“That sounds like a good idea.” While Paul was struggling to stay busy, Gloria rarely had a chance to catch her breath!
Mally was waiting for them when they pulled into the drive and Gloria could see her snout pressed tight against the windowpane as she watched them exit the SUV and head toward the porch.
Gloria opened the porch door and Mally darted past her, racing straight over to her favorite tree. She came to a screeching halt near the bottom of the tree and began barking her head off.
The squirrels were having great fun teasing poor Mally as they darted from branch to branch, stopping every so often to look down at her, which only set Mally off again.
Finally, Mally gave up, followed her standard patrol around the farm and headed back to the porch. Gloria patted her head. “Darn squirrels. Just once, one of them should scamper down from the tree to say hello.”
Paul was already inside when Gloria made her way in. He was standing in the corner of the kitchen, next to the answering machine and house telephone. “You’re gonna want to hear this,” he said as he pressed the play button.
Chapter 20
“Hey Gloria. Margaret here. I’ve been trying to call you on your cell phone but it keeps going to voice mail. I thought you might want to know there’s an ambulance parked in Brian’s driveway. They’ve been sitting there for a good half hour now.”
Margaret lowered her voice. “Call me back when you have a minute.” The call ended. Gloria hurried to her purse, pulled her cell phone out and turned it on. Not only had Margaret called, but also Dot, Lucy, Andrea and Ruth.
“Uh-oh. I think something big is going down.”
Paul headed to the living room while Gloria dialed Margaret’s number first. It went directly to voice mail. She tried each of her friend’s phones, right on down the line and each call went straight to voice mail.
Gloria gazed out the window. It was getting dark and she had planned to kick back and have a quiet evening at home with Paul. There was no way she would be able to relax until she found out what was going on at Brian’s place.
Worry over her friend won out and she headed to the living room. “Margaret called to say there was an ambulance at Brian’s house. She called about a half an hour ago. I must not have heard it ringing in my purse. I tried to call her back but she didn’t answer and neither did any of the other girls. They all tried calling.”
She went on. “I’m going to run down there to see what’s going on.”
“I’ll go with you.” Paul lowered the footrest on his recliner and climbed out of the chair. They hopped back into the SUV and pulled out onto the road.
“It’s a good thing Gus isn’t charging mileage,” Gloria joked.
It was a few minutes back into town. When they reached town and the flashing light, Paul turned right and headed toward the lake.
Paul and Gloria had visited Brian at his spacious, modern home that overlooked the lake several times. It was a beautiful home, and something straight out of the Architectural Digest magazine.
The pavement ended and Paul slowed the vehicle when they reached a sharp turn and gravel part of the road. As soon as they cleared the bend, Gloria could see an ambulance parked in Brian’s drive, its lights flashing. Parked next to the ambulance was a Montbay County fire truck.
A crowd had gathered on the edge of the front lawn. The SUV’s lights illuminated the cluster of onlookers and Gloria spotted Lucy’s red hair. Standing next to Lucy was Andrea, Margaret and the other girls.
Paul eased onto the side of the road, shut off the engine and they climbed out.
Gloria made her way over to Margaret. “What happened?” Margaret spun around. “Gosh! You scared me.” She shook her head. “We don’t know. I noticed the lights when I headed out onto my back deck. It was hard to see whose house the ambulance had gone to, but something told me it was Brian’s house.”
Andrea, who was standing next to Margaret, grasped Gloria’s hand. “I…I tried to go up there, but remembered Brian told me to stay away. Alice saw the lights on her way home from the dog-training center. She told me about it as soon as she got home so we walked down here to see if we could find out what was going on.”
Lucy scratched her forehead. “I wish we knew what was happening.”
Gloria turned to her husband. Paul knew most, if not all, of the area police, paramedics and emergency personnel, not to mention firefighters. “Can you go check it out?”
Paul shifted his gaze, nodded to his wife and eased out of the crowd before heading up the sloped drive to the front door. Moments later, he disappeared inside.
Gloria began to pace. “What if he had a relapse?”
“Or someone broke into his house and attacked him,” Margaret added.
“Bite your tongue,” Ruth said.
A dark figure emerged from the house. It was Paul. He headed back down the hill. The girls crowded around when he got close. “I guess Brian had just gotten home and began to have chest pains. He tried to rest but when it got worse, his mother became alarmed and called an ambulance.”
Paul glanced back at the house. “He told them that someone had given him some very spicy food and now paramedics suspect it may be a case of severe indigestion.”
Gloria turned to Alice. “Alice?”
“Why…I. My spicy food. It never give me indigestion!” she argued.
“That’s because you’re used to it,” Gloria said. She looked at her husband. “Did they say anything else?”
Paul sucked in a breath. “Brian named an ‘Alice’ as the person who gave him the spicy food and hinted that perhaps she was trying to take him out.”
Alice’s eyes widened. She clutched the bottom of her blouse. “I-I try to help. No one ever died from eating my spice.” She turned accusing eyes to Rose, who hovered nearby.
Gloria hadn’t noticed her standing there before.
“You!” Alice pointed an accusing finger at Rose. “Whatever you gave Brian. It make him ill!”
Rose stiffened her back. “I most certainly did not. My memory cure may smell bad, but it never killed nobody!”
“You don’t think,” Gloria rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “That the two mixtures – Alice and Rose’s concoctions, caused Brian to think he was having a heart attack.”
Andrea pressed both hands to her cheeks. “Great! Now, not only does Brian not want me, he thinks I’m trying to kill him!”
A commotion near the front porch stopped Gloria from answering. The paramedics, along with the firefighters emerged. There was one other person in the crowd – Officer Joe Nelson. The paramedics climbed into the ambulance while the firefighters climbed into the fire truck.
The crowd of onlookers shifted to the side and Gloria watched as they pulled out of the drive and onto the road, revealing Officer Joe Nelson’s patrol car, which had been hidden by the emergency vehicles. Instead of getting into his cruiser, Officer Nelson made his way down the hill.
He approached the onlookers, his eyes scanning the crowd. He paused when he spied Andrea. “Can I have a word with you?” He motioned her to the other side of the driveway and out of earshot. Alice trailed behind.
Gloria couldn’t hear what was being said. Andrea spoke quickly and motioned toward the house a couple times. She put a protective arm around Alice’s shoulder and kept shaking her head.
Gloria couldn’t stand it. She slipped away from the crowd and strode over to the trio. “What is going on?”
“Brian is accusing Alice of trying to poison him so Officer Nelson asked Alice to accompany him to the sheriff’s station to answer a few questions,” Andrea whispered in a low voice.
“Can she meet you there?” Gloria asked Officer Nelson. “Think of how this will look with all of the townsfolk watching.”
Officer Nelson looked from Gloria to the crowd hovering nearby. “I dunno.”
Paul approached and Gloria briefly explained the situation. He nodded slowly. “What if I drive her there myself?” Paul asked.
“It’s not like she’s under arrest,” Gloria pointed out.
Officer Nelson caved and Paul promised they would follow him to the station. “Okay, but only if Paul accompanies you.”
Officer Nelson shifted his attention to the onlookers. He began waving his hands. “Party is over folks. Time to go home.”
Alice marched over to Rose, who was following Dot to her van. “Not so fast! You’re going to the police station, too!”
Chapter 21
Despite Rose’s insistence she was innocent and the whole thing had nothing to do with her, Dot convinced her they should follow the others to the sheriff’s department to try to help clear Alice’s name.
Andrea and Alice slid into the back of the SUV while Paul got behind the wheel and Gloria climbed into the passenger seat.
“This will all be cleared up as soon as we get there.” Gloria attempted to convince Alice that everything would turn out all right but her words rang hollow. What if police suspected Alice was behind the hardware store robbery and when Brian survived the attack, she tried to poison him?
Surely, police would realize Alice was harmless. There was no way she could overpower Brian. Unless, of course, she took him by surprise and hit him in the back of the head, which was exactly what had happened. A surprise attack.
“I can vouch for you the morning of the attack,” Andrea assured her.
Gloria silently wondered if vouching for Alice would make matters worse and implicate both Alice and Andrea.
Paul did a U-turn and started to follow Officer Nelson’s patrol car. Dot and Rose brought up the rear. The vehicles drove out of town as they headed to Langstone, where the Montbay Sheriff’s station was located.
Andrea leaned forward in her seat. “We’re dragging Rose into this since she gave Brian a special memory mixture too. I’m not sure how wise it would be to tell police that Rose impersonated a nurse to get Brian to take her concoction.”
“Impersonated a nurse!” Paul glanced in the rearview mirror. “Rose impersonated medical personnel?” He turned to his bride who shrank back in her seat.
“I-uh. By the time I knew what she was doing, it was too late,” Gloria said lamely. “No one was hurt.”
“Except Brian,” Paul argued. He ran a hand through his hair. “Gloria Kennedy! What if Brian puts two and two together and realizes Rose had been in his room impersonating a nurse?”
Paul had a good point. Rose was a big, buxom dark-skinned woman with a loud, booming voice. In other words, she stood out in a crowd.
“Looking back, it was probably the wrong thing to do,” Gloria admitted. She shifted in her seat and gazed at Alice who sat silently stewing in the back seat. “Alice. We might need to keep Rose’s involvement on the down low.”
“I hope they arrest her,” Alice gritted through her teeth. “That woman. It is her fault we’re in this predicament! She mix her potion with my spicy soup and Brian had reaction.”
Gloria remembered how Rose had said there were side effects to her memory mixture. She decided it was best not to share that information with Paul. He was already freaking out about the nurse thing.
“At least Brian is okay,” she repeated a second time and then decided not to add anything else lest she throw herself even further under the bus.
Officer Nelson’s vehicle was parked out front and Paul parked next to the patrol car. Dot, who was right behind them, pulled into an empty spot on the other side.
They all filed into the station where Officer Nelson, who stood waiting at the counter, cast a puzzled glance at Dot and Rose. “What…”
Paul shoved his hands in his front pockets. “There’s more to the story. I’ll let the girls explain.”
Officer Nelson frowned. “Why am I not surprised?” He waved his hand. “Follow me.”
They made their way down the long hall to one of the rooms near the back. Gloria hadn’t been in the station for several months, not since Lucy had been questioned about her ex-boyfriend’s murder the previous fall.
Paul stood near the door while Officer Nelson squeezed his way behind the desk and the girls - Dot, Rose, Andrea, Alice and Gloria sat on the other side.
Alice primly placed her purse in her lap. “I did not poison Mr. Brian. She did!” She pointed an accusing finger at Rose who was already shaking her head.
“Oh no. I most certainly did not. No one has ever gotten sick on my memory enhancing elixir. I smelled your mess,” Rose shot back. “It would singe the hair off a hippie.”
The two women began to bicker back and forth, each of them blaming the other for Brian’s symptoms. Finally, Officer Nelson had had enough. “Ladies!”
The women grew silent.
“I’m sorry,” Rose apologized first.
“Me too,” Alice mumbled.
“I’m gathering from what Brian told me and what you’ve just said that you both gave Brian some sort of ‘miracle cure’ for his memory loss.” He lowered his chin and gave them both a hard stare. “Neither of which worked, I might add.”
Rose lifted a hand and inspected her nails. “Give it time. I hasn’t even been a day.”
He ignored Rose’s comment and continued. “Look, I know everyone is trying to help here, but you can’t just go around willy-nilly drugging people.”
Alice started to speak but Officer Nelson raised a hand to stop her. “Let me finish. I’m going to talk to Brian and advise him to let the incident slide on one condition…”
Gloria could see it coming now…their warning.
“You must promise to stay away from Mr. Sellers and his home.” He shifted his gaze to Andrea. “That includes you.”
Andrea’s lower lip started to tremble.
Officer Nelson reached a hand across the desk toward Andrea. “Give him a little time. I’m sure he’ll come around and remember you. If not, you’re a lovely young woman and even if he can’t remember, he’ll probably fall in love with you all over.”
“I-thank you for letting us off with a warning.” Andrea, determined not to cry, blinked rapidly. “I’m leaving for Massachusetts in the morning so that won’t be a problem.”
The others, taking the cue and not wanting to push their luck, stood. “Thank you, Officer Nelson. We’ll be on our best behavior,” Gloria promised and turned to the others. “Right?”
“Right,” the girls echoed, nodding solemnly.
Paul opened the door and held it while the girls filed out of the room.
Officer Nelson was the last one out. He turned to Paul. “You think my warning will work?”
Paul rolled his eyes. “I give it a 50/50 chance. Knowing my wife…” He shook his head.
Officer Nelson slapped Paul on the back. “You sign on for that security detail starting tomorrow?”
Paul had been able to land a week’s temporary assignment covering a growing statewide disarmament group, who was holding a convention in downtown Grand Rapids, which by itself wasn’t a big of a concern. It was the fact that the convention center had also booked a regional rifle association convention for the same dates.
Police and officials were anticipating a few clashes and had hired extra security to cover the event.
“Yep, I’ll be there.” Paul eyed the back of his wife’s head. “Maybe I should reconsider given my wife’s penchant for mischief.”
“Whew! You sure have your hands full.” Officer Nelson walked them to the front door and with one last word of warning, told them they were free to leave.
The girls exited the building and gathered near the back of the SUV. “Well, that went over well,” Dot said.
“Right?” Andrea shifted her purse on her shoulder. She told the others she had tried to tell Brian about the black planner book but by then, Brian was already hinting he wanted some “space” so she hadn’t gotten around to it. “At this point, I’m ready for a break myself and a few extra days isn’t going to hurt anything.”
Gloria nodded her agreement, but in the back of her mind, she knew that with every
day that went by, the case grew colder and the chances of figuring out who attacked Brian, more difficult.
There was no harm in Gloria stopping by to chat with Brian’s employees, starting with Officer Joe Nelson’s girlfriend, Sally Keane, who happened to work at the Quik Stop.
Chapter 22
Gloria waited until Paul had left for his temporary job the following morning before settling in for another cup of coffee and quiet time to read her Bible. She slipped her reading glasses on, flipped her Bible open to the marker and read Ephesians 6:12-13 NIV:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
Gloria lifted her gaze and stared out the window as she sipped her coffee. She hadn’t read the Bible verse in a long time and it struck her how God was speaking to her through his word.
It seemed the world had changed, even more so the past few years, that evil was gaining the upper hand, in the public schools, the workplace and even in the most sacred of sanctuaries…home.
Gloria lowered her head, closed her eyes and prayed a heartfelt prayer for not only her own family and friends, but also the country she loved so much and worried about where it was headed.
Gloria lifted her head and wiped a lone tear that had escaped. God was in control and instead of focusing on all the negative and evil, she would trust in the One who controlled the universe.
After Gloria finished the last of her coffee, she threw on a pair of yard shoes and Mally and she wandered outdoors to inspect the garden.
They passed by Mally’s tree. Two robins twittered and chirped as they flitted from branch to branch, as if overseeing the garden’s progress for themselves.
The morning air was cool and crisp. By the time Mally and Gloria headed back inside, Gloria’s cheeks were rosy and chilled from the morning air. She quickly showered and headed back to the kitchen to grab her things.
Forget Me Knot (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Series Book 13) Page 11
