She extended her left arm. Dr. Gifford made a quick jabbing motion with his right hand. Sergeant Holcomb pushed forward and said suspiciously, “Say, what are you doing?”
Dr. Gifford stood so that his body shielded his hand and Mrs. Breel’s arm from Sergeant Holcomb’s eyes. Then he stepped away and motioned to the nurse. She handed him a piece of cotton. Dr. Gifford placed the piece of cotton to the neck of an alcohol bottle and swabbed off a place on Mrs. Breel’s arm. He turned to the court reporter and said, “You might make a note at this time that I have just given Mrs. Breel a powerful narcotic and sedative, administered hypodermically. While I don’t ordinarily consider such treatment indicated in a case of this nature, I consider that it is infinitely preferable for the patient than being subjected to further nerve shock.”
Sergeant Holcomb said, “I don’t give a damn what you’ve given her. I’m going to go ahead with this thing...”
“Go right ahead,” Dr. Gifford advised. “The patient is now beginning to feel the influence of the narcotic. As a physician, I would say that any answer to any question she might make from now on will be completely unreliable.”
Mrs. Breel sighed, settled back on the bed, and closed her eyes. There was the faint trace of a smile visible at the corners of her mouth. Sergeant Holcomb yelled, “She’s shamming. That’s a damn fake. That hypodermic couldn’t have taken effect this soon.”
“I take it,” Dr. Gifford said, “that you consider your knowledge of medicine superior to mine.”
Sergeant Holcomb lost his temper. His face darkened as he shouted, “Well, I know what I think. I think she’s shamming. I think this whole thing is a stall. Now then, I’m going to tell her about her brother. Mrs. Breel, you can play possum all you want to, but your brother was found... ”
Sampson lunged for Holcomb, clapped his hand over Holcomb’s lips. “Shut up, you fool. I’m in charge of this.”
Holcomb jumped back with his fist doubled, then squared away to face Sampson belligerently. “All right,” he said, “you asked for it. You...”
“Shut up!” Sampson said. “Can’t you see that you’d be playing right into their hands?”