Hideaway Hospital Murders (8 page)

“
But, now I don’t know when
it will happen. Elmo says there’s no cure for
Alzheimer’s.”

“
So, what’s he gonna do?
Wait until she dies?”

“
Carnie!”

“
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t
have said that. But you and Elmo deserve to be happy. Y’all
shouldn’t have to wait indefinitely.”

Carnie hated to see her sister so sad. But
even more than that, she hated to wait longer for the money.

Chapter
10

The Tuesday morning sun on Greg’s face sent
mixed messages to his sleeping brain. The brightness urged him to
wake up. But the warmth whispered ‘dream on.’ Like a mild summer
day on a backyard swing.

He rolled over in bed to let the golden rays
warm his back. Her sweet scent drew him near to her. He put his arm
around her as he kissed her gently on the neck. She awoke with a
lovely smile and rolled to her back. And even though she had not
yet spoken, he knew what she wanted. As he began to make love to
her, he heard something, but ignored it. In her arms, he could have
ignored a tornado.

“
Breakfast is
ready.”

It was Beverly. Cynthia’s mother was
standing beside the bed looking at them, as though they were
sitting on the couch watching TV.

“
Beverly! Do you mind?
We’re trying to make love here!” said Greg.

“
Now, Honey, don’t you talk
to my mother in that tone of voice!” said Cynthia.

Greg woke up. Is that what it would be like
if Cynthia and he got married, and Beverly was living with
them?

Of course, he was getting way ahead of
himself. He loved Cynthia. But he had never told her. Why did it
take so much courage to speak three simple words? Because she might
not speak them back to him. But he would be brave. He would tell
her tonight. Or maybe Wednesday night would be better. No,
tonight.

**********

Greg’s part-time job as music minister at
First Baptist Church required him to be at the church Tuesday
through Friday mornings. Staff meetings were held on Tuesdays at
11:00 AM in the pastor’s study.

Greg walked from his
office, down the hallway to the pastoral suite. Anybody who wished
to see the pastor had to go through Sadie Crumpet’s office. She had
been church secretary for over 25 years. Sadie was the glue that
had held the church together through six pastors. At least, that
was
her
opinion. She had plenty of opinions, and was not shy about
sharing them.

Greg could hear Sadie talking on the phone
in a confidential tone as he approached her office.

“
Well, I knew all along he
was gay…I knew he wouldn’t get married. What’s the use? Everybody
knows. Why doesn’t he just admit it?”

Greg thought, I am not gay. And how dare you
gossip about me. Is this any way for a Christian to act? A church
secretary?

He walked into her office and Sadie quickly
ended her phone call.

“
Is Pete already
here?”

“
Yes. Pete’s here. The
pastor’s here. I’m here. We’re just waiting for you,
Greg.”

Not that Greg was late. Pete was just early.
He was always early.

The pastor, Dr. J. Marshall Huff, would lead
the group in a prayer. They went over the list of prayer
requests.

Dr. Huff said, “I got a call from Dr. Elmo
Mobley this morning. He asked that we pray for his mother. He got
the results of her tests this morning, and it’s not good. She has
Alzheimer’s.”

“
What about the wedding?
I’ve got extra custodial staff lined up to work Friday night,” said
Pete Termins. Pete was the volunteer chairman of the Building and
Grounds Committee. He had been a life insurance salesman until a
year earlier, when he retired at the age of 65. All of his energy,
pushiness, and can-do attitude had been redirected to his work for
the church. He was annoying at times, but you had to admire his
dependability and determination to get the job done, and get it
done right.

Sadie said, “The wedding has been
cancelled.”

“
Postponed,” said the
pastor.

“
They’ll never get married.
And if they do, it won’t last,” she said.

“
Now, I’m sure this is just
a temporary setback,” said the pastor.

“
He’s 56 years old. Never
been married. He’s gay,” she said.

“
Let just move on,” said
Dr. Huff. He would have fired Sadie if he thought he could get away
with it. She was always blunt, and always said too much. But she
had too many friends whose husbands were deacons. Any attempt to
force her out would end badly for him.

Greg felt better. Sadie’s phone conversation
had been about Dr. Mobley—not him.

Greg said, “Who are the Mobleys? Are they
members?”

Dr. Huff said, “Yes. But they rarely
attend.”

“
Only on Easter,” said
Sadie.

“
But they’ve given a lot of
money to the church over the years. In the 70s they donated almost
all of the funds to build the education wing,” said Pete. “Morford
and Mallie Mae used to be regular attenders.”

“
Until he died in a freak
one-car accident,” said Sadie.

“
Okay. Does anybody else
have a special prayer request?” said the pastor.

**********

Elmo knocked lightly. Macy opened the door
and let him into his mother’s bedroom. She knew his reason for
being home at midday. There could be no other reason.

Mallie Mae was sitting at a table, staring
out the window. She had eaten very little of her lunch.

“
Mother?”

Mallie Mae looked up at him in confusion.
Then recognition.

“
Oh, hello,
Lilman.”

Why couldn’t she learn to call him Elmo?
Everybody else did. “Looks like you weren’t very hungry.”

“
This fruit is too…” She
struggled to find the right word. “It’s not ready,” she finally
said.

“
Well, I talked to the
doctor in Dallas. You know—the one who ran all the tests on you
yesterday.”

“
I know. I’m not stupid,
Son.”

“
Okay. I’m sorry. The
results came back positive for Alzheimer’s disease.”

“
What?”

“
He says you have
Alzheimer’s disease.”

“
Hogwash. There’s nothing
wrong with me.”

“
Yes, there is, Mother. And
you need to accept it.”

“
That doctor doesn’t know
what he’s talking about.”

“
Okay. Then what’s this?”
said Elmo.

“
What do you mean? It’s my
lunch.”

“
But what kind of food is
this right here?”

“
Mashed potatoes and
gravy.”

“
And what about
this?”

“
It’s…that chewy stuff…you
know, they make it from those things in the grass.”

“
Cows?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Mother, you’re ill. But
don’t worry. I’ve postponed the wedding and I’m taking a leave of
absence from my practice. I want to do my own research. I’ll find
the best treatment options for you.”

Elmo turned and walked across the room and
out the door. Macy followed him.

Macy said, “But Elmo—you don’t want to ruin
your practice. What about all your patients?”

“
My new partner, Dr.
Edwards, will take care of things while I’m out,” said Elmo as he
walked to the stairs.

Macy went back into the room and shut the
door. Mallie Mae was standing, grinning at her. “See—I told you it
would work. He’s postponed the wedding.”

“
But what about his
practice? He could destroy it if he stays away too
long.”

“
Nah. We won’t let that
happen.”

“
I still don’t understand
how you fooled that doctor. He ran so many tests on
you.”

“
The blood test and urine
test and even the brain scan only ruled out other causes of my
symptoms. Apparently, I passed all of those, but I failed the
memory tests, the problem solving, and the math and language tests.
On purpose, of course.”

“
So, there’s no way for a
doctor to tell if you’re faking? Then
anybody
could do
that.”

“
True. But why
would
they? Why
would you
fake
having Alzheimer’s?”

Macy said, “I guess you wouldn’t. Unless you
wanted to stop your son from marrying the wrong woman.”

They both laughed.

“
But I feel bad about doing
this to Elmo. Putting him through the misery and worry,” said
Macy.

“
It won’t kill him. Besides
I had no choice. It was the only way I could stop him from ruining
his life.”

**********

Carnie needed some advice. The plan was
going down the toilet. She paced the floor of her bedroom as she
flipped her phone open and clicked the speed dial number.

“
The old woman has
Alzheimer’s and the wedding has been postponed,” said
Carnie.

“
It could be postponed
indefinitely.”

“
That’s what I’m worried
about. But what can I do?”

“
Have you considered taking
her out?”

“
Sure. But I’m too close to
this one. I’d be the prime suspect.”

“
I don’t know about that. I
think you could pull it off. But it shouldn’t be your first option.
Any idea how long she’s expected to live?”

“
Several years, I think.
Probably at least five.”

“
We sure don’t want to
wait
that
long. Just keeping thinking, Carnie. I have great confidence
in you. You’ll come up with something.”

“
Okay. Thanks,
Grandma.”

Maybe she could poison Mallie Mae. Make it
look like Hadley did it. But what would his motive be? Or what
about Macy? She had easy access to the old hag’s food. After years
of being ordered around by that old woman, she’d finally had
enough. Might work. Probably not.

But Elmo
would
change his
mind about postponing the wedding. Carnie would make sure of
that.

Chapter
11

Elmo’s study was on the
main floor of the house, between the foyer and the master suite.
But he spent little time there. On a typical day, by the time he
made it home, after tending to his young patients for nine or ten
hours, he was ready to feast on one of Hadley’s delicious meals and
watch a movie in the Media Room or read in his bedroom recliner.
The
maid
spent more time in his study than
he
did. At least she kept it
free of dust and cobwebs.

He located the power button and started up
the desktop computer. Surprisingly, it still worked. He would be
forced to endure countless updates to his various software
packages. He leaned back in his leather chair and watched as each
file was downloaded and installed.

He had ignored Mallie Mae for years. Now his
mother was condemned to slog through an increasingly disoriented
life on her way to a slow, miserable death. Couldn’t he have found
some way to make amends with her before now? He should have tried
harder.

But she had nearly
destroyed his plans to become a pediatrician. And she had
interfered in his love life at every turn, never approving of any
woman he dated. She was always there to disrupt his dreams with a
punch in the gut. Because she had to awaken him to reality.
Her
reality. Still,
he had held tight to his grudge far too long. And his bitterness
had turned to overwhelming guilt after learning of her
condition.

Finally, all software updates had completed
and his computer had restarted. He opened a browser and went to
the National Institutes of Health website and began to read about
Alzheimer’s disease.

Drugs mentioned for early to middle stage
Alzheimer’s were tacrine (Cognex), donepezil (Aricept),
rivastigmine (Exelon), and galantamine (Razadyne). The
effectiveness of these drugs was limited. At best, they would delay
the symptoms for short period.

Another drug, memantine (Namenda), was
approved to treat moderate to severe AD. Also being studied by
researchers was the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, antioxidants,
ginkgo biloba, and estrogen.

He printed the web page and
made notes in the margins, circling the drug name Namenda, and
adding the note
try this
first
. Then he drew arrows to
antioxidants, ginkgo biloba, and estrogen, and scribbled
try these in various combinations and
strengths
.

**********

Greg had finished his lessons early, thanks
to several cancellations. So, Cynthia had decided to wait and ride
with him to Marshall. They had picked up a hamburger on the way out
of town and eaten it in the car while driving. They would get to
Beverly’s house by 6:30 PM.

“
Have you ever heard of
Elmo Mobley? He’s a doctor,” said Greg.

“
Yes. He has accounts at
the bank. I’ve seen him there a few times, but I’ve never met
him.”

“
Well, his name came up in
church staff meeting this morning. He requested prayer for his
mother, who’s just be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.”