Everything She Ever Wanted (59 page)

like always.
 
Nona Allanson seemed only slightly comforted; she

remained apprehensive and tearful.

Almost as a throwaway question, Tedford asked, "You haven't been

signing any papers, have you, while your husband is in the hospital?"

Tedford couldn't be sure, but he thought her mumbled answer was,

"Yes."

"Oh, my Lord," he breathed.
 
jean looked up at Tedford with dread.
 
She

didn't even have to ask her questions.
 
She could see it in his eyes.

At 3:00 that afternoon, the lab called Gus Thornhill.
 
"The screening

test on Walter Allanson's urine 's complete," Dr. McGurdy said.
 
"We

found arsenic .

It would take somewhat longer, the toxicologist said, to test the hair

and nail samples.
 
But the first results were more than enough for

Thornhill and Tedford.
 
They grabbed their case file and headed for the

D.A."s office.
 
Andy Weathers would be taking over this case.
 
The

assistant D.A. was sharp, combativebut with a humorous edge-and

terribly dangerous to guilty defendants.

Until now, the case file had been only a few pages thick and the

complaint still read, "Overdose."
 
It was growing thicker.
 
The charge

would now be "Criminal Attempt to Commit Murder.

And the prime suspect was Patricia Radcliffe Taylor Allanson.

The Georgia Crime Lab had placed Paw Allanson's urine sample in a

container with hydrochloric acid, water, and a piece of copper.
 
If

certain metals were present -including arsenic-a black deposit would

appear on the copper.
 
It had.
 
The urine was further analyzed by a wet

oxidation procedure to reduce the specimen to a small amount of clear

liquid, free of all extraneous materials except metals.
 
This material

was then subjected to reduction by zinc and acid, producing arsene gas

in a small tube.

A reddish color would indicate the presence of arsenic.
 
The amount of

arsenic present could then be determined by an electrospectrometer with

a laser probe.

The average person's urine would show no arsenic present.

Certain occupations caused a low percentage of the poison.
 
Paw

Allanson had, in years past, used arsenic on his farm.
 
Would that have

accounted for the poison in his urine?
 
No, the lab technicians said.

Even if he had used arsenic on the farm recently-which he had not-that

would not account for the fact that Paw had ten times the amount of

poison in his system that a working farmer would have!

Arsenic had been carried in his bloodstream and deposited at the base

of his fingernails and at the roots of his hair, an irrevocable process

that left a "calendar" of ingestion.
 
Paw Allanson's hair had 1.0

milligrams of arsenic per 100 millimeters; his nails had 5.5 milligrams

of arsenic per 100 millimeters.

The East Point detectives swung into action.
 
They called Dr. Jones

with the results of the crime lab tests.
 
He agreed that Nona Hanson

should be removed from her granddaughter-in-law's care at once and

hospitalized.
 
For a long time, Jean Boggs's accusations against Pat

had seemed suspect; it was clear to them she didn't like her nephew's

wife, the woman who had taken her place in her parents' lives.
 
The

East Point officers and Dr. Jones had initially found Pat Allanson a

rather nice woman who seemed genuinely concerned about her

grandparents-in-law.
 
just a week before, Nona had suffered from

pneumonia and severe bronchitis, and Pat had obediently followed Dr.

Jones's every direction.
 
Nona's 103-degree fever had dropped, and she

was doing much better.
 
Given the fact that Pat was on crutches or a

cane due to her own poor health, Jones had found her especially

dutiful.

Now Jones doubted his own judgment of human nature.
 
It was beginrfing

to look as if Pat Allanson was not the tender care giver she purported

to be, and that jean Boggs had been right all along.
 
Bob Tedford sent

word to Jean that he was on his way to see Fulton County District

Attorney Lewis Slaton himself to get a court order to remove Nona

Allanson from her home.
 
Every hour's delay might count, and someone

should be with the old lady.
 
"Bob says not to let your mother eat or

drink anything," the police dispatcher advised.

headed immediately for her parents' Jean and her son home.
 
She was met

at the door by a livid Pat Allanson.
 
She had had a phone call from Dr.

Jones.
 
"He said they need her there for some testing, and I think

that's a terrible thing," Pat ranted.

She could see no earthly reason for Nona to go to a hospital.

"Well," Jean stalled.
 
"If he thinks that's the thing to do, then we'd

better do it."

Pat wouldn't even consider letting Nona go to the hospital.

She had already called an attorney, who advised her that Dr. Jones had

no power to hospitalize Mrs. Allanson.
 
Pat was suspicious, but her

suspicions were pointed in the wrong direction -at Jean Boggs.
 
She had

no idea that a police investigation had rolled into high gear.
 
She

assumed that jean was trying to have Nona declared incompetent so she

could take over her guardianship-and control Paw and Nona's assets.

Pat fussed over Nona's hair, petting her and reassuring her.

"You don't have to go anyplace you don't want to, Ma.
 
They can't make

you and I won't let them."
 
jean was frightened.
 
She wondered what was

taking the ambulance and the police so long.
 
She was even

more,concerned when Colonel Clifford Radcliffe showed up.
 
He was such

an imposing man, and Jean was suitably intimidated.

None of them wanted her there-not Pat, nor the colonel, or even the

nurse.
 
The only chance jean had was to somehow get through to her

mother-make Nona understand that she was there to save her life.
 
But

how?
 
Her mother seemed to think that Pat walked on water.

When Pat left the room, Jean whispered to her mother, "Mother, listen

to me very carefully.
 
Don't tell anyone what I'm saying to you.
 
Don't

say anything to Pat-but Daddy has been poisoned.

It was, perhaps, an unwise move.
 
Her mother was very feeble, and they

had not been close for months now.
 
Nona Allanson just looked at Jean

blankly and mumbled, "What?"

"We just found out about it," Jean whispered.
 
"We have to get you to

the hospital to see if you're all right.
 
You have to have some

tests."

Nona clamped her jaw down and announced she wasn't going anywhere."
 
I

won't go."

Jean begged her mother to trust her, and to speak quietly.
 
The wait

was becoming a nightmare.
 
Despite Jean's objections, the nurse brought

Nona a 7Up.
 
Jean couldn't very well snatch it out of her mother's

hand.

The phone rang.
 
Jean grabbed it.
 
She lied to her mother and said it

was her husband-but it was really Bob Tedford.
 
"How are you

feeling?"

Tedford asked.

"Uncomfortable."

"Hang on.
 
I'm on my way."

Tedford had laid out the case for D.A. Lewis Slaton, and Slaton had

grasped the need for rapid action.
 
"You've got whatever permission you

need.

Don't worry about papers.
 
Get that lady in the hospital now!"

Tedford had called an ambulance and it was speeding toward Washington

Road.

It was 4:00 in the afternoon on Monday, June 28, 1976.
 
And then

4:30.

The minutes crept by agonizingly.
 
Then, suddenly, there was a loud

pounding on the front door.
 
Jean jumped.
 
She wondered who else Pat

might have called for backup.
 
She heard footsteps approaching and was

tremendously relieved to see Bob Tedford and another detective walk

into the living room.

Tedford made no attempt to soften his announcement to Pat Allanson.

"Arsenic has been found in Mr. Allanson's system and we need to take

Mrs.
 
Allanson to the hospital for tests."

Pat looked at him without changing expression, not so much as the

flickering of an eye.
 
She turned on her heel and headed for Nona's

bedroom.

Tedford was right behind her.

The little house on Washington Road erupted into chaos.
 
Nona Allanson

was already nearly hysterical, unable to grasp what was going on.
 
When

Tedford informed Pat that an ambulance was on the way for Mrs.

Allanson, she was incensed.
 
Her voice rose, whipping the old lady into

a froth of panic.
 
She bombarded her husband's grandmother with dire

warnings, every word making the paralyzed woman more terrified.

Nona's mouth worked ineffectively as she tried to form questions, and

Pat just kept on shouting at her.
 
"They're going to take you to the

hospital for some silly tests!
 
They'll be giving you shots all the

time.
 
You can't let them.
 
Your insurance won't pay for it," Pat

ranted.
 
"You'll be deep in debt, Ma.
 
I won't be able to come see

you.

They won't let you have any visitors."

Tedford feared the old lady was about to have another stroke.
 
She

looked utterly panicked and begged to stay in her home.
 
Pat kept after