“We weren’t supposed to kill him!”

The silence of the ward is spilt as a whisper shook me out of my slumber. Someone was clearly distressed.

The bed I was laying in had a small nightstand next to it, and the space was enclosed with a neat white curtain.

The patient next to me sounded incredibly upset.

And based on what they were saying, I began to grow upset as well.

I determined the voice was that of a woman. Young, maybe even a teenager.

“Please. Let me go!” She whined.

I held my breath, leaned to the far end of my bed, just to hear better. “Stop! Stop!”

I was practically falling off the bed.

“Let me go! Please!” She was crying.

Silence falls, and then, “He’s dead! You killed him!”

I was trying to think rationally here, perhaps she was in an accident. Maybe she got caught between a gang fight. I didn’t want to assume she was involved in something horrible.

“We weren’t supposed to kill him.”

That’s it. That’s all I needed to hear for my instincts to tell me something was very wrong.

My sleuthing was interrupted by a nurse sliding through the curtain.

“Sir?” She asked, giving me a funny look. I realize that I was hanging off the edge of the bed. I quickly righted my position.

“Ma’am, what can you tell me about that patient?”

She sighed. “Nothing, HIPPA prevents me from talking about to a person who isn’t a doctor.”

I stared at the nurse. “Ma’am, she’s been talking in her sleep.”

The nurse formed her lips into a thin line. She lowered her voice. “They will pay you.”

“They?” I echoed.

“Her guardians. They payed the hospital a large sum to keep quiet, and they offered money to any patient who hears anything... questionable.”

I was shocked. This hospital was being bribed into silence.

“I don’t need money.” I said flatly. I wasn’t sure if was going to keep quiet either.

The nurse nodded. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

I watched her leave.

Bribery.

Works like a charm.