Festival Nurse: June Magee, R. N. by Ann McMan

Author:Ann McMan [McMan, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TreeHouse Studio
Published: 2024-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

I’m Coming Out

It was nearly eight o’clock when they piloted Pico’s Delta 88 back into the parking garage at The Atlantic Sands. June was exhausted. Two sleepless nights, no dinner, and a lot more alcohol than she was accustomed to imbibing were combining to make her feel more than slightly fuzzy. More than once, Roi had offered to stop along the way back so they could get some coffee and a bite to eat, but June refused.

“I’ve got a show to do,” June had said, “and I don’t want to be late.”

They barely had enough time to get up to their room to shower and change before heading over to the Blue Lagoon. And June needed extra time to prepare tonight, since she was expected to appear in full nurse regalia—including her cape thing.

They agreed that while June was in the bathroom getting ready, Roi would call Fay and fill her in on the results of their trip to the lab.

June had been stunned by the results.

Bruce Burnside’s mass spectrometry test showed that the lip balm had been tainted with a foreign substance.

According to the test results, it was an unusual compound. Clearly synthesized, but very similar to the chemical makeup of urushiol. It had been applied topically to the lip balm, so it only showed up on the outer edges of the solid.

Bruce told them that he even had a couple of the other chemists take a look at it, just to confirm the findings. But only the tubes from the gift baskets had been tainted. The foreign substance caused the same allergic response as urushiol. It likely presented almost immediately and subsided more quickly.

It was all so incredible. Someone had tainted the tubes of lip balm with a synthetic allergen similar to the one found in poison ivy. And whoever had done it was skilled enough to ensure that the effects would be immediate, but temporary.

Since festivalgoers had been targeted, the message was clear. But what would make someone want to target gay women? And why would someone want to ruin such a popular festival?

Maybe Roi was right. Tonight, they’d have access to the Blue Lagoon, where the gift baskets had been put together. It was pretty clear the lip balm had been unaltered when it had been delivered from the shop that made it. So the mischief had to have occurred at some point before the baskets had been delivered to the various hotels in town. That meant that whoever was involved in assembling or delivering the baskets was probably involved in tainting the lip balm.

Of course, it was possible that more than one person was involved. According to Bruce, someone with a lot of chemical expertise had compounded the substance employed. That took a special kind of skill.

June wiped the steam off the mirror. This was getting her no place. She only had twenty-five minutes to get ready for her . . . debut . . . at the club. They’d just have to figure it out once they got there.

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