Taking the Fall for a Fool

David's anxious voice from the other end of the phone snapped me out of my trip down memory lane.

"Hello? Natalie? Can you give me a reply? I need to pick Mia up from the hospital now," he pressed for an answer.

I hadn't realized how anxious he sounded in my previous life. He pushed me to help Mia before swiftly turning around to pin the crime on me. It was almost as if he were afraid of dragging Mia into this mess.

Was David involved in all of this? I couldn't help but shudder at the thought.

I glanced at Mia through my peripheral vision. She looked visibly distressed and kept sneaking glances at room 302. It was as if she was hiding a huge secret in that room.

I cleared my throat and put on a calm demeanor.

"I can't cover her shift. I just helped out at the ER, so I'm exhausted. Besides, I have my own patients to tend to. I'm afraid I won't be able to help Mia out," I replied.

Mia turned around in shock. Since she wasn't expecting me to turn down her request, she instantly got worked up over my reply.

"What? I just need you to give him some fluids! It wouldn't even take up much of your time. Why are you refusing to help me with such a small task?" she barked.

"It's just a small favor, Natalie. Why won't you help Mia out? I'm so disappointed in you," my brother reprimanded me in a stern voice.

Since I didn't want to waste my breath any longer, I hung up the phone and proceeded to tend to other matters.

Mia rolled her eyes and began to grumble under her breath, "What a selfish woman. I knew I couldn't count on you to help me out."

When I chose to help her without any hesitation in my past life, she ended up throwing me under the bus. Hence, I refused to help her again.

Mia usually acted obnoxiously and arrogantly. On top of that, she'd constantly pawn her work off on the other nurses. Aside from me, no one at the nurses' station seemed to want anything to do with her.

So, when she went around asking for help, everyone turned her down. In the end, her stomach ache went away, and she stormed off to the washroom, feeling annoyed.

Why was she in such a hurry to get someone to take over her shift? Did something happen to Max already?

In order to confirm my suspicions, I put on a pair of gloves and headed to room 302 after Mia left.

Max looked shockingly pale under the moonlight. When I lifted the covers and checked his body temperature, I froze in shock.

Max was cold to the touch, and his body was in rigor mortis. In other words, he had to have been dead for at least an hour.

Mia was the one who gave him his IV medication at 1:00 am. Did she accidentally kill him by giving him the wrong drug an hour ago? Was that why she was frantically looking for someone to pin the blame on?

My entire body began to tremble out of fear as the thought crossed my mind.

My first instinct was to inform the hospital of the situation, but I immediately dismissed the idea before I could act on it.

I was currently in the room of a patient I wasn't responsible for. Judging by how irresponsible Mia was, she'd definitely accuse me of killing Max and pin the blame on me. So, once I made sure no one noticed, I swiftly left the hospital room.

After standing at the nurses' station for what seemed like forever, I calmed down and realized something important.

If the patient was already dead around 1:00 am, why did Nick's autopsy report state that the time of death was between 5:00 am to 6:00 am?

Nick was known as a genius forensic pathologist. He was so skilled that he was able to narrow down the exact time of death with only a one-hour margin of error. He had never made a single mistake in his entire career.

So, how did such a professional forensic pathologist make such a big mistake?