“Well, you obviously already looked into it and know what happened. Brian Massey beat cancer. The kid was a god damn warrior. But the doctors recommended one last round of chemo, just to be sure. Poor kid beats the odds and kicks cancer’s ass, only to be murdered by a stupid newbie nurse who couldn’t do simple math.”

“Do you really think you murdered him, Georgia?” Detective Smalls asked, her voice softening.

“What does how I feel about Brian Massey have to do with this?” Georgia looked into the eyes of the detective, the first note of challenge in her voice. “And to answer your question, no I didn’t murder him. Because murder requires that someone does something on purpose to take another’s life. I didn’t mean to shoot fifty times over the recommended dose of sodium chloride into his veins, but I did. Accident or not, it was my fault. I was humming as I injected it into the intravenous bag… Can you believe that? Some stupid song, all the while I was killing a little boy and ruining his mother’s life.”

Georgia couldn’t hold in the tears any longer; thick sobs rocked her body, shaking the table between them.

“Georgia.” Detective Smalls, in an unusual display of affection, reached across the table and put her hand over the suspect’s. “Medical errors are something like the third leading cause of death in this country. Did you know that?”

Georgia shook her head and wiped her eyes.

“Not sure how that’s supposed to make me feel better, no offense,” she said.

“You’re right. It won’t make it better. Not for you. Not for Brian. Certainly not for his mother. But you’re not the first rookie nurse to make a mistake like that, and unfortunately, you won’t be the last. What happened to Brian Massey was awful and tragic, but that still doesn’t make it okay for Rebecca Massey to stalk you. You were cleared by the medical board,” Detective Smalls said.

“Yeah, I was. Asher was my attorney, but the hospital settled the wrongful death suit out of court and I left my job quietly. But that wasn’t enough for Brian’s mom. She wants to see my head on a stick, and I can’t say I blame her. Do you?”

Detective Smalls shrugged. In truth, she understood the mother’s fury. She couldn’t imagine watching her child nearly die of cancer, only to survive and lose his life over something so stupid. But still… Rebecca Massey had received a settlement and Georgia was cleared. The hundreds of threatening messages on Georgia’s phone were not only uncalled for, they also constituted a crime. But that still didn’t mean that Rebecca Massey was responsible for last night’s murder. She had no reason to come all the way to New Orleans and kill the wrong person.