Read Online Peril by Jordyn Redwood - Free Book Online

parents’ faces was not one of joy but of apprehension. Morgan pointed to the plumes of dye—evidence that it had been pushed through the bloodstream via the body’s internal highway system. “You can see here how the injected dye was carried by the blood vessels into the brain.”
    A slight nod of affirmation from the father. The mother continued to sit still.
    â€œWherever blood goes, oxygen goes. That’s how organs stay alive. Without blood flow, there is no oxygen delivery and that organ will die.”
    Morgan switched to the other X-ray. “This is Zoe’s study.” The uneasy vibration had changed to pain, and it traveled along her muscle fibers like electricity. Everything about her body began to feel heavy. “See how there is no indication of blood flowing up to her brain at all?”
    As she waited for her statement to sink in, her heart heaved with adrenaline. Morgan placed the pictures side by side. The sting of coming tears threatened to overwhelm her. Maybe what her coworkers said was true. Why do I keep doing this work? Why do I keep submitting myself to other families’ grief when I don’t have a handle on my own?
    Her voice cracked as she started. “See the difference? Zoe’s brain isn’t getting any blood flow and therefore has died. Zoe is what we call brain dead. She has died. I’m really sorry.”
    Ian dropped his face into his hands. A piercing pain struck Morgan’s chest. She quickly blinked back her own tears as she bit hard into the inner side of her cheek to keep from breaking down; the copper taste only increased the roiling in her gut.
    The curtain that was pulled closed around the bed wouldn’t keep Ian’s weeping from the other families who were visiting the unit. Julia’s eyes glossed over as she clamped her lips together to quell their trembling.
    â€œHow can you say that when I can see her chest rising and falling? Her heartbeat is up on that monitor!”
    Morgan set the pictures down. “I know this is very confusing. The breathing machine delivers oxygen to her lungs. Because of that, her heart continues to beat. However, another test we did on Zoe even before we took her to radiology looked at whether she would breathe if the machine wasn’t helping her.”
    The woman came up out of her seat. “And did she?”
    Morgan clenched the pictures on her lap and shook her head.
    â€œYou’re lying!”
    Julia grabbed Zoe’s shoulders and began to shake her daughter in the bed. The child’s straight brown hair, still with remnants of dirt and leaves embedded in the silky smooth fibers, tousled against her pillow. “Zoe Marie! You wake up right now!”
    Ian looked dazed. His own processing of the situation paralyzed any ability he might have had to comfort his wife. Morgan came up off the chair to the mother’s side of the bed. She gripped the woman around the waist and began to move her back from her daughter’s body. And then it came, the torrential sobbing of grief as the woman latched her arms around Morgan’s shoulders, barely able to keep herself standing.
    Through the edge of the open curtain, she could see Detective Brett Sawyer waiting in the wings. His eyes widened, and she simply shook her head as she brought her hands up and held them against the woman’s back.
    Ian’s voice brought her attention back. “Can we donate her organs?”
    Julia pulled away from Morgan. “How can you think about that right now?”
    â€œBecause I want something good to come of what happened. I want part of her to still be alive.”
    Morgan assisted Julia back into her chair. “It’s possible. We’ll have to clear it with the coroner considering the circumstances. They’ve done it in the past.”
    â€œWhy do you have to clear it with them?” Ian asked.
    Morgan looked at the detective again and he motioned for her. She