Read Online A Memory Worth Dying For by Joanie Bruce - Free Book Online Page B

know what has her nose up in the air—that promotion. She thinks she’s better than everybody else now.”
    Skyler concurred. “She always did have a better-than-thou attitude, but I think being voted ‘Top Nurse of the Year’ last year added fuel to her snobbiness.”
    “ Hmph! If the board knew what I know, they wouldn’t have made that decision. A couple of months ago, I saw Ms . Top-Nurse-of-the-Year taking drugs from the locked medicine cabinet. Then later that day, I was grabbing more gauze from the storage room when I saw a man in a top-of-the-line suit meet her around the back of the clinic with a large yellow envelope in his hand. He handed her the envelope, and she handed him a shoe box wrapped in a shopping center bag. What do you wanna bet it wasn’t shoes, neither?”
    Skyler pulled a piece of gum out of her pocket and stuck it in her mouth. “You think she was selling drugs?”
    Cynthia shrugged. “Figure it out for yourself. I’m just saying that Ms. Top-Nurse-of-the-Year might not deserve to be at the top of anything.”
    “Why didn’t you tell somebody what you saw?”
    “And lose my job over something I couldn’t prove? No way. She’d have said she was selling him some of that perfume she peddles all the time.”
    “Well, she’s helping with the orphanage fundraiser this year—she can’t be all bad. I think she’s actin’ this way ‘cause of the head nurse position. She’ll probably settle down.”
    Cynthia shrugged and sat down in the filing cabinet chair. “I hope so. Are you gonna do a painting of one of the houses on tour this year for the fundraiser?”
    Skyler paused to blow a bubble and pop it with her teeth. “You mean the plein air competition? Wow, I don’t know. Last year my painting sat there forever before someone finally made the first bid. Then it sold for a piddly ten dollars. Of all the paintings in the auction, it brought the least amount of money. It was kind of embarrassing when one painting sold for over six hundred dollars.”
    “Yeah, I know. Mine sold for only fifty dollars. Even the small amounts add up though. I’m sure they appreciated the effort. I’m really not very good at painting, but I wanted to help the orphanage.”
    “I know. Wasn’t that trip we took to Tennessee last year fun? All those sweet kids.” Skyler’s gaze strayed to the window and a far-away look filled her eyes. “Jaydn Holbrook and his wife Alana are an amazing couple. You can tell the kids love them to death. Can you believe they have over five hundred orphans living all under one roof?”
    “You’re kidding! I had no idea there were so many.”
    “That’s what Alana told me last year at the auction.”
    “I guess I’ll try another painting this year, but I sure wish we had a real artist to encourage participation from some of the other towns around this area. Our amateur paintings aren’t going to bring a whole lot. It’s a shame we’re lacking in talent here in Carson. The cause is such a good one.”
    “Yeah, I hate it for the orphanage. I’m sure it takes lots of money to feed and clothe all those kids.” Skyler placed the last file in the metal cabinet. “I’ve run out of records to file, so I guess I’ll head back.”
    Cynthia grabbed Skyler’s arm before she could head out the door. “Wait a minute! Have you forgotten Ms. I-want-things-done-my-way is still out there?”
    “Oh, yeah. I forgot.” She peeked around the doorway, and shrugged when she saw Clara still at the front desk.
They both went back to straightening the files until the alarm alerted them to an ambulance backing up to the emergency door of the clinic. Time to get back to work.

FOURTEEN
    IT TOOK CLARA WATTING ALL day to get everything cleaned out of filing cabinets, the tiny closet in the office, and three of the desk drawers. When she pulled out the top middle drawer of the desk, she found it was full of pens, paper clips, notepads, and staples. A picture of Mary and her daughter