“Yes.” I told him in a few words the little that Huldah had told me. “And there is something else I have discovered,” I went on miserably. “I’ve got to tell you, though I must say I do not want to do so. It is—that morphine. The morphine that killed Mr. Jackson, you know. I—I know where it came from!”
“You—what!” O’Leary was for once startled out of his usual composure.
“I know where it came from,” I repeated reluctantly. “At least, I think that I do. You see,—there is morphine missing from our south wing drug supply.”
I had to tell him the whole thing, of course, under his searching questions and no less searching gaze, and even explain our system of keeping account of the drugs. He had to see the drug room and the charts and the records for himself. It was while I was showing him the drawer in which the morphine was kept, that I made my regrettable slip about the hypodermic syringe.
I had started to show him how the needles were fitted into the small mechanism, and I reached for a hypodermic syringe. It turned out to be my own.
“This one is mine,” I said thoughtlessly, fitting the slim, hollow needle into the tiny instrument. “The other one that we were using disapp——” I stopped so suddenly that my breath came out in an explosive little pop and O’Leary’s face hardened slightly. It was an expression that I was growing to recognize.
“You may as well finish. So the other one ‘disapp’-eared, did it? When and how? Whose was it? There is still one in the drawer. What about the one that disappeared?”
“I don’t know,” I said flatly. “Then, you see, we take the sterile water and measure the liquid into——”
O’Leary looked at his watch.
“I haven’t much time,” he said pleasantly. “But I have enough time to wait right here until you tell me about the hypodermic syringe that disappeared. Or if necessary I can dog your footsteps the rest of the night, reiterating my question at frequent and embarrassing intervals. Of course, I can have the whole hospital searched extensively and every hypodermic needle accounted for, especially if missing. I can follow you to your meal—isn’t that the bell?—and keep on asking you.” He added meditatively: “I suppose it might cause considerable interest among the other nurses.”