"I didn't do the nurse. Really, I didn't. I didn't do any of them! ... I ... I ... was ... there ... Monday ... but...."
"One ... one of ... the Cub Sterling's!!!"
"There are two of them! ... Two...! ... Two Cub Sterlings...! I _saw_ them that night ... of the first traceable murder Monday night! ... I was coming out of the Medicine Closet with my ... and one of them was bending over the patient in Bed 11, and one of them was shadowed against the window shade bending over the patient in Room Two.
"And the one ... bending over the patient in Bed 11 ..." her words began to burst ... "_saw me_! I know _he saw me_! ..."
"It was your duty to ... investigate...."
Her hands began to pick her bosom wildly.
"I couldn't.... I couldn't.... Don't you see I couldn't?"
"Because ... because ... he had said if ... I ever went back ... to my ... habit ... on duty...."
Higgins nodded grimly and hunched forward.
"Who around this hospital looks like Cub Sterling?"
"Nobody! I swear nobody! Oh, God, I've been over every single face since then ... in my mind ... and on sight.... Nobody!"
"One of those Cub Sterlings was a man who knew you were taking dope, Miss Kerr ... who knew that when you saw him ... you'd keep your mouth shut. Who knew...?"
"Nobody but ... my ... niece! That's why I took the doll. To keep the Staff from ... grilling her ... I was afraid...."
"You are missing out somewhere. Who checks the dope?"
"The floor nurse, once a month. She gives the sheet to me and I turn the clinic sheets over to the pharmacy...."
"Ah, the pharmacy! They knew, Miss Kerr!"
"No! No! They didn't know. I ... I ... changed ... the sheet from Ward B ... the day I turned it in ... so as to cover...."
"Take your telephone, Miss Kerr, and ask the white nurse from Ward B if the pharmacy called her to check her figures."
"If you want to save your own neck ... take it!"
When Miss Kerr hung the receiver back upon the hook she whispered:
"They did. She ... read them ... her pencil memorandum ... on Monday...."
Higgins rose steadily and said carefully:
"If you go on as though nothing has happened, you may get off ... scott free. As soon as I step from this door, until I return, there will always be somebody watching you. Is the pharmacy next to the Administration Building?"