Undercover At City Hospital. Carol Marinelli

a child, been involved in a major accident, there are a lot of stressors…’

      ‘There are,’ Eddie agreed. ‘And, as you say, he was one of the prime suspects, until he headed off for an extended break in Spain and the thefts continued.’

      ‘Shame!’ Bella gave a rueful laugh.

      Eddie reciprocated with one of his own, but as her eyes worked the list again they both went quiet. He did nothing to fill the silence, watching as his junior mulled the situation over, processed all the information she had been given that afternoon, chewing on her bottom lip in quiet contemplation, a hand that had been clenched in her lap moving to her head and automatically freeing a blond strand of neatly tied-back hair and twirling it around her fingers. If Eddie Bandford had had any doubts about the validity of sending in one of his uniformed constables as an undercover nurse, they wavered then—Isabella Gray was the natural born detective that she insisted she was on rather too many occasions. Petite, dizzy and terribly blond she may be, but that was a gift in itself. Not for a second would you imagine the razor-sharp mind behind that rather scatty exterior, the shrewdness behind those trusting green eyes, and perhaps more relevantly the aloofness behind that dazzling smile. Isabella Gray had, by police standards, the enviable natural ability to make people open up to her while giving away absolutely nothing of herself, coupled with a brain, that came up in just a few moments with an extremely pertinent observation.

      ‘It all seems so calculated. You’d expect an addict to have made a mistake by now.’ A tiny shake of her head, her strand of hair forgotten as she nibbled on her thumbnail. ‘I mean, I know they can be cunning and manipulative, but this has been going on for so long that you’d think by now there would have been some clear sign there was an addict in their midst, some air of desperation, some sort of slip-up.’

      ‘You would,’ Eddie agreed, and Bella didn’t even look up, staring over and over at the list before her. All the main suspects were highly qualified, all incredibly well respected by their peers. How sad that amongst this impressive list lay a thief.

      ‘And the quantities…’ Bella said, more to herself than to the inspector. They were talking a lot of drugs.

      A lot.

      The nursing part of her brain might be rather rusty, but from the figures before her there was more than enough going missing to feed one person’s habit.

      ‘Do we think they might be selling them?’

      We.

      It had been deliberate.

      Slip in we, force her toe in the door just a touch, and subliminally let him know she was part of this now. But Eddie had been around the block too many times to miss a trick.

      ‘Detective Miller thinks that’s a distinct possibility.’ Bella’s cheeks went pink as Eddie gently pulled her back. ‘Which is why he’s taking the unusual step of requesting a nurse go in undercover. Only the CEO and one of the nursing supervisors would know. There’s a chance after all that the perpetrator isn’t on our list of suspects. But more to the point, the people on the list in front of you are, for the most part, well liked, respected and extremely trusted—the last thing we want is even a hint that whoever is sent in is anything other than a nurse, because otherwise someone will end up revealing it in supposed confidence.’

      ‘Whoever?’ Bella questioned, tired of the games now. She wanted this—badly. OK, after what had happened to Danny, she’d sworn she’d never step foot inside an emergency room as a professional, sworn she’d never go back to nursing, but she wasn’t going back, Bella consoled herself. She was going forward, taking on a job that, if she performed well, would surely move her that difficult inch over the line to being accepted to train as a detective.

      She had to do this.

      ‘I haven’t made my mind up yet. Look, Bella, I know you say that what happened in your previous nursing career is all in the past, that you’re over it, but I’m yet to be convinced. This could be dangerous. As you’ve rightly pointed out, Detective Miller is leaning towards the possibility that these drugs aren’t being used to sustain one person’s habit, that this could be part of a drug ring, and I don’t need to tell you how ruthless those type of people can be. Naturally there will be back-up, we’ll have an undercover officer in the waiting room at all times, but even so, the last thing we need is to send someone in there with emotional issues—’

      ‘I don’t have issues,’ Bella broke in forcibly. ‘I’m not going to break down on the job, for heaven’s sake. Surely you know me well enough by now to know that much.’

      ‘I don’t know you, though, Bella.’ Eddie remained unmoved. The only concession was that he dropped her title and called her by her name. ‘No one in the station really knows you. Sure, you’re friendly, personable and well liked by your colleagues but, as we’ve discussed before, on many occasions, you never really let anyone in.’

      ‘And as I’ve said—on many occasions,’ Bella added dryly, ‘has it ever affected my work? Has the fact I’m not exactly the station’s social butterfly ever once impacted on my professionalism?’

      ‘No.’ Eddie answered, tight-lipped.

      ‘Have I, even once, brought my problems to the station?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘So let me do this.’ Bella leaned forward a fraction in her chair. ‘I’m more than up to it.’

      ‘I’ll speak with Detective Miller some more and let you know. Thank you for staying behind. I know your shift should have ended an hour ago.’ Eddie nodded to the door and Bella knew it was all she was going to get from him for now, knew that even though he’d invited her in to discuss the possibility of going in as an undercover nurse, this particular interview was far from over, and that appearing too eager, too needy wasn’t going to help matters. Taking her cue, she headed for the door, the professional smile back in place. ‘No, thank you for considering me, Inspector. I’ll look forward to hearing your decision.’

      ‘One more thing, Constable Gray. Have you ever worked at Melbourne City?’

      Bella shook her head. ‘I did my training in a suburban hospital.’

      ‘So no one at Melbourne City would know that you left nursing to join the police?’

      ‘I can’t say for sure,’ Bella admitted honestly. ‘There’s a big turnover in hospitals, people pop up all over the place. But my departure was fairly low key at the time. I guess there might be a few people who will recognize me, but they wouldn’t know that I’d joined the police.’

      ‘I’ll bear it in mind.’

      The interview was definitely over now. Eddie picked up his pen and started to write, clearly assuming that the door would quietly close, but Bella stood there until he looked up, and from the frown that formed he was clearly slightly irritated to find she was still there.

      ‘I said I’d let you know, Bella,’ he sighed. ‘There’s nothing more to say until I’ve spoken with Detective Miller.’

      ‘But there is.’ Her voice was clear, the compulsive fidgeting that was so much Bella still now, and from her stance Eddie knew that what Bella was about to say was non-negotiable, that whatever was on her mind had already been decided. Putting down his pen, he offered her his undivided attention.

      ‘You said that if I get the role I would be going in as an RN?’

      ‘That’s right.’ Eddie nodded. ‘We could have put you in as a student or a nurse’s aide but Detective Miller felt you’d have better access to the critical patients and senior staff if you went in as a fully qualified RN with a certificate in emergency nursing. And given that you’ve got all the credentials, Bella, we may as well use them.’

      ‘Agreed.’ Bella nodded. ‘So long as you explain to Detective Miller that if I get the role, I will not compromise patient care under any circumstance. If I’m going in as part of the team, people will be depending on me…’

      ‘You’re