CHAPTER 37Diana examined the intravenous bag that hung from the chrome stand next to the bed. Handwritten on the label were the words Valerian blend. A tube ran from the bag into the arm of her daughter, who was breathing and appeared to be asleep.
Mara glanced over her mother’s shoulder and said, “Valerian? What’s that? Some kind of drug?”
“It’s a plant-based sedative. It’s normally used to address insomnia and is fairly mild, I think,” Diana said. “The real question would be, What did they blend it with?”
She pulled back the bedspread. Bending down, she pulled on the medical tape securing the tube to the crook of her daughter’s arm.
“What are you doing?” Mara asked.
Diana slowly removed the needle and dabbed a dot of blood with the corner of the bedspread. “We’ve got to stop the sed
