Code Blue (22 page)

S
HERRI!" CATHY STAGGERED BACKWARD AS SHERRI COLLINS FORCED her way past her and slammed the door.

"Lock it," Sherri said. When Cathy didn't move, the woman pulled a snub-nosed revolver from the purse slung over her shoulder. "Lock it, I said. Then move back to your office."

Cathy did as she was told. Where did Sherri fit into the picture? Was she here on Jacob's behalf? Had Jacob reacted to Cathy's letter by doing something rash? Suicide, perhaps? Was that why Sherri was so angry?

Cathy started to sit behind her desk, but Sherri waved her to one of the patient chairs, then stood over her, the gun steady in her hand.

"Why are you here?" Cathy asked.

"If you were married, you'd know that marking a letter 'private' won't keep a spouse from opening it. I intercepted your little blackmail letter to Jacob." Sherri pulled the other patient chair out and sat, careful to stay out of Cathy's reach."I'm not here to pay you a dime. I'm here to kill you. And I have lots of reasons."

"I don't understand."

"You should. I've hated you since high school." Sherri's eyes narrowed. "Didn't you think I'd find out about the rumors you spread just so you could be Homecoming Queen? Without that I would have won fair and square.And my boyfriend wouldn't have dumped me. The only boy who would date me after that was Jacob."

"But I—"

Sherri brandished the gun. "I would have done anything to get out of this hick town. Jacob told me he planned to apply to medical school. I thought I'd spend the rest of my life as a doctor's wife with no worries."

"But Jacob's a successful pharmacist. Surely, you have a good life."

"I wish," Sherri said. "Our house is mortgaged to the hilt.The same goes for this professional building Jacob built. I know that he hated to lease the space to you, but he's so deeply in debt he needed the money. Of course, if your father hadn't refused to help him get into medical school, he'd be a doctor, making lots of money, and I wouldn't have to scrimp to get by and keep up appearances."

Cathy wasn't sure she could reason with this woman, but she had to try. "Sherri, my father wouldn't write a letter of recommendation for Jacob because his grades weren't good enough for medical school. His MCAT score was borderline at best. He never would have made it beyond the first interview."

"Don't blame it on Jacob's Medical College Admissions Test. He told me how he figured that test was rigged. Your father probably had some of his cronies falsify Jacob's grades because he didn't want too many doctors coming back to Dainger. There might not be room for his precious daughter to practice here."

"Are you the one who tried to kill me with a black SUV?" Cathy recalled the closed doors of the three-car garage at the Collins house.

Sherri cackled. "Thought I had you a couple of times."

"But there's no black SUV registered in your name."

"Of course not. It belonged to my father, Frank Clawson.He died six months ago, and the registration's still in his name."

Cathy couldn't believe this. "Did you change that prescription so I'd get sued for malpractice? Did you want me to fail—want me to leave Dainger?"

Sherri laughed again, just like the patients Cathy had heard on the psychiatric ward during her training. "What I wanted to do was get Milton Nix out of the way. Then your prescription gave me the opportunity to throw suspicion on you at the same time. I mean, you ruined my life. Why shouldn't I ruin yours? If he died, you might be charged with manslaughter."

"How did you make the change?"

"Good timing and good luck," Sherri said. "I saw the prescription on the counter, waiting to be filled. I laid my purse down next to it, and when I picked up my purse, I had the prescription too. A little work with the copier in the office, put the new prescription back, and no one was the wiser."

"How did you know how to change it?"

"You don't think Jacob got through pharmacy school on his own, did you? I helped him study. Every night. Every subject. I could pass every test before he could. It was easy."

Cathy tried to make sense of it all, but the pieces wouldn't fall into place. "But why would you want to harm Milton Nix?"

"Nix's bank holds the mortgages on our house and the professional building. Three weeks ago, Nix called both the notes. He insisted we pay down the indebtedness before he'd renew them. Jacob showed me the letters. If we didn't comply, the bank would foreclose. We'd lose everything. I knew we couldn't meet the deadline, but I figured if Nix were sick or dead, the bank would back offin all the chaos. I hoped it would buy us the time we needed to get the money together."She looked at the gun in her hand. "Funny. I couldn't bring myself to shoot Nix, but I don't think I'll have any trouble shooting you."

"Wait. I've got to know. Did you set fire to my apartment?"

"Of course. Apparently, I didn't do a great job with the fire, though. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

"And is Jacob in on this? Does he know you changed the prescription?"

Sherri shook her head. "No, he wouldn't have the guts. If it weren't for me, he'd just whine about the past. I'm the one who has the courage to strike back at you and your father."

"Why are you so bent on revenge? My father's dead. Isn't that enough?"

"Oh, I had some revenge on your father even before he died. Remember those old tools displayed on the shelf in the pharmacy? The mortar and pestle, the scales, the pill press?"

An idea formed in Cathy's mind. Could anyone be so cruel? "Yes."

"They're not just for decoration. Your mother's gynecologist put her on hormones. I volunteered to be a good neighbor and drop offthe prescription on my way home.The first month, I gave her the medication just as Jacob had poured it out from the stock bottle. But after that, each month I discarded about half the pills and substituted some I made myself. So she wasn't getting estrogen and progesterone every day. Half the time it was my own little gift to her."

Cathy wanted to ask questions—lots of questions—but she stood there dumbstruck.

Sherri smiled, obviously enjoying herself. "I used some connections I made when Jacob was in pharmacy school to get the raw material, and I turned out some professionallooking pills, I must say. Your mother asked why some of the tablets didn't have a company logo on them, but I told her we were using generics from two different companies."

Cathy dreaded the answer, but she had to ask. "What did you give her?"

"Every time she took one of my little homemade pills, your mother got five hundred milligrams of mescaline."

"No!" Cathy immediately made the connection. Mescaline was a strong hallucinogen, like LSD and peyote. But, instead of giving people pleasant multicolored visions, mescaline had a different psychological effect, a much more dramatic one.The person turned paranoid and lost contact with reality. It was the perfect way to mimic schizophrenia. Cathy balled her hands into fists. She could only imagine the horrors her mother had faced in the grip of that terrible drug—and the torture it had inflicted on her father.

"I see you've figured it out," Sherri said. "No, your mother wasn't psychotic. And your father had to live with a wife with mental illness until the day they both died."

It was almost too much for Cathy to grasp. Her mother wasn't psychotic. There was no history of mental illness in the family. She could think about marriage, about her own family, without the fear of passing on that illness to her children. She didn't have to worry about her future husband having to deal with a psychotic wife.

If Sherri weren't holding a gun on her, she'd probably breathe a sigh of relief. As it was, Cathy could only marvel at the pure evil of this woman's action. "How could you do that? How could you put my parents through such torture?"

Sherri shrugged. "Just imagine. If Jacob had gone to medical school instead of becoming a pharmacist, I'd never have learned how to do it. Talk about poetic justice."

Cathy wanted to jump out of her chair and charge this monster who had ruined so many lives. But first she needed to get control of the gun. She put her arms on the chair and started to push up.

"Don't even think about it," Sherri said.

Could she reason with this madwoman? Doubtful, but she had to try. "Other people know what I've found out.How do you expect to shoot me and get away with it?"

"Cathy? Cathy!" She recognized Will's voice over the loud knocks at the door.

"Let him in, won't you?" It was an order, not a request, and was accompanied by a sharp gesture with the gun.

Cathy eased the door open and started to speak, but before she could say a word the pressure of the gun in her back silenced her. She backed up and Will rushed inside.When he saw Sherri, he stopped dead still.

"Come in and close the door," Sherri said, as casually as she'd invite someone into her home for coffee and cookies.

"What—?"

Sherri moved the gun back and forth between them. "Just go on into the back and I'll explain to both of you." She herded them into the back treatment room and gestured for them to stand together against the far wall.

Sherri closed the door and leaned against it. "Here's what happened, Cathy—I won't call you Dr. Sewell. It's stuck in my throat every time I've said it for three months. I phoned Will and pretended to be the 911 operator. I told him we'd had a call from you. You were in your office getting something from a high shelf when you fell offthe ladder and broke your ankle. I told him you'd asked us to call him, and he said he'd meet us here." She grinned without mirth. "Isn't that sweet?"

Cathy looked at Will. "Sherri's the one who altered the prescription. She—"

"That's enough," Sherri snapped. She leveled the gun at Cathy's chest. "Now here's the way it's going down. First, I'll shoot you in the heart." She turned toward Will. "Then I'll shoot you in the temple. I'll put the gun in your dead hand and fire another shot into Cathy so there'll be powder residue on your hand. I'll arrange the bodies to make it look like a murder-suicide. True love gone bad."

Cathy stepped back, stopping when she bumped into the treatment cabinet. The instruments and equipment it held rattled.

Sherri looked at Cathy, but then swung her gaze and the gun back toward Will. Cathy put her left hand in front of her as though shielding herself, hoping the movement would serve as a distraction while her right hand brushed lightly over the shelf behind her.
Where is it? Please, God, let me find it.

"Sherri," Will said, "you know you can't get away with this. Give up. Turn yourself in. I'll help you get a good defense lawyer."

"No sale, you shyster. It will be a pleasure shooting you too. Lawyers are parasites. Matter of fact, I may shoot you first."

Sherri took a step toward Will. Cathy turned her body to follow the action. Sherri spun and waved the gun at her."Don't try to be brave."

"Please, please don't do this." Cathy's foot touched the control pedal. Now if she could only—there it was. Her right hand found what she sought. She grasped it like a pencil—no, like a scalpel. She'd have one chance. "I think I'm about to faint." She swayed slightly.

"Oh, don't pass out. I wanted you to see this coming. I guess I'll have to put a bullet in you first." Sherri shuffled forward until she stood face to face with Cathy.

"Don't," Will said.

Sherri brought the gun up, but before she could level it, Cathy jabbed the needle tip of the Hyfrecator into the woman's arm and stepped on the pedal. A loud buzz and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Sherri screamed, dropped the gun, and grasped her right arm with her left hand.

"Why, you—"

Will scooped up the gun and jammed it into Sherri's ribs. "Watch your mouth. You're lucky she just went for your arm."

Cathy took a deep breath and let the Hyfrecator tip fall from her hand. "Look at it this way, Sherri. If you had any warts on that arm, they're gone now."

C
ATHY UNBUCKLED HER SEATBELT AND CLIMBED SLOWLY OUT OF WILL'S pickup. "What time is it?"

Will checked his watch. "One a.m. Are you as tired as I am?"

"I thought we'd never get out of the police station."

"Be glad you're not Sherri Collins. She'll spend the night in a cell."

Will used his key to open the front door. Inside, Dora and Matthew Kennedy dozed side by side on the living room couch. As soon as the door closed, they awoke and rushed to envelop Cathy and Will in hugs.

"You children come into the kitchen. I'll fix some coffee," Dora said.

After everyone settled around the kitchen table, Pastor Kennedy said, "We gathered from your phone call that you were in some sort of mix-up with Sherri Collins. What happened?"

It took half an hour to explain the events of the evening.Finally, Cathy yawned broadly. "Sorry, but I'm totally wasted.I need some sleep."

"You get some rest, child," Dora said. Then she added, "Do you want to go to church with us in the morning? I mean, this morning?"

Cathy's first impulse was to beg off, but then she realized that church might be a great place to spend time after all that had happened to her. "Yes, please. See you in a few hours."

Cathy awakened to the tantalizing aroma of coffee and frying bacon. She looked out her window at a fiery red sunrise.The streets of Dainger were empty this early on Sunday, but soon they would be filled with families on their way to church. Families. And the Kennedys were her family now.

She missed her mom and dad—she guessed she always would—but there was comfort in what she'd learned. Her mother hadn't been schizophrenic. Her father had been a faithful and loving husband as well as a dedicated physician.For the first time in years, Cathy felt hope for her future. Her life wasn't back to normal yet—that would take a while— but it was moving in the right direction.

Downstairs in the Kennedy dining room, she sat by Will as Dora placed plates and bowls on the table. Matthew said, "Son, would you ask the blessing this morning?"

Will's hand touched hers. She grasped it and squeezed.She reached out with her other hand and took Dora's, completing the circle.

"Father, we're so thankful for all our blessings. We're thankful for this food, for this Lord's Day that you've given us, and especially for helping Cathy and me through our experience last night. As you have taught us, we pray for our enemies, that they might find you and turn away from evil.And we pray for guidance in our lives that we may always mirror you to those around us. In Jesus' name. Amen."

"So, why didn't you tell me about this crazy scheme of yours?" Will asked.

"Because you'd have wanted to be there, and I thought I could handle it myself," Cathy said. "After all, it was my problem."

"One that almost got you killed."

"I should have asked for help."

"I have to admit, though, it did get us to the bottom of the matter." Will wiped egg from the corner of his mouth."Of course, what Sherri said to you before I came in won't help us defend that malpractice suit. It's your word against hers. The police can only hold her for assault and possession of an unlicensed firearm."

"What if we had a recording of everything she said?" Cathy countered. "If one of the parties agrees to being recorded, isn't the conversation admissible in court?"

"Yes," Will said. "But how did you pull that off?"

Cathy tried not to look too smug. "On Friday, I went to Radio Shack and bought a miniature voice-activated recorder. It was in the pocket of my white coat the whole time, and I turned it on before I opened the door for her. It's upstairs in my purse."

Will lifted his coffee cup in a toast. "Here's to Cathy Sewell: amateur sleuth, exceptional doctor, and a beautiful woman."

Cathy watched Will maneuver his pickup into a slot in the church's parking lot. It was a larger vehicle than her compact car, but he handled it with grace. She had to admit, he looked good behind the wheel.

Will turned offthe motor but made no move to exit the vehicle. "We've got a little time before church starts. Would you like to sit here and talk?"

"Sure. You know, I've been wondering, ever since that day you rescued me after my wreck, why do you drive a pickup?"

Will turned so that his right arm was over the top of the seat behind her. "I guess it's sort of my way of saying to the folks in town, 'I'm not better than you are just because I'm a lawyer.' A lot of people resent professionals like you and me.I make a good living, but I never flaunt it. I don't wear a suit unless I'm in court—"

"Or church."

Will laughed. "Or church. I live in a nice home, but it's not as ostentatious as some in town."

Cathy turned that over in her mind. "I guess there's a lot of jealous people out there. I mean, when you live in somebody's garage apartment or a spare room in the parsonage, when you drive a compact Chevrolet, and if you worry about meeting expenses every month, you don't figure that people are jealous of you just because you're a doctor."

"But you found out differently, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. I found out that jealousy and envy can turn a whole town upside down." Cathy shook her head. "No matter what the reality was, Sherri's perception was that my father kept Jacob out of medical school. So she coveted everything my parents had, and then everything she thought I had. All that hate and envy destroyed my parents' lives and almost caused Milton Nix to lose his."

"Not to mention your career," Will said.

"That, too." Cathy looked down at the Bible in her lap."What will happen to Sherri now?"

"The District Attorney has his choice of charges: attempted murder, arson, forgery, manslaughter, all the way down to malicious mischief. Unfortunately, what you recorded her saying won't help in a criminal proceeding, because she hadn't been read her Miranda rights. On the other hand, once the police start digging, I'll bet they can come up with more evidence."

"What about Jacob?" Cathy asked.

"I don't think there's any way he was involved in this."

Cathy thought about what lay ahead for Sherri and Jacob."You know, I recognize that Jacob's constant venting of his anger and frustration at not getting into medical school may have triggered Sherri's actions, but I have a hard time not feeling sorry for him. Sherri has ruined their lives."

Will started to reach for the door handle, but Cathy stopped him with a hand on his arm. "I haven't asked you yet. Can you get the malpractice action dismissed?"

"I guarantee you that when I tell Sam Lawton how this scenario played out, he'll drop the suit like a hot potato. I think you can consider your need for a lawyer at an end."

"Oh, no!"

"What? Just because you don't need me professionally doesn't mean we can't see each other again."

Cathy dug into her purse for a piece of scratch paper. "No, no, that's not it." She pulled out a ballpoint pen and scribbled a note, which she tucked into the front of her Bible. "I just remembered. I've got to call Marcus Bell today. I sent him one of those letters I used to smoke out the culprit. He showed up last night thinking I'd lost my mind. He's probably calling a meeting of the credentials committee right now."

Will laughed. "If he gives you any trouble, let me handle it. I was kidding about not being your lawyer any more."

Cathy flinched when a black SUV pulled up beside Will's pickup. It took her a moment to realize that she had nothing to fear from such a vehicle anymore. Then the door opened and Ella Mae Mercer climbed out, conservatively dressed in a simple black dress accented by a single strand of pearls.

Cathy rolled down her window. "Ella Mae. How are you?"

Ella Mae nodded to both Cathy and Will. "A bit shaky, but better. I have an appointment with Dr. Samuels next week."

"That should help," Cathy said.

"So will what I'm about to do."

"What's that?"

Ella Mae reached into her purse and pulled out a small Bible. "Pastor Kennedy and his wife came to see me in the hospital. They prayed with me, and we talked a lot about how I couldn't forgive myself for what I'd done when I stole that money from your father. They convinced me that before I could get rid of that guilt I needed to take advantage of God's forgiveness. I'm here to follow up on that." Ella Mae took a deep breath. "I hope I can sleep tonight without the burden I've been carrying all these years."

"I'll pray for you," Cathy said. The words came out so naturally that she might have been saying them every day for years. She had changed so much since moving to Dainger.

They watched Ella Mae walk through the doors of the church. "I'm glad she's been talking with Dad," Will said."I hope she'll be able to turn things around and make some changes in her life."

"I'm due for some changes in my life too," Cathy said.

Will gave her a questioning look. "Such as?"

"I always thought that if I had just seen Mom and Dad that night—the night of my graduation—I could have helped them put things right between them. Now I know that I couldn't. It's not my fault they were pulled apart. And I guess it's not my fault—or God's—that they died that night." Cathy brushed a tear away from the corner of her eye. "And I've always felt stigmatized because of my mother's mental illness. I was so afraid I might develop schizophrenia too. I couldn't bear to think of burdening any man with the responsibility for taking care of me the way my father took care of my mother. But now I know the truth."

"And that changes everything," Will said.

"Yes." Cathy's smile trembled. "I need to change the way I look at life. Staying with your parents has shown me the kind of family I really want—not perfect, just loving and forgiving."

"That's the best kind."

"And I realize that I have another kind of family right here." She looked at the church building. "A family of faith.I haven't exactly been on great terms with God, and I'd like to remedy that today."

Will sat silent, and Cathy feared she'd said too much. She reached for the door handle, but Will stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Do you think you might be open to considering a family of your own now?"

The smile that spread across Cathy's face seemed to well up from deep within her heart. "I'd need to consult my lawyer before I respond. But I think the answer is yes."