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for a little bit. The question was where did she expect me to go and wouldn't these people have plenty of questions for me?
     
    I asked, "Where do you expect me to go?"
     
    She exhaled deeply, clearly upset.
     
    I gulped.
     
    "You need to stay on the other side of the unit. The girls will keep you occupied. I've already talked to them and they know the drill. Just whatever you do, don't come waltzing back in here unless I come to get you myself. Do you understand? You have to wait for me to straighten this out. I will explain to them what I think happened."
     
    I stood there completely dumbfounded. It wasn't so unusual to be asked not to communicate certain facts to families, but to be outright told to hide from a family had never ever happened in all of my years of nursing. It was like I was some sort of  common criminal.
     
    I looked her right in her blue eyes and said, "But I didn't do anything wrong."
     
    She sneered at me, as if I'd said something offensive and replied, "Well, until we know that for sure, you'll just have to remain under watch. The administrator and nurse manager aren't here and I am in charge. With the storm brewing, you'll just have to do what I tell you or you can go on back to where you came from and find a more suitable placement."
     
    She was seriously enjoying this. What had I done to deserve this? I know I kept saying it, but I just got here.
     
    I didn't have it in me to argue the point. I had a better idea. I would just deal with the managers or whoever was in charge. As of right now, no one other than the few people who were called in, had made any real threats or actually outright said that they thought I did anything, so as far as I was concerned, I didn't owe anyone or anything an explanation and I was going to do everything necessary to prove it. Now, I just had to figure out what exactly I could do to change her thinking about me and turn this case, if that's what it was, around.
     
    Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Sheriff Wagner was back on the unit and watching our exchange from the dining room. I'm sure it wasn't too difficult to see that something was going on and, if I had to guess, he probably already knew what that something was and probably helped to craft this ludicrous idea with Kathy.
     
    Kathy glanced over at him and quickly opened the door. "We're ready." she said.
     
    Ready for what? She hadn't with consulted me about speaking to the Sheriff again.
     
    "Good." He said and walked in, taking out his notebook again. "Miss Mares, do you wear a watch."
     
    He was looking right at it. All nurses wore watches. He didn't have to ask. The evidence was right there.
     
    He waited, so I showed it to him and said, "Yes."
     
    He nodded and wrote something down in his notebook.
     
    "What time did you come into the office to look for the, what was it again?" He asked.
     
    "The form. I don't know exactly what time it was. I didn't look at my watch." I informed him.
     
    "But you were wearing one, correct?" He asked.
     
    I nodded again, pointing to the obvious.
     
    "What time was it when you took Mrs. Knott's vitals, again?"
     
    I probably shouldn't have hesitated to answer, but I did. I didn't remember telling him that I had taken Betty's vitals. All of a sudden, I couldn't remember anything. The whole day was starting to become a blur.
     
    "I don't remember what time I took her vitals." I, for the life of me, couldn't remember.
     
    “You did have your watch on at the time, didn't you? I mean, I'm no expert, but don't all nurses wear watches and don't you need your watch to take vitals?" His tone was accusatory.
     
    I wanted to tell him that you didn't necessarily need a watch to take vitals  You just had to be proficient about keeping time while checking the pulse and respiration rates, but who was I to start getting technical right now? He already didn't like me and, if this went any further, I might be so inclined to not like him either.
     
    "Yes,