“I just need to give her a mild sedative through the line, to help with the lingering nerve damage.” He took two quick steps toward my IV.

Detective Vance stood up.

He did not shout, and he did not reach for a weapon.

He simply put out one hand and closed his fingers around the doctor’s wrist, hard enough that the man gasped.

“That’s interesting, Dr.

Sterling,” Vance said, his voice dropping to something quiet and cold.

“Because the state toxicology report isn’t finalized.

And the last time I checked, a medical examiner has no authority whatsoever to put anything into the vein of a living patient in an intensive care unit.”