by Jerri George
After another hearty rendition of breakfast made by Anton, Candace was forced to take a shower and lie down on the couch. A change of clothes was sorely needed, and if she had to guess, it was now evening.
There was no sense wandering from room to room to find out who was home. She headed straight for the kitchen, Lancelot at her heels. Grand Central for the Kane family was always the kitchen, and Anton and Jesse looked at home sitting at the big table.
“Well, look who rose from the dead!” Jesse smiled.
It was so good to see her.
“Hi, how’d you sleep?” Anton chimed in. “We were just thinking about waking you. I talked to the doctor, and she said your uncle has been transferred to a private room and has a nurse at his bedside and a guard at the door. She thinks you should just let him rest and not try to come back tonight.”
Candace looked at the clock. It was almost nine o’clock. “I guess she’s right. I can’t believe I slept so long.”
“You needed it, Kalinda,” said Jesse, ever the acting mom. “Now, we just need to bring your uncle Dan home safely.”
“Did Tripp call?” Candace asked.
“Twice. I told him you were still sleeping.” Anton’s face showed no hint of how he felt about it.
“Wow, I must really have been out of it. Thank you, both of you for being so protective of me. I don’t know how I would have gotten through this without your love and support, really,” she said.
Anton snickered. “Don’t worry, paybacks are a bitch.”
It was then that she really felt in her heart they would soon be back to normal.
Chapter 33
At 10 p.m. the hospital corridors were empty and sterile. A medium-sized facility in a small town, the patient count was low and so was the number of Sunday night staffers. Visitors were few, especially on the third floor, which was only for most dire cases. It was no wonder a woman could pass for any orderly or nurse, dressed in bright green scrubs with sneakers bound in funny matching baggies, wearing surgical gloves and make her way briskly toward the ICU.
Thank God the niece and her entourage were gone. If only he was gone too, the woman fumed. She had asked around, but no one seemed to suspect anything about last night’s heart attack, and now she’d just have to give him more potassium and make sure he was dead. They said he was lucky last night because of all the machines attached to his heart. How stupid of her to have missed that. She would have to disconnect them just long enough tonight. No one should be able to tell what killed him.
Again, the guard was gone. Small town police departments were a bunch of clowns. They couldn’t seem to keep anyone there with consistency. She was consistent. And persistent. They had no clue. She waited behind a column until the nurse’s station was empty and the coast was clear. She’d only have a few minutes until someone returned to watch the monitors. Sliding the door back slowly and quietly, she could see his body lying there dimly lit.- That big hulk of a man whose very breath was destined to ruin her life.
She tiptoed toward the bed, needle in hand. Checking the IV for the correct port where the poison could be injected straight to his vein, she also found the power switch to the EKG machine.
Sticking the needle into the plastic connection, the woman pumped the contents of the syringe into the IV fluid. Her heart was beating with the count in her head. It should take about 1…2…3 seconds to get into his bloodstream. She’d flick off the EKG, stop the tracking of his heart and wait. A buzzer should go off within a few more seconds, but she’d switch it back on, letting the nurses, generally a lazy bunch, chalk it up to a glitch in the print out or a mechanical error. In two or three minutes from now, she’d be in the clear, and Dan Kane would finally be dead.
It was deathly quiet. The clock on the wall ticked loudly enough so she could hear it. No sound came from the bed, but the EKG was still recording the rhythm of his heart. The entire dose was in his veins by now, but his heart was still beating. It should have worked by now.
“Hold it right there!” A voice boomed. The blinding overhead lights popped on. “You’re under arrest.”
“I...what? I was just checking on my patient,” she said, cool as a cucumber, praying the EKG would not shut down now.
“Really? How am I?” Tripp sat up in the bed like a ghost wrapped in a sheet rising from the grave.
“You…I…what is this?” Her heart started to race.
“I’d like to ask you the same thing. Drop the needle and keep your hands where I can see them,” Sheriff Sam demanded.
Tripp climbed out of the bed and stood beside her. “We’ve been waiting to meet you for several hours now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responded without hesitation.
Tripp said smugly, “Nerves of steel, I guess, Sheriff.”.
“I guess so.” Sam patted her down and picked up the needle. “Going purely by the description, I’m guessing this isn’t the girlfriend.”
“What’s going on here? I was just checking on my patient, Mr. Kane. I don’t know what’s happening and why you’re frisking me. This is ridiculous.”
The sheriff demanded, pointing at her chest. “Oh yeah, where’s your hospital badge?”
“I must have left it in the cafeteria when I had dinner. I’ll go get it.”
He let out a slow breath. “Sure you will. Listen lady, Mr. Kane hasn’t been in this room since this afternoon, and if he was your patient, you’d know that. We knew the person who tried to kill him last night might return, so we set a trap for you. Thanks for obliging us and stepping right into it.”
She dropped the façade and stiffened her back while she struggled against the handcuffs. “I want an attorney. This is entrapment.”
“No, this is what you call good police work.” Tripp nodded toward a smiling Sam.
The sheriff started leading her out of the room. “You might as well give us your name. I’ll get it eventually.”
“It’s Pamela Lloyd Everett, and I demand an attorney.” And that was all she would tell them.
Chapter 34
When the phone rang and vibrated like it had last night, Candace’s blood ran cold. She could barely find the courage to answer it. She looked at Anton, then Jesse, then Anton again and handed him the phone.
He answered with his deep voice. “Hello, Candace Kane’s line. Oh, hi, Tripp. It worked? Who was it?”
Candace stared at him completely puzzled.
“Hold on, she’s right here.” He handed her the phone back.
Candace said hello, and they watched her facial expression turn from fear, to confusion, then disbelief and shock. “That’s Uncle Dan’s former VP from his Denver office. She’s the one? Damn.”
Candace continued to listen and wasn’t sure if she should wring all their necks for not letting her in on their plan or to just give them all hugs. Tripp explained that after she and Anton left to go back to the ranch, he and Sam formulated a plan to trap the would-be killer. They told Anton about it when she was sleeping, and the entire operation went down when she sat at home unaware.
She spoke with Sam and then Tripp again and hung up. That’s when her post nap, rested demeanor went into hyper drive. She let out a “Yippee!” that brought Lance to his feet. Hugging the dog, who was nose to nose with her while she was sitting down, Candace kissed him on the head and then jumped up to grab Anton.
Jesse was crying by the time Candace got to her. Anton grabbed a bottle of Vodka and poured a shot for each of them. It was definitely time to celebrate. They could all take a breath.
Candace was ready to clear the air and begin the healing process when Dawn’s mother showed up the next day to facilitate her daughter’s release. Marjorie made a statement to the police that incriminated her husband in a plot to kill Brad Kane. Candace sat by her side, horrified as her aunt remunerated what had happened. She told the sheriff that Eric, outraged over his wife’s attraction to Brad, and deeply troubled about his poor financial standing, hired a man
to stage an accident. When the deed was done, everyone assumed Eric was just bereft over the death of his friend, when in reality he could not live with the guilt. She swore he never would have planned to involve Cynthia or to leave Candace an orphan.
Killing himself must have been the result of his complete financial breakdown and blackmail. None of this became clear until after his death when Marjorie was approached by the actual killer. The “hit man” had tried to blackmail her as well, but once he found she would not fall prey to his threats, the man disappeared fifteen years ago.
She tried to find the courage to share the truth with Dan but just couldn’t put him through yet another loss. After all, they were all dead.
Chapter 35
When the dust settled, Pamela took a plea bargain and not only admitted to trying to kill Dan in the hospital twice, but also confessed to aggravated assault for the attack at the ranch and the death of Merlin. Dan was adamant her sentence not be reduced any further for the sole reason she killed Merlin. He could not forgive the woman no matter what the extenuating circumstances.
At her preliminary hearing, she testified in court that because of the weight Dan carried in the securities world, she was unable to get even the lowest of positions in any brokerage house. Enough time had passed, financial market managers had changed hands, and a N.Y. office was willing to consider reinstatement of her credentials. However, the terms of her employment were that Dan would exonerate her from the fraud charges from seventeen years ago. She had emailed him, requesting in a letter he do just that and called him that Friday. He declined.
Convinced Dan would never give his blessing and would harbor lifelong resentment toward her because of the death of his friend, Eric Ehrlickson, she set out to remove Dan from standing between her and the career she had always excelled. All of her former actions, she contended, could be left to interpretation.
The day of the attack, she had walked in from the main road, and when greeted by the leaping and barking dogs, she enticed them with prepared chunks of Zoloft-laced sirloin steak and lured them behind the fence to the bunk houses. According to Pamela, she only intended to knock them out. She never intended to kill them.
When Dawn arrived just after she did, she spent the greater part of the afternoon hiding and hoping Dan would think Lancelot and Merlin had recognized Dawn and didn’t react when her car pulled up. Her subsequent movements, closer to the house, were shielded by raised voices arguing about some old letters. It had been simple for her to sneak in behind Dan who was leaning against the mantel, seemingly dazed. Without disrupting him at all, she spied the fireplace tools, grabbed the poker and struck him firmly in the head. It was, as she stated, that simple.
The sun beating down on the gates of the Double K, created a shadow over the entrance as if outlining the path Dan should travel. Sheriff Sam led the mini-motorcade directly through them. Behind him, Tripp and his Dad drove Uncle Dan, followed by the mayor’s car, flanked by two motorcycle deputies. Released from the hospital on Sunday, just two weeks from the day he arrived by ambulance, Dan looked much better than he did that fateful night, and Sheriff Sam told him so.
When they turned toward the house, Dan let out an audible gasp. “It looks like the entire town showed up for my return.”
Lance greeted them at the front gate, jumping like a gazelle and barking up a storm. He ran alongside Sheriff Sam's car, played tag with the motorcycles from the highway entrance to the courtyard, then stood with paws on the edge of the fountain for a much-needed drink. Uncle didn’t object, not today.
Sam had mentioned that he thought he might have to provide crowd control, but it seemed everyone knew to give Dan a wide berth, extending handshakes and hugs in moderation. The entire Double K staff and families were in attendance along with most of the usual annual BBQ attendees. Hospital staffers, nurses and physicians were invited, and Candace made sure Dr. Rachel Melendez was there. Friends and business associates came from all over the country just to celebrate Dan’s survival and good health. Even Genevieve was invited but she declined to attend. Candace was sure it had to do with the updating of his will to exclude her.
To Dine For Catering catered the affair. Cheeseburgers of several combinations: bleu cheese and bacon, Swiss cheese and mushroom, which was Dan’s favorite, and cheddar cheese with guacamole were served from one grill, while extra thick steaks made to order sizzled on another. A pig that Anton boasted was the size of a small horse was roasting front and center over a fire pit. To one side, were baked potatoes and a trendy hot corn station with seasonings and toppings like grated cheese, scallions and bacon bits to roll and coat the cobs.
On a buffet, covered in red and white checkered cloths, were gleaming white plates and white handled silverware. Wooden baskets overflowed with bread and rolls. Fresh fruit was displayed in carved watermelons in the shape of peacocks, turtles and whales. Bowls and chafing dishes filled to the brim with salads and side dishes, both hot and cold, led the way to a big black cauldron of Jesse's homemade chili served with beans and rice, done Mexican style, accompanied by ample chunks of jalapeno cornbread slathered in butter.
Cameron and Zach ran the show with the rest of the team present either as servers or guests. Candace stood beaming with pride. Those two young men possessed so much energy and focus and were learning things she had never been exposed to. Catering, in fact food service overall, was light years from where it had been when she was in school just a decade ago. The future of culinary creativity and where their business was headed was indisputable.
Tripp brought flowers for Candace–more than a dozen roses, each a different color. He said he wanted to find one as beautiful as she was but had to keep adding them since none of them compared.
Candace saw Anton roll his eyes and shuffle his feet in the dirt when he saw them presented. She just smiled and winked at him, knowing just what he was thinking because she had heard him say it before, “There was nothing worse than an American trying to out-romance a European man.”
Though released from jail, Dawn was conspicuous by her absence. Anton was clearly relieved. Still Candace felt badly for her. Congressman Tethermeyer had discharged Dawn from any and all professional and personal commitments over the whole state of affairs, and her mother would barely communicate with her. I guess there really was such thing as Karma.
“I’m such a sap.” Candace chastised herself as Jesse wrapped an arm around her waist as she gazed at the busy buffet. “I should be furious and never want to see Dawn again, but we have a history together and rewriting it is impossible. Besides, Uncle is safe and sound and business at To Dine For Catering is in better shape than ever.”
Jesse looked at the Candace’s old flame and gave her a squeeze. “This is true. You and Tripp seem to be closer than ever.”
“We’ll see.” Candace gave Jesse a hug.
“Ah, Candacita, the past is the past, the future will be better. You will see!”
The End
Acknowledgments
Immense gratitude to my BFF Judy Weiss, developmental editor, Kris Jordan of Skaowl Press, Natasha Brown and my personal coach, Ruth Goldberg Sharon, who collectively held my hand, cheered my efforts and by personal sacrifice of time and talent, helped make this publication a reality! To fellow authors and friends, Nancy Naigle, Jenna Blum, Sarah McCoy and Melissa Foster who made me believe this was possible, and to my family who had patience through the process.
About the Author
Jerri George, a native Floridian with two grown sons and three grandchildren, is a thirty-five year veteran in event catering. Fifteen years ago, she relocated to her business and family to Denver, but at the height of her career, Jerri was sidelined by a near death bout of Bacterial Meningitis.
From her hospital bed, she not only survived but thrived by writing the best-selling, CIPA EVVY award winning book, CATERSAVVY, Secrets of the Trade Revealed in order to share her knowledge with others.
Having rediscovered a passion for writing, Jerri
has focused on the creation of the Candace Kane Chronicles. Through Murder on the Menu, she shares the delicious and fast-paced world of catering well seasoned with a dash of romance and suspense.
https://www.amazon.com/Jerri-Lee-George/e/B00FRNAPDM
