Full Figured 10 (24 page)

I stood over my husband, praying that he would recover. Whatever was happening to him was serious, and the doctors seemed to be dragging their damn feet when it came to answers. Even though I had given in and had allowed them to do the toxicology report, it would be weeks before we got answers.

I rubbed his face and held his hand and wanted him to open his eyes, and I also wanted him to rest. I wanted answers. I wanted to know what had happened between the time he left that morning to go to the authorities and his sudden onset of stomach pains. I needed to know what he had taken or had consumed, but he was in too much pain to tell me anything when I tried to talk to him.

“Mrs. Daniels?” the doctor said, snapping me out of my daze.

I turned to him. “Yes?”

“You should go home and get some rest. This medication we are giving your husband may have him out for a while.”

“I just need some answers please. What could this be?” I pleaded.

“It could be a number of things, and without those test results, I can't give you a solid answer.”

I nodded and then took a seat. “I'll stay a little longer with him. I want to be here if he wakes.”

“Very well. As soon as I know something, so will you.”

“Thank you.”

I sat there and tried not to cry, but my hormones had me sobbing at commercials, so my husband lying sick in that bed made me cry puddles of tears. The tubes and the IV made my husband look as if he was dying.

Soon after I calmed myself down and stood to leave. I stepped close to Will.

“Will, I love you, and whatever it is that keeps making you sick, I am praying to God to heal you. You are the best man I've ever had in my life, so you have to get better for me and your baby. I can't imagine a life with you not in it with me, so please, baby, fight. We can change your diet. Anything you need, I will do,” I said.

I was about to make my exit when Will's phone rang. It was Lance, so I answered. I hadn't called him, since we had our suspicions about him taking company funds, but he did need to know that Will was sick.

“Hello?”

“Lynn?” he said, surprised. I knew he would be.

“Yes.”

“Where is Will? We need to talk.”

“Will is back in the hospital, Lance, and the doctors don't know what's wrong with him.”

“What? Why didn't you call me?” His voice indicated he was now in a panic.

“I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking. I'm so afraid this time. I've never seen him this bad. The last episodes were bad, but this one is . . .” I paused. “I don't know.”

“Where are you?”

“At the University of Chicago.”

“I'm on my way.”

“No, Lance. He's sedated, and visiting hours will soon be over, I'm leaving now.”

“Well, Yvonne and I can meet you at the house. You shouldn't be alone.”

I didn't want to see Lance's face, and if he was guilty, I knew Yvonne knew, so I didn't want to see hers, either. “No. I'm going to Kenya's for the night. But I will be in touch.” I hung up. I kissed my husband and headed to Kenya's.

Before I made it to my car, my phone was ringing. It was Yvonne, so I hit ignore. I called Kenya to alert her about what was going on and then asked about coming over. She welcomed me, and as soon as I walked into her arms, I began to cry again.

“Shhh. It's going to be all right. Your husband is strong, and he is going to recover from whatever it is he's been sick with. Don't worry, Lynn.”

“I can't help but worry. Finally, God has given me the man of my dreams, someone who loves me with everything, only to take him away.”

“He's not dying, darling.”

“I don't know, Kenya. You didn't see him. My husband could barely walk. He was in so much pain, Kenya, and I couldn't do anything to help him. I felt so helpless and scared.”

She walked me into the living room, and we sat.

“I know how you must feel, but I promise you, he is going to recover. You have to talk to him. Ask him what he ate. Where did he go?”

“I tried, but he was just in agonizing pain, and he couldn't answer. I'm sure he went to Lance's place. I mean, he was supposed to go to the police, but I—”

“Police?” she said, cutting me off. “The police? What's going on, Lynn?”

“For a few months Will and I had been suspicious of Lance. We believe he's been stealing from the company, and we may have found proof. Long story short, I work for Will now, and after accessing some accounting records, we found that there are employees still on the payroll who haven't work there in a while, and their pay is being direct deposited into the same account.”

“What? That is crazy. How much money are we talking here?”

“Thousands, Kenya. Like these men grossed over forty thousand a year.”

“Get the hell out of here. Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Wait a minute. If he went to Lance's to confront him and then was rushed to the hospital, maybe Lance gave him something. I mean, he confronts him about stealing, and then he gets deathly ill. That don't add up.”

The more Kenya spoke, the more it made sense, and my hands started shaking. My mind began to race. I had to go to the cops myself.

“Oh, my God, Kenya. I hope you're wrong, because I can't imagine Lance doing something to hurt Will physically. I mean, they've been friends since they were teens.”

“That didn't stop Lance from thieving money from him. You said thousands, Lynn, and that's motive. He'd go to prison for sure.”

“Stealing is one thing, but murder?”

“When people are desperate, Lynn, they'll do just about anything.”

“Well, I have to go to the police with what we have. I need to get to Will's car. There is a file with proof of Lance embezzling money. Can you take me? We left it parked at the service station.”

“Sure. Let's go.”

We headed out, and as soon as we got in Kenya's car, I got a call from the hospital. The look on my face said it all, because what the doctor had said to me almost stopped my heart.

“What's wrong?” Kenya asked.

I took a few deep breaths and let out a sigh. The tears started to fill up my eyes, and it was like I couldn't open my mouth to say it. Finally, I managed to say, “We need to get to the hospital. Will has slipped into a coma.”

“Oh, my God,” Kenya said, also stunned by the news. “I'm so sorry.” She reached over and squeezed my hand.

“If I lose him . . . I can't lose him,” I cried.

She turned to me. “You won't. Let's just get there and let the doctor tell us what's going on.”

“Just hurry. And I need to get to Will's car first. I have to get that folder.”

“Okay.”

We got to the hospital, and after the doctor updated me about my husband's condition, I didn't have to call the police, because they were waiting in the hall to speak with me. I guessed Will's doctor had called them.

“Mrs. Daniels, can we talk?” one of the officers asked.

“Sure,” I said and then followed them to the lobby.

“Can you tell us what happened to your husband today?” the same officer asked. “The doctor is not sure yet, but he says that your husband has been treated before for the exact same symptoms, and these symptoms can be related to someone slowly being poisoned.”

“Well, I didn't poison my husband. I love him, and I can't imagine my life without him. However, I know someone who might have.”

“Go on.”

I handed him the folder. “My husband and I found some evidence that Lance Morgan may have been stealing from my husband's company. Now, we can't say for sure.... My husband left the house this morning to go to the police department with this evidence, but as angry as he was, I believe he went instead to Lance's home to confront him. I later got a call from my husband saying he was in too much pain to drive, so I met him and brought him here. I tried talking to him about what happened, but he was in so much pain, he didn't tell me anything.”

“What does this mean?” the officer asked, looking at the reports in the folder.

“These names that are circled are people who haven't worked for my husband's company in over a year, yet they are still getting a check every two weeks. Checks for these four are going into the exact same bank account, and these three share the same account number too. Unless all these workers are close family members or lovers, I doubt if they'd share the exact same account. Lance Morgan is the one who handled all the finances at the company and he has to be the one responsible for diverting all of these funds into these two accounts. I bet my life that these accounts belong to Lance.”

“I see. So you think this Lance guy has made an attempt on your husband's life?”

“It's possible. I don't know what's going on. I am pregnant with our first child. My husband is my everything, and I'd never hurt him in any way. Will and I are so close, and if he was awake, he'd tell you the same thing. If Lance has tried to kill my husband, I want him to rot in prison.” By then I couldn't hold back my tears.

“We can investigate this and let you know if this is enough to bring charges on him, but the easiest is way is just to get a confession. That will make this process so much easier. However if any of this pans out, we can get the judge to order us to take the suspect into custody and the prosecutor will review the report and decide if the government can proceed with the case.”

“Yes, but I really need to check on my husband before I go.”

“Understandable.” He handed me a card. “This is my information. Just ask for me when you get to the station, and we will help you get to the bottom of this.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Does Lance Morgan know that your husband is here?”

“He does.”

“Well, it may be wise to have a uniformed officer here.”

“Do you think that is necessary? I mean, I don't want him to know that we are onto him or even suspect him. He still has access to the company's funds. I don't want him leave town or the country.”

“Well, we have an idea.”

“Okay.”

“Go and check on your husband and meet us at the station.”

“Okay.”

I did what I was instructed to do, and then Kenya took me to the police station. They asked her to leave, and then three officers took me into a little room and gave me instructions on what to do about Lance. I listened carefully and thought the plan was good. I hoped it would work.

“Are you sure you can do this?” one of the officers asked.

“Yes. I'm sure.”

“This is just to buy a little time. Monday morning we can verify the accounts easily and then arrest him. But as for attempted murder, without proof, we won't be able to do anything until we investigate. Talk to your husband or get something that implicates Lance.”

“I understand.” I dialed Lance's number on my cell phone.

“Hello.”

“Oh, thank God, Lance! I need you to come down to the police station. I've been arrested.”

“Arrested?”

“Yes. They think I've been poisoning Will. Please, come down here.”

“Oh, my God, that is crazy. I'm on my way.”

We hung up. Thirty minutes later he was there. They brought him into the same interrogation room they took me in before.

“Thank you for coming, Lance. I don't know what's going on,” I told him.

“What happened? Start from the beginning,” he said and took a seat across from me like he was truly concerned.

“Well, today Will said he had to go out and handle some business. I thought it was work. Later he called, yelling in pain, and I went to pick him up and get him to the hospital. They stabilized him, and then, after I spoke to you, I went to Kenya's. Then I get a call saying that he had slipped into a coma, and I rushed back to the hospital. When I got there, there were two cops there, and they arrested me.

“The doctor had called the police because he did a toxicology report on Will weeks ago, when he was sick before, and it came back with traces of some type of poison, something I can't even pronounce. Lance, they think I've been poisoning him. The doctor said my husband may not pull through, and now they are blaming me.” By now my face was drenched with tears. Listening to my own words had torn my heart apart. My husband not making it would kill me too.

“Relax, Lynn. It's okay. I will call our lawyer. Don't answer any more questions.” He hugged me to comfort me, and I wanted him to take his thieving, murdering, lying hands off of me, but I had to pretend no one suspected him.

“I have my lawyer already. I called her before calling you. She should be here any minute.”

Just then the female officer who was in on our plan walked in. She had changed into plain clothing. She introduced herself and asked Lance to leave the room so she and I could talk.

He agreed and stood. “Don't worry, Lynn. I know you're innocent. I know how much you love Will, and we are not going to let them do this to you. We are going to get to the bottom of this.”

“Thanks, Lance. Please keep your phone on,” I said.

“I will. You know I will.” He pretended like he actually cared.

He addressed my “lawyer.” “Um, miss? Do you know when she will be able to go home?”

“Hopefully tomorrow. Since she is pregnant, I will call in a favor. I'm sure we can go before the judge and enter a plea in the a.m., and she can go home on bail most likely. Will you be able to bail her out?”

“Yes. No doubt Will is like a brother to me, and he'd kill me if I didn't help his wife.”

“Thanks, Lance,” I said.

“You're welcome. Stay strong. This will be over soon.”

He left, and then I let out a deep breath. “Do you think he bought it?”

“I hope so.”

The other two officers walked in.

“What's next?” I asked.

“You go to a friend's or family member's house,” one of the officers explained. “Be back here bright and early. We fake your bail, and then Monday morning we check out the bank account numbers. If his name is on those bank accounts, we have the evidence to arrest him for grand theft.”

“And poisoning my husband?”

“Well, that case is not going to happen overnight,” the same officer said. “We have to get the actual toxicology reports, get evidence that it was him, and that may take a while. Let's just pray that your husband wakes up soon and tells us what happened to him.”

“God knows I hope he wakes up soon,” I uttered.

The police took me to Kenya's house. After taking a bath, I just lay in bed and prayed and cried.