He held my hand while Jill deflated the balloon inside my stomach so the tube would come out easily. I had to cough more, and didn’t know if it was from the tube coming out or if it was from inhaling the arsenic, but I didn’t care. I was rid of the tube and I was alive.
Now that Loretta was safely away from me, Clancy jumped on my bed and nuzzled against me. “Oh my sweet girl,” were the first words I said as I hugged her the best I could considering I was still tied up to IV poles.
“What happened?” George asked, still holding my hand and gazing at me as though he wanted to wrap his arms around me despite the crowd.
Loretta was in the corner and screeched to anyone who would listen, “You had my boy arrested. He’s the only good thing in my life, and it’s all your fault he’s in jail and his career is ruined.”
“His career isn’t ruined if he’s innocent,” George said. “Is there anything you want to say?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She looked at George, then at me, and then back at George.
“I can have Dougie out of jail this afternoon if he’s not the one who’s been killing people,” George said to her.
Loretta started sobbing. “I didn’t mean for anyone to die.”
It was hard to hear what else she said because she was sobbing from her very soul. After a few minutes, she began talking again. “You don’t understand what it’s like. He’s the first one in our family to go to college, and he ended up being a doctor. But no one here recognized his brilliance. Everyone was always bragging about Jill.” She glared at me as if that was my fault. “I had to do something to show people what a wonderful doctor Douglas is.”
George prompted her with, “So you…”
“So I thought it wouldn’t hurt anyone very much if I put just a little rat poison on some food. I was very careful and I practiced on dogs first.”
Clancy growled and no one blamed her.
“Once I got good enough at poisoning dogs that they stopped dying, but just got sick, I decided to begin on people.”
Outraged as I was, I was able to squeak out a few words, “But there were some dogs poisoned after people started dying.”
“Yes, there was some leftover meat I’d had for the dogs. I just threw it in a trash bin on Maine Street. They must have gotten it there.”
And some of it dropped on the sidewalk and my dog almost died from eating it, I thought. I choked up and couldn’t get any words out. All I could do was hug my sweet heroine, Clancy.
George asked another question, “How did you know to order rat poison from Haiti?”
She didn’t answer, but her worried expression told us there was an interesting answer there somewhere.
I hated to change the subject but had to ask Gus, “How did you get permission to bring Clancy up to see me?”
“Permission?” was all he said. He winked, and I swear Clancy smiled.
TWENTY-FIVE
Jill said she would release me in a few hours. In the meantime no one made a move to remove Clancy from my bed.
My brother Rob arrived with another officer to take Loretta to the station. After a quick hug, and an “I love you,” he left. But I knew I’d hear a lecture later, about the fact that I wasn’t a cop. Boy, oh boy, I’d heard that often enough. And it probably wasn’t the last time.
Michael walked in. I’d forgotten all about him. I didn’t have to ask where he’d been, because he started talking right away.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been here sooner, but I kept in touch and knew you were okay. I went to Loretta’s house with the police and we saw some white powder in her garage. Figured it’s the rat poison, and we’ll find out from Dr. Johnson why he had it.”
He walked over and gave me a quick hug. George and Clancy allowed it.
Gus had gone to be with Carter because he didn’t have anyone with him, and there was no one to call. I had a feeling Gus would be just the poison antidote Carter needed.
Michael left pretty quickly. I thought about how fast things, and my affections, had changed. Just a short time ago I had yearned for Michael to return my interest, but now I knew that had been a passing fancy.
George took Clancy and me home a few hours later. I still had on the gown from the ER, so he put me to bed, and I conked out immediately after getting a sweet, loving kiss. My last thought before falling asleep was that I wanted more.
I woke up to someone whistling. When I opened my eyes I could see the sunshine beaming onto the carpet, letting me know I really needed to vacuum. George bounded in with coffee and toast.
He said, “This is all the food I could find.”
“It’s perfect,” I replied as I tried to sit up.
“And don’t worry. Clancy has already been out.”
A movement on the other side of the bed caught my attention. Clancy snuggled up next to me as she always did when I was in bed.
“Have you been here all night?” I asked George.
“Yeah.”
“Where did you sleep?”
“Well, I was kind of worried about you, so I just slept by you so I’d be there if you needed anything.”
“Thank you,” was all I could say. Then I thought of something else, “Where did Clancy sleep?”
“Well, we both wanted to be by you so she slept on one side of you and I slept on the other. A little crowded, but you were well-guarded.”
After grinning, I began devouring the toast, and took a sip of the coffee, swallowing gingerly because of my throat. “Have you heard anything yet?”
He knew what I meant.
“Yeah, I’ve been on the phone with the station. Dougie is innocent of everything except not reporting his mom. He bought the rat poison innocently enough. Loretta told him that his grandma had some rats and wanted the type of product she remembered from her childhood in Haiti. He wasn’t aware it contained arsenic, but even if he had known, it’s unlikely he would have suspected his mom was up to no good.”
“So that explains why he bought it. Why did he have it at his house?”
“Well, this is where he committed a crime. After he noticed he was always on duty when the poisoned patients came to the ER, he started to suspect that his own mother might be behind the poisonings. She kept calling for him whenever a new patient came in; that gave her away, and he wanted to stop her. So he took the bag back from her and stashed it at his house. He wanted to see if the poisonings would stop if he had the bag.”
“Did they?”
“There were a few more. Loretta had some of the powder at her home. But no one else died. She’d figured out the dosage by then.”
I had one more question. “I understand how the dogs were poisoned. How did she do it to people?”
He frowned as he said, “Well, the first victim, Pluto, was poisoned at the party. This was Loretta’s first attempt, so she scattered some of the poison on a few wings, and she used too little. Other people got somewhat ill, but that was it. Not enough to make their nausea look like more than the flu—or to have them admitted to the hospital so that Dr. Dougie would have to save them. But because Pluto’s immune system was compromised from living on the street for many years, and because of his alcoholism, he was more susceptible. He was doomed.”
“So she used more the next time, to make even healthy people ill…and she used too much?”
George nodded, sadly. “And finally,” he said, “she found just the right dosage.”
“But how was she able to poison the people in the hospital, like Dr. Adams?”
“Funny thing about that,” he said. “Some people were poisoned right there in the ER. When they asked for a soda or coffee, she would put a little rat poison in it. She could gauge the dose pretty well by then, even accounting for body mass. She’s a nurse, after all.”
My curiosity wasn’t satisfied yet. “What about the other people?”
“Well, she went to a lot of church and community functions. Sprinkle, sprinkle, and there you have it.”
He le
aned over and kissed me.
“Because you’ve been through a lot I’m not going to give you a long lecture. But you are a social worker…”
“Not a cop. I know, I know, I know. But I can’t help myself.” I kissed him back. “And if I hadn’t snooped at Holtschlag’s, you would have never known about the rat poison.”
He was mercifully quiet, staying true to his word of not lecturing me too much. I finished the toast and slurped up the last of the coffee. I looked at Clancy, then I looked at George. I was pretty content at that moment. Pretty content.
“George, please take Clancy to the living room and turn on Animal Planet. That will occupy her for a while. I’m going to jump in the shower and I’ll see you in a minute.”
He looked at me with mischief in his eyes. One of the many reasons I loved him. Without a word to me, he called Clancy and they disappeared into the living room. It was only a moment before I heard the TV telling Clancy all about wildlife in Idaho.
As I climbed out of bed I felt a little dizzy, so I moved slowly. Besides the dizziness, I had a sore throat, but other than that I felt pretty good. I steadied myself against the bedstead and stood for a moment.
I felt some strong arms hold on to me, making me feel safe. And loved.
George whispered, “It looks like you might need some help taking that shower. I could call one of your sisters, of course. Or…”
I smiled, and repeated, “Or…” as I took his hand and pulled him toward me.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No author writes completely alone. There are several people who have helped with ideas and support. Thanks to:
Patrice Fitzgerald, of eFitzgerald Publishing, who has given me encouragement and support throughout the writing of this book.
My beta readers, Jan Bozarth Smith and Nikki Shields, who are great at pointing out typos and confusing sentences.
The women and men of my online writing group—Housewife Writers. They have encouraged me to write for eighteen years, and I appreciate their collective wisdom and their love.
My niece, Kris Smith Theissen, for her young brain, coming up with concepts I couldn’t remember, while we were swimming at her mom’s.
Kathy Vogel for giving me the idea of the LOUD TALKER in the ER.
My siblings, who have teased me unmercifully, to whom all I can say is “Shup.”
Panera Bread Company in Quincy, Illinois for the generous use of their patio, where a good portion of this book was written.
Toni Taylor of Tiger Imagery for her permission to use her beautiful photograph as the basis for the cover photo. This lovely home is actually a private residence, but in the book, it’s the Quincy Community Clinic where Sam Darling works.
Keri Knutson for her lovely cover, taking Toni’s photograph and turning it into exactly what I needed for the book.
As usual, the people depicted in this book are the result of my imagination only, and bear no resemblance to actual people. The exception is, when the Darling sibs are being sarcastic, that accurately describes my five brothers.
Jerilyn Bozarth Dufresne is the oldest of nine, and that group gave her the inspiration for the Darling Family, although her sibs fight a lot more and have cornered the market on sarcasm. She returned to her hometown of Quincy, Illinois after having lived a nomadic middle part of her life. Currently she writes, is an outpatient therapist at a local mental health clinic, and teaches at Quincy University. She and her dog Gus live with, and are tolerated by, two cats.
Visit her at jerilyndufresne.net and find out about Jer’s books first by clicking here for all the latest news about Sam Darling and her upcoming adventures.
ANY MEAT IN THAT SOUP?
Electronic Edition
© 2013 Jerilyn Dufresne
All rights reserved.
Edition: December 2013
Published by eFitzgerald Electronic Publishing
Cover design by Keri Knutson
eFitzgerald Publishing strives to create a professional product and a smooth reading experience for readers of indie ebooks. Please report typographical or other errors to [email protected].
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