Hideaway Hospital Murders (4 page)

**********

Macy brushed the cookie crumbs off the edge
of her bed and into her hand. A couple of tiny bits of cookie fell
between her fingers and onto the floor. She got down on hands and
knees and studied the carpet at very close range, retrieving every
morsel. The maid service vacuumed twice a week, but that was no
excuse for sloppiness.

She went into the bathroom and brushed her
teeth for a full three minutes. Then she flossed. Then she flossed
again. She brushed her perfect thick, shoulder-length brown hair
until all of the tangles were gone. Then she brushed it another
thirty times.

Macy eyed the paperback adoringly as she
approached her bed. She had read fifty more pages while enjoying
her cookies. The characters in her romance novels were her closest
friends. She wasn’t simply reading a book. She was visiting another
world—the world where she felt most at home.

Macy switched off her lamp and rolled in
between the sheets. Then she turned over onto her left side, closed
her eyes and began to relax. Within moments, she heard something.
Someone sneaking into her room. Through her peripheral vision, she
could see a figure standing behind her. Standing over her. She
pretended to be asleep. Maybe they would go away. But what if they
planned to kill her? Her back was completely vulnerable to a
vicious thrust of a knife. Her head was sitting perfectly still on
the lacy pillowcase—just inviting the blow of a heavy blunt
instrument.

She felt the bed move as the person got
under the covers with her. She cringed when she felt a hand on her
shoulder, the warm breath on the back of her exposed neck. Then the
soft, smooth hand caressed her right arm and moved down toward her
hip. What was about to happen to her? She began to tremble.

Then she felt the fingers work their way
under her nightgown…over her stomach…under her right breast. The
intruder’s body inched ever closer to hers, until they were
spooned.

Then a voice whispered, “I want you,
Macy.”

The warm tongue just behind her ear gave her
goose bumps. She moved away slightly. Then she rolled over onto her
back.

Macy said, “I was afraid you weren’t
coming.”

Then the warm body was on top of her. There
was a long, deep kiss. Her feelings were so powerful she thought
she would faint at any moment. But the feeling went on and on,
building to a mind-bending crescendo.

Then it was over. She lay
spent. The hot passion that had worked her body into a sweat
was
almost
as
good as the real thing. Now she was ready for a warm, peaceful
night’s sleep.

But cold reality would be waiting for her
again in the morning.

Chapter
5

The bright Sunday morning sun illuminated
the stained glass windows, diffusing multi-colored hues across the
congregation. Attendance is up today, thought Greg. As the
organist was nearing the end of the Prelude, he stepped up to the
podium.

“
Please take your hymnals
and turn to page 23, and let’s stand and sing ‘Holy, Holy,
Holy.’”

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early
in the morning, our song shall rise to Thee…

As Greg sang and conducted
the 4/4 pattern, which he could do in his sleep, his mind began to
wander. Shouldn’t he feel guilty about what he was thinking last
night while kissing Cynthia on the couch? His
actions
had been within the
bounds of acceptable behavior. He had nothing to be ashamed of in
that regard.

But what about his
thoughts? It wasn’t what he
did
with Cynthia—it was what
he
wanted to do
. He didn’t want to dishonor her or his commitment to God.
But his feelings had been only natural. God created humans and gave
them sexual desire. Wasn’t it okay to
want
to have sex, as long as you
didn’t actually
do it?
Then he remembered the passage from Matthew
5:28.

But I say to you, that whosoever shall look
on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with
her in his heart.

At the end of the hymn, Greg stepped back
and Dr. Huff went to the podium and said a prayer. Then there were
announcements, two more hymns, and a chorus.

After the offering, it was time for the
choir to sing their anthem. When Greg motioned to the choir to
stand, Cynthia smiled at him from the Alto section. She was so
incredibly beautiful. Standing there in her choir robe, she looked
like a redheaded angel. If they could just get married, Greg could
stop feeling guilty about his desire for her.

**********

Elmo was not thrilled that Carsie had
invited her sister to stay at the house. But it would only be for a
few more days. He had made it clear to his fiancé that as soon as
the wedding was over, Carnie must move out.

“
More orange juice, Sir?”
Hadley had prepared a brunch consisting of Eggs Benedict, bacon,
sausage, blueberry pancakes, bran muffins, and hash
browns.

“
No, thanks. I’ve had
enough. It was delicious, as usual.”

Hadley nodded. It was his admiration of Dr.
Mobley that kept him from retiring. He had worked for the family
since Elmo was a young boy.

It was a very pleasant day, so Hadley had
put them on the back porch near the kitchen.

“
It’s such a nice day,”
said Carsie. “We should do something special.”

“
Like what?” Elmo was
reading the business section of the Dallas Morning News.

“
We could drive over to the
Dallas Zoo.”

Carnie joined in, “I love animals. They’re
so primitive.”

Elmo wasn’t sure what to make of Carnie’s
statement or the odd grin on her face.

Macy walked out of the house, leaned over
and whispered into Elmo’s ear.

Carsie did not appreciate the fact that she
was being left out of the loop. Why did Elmo need to hide anything
from his bride-to-be? As soon as they came back from their
honeymoon, she would fire Macy Golong. She didn’t trust her with
Elmo.

“
Ladies, you’ll have to
excuse me,” he said to Carsie and her sister. He got up from the
table and walked into the house with Macy.

“
I don’t like her,” said
Carsie.

“
She’s harmless,” said
Carnie.

**********

“
What makes you think she’s
acting weird?” said Elmo.

“
You’ll have to see for
yourself,” said Macy.

Elmo rarely spent any time with his mother.
He only saw her once or twice a week.

“
Come on in. I think she’s
still in the bathroom. Don’t let her see you.”

“
Okay.”

Macy led him through Mallie Mae’s bedroom,
to the bathroom door. Macy walked in, leaving the door open so
Elmo could see.

“
Are you okay?” said
Macy.

“
No. I can’t remember how
to make this thing start,” said Mallie Mae.

Elmo was shocked by what he saw: his mother
holding a hairbrush in one hand and a tube of toothpaste in the
other. She had applied a line of Crest across the bristles of the
hairbrush.

“
I know how to make it
work. I just need a little help.”

“
That’s okay. I’ll help
you,” said Macy.

“
I just need to wash my
things.” She pointed to her teeth. “These things.” She looked in
the mirror. “These little white things in my mouth. I just don’t
remember how to do it. I think my breakfast made me a little sick.
Tell Had…whatever that man’s name is—he cooks our food. You know.
Tell him he made me sick and now I can’t think right.”

“
Mother?” said
Elmo.

Mallie Mae turned and was surprised to see
him standing there.

“
What are you doing in
here? Get out of my room and just leave me alone.”

“
But, Mother, you seem to
be having a problem. I just want to help.”

“
Get out! Now!”

Elmo walked out of the bedroom and shut the
door. He stood in the hallway, stunned. He was about to go back
downstairs when Macy came out.

“
See what I
mean?”

“
Yeah. She’s in bad shape.
I had no idea. Has she ever acted like this before?”

“
Well…”

“
You mean she’s been like
this for a while and you didn’t tell me?”

“
I’m sorry. But she swore
me to secrecy.”

“
When did it
start?”

“
She started having some
memory problems a couple of years ago. But I thought it was just
old age.”

“
You should have told me,
Macy.”

“
I know. But it wasn’t that
bad at first. It’s gotten a lot worse in the past few
months.”

“
I can’t believe you didn’t
tell me.”

“
I’m sorry. Do you think
it’s Alzheimer’s? She’s only 75.”

“
It could be. Most people
don’t get until their mid-eighties. But sometimes it happens a lot
sooner.”

“
I hope that’s not what it
is.”

“
It could be something
else. Like a reaction to medication. What is she
taking?”

“
Just her blood pressure
medicine. And sometimes a pain pill.”

“
Or it could be a
nutritional deficiency. How’s her appetite?”

“
Pretty good.”

“
And sometimes people have
these symptoms after a stroke.”

“
Oh, I think I would know
if she had a stroke. Wouldn’t I?”

“
Probably—considering how
much time you spend with her.”

“
So, what do we
do?”

“
I’ll send her to the
hospital for testing.”

“
Oh, I don’t think she’d
like that. She’s embarrassed. She’d rather die than have everybody
in town hear about this.”

“
Okay. I’ll send her to a
good friend of mine in Dallas. He specializes in
geriatrics.”

“
So, he’ll be able to find
out what’s wrong with her?”

“
Yes. He’s an excellent
diagnostician. I’ll give him a call and set it up for
tomorrow.”

“
Do you want me to drive
her over there?”

“
No. I’ll call the limo
service. You just go along and take care of her.”

“
Good. I will.”

Elmo went downstairs to his study. Macy went
back into Mallie Mae’s room.

“
He’s going to send you to
a geriatric doctor for tests.”

“
I don’t want to go to
Coreyville or Longview. People know me there.”

“
No. This doctor is in
Dallas.”

“
Good. And you’re going
with me, right?”

“
Yes, Ma’am.”

**********

Elmo called his old friend, Dr. John
Fransein in Dallas.

“
Hey, Johnny. This is Elmo
Mobley.”

“
Well, you didn’t have to
give your last name.” Johnny laughed. “How many Elmo’s do you think
I know?”

“
Not that many, I guess.
But it’s been a long time.”

“
It sure has. How are you
doing?”

“
I’m fine. But I’m afraid
my mother has a problem.”

“
What kind of
problem?”

“
She may have
Alzheimer’s.”

“
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear
that.”

“
But it could be something
else. I hate to ask such a big favor, but could you run some tests
on her?”

“
Of course. I’d be happy
to.”

“
Tomorrow?”

“
Uh…yeah, sure. I can work
her in. How about 2:00 PM?”

“
That would be great,
Johnny. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. She’ll be
coming with her personal aide. Her name is Macy.”

“
Okay. But you know that
all I can do is rule out other things, right? There’s still no
definitive test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. But we get it
right about ninety percent of the time. Unfortunately, there is no
cure.”

“
But there are medicines
that can help.”

“
Yes. There are things we
can do to try to slow down the process. We just can’t stop it. What
are her symptoms?”

“
All I can tell you is that
this morning she was trying to figure out how to brush her teeth
with a hairbrush. She knew she was doing something wrong, but she
didn’t know what.”

“
Yeah, that’s typical for
someone with Alzheimer’s.”

“
That’s what I
thought.”

“
But we’ll see. I’ll do my
best to find out what’s going on with her, Elmo.”

“
I know you
will.”

“
And we should get together
sometime. Be sure to give me a call the next time you’re in
Dallas.”

“
I will. And thanks again,
Johnny.”

Chapter
6

“
Mom decided to take me up
on my offer,” said Cynthia as she walked into the living
room.

“
She’s moving in with you?”
Greg had figured this was coming, but he didn’t think it would be
this soon. It was Sunday night. Cynthia had just asked her mom the
day before.