“That’s true,” Kamna agreed nervously. She looked down at the nurse for support.

“I’m Nurse Kumar,” the woman said. “I’m the head nurse on this floor. Can I be of assistance?”

“I wanted to speak to whoever was taking care of my grandmother.”

“There were actually two. First there was Ms. Veena Chandra, who is new to our staff, and since she is new, a senior nurse by the name of Shruti Aggrawal was assigned to supervise.”

“I suppose it would be safe to say that Ms. Chandra would have been the person actually interacting with my grandmother.”

“That’s correct. Everything had gone entirely normally. There had been no problems whatsoever. Mrs. Hernandez had been doing excellently.”

“Is Ms. Chandra available?”

Nurse Kumar paused while giving Jennifer a moment of scrutiny, perhaps worried that Jennifer could possibly have been a deranged woman in the hospital to exact revenge. Everyone was acutely aware of the Hernandez demise. But apparently, Jennifer had passed muster. “I don’t see why not. I’ll see if she can speak with you now.”

“Perfect,” Jennifer said.

Nurse Kumar got up, walked down the corridor a way, and after a quick glance back at Jennifer, disappeared into a patient’s room.

Jennifer glanced back at Kamna, who’d not moved a muscle. She was clearly still unsure of Jennifer’s mind-set and intentions. Jennifer flashed a smile, intending to calm the woman, who appeared like a rabbit ready to flee. The woman flashed a smile back, one even more fake and fleeting than Jennifer’s. Before Jennifer could try to put the woman at ease, she saw Nurse Kumar emerge from the patient room with a young nurse in tow. Jennifer blinked. Even in a nursing uniform, the newly hired nurse looked like a beauty queen or a movie star, or even more irritating, as far as Jennifer was concerned, a lingerie model. She was the kind of female who never failed to make Jennifer feel fat. She had a perfect body and a photographer’s dream face.

“This is Nurse Veena Chandra,” the head nurse said when the women had reached the station. At the same moment, the elevator arrived and out stepped one of the uniformed guards Jennifer had seen downstairs. Since he just seemed to be lingering in the background, Jennifer sensed that the head nurse had called down when she’d been out of sight.

Veena greeted Jennifer, palms together. Jennifer tried to imitate the gesture. Veena was even more beautiful up close, with flawless bronze skin and stunning green eyes, which Jennifer found mesmerizing. The problem was the eyes didn’t engage hers except for fleeting moments before looking away, as if Veena was bashful or somehow self-conscious being in Jennifer’s presence.

“I’m Jennifer. Mrs. Hernandez’s granddaughter.”

“Yes, Nurse Kumar has told me.”

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”