THE HERBALIST (Books 1-5)

by Leslie Leigh

  “What’s up?” Melissa asked. “It’s not like you to call.”

  “With all that’s been going on with you, Melissa, don’t you think it’s time you got away?”

  “That’s pretty hard to do with the business, Mom.”

  “Oh, that’s right. How is your little market these days?”

  Melissa smiled and looked at Brian. “My little market has become quite a growing concern, Mom. We are doing really well. In fact, I was contemplating on whether I wanted to start a separate, dedicated bakery.”

  “Goodness, girl. That’s a lot of work. How are you ever going to get that guy to marry you if you keep starting businesses? Men require a lot of attention.”

  “I think he would understand,” she said. “He’s a busy guy, too. In fact, he just got invited to be a consultant and liaison between the county and the FBI on this latest case.”

  “I suppose I understand. Some of my friends’ marriages are successful precisely because they don’t spend a lot of time together. I suppose it would depend on whether you had children and what that entailed for the two of you.”

  “I think it’s a little premature to be talking about the last aspect, Mom.”

  “Oh, now, I’m not needling. Just the normal flow of conversation.”

  “So, did you actually call just to tell me I needed to get away?”

  “Well, no. I have ulterior motives, of course.”

  “Of course!” Melissa said, smiling again.

  “Two things—first, your brother is coming up from Florida, and I thought maybe I could get you and your sister here, too, and I’d really like to meet Brian. Second—and here’s maybe a little bait for you—a young friend of mine thinks her mother is poisoning her father.”

  “What?!? What would lead her to that conclusion?”

  She says he’s gone from a perfectly rational, healthy person to having headaches; he’s delirious; and, get this, she says he’s seeing auras.”

  “Mom, they need to check his meds.”

  “He’s not on any. As I said, he’s been perfectly heathy.”

  Melissa was quiet for a second as she thought. “Then, his daughter needs to get him to a facility and have a work up done. It could be a brain tumor of some sorts, or, if he is being poisoned, the bloodwork would show that.”

  “Unfortunately, my friend lives in the Midwest while her parents are here in Lake Tahoe.”

  “How did you get acquainted with her?”

  “She came for an extended visit last summer and we really hit it off, so we’ve kept in touch.”

  “Well, somebody there has to do something. If you wait for me, it might be too late. What does her mom have to say about any of this?”

  “That he’s just having a religious experience.”

  “A religious experience? Either she’s in complete denial or she’s a little batty herself. Let me see what I can find out about those particular symptoms. It actually sounds like he’s either taking hallucinogens, which I doubt, or he’s getting cardiac glycosides. But let me look, and I’ll call you back.”

  “That would be great, dear.”

  “When is Rob coming?”

  “In a couple of weeks.”

  “Okay, Mom. I’ll see what I can do. Like I say, I just don’t know how I can leave the market.”

  “Well, you ask that young man of yours. I’ll bet he’ll be all for it.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, Mother. I’ll try to call you back either this evening or tomorrow morning about the other.”

  “The other what?”

  “The poison?”

  “Oh, yes. That. All right, dear. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”

  When she disconnected from the call, she just started laughing—so hard that she was practically crying. She started chewing her thumbnail in contemplation.

  “Whoa,” said Brian. “I’ve never seen you do that. That must have been quite the phone call. First, though, before anything else, I have to know what was ‘a little premature to be talking about?’”

  “You would pick up on that. Us having children,” she said.

  “Ohhhh, that speech—the same one I get every time I talk to my mother.”

  “One of the reasons she and I don’t talk much anymore.”

  “Ditto.”

  “I kind of caught snatches of the rest of the conversation. Feel free to spill anything you think I’d enjoy.”

  “Well, she wants us to come up there. My brother is coming from Florida in a couple of weeks, and she wants to get all of her children together.”

  “I think that’s a splendid idea.”

  “I figured you would,” she said.

  “Where is your mom again?”

  “South Lake Tahoe.”

  “Oh, good. That’s just right up the road from my friend’s properties. They’re all in Gold Country.”

  “Gold Country?”

  “The area surrounding Sutter’s Mill. Well, a rather large area to be exact, which was the center of the Gold Rush of 1849.”

  “Ooh. That sounds interesting.”

  “It is. It’s a very picturesque area—hills, mountains, forest, redwoods. It’s a nice tourist area, too. I’d really love it if you’d let me take you there.”

  “We’ll see,” she said. “And in other news, one of my mom’s friends is convinced her mother is poisoning her father. Do I just have ‘Murder Magnet’ stamped across my forehead or something?”

  He laughed. “Poison Pal, maybe.”

  “Oh, gee, thanks.”

  “I told her I’d do some research and call her back, but I don’t really need to research it. It sounds like more digoxin poisoning, only from foxglove, the more deadly variety of digitalis. It’s much more easily turned into a poison to be administered, and it doesn’t require the victim to already be a heart patient. It sounds as though she’s doing it very sneakily—little-by-little increasing the dose. If so, one day he’ll just croak.”

  “Croak? That doesn’t sound like your usual empathetic healer.”

  “I’m beginning to understand how a doctor feels when you just keep seeing the same stuff happening over and over. I guess I’m some sort of Pollyanna. I was raised in a small town, by moral parents, went to a healing school, then came back to the same small town to practice. I just don’t expect all these poisonings to pop up.”

  “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition,” he chuckled, quoting Monty Python. “Seriously, though, caretakers fearing being tied down forever, jilted lovers, jealousy, greed, all sorts of motives and an easy—and often undetectable—ending. Look at Lloyd Johnston—and who was the one in Pima County, Howard Foster? Both were embalmed or cremated without an autopsy. In how many of the possible Dunnick cases do you think I’m going to discover the same situation?”

  “It’s just creepy.”

  “Yes, it’s creepy. But it’s been going on since time immemorial. We just have more press about it and better forensics to detect it when somebody actually suspects something.

  “Melissa,” he continued, “please think about the two of us going to see your family. It will be a working vacation for me, of sorts, as I work through some of these potential cases, and right now, Dunnick isn’t going anywhere.”

  “What about Brandon?”

  “What about Brandon?” he iterated. “It’s unlikely that he will be released, and even if he is before we get back, Kim’s a big girl. You can’t protect her for the rest of her life, Melissa. Because of that fortune, she’s always going to be at some risk.”

  “Why do I feel like we’re arguing?”

  “We’re not, but tell me what you think the worst is that can happen with your business while you’re gone?”

  “It’ll burn down?”

  “You’re insured.”

  “How about losing my clients, then? It’s a well-known fact that no one cares for the business like the owner, and the owner’s presence is what people count on.”

  “I know where you�
��re coming from, but I really believe the impact will be minimal. You have a well-established business which runs like clockwork. You have dependable and highly capable employees who are also deeply engaged in the market.”

  “I just took on the new orders from the restaurants.”

  “Then hire another helper. Let the girls make the decision if they want to do extra work or call the restaurants and tell them you have business out of town and you will resume when you return.”

  “Well, aren’t you just the ‘Answer Man’ today?”

  Brian went over to her and put his arms around her waist.

  “Honey, what’s wrong? Everything was fine until you talked to your mom.”

  She looked away from him and wriggled out of his grasp.

  “I haven’t told you much about my mom, my family, anything. It’s just typical of families, I guess. At least from what people tell me. But, I truly never thought it would happen to mine. Once my father died and my mother distributed my father’s estate, it started. Unfortunately, my mother didn’t have the foresight to distribute it equally. I got the lion’s share, even though I’m the baby. That didn’t sit well with the older two.”

  “And?”

  “And, it made sense at the time. The other two were several years older, had established families, and had already made good headway into making a good living for themselves. My mom felt I needed more of a boost because I had just graduated from college. The problem is that I didn’t know any of this until my brother and sister stopped talking to me.”

  “So, you feel hard toward your mother because of it?”

  “Well, she was the catalyst.”

  “But your siblings chose to react. God, why does it always have to be money? When my father died, two of my sister’s were made executors of the estate. Of course, they disagreed on everything. The money was held up, literally for years, before a dime was distributed.”

  “Shouldn’t it all have gone to your mother?”

  “Like yours, she thought we kids could benefit more from it. And, like your siblings, it just made hard feelings all around.”

  Melissa really wanted to sulk a bit, but he was rapidly talking her out of it. She came back to him now, and he held her again. “You’re very lucky to have me to dispense your wisdom upon,” she said. He raised his eyebrow, and she laughed and continued, “Yeah, come back when I’ve figured out the grammar on that one. I was just kidding anyway. I consider myself very lucky to have you in my life. You help me stay balanced.”

  “We are a good pair,” he said. “We seem to balance each other.”

  “I guess I’ll broach the subject of my vacation with Flora and Vivian.”

  “Good. We can spend as much or as little time with your family as you want. When it gets uncomfortable, I’ll just whisk you away to Gold Country.”

  Chapter 7

  When Brian and Melissa approached Flora, Vivian, and Carl about the trip to California, they were all very much in favor of it—so much so that Melissa started worrying that they didn’t need her at all.

  “Flora, you and I need to talk about some of my nutrition clients before I go. You’ll have easy access to talk to me, but I think you can handle a lot of it on your own.”

  “Well, I don’t mind pinch-hitting, Melissa, but I think most of them will be very understanding of your absence. Goodness, you haven’t taken any time at all since you started the market six years ago.”

  When she put it that way, it did seem like a very long stretch and that she should go.

  “I’ve been looking at some cabins at South Lake Tahoe where we can stay. That will also provide us some respite if we need to retreat from your family. I’ve written down the URLs for them. Just check them out over the next couple of days, let me know which one you like best, and I’ll make all the arrangements,” said Brian.

  She called her mother to let her know when they were coming.

  “Melissa, my friend Cheri that I told you about, is nearly beside herself about her dad. Would you call her since you won’t be here for a while?”

  “Sure, Mom. Give me her number.”

  When she disconnected from her mother, she punched in Cheri’s number right away.

  “Cheri? This is Melissa Michaelson, Cynthia’s daughter. Hi. How are you?” After a brief response from Cheri, Melissa continued, “My mother tells me you’re quite worried about your dad. You haven’t had any luck getting your mom to take him to his doctor?”

  Again, she listened to Cheri’s response before she said, “Mom says you suspect that your mother is poisoning him? From the symptoms my mom relayed, I have my own suppositions, but I’d like to hear why you think it might be poison.

  “Oh…I see. And your dad is not on any heart medications at all that you know of, right?

  “Cheri, look. I’d be worried about your mother’s state of mind as well as your dad’s if she’s refusing to get him help.

  “I see. Well, I can tell you what I suspect, but he really would have to be tested to find out for sure.

  “Mm-hmmm. It sounds like digitalis poisoning which, if your dad is not on any heart medication, unless your mother is feeding him someone else’s heart medication, I have to think that she’s infusing foxglove some way.

  “Well, it’s a lot easier than you think. It doesn’t even have to be titrated, just soaked in water and the water incorporated with food or drink.

  “What I need to know is, are you okay? Mom said you are pretty much beside yourself.

  “Oh. Well, yes, then. That would be my assessment from your description of the symptoms. I feel obligated to tell you that when symptoms are as acute as what your father is experiencing, he’s been getting it for a while now, and he could go really quickly.

  “All right, then, you have my number if there are further developments, or if you need to reach me for any reason.

  “Sure! Call anytime. Bye-bye.”

  Brian was waiting patiently at the table when she finished.

  “Well, my mom seems to be exaggerating when she says the woman is ‘beside herself.’ Basically, what she wanted was to confirm what she already suspected, but she really didn’t seem that upset at all—which is kind of strange in itself. If it were my dad, I’d be at his side in a heartbeat.”

  “Do you think it’s a matter of her being able to afford to fly out?”

  “I thought initially that might be the case, but she doesn’t seem to feel a lot of urgency about it. She didn’t even respond to what I said about the possibility of him going quickly.”

  “A mystery wrapped in an enigma inside a conundrum.”

  She smiled. “It would seem so.”

  # # #

  Not very long after, Melissa found herself nervously flitting around the store, checking on everything three times and going through endless lists with Flora.

  “We’ll be just fine,” Flora said. “You can call every day if you want, and we know we can call you anytime.”

  The Mini Cooper was packed, and Brian was standing in the market, hands in pockets, waiting for Melissa to hover for a moment so that he could catch her, pull her away, and get on the road.

  The only thing that he was hesitant about was that nothing had ever been resolved about the open back door that Flora had told them about. They had all projected it being someone hired by Mrs. Dunnick’s defense team, looking for who-knows-what. For several days, Brian had gone in with Melissa, but when the vehicle was never seen again, and there had been a pause in the Dunnick case due to newly introduced charges, they had pretty much decided they had been wrong about the origin of the vehicle and its connection with the unlocked door.

  Although it was never mentioned again, Brian knew that Flora would be carrying her pistol, and they had requested extra police patrol between 4 a.m. and sunrise on Chelsea Bun days, with a promise of free breakfast for the deputies.

  Kim was going to housesit Melissa’s cottage to take care of Sweet Pea and to get away from the negative energy at her own
apartment.

  At last, Melissa reluctantly approached Brian with a let’s-get-out-of-here-before-I-change-my-mind look, and they bid their final goodbyes.

  They stopped at Brian’s to pick up an extra bag for him. He breathed a sigh of relief when they were finally on I-10, heading toward Phoenix.

  The day was hot and oppressive, increasingly so as they moved across the valley. The clouds on the horizon were a deep purple and piled high like whipped cream. Some of them stood in columns. The area was notorious for huge dust storms at this time of year, even blowing into haboobs.

  They could have gotten an earlier flight out of Tucson, but they couldn’t pass up a smoking deal on two-for-one tickets to Reno if they left from Phoenix. Reno was the nearest major airport to Lake Tahoe, and thanks to its continuous quest to lure gamblers there instead of Vegas, they often sponsored cheap flights.

  They arrived in Reno by 5:30 p.m. and South Tahoe close to seven. They stopped in a little market to buy a few days worth of groceries. With sunset still late, they had no problem finding their accommodations despite it being off the beaten track. The plan was to relax for a couple of days before Melissa’s brother and sister arrived.

  Brian had found the most amazing vacation rental. Since it was off-season in Tahoe, the choices had been many, but when they arrived, the agreed they couldn’t have found anything more perfect. Despite its large size, it was still very cozy. They had their own private forest as the house was on five well-treed acres. A creek ran through it, and the skies were crystal clear. They couldn’t wait to try out the hot tub under the stars.

  The night sky was amazing, as there were no nearby street lights. Clusters of stars were so clear that the sky looked like swaths of diamond dust. After they had been in the hot tub for only a short while, Melissa began to feel the deepest relaxation she had allowed herself to experience in a very long while.

  After the hot tub and quiet conversation, Melissa whipped up a repast in the immense kitchen, making bruschetta on toasted baguettes and topping it with fresh basil. She poured a couple of glasses of Pinot Grigio for them, as well.