond piqued at this point. Why would he need all of those? Taking out her keys, she unlocked the medicine cold storage. Three vials of Sodium Thiopental were missing from the second shelf. Locking the cabinet back up, she grabbed her supplies and walked out of the room. She’d figure out what was going on, but first, she had a patient to tend to.
After spending long minutes reassuring her patient that his leg would be fine and wrapping it back up, she was free to figure out what the good doctor was up to in the basement. It wouldn’t do any good to report the missing supplies. Dr. Phenix practically ran the hospital and could take what he wanted.
“Sarah, have you seen Dr. Phenix?” Mara asked the nurse when she reached the nurse’s station.
“Not since this morning when he walked out.” She frowned. “Why? Is he here? Have you talked to him?”
“No, just wondering.” She didn’t want anyone getting inquisitive, so she covered for him. “I’m going to take my break now. If you need me, call.”
Sarah waved her off. “I just finished my rounds, and everyone has their meds, so we shouldn’t have any issues. Enjoy your break.”
Showtime. She really needed a hobby and to stop thinking that Dr. Phenix was in the basement seducing nurses. Or maybe he had orgies set up. Ugh, thinking of the scrawny man naked was almost enough to turn her nosy butt around. She laughed at her own thoughts.
Trying to appear calm, she hurried down the hall to the elevator. She stepped inside and pressed the button for basement level one. Only then did she realize she needed a card or security code to access that level. Of which, she had neither. The only passcode she knew of, was for rare meds they kept under lock and key. Dr. Phenix had her pull some bottles once and gave her his code.
What were the chances that the doctor used the same code for more than one thing? She punched the numbers in the keypad and pushed the elevator button once again. The cab descended.
She’d never been down there before, never had a reason to. Anxiously, she waited for the elevator to stop.
The door slid open, and she peered down the hall before exiting the elevator. The basement didn’t look like she expected. There were no storage boxes or old equipment. The long hallway had doors on both sides. A set of silver double doors were at the end.
Mara made her way down the hall and peeked into the small windows on the doors. The rooms appeared to be set up like the hospital rooms upstairs. It didn’t make any sense to her. They didn’t use the basement for patient care. The fifth room wasn’t empty.
A woman lay on the bed, restrained. Holy fuck. That wasn’t good at all. She tried to turn the doorknob but it wouldn’t budge. The woman was locked in and restrained. That was breaking all kinds of hospital laws. Not to mention it was probably illegal. The woman lay on the bed, asleep or sedated. She couldn’t tell which.