His Needle Made Them Sleeping Beauties

A woman settles in for a movie, but the boy behind her keeps kicking her seat and then presses a bare foot beside her ear. When she turns to object, the boy grins and stabs a needle into her neck, drawing blood. His mother only giggles, dismissing it as her son playing with a sewing needle, insisting it is not poisoned and telling the woman not to be a drama queen.

Refusing to let it slide, the woman blasts her flashlight on the boy and declares the needle is used, filthy, medical-grade, and carrying HIV-positive blood. Panic erupts; patrons block the exits, and the mother, Vanessa, screams that it is only red ink. The woman challenges her to have the boy stab himself with it, and he throws the needle down.

Detective Miller identifies it as a large-bore biopsy or aspiration needle, not a sewing needle. As Vanessa is taken away, she threatens that her husband, Conrad Hughes, will come. The woman recalls he heads Mercy Hill Medical Group, and wonders what was in the needle.