It should improve with treatment.
Your original hearing loss appears older and separate.
He read the words.
Then he asked:
Can you prove someone placed it there?
Miriam considered carefully.
Not from the injury alone.
I saw disappointment settle over his face.
But Miriam had another question.
Have you been given sleeping medicine?
Gideon shook his head.
She pointed toward the kitchen.
Do you ever wake feeling unusually heavy or confused?
His eyes lifted toward mine.
Then he nodded.
Miriam examined the coffee tin, the sugar jar, and the small bottle of brown medicine standing beside the stove.
I had assumed the bottle contained something Gideon used for headaches.
He wrote:
Dr.
Horace Pryce left that last month.
Dr.
Pryce was Coldwater’s oldest physician.
He had treated Gideon after the mining accident.
And according to Nell, he had remained a close associate of Harlan Vane ever since.
Miriam removed the stopper and smelled the contents.
Her face hardened.
“This contains a strong sedative.
