PART 3: Nobody Prepares Death Before the Exam
PART 3: Nobody Prepares Death Before the Exam
Emma did not waste time being horrified.
There would be time for that later.
Right now, Rex needed every second she could steal back.
“Start oxygen,” she ordered. “IV fluids. Full tox screen. Blood gas. I want vitals every two minutes.”
The nurse moved fast.
Luke stayed at Rex’s head, one hand pressed gently between his ears.
His fingers shook so badly Emma could see it.
“Stay with me,” Luke whispered. “Please, buddy. Stay with me.”
Emma checked the injection mark again.
It was too clean.
Too hidden.
Placed beneath the collar where no one would look unless they had a reason.
Then she smelled the inside of the collar.
The chemical odor was stronger there.
Her jaw tightened.
A nurse came back into the room, uneasy.
“Dr. Harper?”
“What?”
“The clinic administrator says someone from the police department called before Officer Bennett arrived.”
Emma looked up.
“About what?”
“They said Rex had suffered catastrophic exposure and euthanasia paperwork should be ready.”
Luke slowly turned.
His face went blank.
“Who called?”
The nurse swallowed.
“Sergeant Mercer’s office.”
Luke’s hand tightened around the edge of the table.
Emma looked at the form again.
Prepared before the patient arrived.
Before the exam.
Before any test.
Before anyone could prove Rex was still fighting.
Emma’s voice dropped.
“No one prepares death before diagnosis.”
Luke’s phone buzzed.
The screen showed Mercer’s name.
For one long second, Luke just stared.
Emma stepped closer.
“Answer it. Speaker.”
Luke tapped the phone.
Mercer’s voice filled the room.
“How’s the dog?”
Luke’s eyes stayed on Rex.
“He’s alive.”
There was a pause.
Small.
But Emma heard it.
Then Mercer said, “Luke, listen to me. Don’t drag this out. If the vet says there’s no chance, be smart.”
Emma leaned toward the phone.
“No one here is putting that dog down.”
Silence.
Then Mercer’s voice sharpened.
“Who is this?”
“Dr. Emma Harper,” she said. “The doctor who found the needle mark under his collar.”
The line went dead.
Luke stared at the phone.
Emma stared at the collar.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Because now they knew something else.
Mercer wasn’t just mistaken.
He was afraid.
Emma turned to the nurse.
“Bag the collar. Do not touch the inside. Call Detective Claire Donnelly in Internal Affairs. Now.”
Luke looked up.
“Internal Affairs?”
Emma met his eyes.
“Someone tried to make this dog look hopeless before anyone could save him.”
The monitor beeped again.
Still slow.
But not gone.
Luke bent over Rex, his voice breaking.
“You hear that, partner? She’s not giving up on you.”
Rex did not move.
But his chest rose.
Then fell.
Still here.
Still fighting.
Emma looked at the lab request and wrote one word across the top.
URGENT.
Then she looked back at the euthanasia form still lying on the table.
It was supposed to be Rex’s ending.
May you like
Instead, it had become the first piece of evidence.
👉 Mercer hung up the moment the needle mark was mentioned—and the lab results were about to show exactly why.
