"No! If he dies, who am I supposed to get the money from?" She actually lunged for the stretcher. "I risked my life for this!"
Watching her claw at the dying man, her face twisted with greed, I couldn't reconcile her with the "Department Beauty" Derek had hallucinated about.
I shook my head and turned to the police officers.
As the sole eyewitness, I laid out the facts exactly as they happened—especially the most crucial detail: Derek had refused my help.
"He was lucid," I told the officer. "He explicitly rejected my rescue attempt because he was waiting for the 'Department Beauty' to save him."
I also described how the other girl's clumsy dragging caused the secondary explosion.
The young officer frowned. "Let me get this straight. The victim was conscious, and he refused to be rescued?"
"Yes. He insisted on waiting. The hallway surveillance cameras will back me up. I didn't abandon him—he sent me away."
The officers exchanged baffled looks.
After finishing my statement, I stepped back into the corridor just in time to run into Derek's parents.