Black Diamond Death by Cheryl Bradshaw

table next to me was a tray with a bowl of jello. I wondered why it always had to be jello, and why green.
    “I remember going to Charlotte’s,” I said. “I messed around with her computer, but I didn’t find anything so I looked though the drawers and one needed a key.”
    “I want to know about when you left,” he said.
    “That part is a little hazy.”
    “Try to remember, it’s important.”
    “I locked the door and when I started to turn around I got this feeling like someone was behind me. I don’t know what happened after that.”
    “Did you see anyone?” he said.
    “A figure, maybe in grey or black. I don’t know. It all happened so fast. And then I opened my eyes and Maddie was there.”
    “And that’s all you remember?”
    I nodded.
    “Are you still mad at me?” I said. “Because I’m sorry about what I—”
    The door opened.
    “Ah, you’re awake.”
    A man in a white coat flashing a shiny pair of dentures and hair the color of tinsel approached my bed.
    “You gave this one a scare little lady,” he said, and thumbed in Nick’s direction.
    “I’m fine now though, right?”
    “It looks like it,” the doctor said. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
    I nodded.
    “What’s your name?”
    “I don’t mean to question your judgment, but is that necessary?” I said. “I know who I am.”
    “Just answer the question please.”
    “Sloane Alice Monroe.”
    “And do you know where you are, Sloane?” he said.
    “A hospital I guess, although I can’t tell you which one.”
    “Good, very good. Who is the current president of the United States?”
    “How about my favorite president?”
    He made a face that displayed his many wrinkles and sighed.
    “Alright, fine,” he said.
    “That would be the guy who freed the slaves in 1863 and goes by the name of Abraham Lincoln. Did you know he was the first president to ever be assassinated and the first president to have a beard?”
    He shook his head.
    “I did not know that.”
    “Would you like me to recite the Emancipation Proclamation too, because I can.”
    Nick stood off to the side with a wide grin on his face.
    “Don’t tempt her or she’ll have us here all night,” he said to the doctor.
    “I want to run a couple of tests,” he said.
    “Why?” I said.
    “You sustained a concussion, one substantial enough to cause a temporary loss of memory.”
    “But I feel fine now. What kind of tests?”
    “The usual—strength, balance, coordination,” he said.
    He gazed for a long moment at my chart.
    “I also ordered an MRI.”
    “That sounds serious,” Nick said.
    “It’s nothing to worry about right now; I just want to make sure her brain is not bruised or bleeding.”
    “I want to go home. When will that be possible?”
    The doctor patted my head.
    “I’ll come back and check on you in a little while.”
    He walked out and the chief walked in.
    “Mind if I come in?” he said.
    “Not at all,” I said.
    “How’s the patient?”
    “She’ll live,” Nick said.
    “I’m glad you came,” I said. “We need to talk.”
    “No need for that. Madison filled me in.”
    Having Maddie discuss her findings with the chief was for the best. The medical jargon she liked to use sounded like a bunch of gibberish to me.
    “So?” I said.
    “Why didn’t you come to see me before going to the victim’s house,” he said.
    “You called her the victim. Does that mean you believe me now?”
    I was pressing my luck, but my head hurt, and I didn’t care.
    Nick piped up from the corner of the room.
    “I’m going to check on Maddie and see how she’s coming along with our dinner.”
    “The green jello looks so good though,” I said. “We can’t let it go to waste.”
    “Watch this pain it the butt for me for a few minutes okay,” he said to the chief.
    He winked in my direction and exited the room. And then there were two.
    “Look Sloane,” the chief said, “you might think I don’t give a rat’s ass but I