by Laura Durham
"Who would we tell?" I asked.
"Richard, Fern, Buster, Mack--," Reese started to list off names.
"Fine," I cut him off. "Not even them."
"Nicotine," Reese said. "The killer injected the chocolate truffle with nicotine poison."
"Nicotine?" Kate and I both asked.
He nodded. "It's pretty easy to make. You can search it up online. You basically boil down cigarettes into a concentrate strong enough to kill someone."
"Pretty low tech," I said.
Reese frowned. "Not to mention hard to trace. It's not like buying a poison. Literally anyone could do it and cover their tracks."
"Don't e-cigarettes use liquid nicotine?" Kate asked. "You could even get cherry flavor."
"I hadn't thought about that," Reese said, "but you're right. Either the liquor in the chocolate covered the flavor of the nicotine, or the killer got liquid nicotine that was already flavored."
"Is nicotine poisoning very common?" Kate asked.
Reese took a long swig of beer. "Not really. I don't know if I've ever dealt with a case of someone using it as a murder weapon."
Kate looked at me. "Do any of our suspects smoke?"
I thought for a moment. "I don't know, but they wouldn't have to as long as they bought the cigarettes or liquid refill."
I heard footsteps echoing in the hallway and stood up. "The pizza guy is getting really fast. I'll get plates and napkins."
As I passed the door, a shrill voice from the hallway accompanied a series of loud pounding. "Open up!"
I jumped. It wasn't the pizza guy. I couldn't tell who it was since the heavy wooden door muffled the voice, but whoever was on the other side sounded like they were in a total panic. Knowing our friends, that didn't narrow the field much.
"Sidney Allen?" I said when I threw open the door and saw the diminutive man panting in front of me. I'd rarely seen the older man wearing anything other than a dark suit with the pants pulled up high around his waist. Today was no exception. "What's wrong?"
He leaned a hand against my doorframe as he sucked in breath. "It's Leatrice."
I felt a chill go through me. "What about her? Where is she?"
Kate jumped up from the couch and joined me at the door.
"Downstairs. In her apartment." His words came out in short bursts. "On the floor."
I turned to look at Reese, but he was already right behind me.
He assessed Sidney Allen and his face became grim. "What happened?"
Sidney Allen choked back a sob. "She collapsed, and I can't revive her." He put a hand over his eyes as tears began to flow down his face. "I think she's dead."
17
"She’s not breathing," Richard said, looking up from where he knelt over Leatrice on the floor of her living room.
As usual, the curtains were drawn so no one could peek into her first-floor apartment, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the lower lighting.
"Richard," I said, noticing Hermes licking Leatrice's hand as he whined softly. "What are you doing here?"
"I was headed up to your place when Sidney Allen burst out of the apartment shrieking about Leatrice being dead. I told him to get you while I called 9-1-1 and started CPR." Richard continued chest compressions as he talked. "He was too hysterical to be any real use."
I tried to reconcile the fact that Richard was the calmest person in the room. Sidney Allen had not stopped crying during our mad dash down the three flights of stairs; Kate looked like she might faint; Reese was barking our address into his phone; and I didn't know if I was just out of breath or on the verge of hyperventilating.
Leatrice lay so still on the floor it looked like she was sleeping. Even in this state, her nearly black hair retained its flipped-up ends, and streaks of peach blush lent some color to her unnaturally pale skin. As Richard pumped her chest, the three-dimensional candy hearts attached to her pink sweatshirt quivered. I wanted to look away but couldn't.
"The paramedics are two minutes out," Reese said, jamming his phone into his jeans pocket. He got on his knees beside Richard. "You want me to take over?"
Richard shook his head without taking his eyes off Leatrice. "I don't want to stop until I get a pulse."
Kate clutched my hand, but I couldn't look at her. I knew if I saw her face, I'd fall to pieces. I took a deep breath to gather myself.
"Someone needs to stand at the front door to let the paramedics in. I'll do that." I turned to the weeping man next to me. "Sidney Allen, why don't you get Leatrice's purse? They'll need her ID at the hospital to check her in. And make sure her insurance card or Medicare information is in there."
He nodded and wandered off toward Leatrice's bedroom. I staggered into the hall, grateful to be away from the reality of what was happening and glad to have a sense of purpose. Within seconds, flashing lights pulled up outside of our building, and I held the door open as a pair of paramedics rushed inside carrying bright-orange duffels. I stayed in the hall and was joined by Kate a few minutes later.
"They've got her breathing," she said, her voice wobbly. "Can you believe Richard? I didn't even know he knew CPR."
I nodded without speaking.
Reese rushed out into the hallway. "I'm going to run upstairs, get our things, and lock up so we can follow the ambulance to the hospital." He stopped to look at me and pulled me into a hug. "They think she's going to be okay. Are you going to be okay?"
I cleared my throat enough to speak. "I'm fine. It was a shock to see her lying on the floor."
"I don't think I've ever seen her so quiet," Kate said. "She's always going in a hundred different directions and talking a mile a minute."
Reese smoothed my hair away from my face and kissed my forehead. "It's easy to forget she's over eighty."
"I guess it never occurred to me there would be a time Leatrice wouldn't be here," I said, hearing the wobble in my voice. "She's got more energy than I do."
Kate patted my back. "Don't worry. When she finally does go, I have no doubt she'll come back and haunt this building."
I couldn't help laughing. "Now there's something to look forward to."
Reese gave me a final squeeze. "Let me go upstairs and lock up. Do you two need anything aside from your purses?"
We both told him no, and he ran up the stairs two at a time. I was grateful he was thinking of all the things I wasn't. I might be used to handling stress in my job, but I was never emotionally connected to any of it. It was harder to think straight while fighting the urge to burst into tears.
The team of paramedics appeared, pushing the wheeled stretcher with Leatrice strapped in. Her eyes were still closed and her skin hadn't regained much color, but the oxygen mask over her mouth and nose told me she was alive. Sidney Allen trotted behind the paramedics with Leatrice's boxy beige purse hooked over his arm.
"You're going to Georgetown University Hospital?" I asked, knowing it was the closest one to us.
Sidney Allen bobbed his head. "I'm riding with her in the ambulance. Do you want to come with me?"
I jerked a thumb toward the stairs. "Reese is getting our things. We'll be right behind you."
He patted Leatrice's purse. "I have all her information including her power of attorney. Don't be too long. She named you the person to make any decisions for her if she can't."
I felt my knees buckle, and Kate caught me by the elbow before I went down. "What are you talking about? I never signed anything. At least I don't remember signing anything."
Sidney Allen stopped, hiked up his pants, and took my hand. "She named you as her emergency contact, her power of attorney, and the executor of her will. You know she thinks of you like a daughter, Annabelle."
I stood with my mouth gaping open as Sidney Allen disappeared out the door. They loaded Leatrice into the back of the ambulance, and it peeled away with the siren wailing and the lights flashing. I felt a single tear roll down my cheek and heard Kate sniffle next to me.
“Don’t start,” she told me. �
��If you start, then I’ll start, and it’ll be a mess.”
I wiped my face but still felt shell-shocked when Richard came out of Leatrice's apartment holding Hermes.
"You look like you're the one who had a heart attack," he said, sizing me up. "Don't tell me I need to do CPR on you, too, darling."
I gave my head a quick shake to snap out of my daze. "I'm fine. Just a bit startled is all."
Kate put the back of her hand to her mouth and talked behind it. "Annabelle just found out she's in charge of making all the decisions if anything happens to Leatrice."
Richard raised an eyebrow and gave my arm a brusque pat. "I don't think you'll need to worry about that tonight."
"Thanks to you," I said.
A flush crawled up his neck as he cleared his throat. "One does what one can. Now, are we going to the hospital or what?"
Kate leaned close to Richard and squinted at the corner of his mouth. "Is that coral lipstick?
Richard rubbed his lips with the back of his hand, removing the last hint of coral pink. "Before you came, I gave her mouth to mouth to try to get her breathing." He held up a finger. "If I ever find out you've told Leatrice, I will deny it and hunt you both down to the ends of the earth."
"Tell her about your heart of gold?" Kate grinned at him. "Never. Your secret is safe with me."
Reese's footsteps pounding down the stairs made us all turn. He held up a set of jangling keys. "Unless anyone wants to take their own car, I'll drive."
"Be my guest," Richard said. "I got a primo parking spot in front of the building. I may never leave."
Kate rubbed her hands together "Do you have a squad car so we can use the siren to burn through lights?"
"No, but I can put the portable light on top."
"Perfect.” She glanced at me. "You know, Annabelle always says we should have one of those for wedding emergencies. Any chance of getting one authorized for civilian use?"
"Not even a sliver," Reese said.
"Let's go." I was impatient to get to the hospital and check on Leatrice. Not to mention, I was eager to find out how many documents my name was on. I looked at Hermes, who'd been unusually quiet tucked under Richard's arm. "You're bringing the dog?"
Richard pulled himself up a few inches. "I'll have you know 'the dog' is very attached to Leatrice. He'd be heartbroken to be left behind."
"The last time you tried to sneak him into the hospital, it didn't go over so well," I reminded him as I pulled Leatrice's door closed and heard the lock click into place.
"Because I didn't plan ahead." He slid his cross-body man bag around to his front and popped Hermes inside. "By now he's used to stealth mode and can stay quiet while the flap's down."
"Isn't it unsanitary to have animals in a hospital?" Kate asked, walking through the front door Reese held open.
The little Yorkie poked his black-and-brown head out of the bag and yipped.
Richard looked equally affronted. "Hermes takes more baths than some humans I know. Plus, he eats all organic so he's the picture of health."
Reese slipped an arm around me as we walked down the sidewalk. I was glad for the warmth since I didn't have my coat and for the comfort since I still felt shaky.
"You could always attach a balloon to him and make him pretend to be a stuffed animal," Kate said to Richard. "We could say we bought him in the gift shop."
From Richard's sharp intake of breath, I knew he wasn't fond of this idea. Reese used his remote to open the doors when we reached the car, walking around the front to open the passenger side for me.
"This is not how I expected to spend the evening." I paused halfway inside the car.
He shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I've had weirder nights with your friends." He leaned his head inside as Kate and Richard piled into the back. "Worse comes to worse, I could always deputize the dog."
"Deputy Hermes," Richard said from the back seat. "I do like the sound of that."
I sighed, not knowing whether to strangle my boyfriend or hug him. I felt my phone vibrate and looked down as Reese pulled away from the curb. I recognized Sidney Allen's number from the last wedding we'd had together. He must be texting me from the emergency room, I thought as I read the single word on the screen.
Hurry.
18
I scanned the waiting room as I ran into the hospital, my nose twitching from the distinct antiseptic smell that hung in the air. No Sidney Allen, although I wasn't sure this waiting room was close to the emergency room. With the beige marble columns and dark wood, it felt more like walking into a hotel. My heart hadn't slowed since I'd gotten Sidney Allen's text, and I felt a wave of nausea as the reality of the situation hit me.
I bent over, resting my hands on my knees until the sensation passed. I turned to Kate and Richard as they walked in and motioned to some armless chairs. "Why don't you wait while I see if she's been admitted yet?"
Richard eyed the upholstered chairs. "If you think I'm touching a thing in here, you're out of your mind. Hospitals are breeding grounds for illness, and I'll bet those chairs are teeming with staph infection."
Kate stopped mid walk to the chairs and her eyes grew large.
"Ignore him," I told her. "But it wouldn't hurt to use some of Richard's hand sanitizer."
He already had the clear plastic bottle out and was squeezing gel into his hands. He held the bottle over Kate's hands and then mine without asking. I rubbed the cool gel into my palms and smelled the alcohol as it evaporated on my skin.
"If you aren't going to sit down, why don't you two stand awkwardly in the middle of the room?" I said. "Reese will be in from parking the car and can join you in a second."
I rushed over to a desk where a nurse with dishwater blond hair scraped back into a severe ponytail sat behind a monitor. "Has a Leatrice Butters been admitted? She should have been brought in by ambulance a few minutes ago."
The nurse didn't look up as she typed something into her computer. "Looks like she's in triage. You won't be able to see her until she's admitted."
"Do you know how long that will take?"
The woman glanced up at me. "No idea. We aren't too busy tonight so . . ." She let her words trail off.
"Is this the closest waiting room to the emergency room?" I asked, knowing how spread out the hospital was and how many ways you could enter. "I need to locate the man who came in with my friend."
Her eyes returned to her keyboard. "Nope." She waved a finger in a vague direction. "You want to go down that hall and walk all the way down until you almost reach the chapel and then turn left."
"Thanks." I returned to Kate and Richard as Reese walked in. "We need to go down this hall to find the emergency waiting room."
Richard rearranged his man bag, and Hermes gave a tiny yip. The nurse looked up, and Kate and I began coughing to cover the sound.
"Honestly," Richard said, “you two sound like you need to be admitted. What did I tell you about germs here?"
Reese shook his head and started taking long strides down the hall. "I don't want to be anywhere near you all when security drags Richard off."
Richard ran to catch up with him, holding the bottom of his bag to keep Hermes from jostling. "They'd never do that with a DC cop by my side. A detective no less. You're my get-out-of-jail-free card."
Reese sized up his bulging and wiggling leather bag. "Don't count on it. I'm working hard enough to keep you out of actual jail."
Richard blanched and stopped walking. I came up behind him and put an arm around his shoulders. "Reese is joking. He knows you're innocent. Not of bringing your dog into the hospital. Obviously you're guilty of that. But not the murder."
A passing orderly nearly dropped his clipboard.
"You're such a comfort, Annabelle,” Richard said.
I spotted Sidney Allen standing at a reception desk as we rounded a corner. Leatrice's purse dangled from the crook of his arm, and he had one finger pressed into the earpiece of his headset.
"I thought he
only wore that to weddings," Kate said from behind me.
We were used to the entertainment diva running around at events barking orders into his headset, but it seemed out of place in a hospital. I wondered who he needed to coordinate on a Friday night in the ER.
When he saw me, he smoothed a hand across his thinning hair and let out a breath. "There you are." He tapped his earpiece. "I've been calling you."
I dug in my purse for my phone. When I pulled it out, I saw I had several missed calls. "Sorry. It was set to vibrate only. How's Leatrice?"
Tear tracks marked his doughy cheeks, but they were no longer wet. "Stable. She's being admitted now so they can run some tests, but it looks like it was a heart attack."
"Does Leatrice have a history of heart problems?" Kate asked. "Does she take any medicine?"
I looked to Sidney Allen, feeling bad I didn't know the answer to those questions. For as much time as Leatrice spent in my apartment, I didn't know as many details about her life as I should have.
"She isn't on any medications," he said. "As far as I know, she's as fit as a fiddle."
"Clearly not," Richard said under his breath.
Sidney Allen's face fell. "No, I guess you're right. She only seemed fine. All this time she was on the verge of dropping dead." He began to sniffle.
"But she's fine," I insisted. "If there is an issue, it's been caught, and we can take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Sidney Allen nodded, one hand pressed over his mouth as he turned back to the desk to answer a question from the admitting nurse.
"We're here! We're here!" Fern's voice carried across the waiting room as he ran through the glass doors. Behind him, walking as fast as their bulk would allow, were Buster and Mack. Prue, baby Merry's teenaged mother, brought up the rear with her ash-brown hair sticking out of the top of a pink knit hat with a hole for ponytails, and she carried a diaper bag over one shoulder. Mack held a plastic baby carrier with one hand, and both men were huffing trying to keep up with Fern.
