"This case is going nowhere," Natasha said slapping her hand on her forehead. "I am missing something. Something vital."
She snapped her fingers. "Explain something to me."
Taj crossed his legs. "Go on."
"Explain to me, how can somebody induce a heart attack in someone without it being detected? I mean, not even the coroner was too sure if it was a heart attack. I can see why people would want to kill the man; I just don't understand the how. Talk to me like you would a really slow person who is not really versed in medical terms."
"Well," Taj steepled his fingers, "how did he die?"
"From a heart attack," Natasha said. "By all intents and purposes it looked natural but the coroner says that there was a heightened level of potassium in his blood. Way too high, so his exact statement was that 'he had hyperkalamia at the time of his death.'"
Taj frowned. "Did he have any pre-existing conditions?"
"Yes," Natasha snapped her fingers gazing at Taj as if she wanted to drag the information out of his head. "He had high blood pressure, but it was under control, said his uncle, who is my boss."
"I have heard of cases where elevated potassium deposits in the body causes the heart to beat too fast, the medical term is tachycardia. This leads to a type of cardiac arrest which is known as ventricular fibrillation…just one of the many types of cardiac arrests."
Natasha sighed. "Maybe Harry and I have been going about this the wrong way. Who would be knowledgeable enough to know the effects, and inject him with enough potassium to kill him?"
"Where was he found?" Taj asked curiously.
"In his office at ten in the morning, by Anne Carter," Natasha said matter-of-factly. "She had come in late that morning."
She blew in the air and rocked in Taj's chair. "Anne is a nice fisherman's daughter working as a secretary, what would she know about potassium causing heart attacks."
Taj smirked. "The Internet. Did he have any mail that day? Had any appointments?"
Natasha shook her head. "No appointments except with his golf buddy D.M. Carter at eleven. You know that job is a cushy job—the presidency."
She shook her head. "He had no remarkable mails that day except..." she went to the computer and looked over his personal mail, "from kellove. ' I will love you forever.'"
She smirked. "They had been getting hot and heavy for days leading up to his death. That mail went along the same vain."
Taj looked at her, tilting his head sideways. "Don't you find it interesting that D.M. Carter had an appointment with him at eleven and Anne Carter found him dead at ten."
Natasha nodded. "But what's the motive?"
Taj shrugged. "You have a tough task ahead of you. I don't grudge you one bit. I can recall feeling extremely frustrated over crossword puzzles if I couldn't figure them out instantly. I shudder to think how I would be as a detective."
There was a knock on the door and Anne Carter pushed her head in. "Sorry to be so late Dr. Jackson."
She had a harried look on her face. "I had to rush my husband to the hospital this morning. I found him collapsed on the front porch after his morning run."
Taj looked at her alarmed. "Shouldn't you be with him now then, Anne?"
Anne nodded. "Yes, I should. He is stable now so I am just here to finish up some urgent business and then I am taking off for the rest of the day."
"I am sorry to hear Anne." Natasha said sympathetically.
Anne looked at Natasha, unconcealed fear in her eyes. "Thank you Natasha."
"Where is he hospitalized?" Taj asked before Anne moved away.
"Over at Mount Faith Private Center," Anne said. "That's where most of the university staff go when they are ill. It is a small teaching hospital."
She left the office and Natasha looked at Taj shaking her head. "Something is not right."
Taj frowned. "Maybe I should visit the Private Center and see what can be done."
Natasha stood up and placed a hand on his arm. "Taj."
"Mmm," Taj looked down at her hand and then in her eyes. She moved back a bit her heart rate accelerating.
"I need to know if Carter is being poisoned too. I want him as an alive victim not a dead one. How can you help us?"
"I could run some tests," Taj said, "check for potassium and any other substance in his blood. If they are masked, it could take us a while to detect."
Natasha called Harry who had managed to get a student worker position in the president's building.
"I am not going to speculate," she said to Harry, "but I think we have a problem that's linked to our original case."
***
Natasha and Harry spent most of the day trying to find out who would have access to large quantities of potassium. They made an appointment with Doctor Fiddy, head of the Chemistry Department for two o'clock.
He was in his office, a scowl on his features when he looked up at them both.
"What is this about?" he asked harshly. He had a heavy Guyanese accent and looked as if he had been having a rough day. He had four cups of coffee on his desk, all of them empty.
Natasha looked at Harry and cringed. "We are working on a project for Forensic Intelligence class."
Natasha crossed her fingers and hoped that they had a class like that.
"We have a case study where a man was declared dead—excess potassium was found in his blood at the time of death. He also had blood pressure problems. We thought you would be able to help us since you are a professional in your field."
Fiddy nodded. Apparently, he liked the case because he didn't question them further on the imaginary course.
He pulled his four-inch beard and looked at them with a squint. "What do you want to know?"
"We want to know how much potassium it would take to kill a man, and how can potassium be masked so that not even the coroners are sure that the man was actually killed?"
"Okay," Dr. Fiddy said, "it is simple, since you are dealing with potassium. A combination of potassium and chloride is present in many prescription drugs, even ones for blood pressure."
He rocked back in his chair. "Why aren't you taking notes?"
Harry hurriedly dragged his notebook from his bag and started scribbling. Natasha had hers poised on her lap but hadn't started writing.
Fiddy nodded. "Yes. Well, potassium chloride breaks down into its individual components, potassium, and chlorine. The chlorine (Cl) binds with the human body's naturally occurring sodium (Na) to create NaCl—sodium chloride. And you know what sodium chloride is don't you?"
"Er..." Natasha searched her mind, sodium chloride sounded familiar.
"Table salt," Fiddy grunted impatiently, "common table salt."
"Too much salt causes increase of blood pressure." Harry said.
Fiddy nodded. "And every science student worth their salt," He chuckled at his witticism, "would know that the coroner or even a doctor would not identify Potassium Chloride as the cause of the resultant heart attack because it would show in the body as a slightly elevated level of NaCl. Both are naturally occurring in the human body. The presence of either or both of these will not raise the suspicion of either the attending physician or the coroner."
Natasha nodded. "So how much potassium would that take?"
"Potassium chloride," Fiddy corrected her.
"Potassium chloride," Natasha repeated dutifully.
"About 9 grams." Fiddy leaned over his desk and stared at the two of them hardly, "and since Edward Carlisle was about 200 pounds that would do him in."
He leaned back and watched as both Harry and Natasha gawped at him.
"Yes, I am a friend of Greyson, your superintendent, who already pitched the theory at me. We are drinking buddies but I have gone teetotal so we don't drink as much together now."
Natasha mumbled. "So much for top secret."
Fiddy chuckled. "How on earth do you think you two could get into this school without contacts here?"
"So how could somebody get potassium chloride?" Nat
asha asked not wanting to go off topic just yet.
"You can find it in your shops," Fiddy said warming up. "Some people use it in their food instead of sodium chloride, though it has a bitter taste. You can find it in blood pressure medications; it is used for the treatment of hyperkalemia."
"But he died from hyperkalemia." Natasha said frowning.
"That's the thing about potassium chloride, toxic doses can cause hyperkalemia." He paused. "It is used as one of the ingredients in lethal injections."
Harry stopped scribbling and looked up. "So how would it be given to him?"
"Injection," Fiddy said sarcastically. "Somebody injected him with a healthy dose of it. It is easy to make in liquid form and easy to find the ingredient. Even my first year chemistry students can do it." He shrugged. "I told Greyson and I am telling you. It has to be someone who is close to him and really wants him dead to have done this. As far as I am concerned Edwards was an okay president. I would look closer to his home life if I were you."
Natasha nodded, "do you know anything about his... er... personal life?"
Fiddy shrugged. "No, he was a passionate advocate about good family life. Whenever he is doing one of his lectures or his frequent speeches on family and his wife was nearby she would look extremely uncomfortable. Like she wanted to shout, liar. I always look at the wife when a man waxes lyrical about his home life, the honest wives will always give you an indication with their facial expressions if what their husband is saying is true. Of course, I told your boss this, but he refuses to believe that there was anything wrong at home. Good luck to you and your searching. He looked at the clock. I have a meeting in three minutes."
Natasha and Harry got up. "Thank you Dr. Fiddy."
Fiddy waved them off. "No problem." Then he chuckled. "By the way, there is no course at this university called forensic intelligence."
Natasha laughed politely and she and Harry left the office more confused than ever.
***
"I should call Taj," Natasha said to Harry. "I had asked him to check out D.M. Carter to find out if he is poisoned." They were heading toward their regular place in the lounge, behind a potted palm.
Harry shrugged. "If it is potassium chloride he'd be dead by now. You heard Doctor Fiddy…they use this thing in lethal injections."
Natasha still punched in Taj's numbers and waited patiently for him to answer.
He answered on the fourth ring. "Natasha," he said softly, "Dr. Carter is in a coma."
"A coma?" Natasha asked. "How? What is the cause of it?
"His attending doctor is checking out the potassium angle. He'll be back shortly with results. They have a very efficient lab here."
Natasha hung up from Taj, an adrenalin rush going to her head. "Harry someone is trying to kill D.M. Carter, I am sure of it."
Harry stopped. "Maybe you should go over to the medical center and see what is going on. Hold Anne Carter's hand. Question the daylights out of her."
"What about being undercover?" Natasha asked.
Harry shook his head. "Tread softly with this one but blow the cover if you have to."
Natasha nodded.
"And don't sit too near her." Harry said suspiciously. "I am not sure I trust Anne Carter she could stick you with a needle full of potassium."
Natasha shuddered "What are you going to do?"
Harry stiffened. "I am going to find out where Ryan Bancroft was all of today and if he had an appointment with D.M Carter."
"Okay." Natasha moved off and headed toward her car, which was in the parking lot for the students of the sciences. The Mount Faith Private Hospital was several miles down the road from the main campus. To walk would take her too long.
She walked past several students and wondered what they were thinking. She marveled at how clueless they were that a murderer was among them, probably even one of them. She reminded herself at this point that she had no clue who it was.
She drove toward the hospital and was grateful to find a parking space right beside Taj's car. She walked rapidly toward the entrance to the hospital and on to the second floor waiting room. There she saw Taj and a sobbing Anne Carter. Taj had his hand across her shoulders and she was crying her heart out.
"I am so sorry," she kept saying.
Natasha sat on her other side and waved to Taj who nodded a greeting at her.
"Why are you sorry?" She asked. "Was this your fault? Did you poison him?"
Anne snapped up her head, her eyes red and glistening with tears. "Natasha?"
That look of fear was in Anne's eyes again. Then she blew her nose.
"Of course I didn't try to poison my husband. I woke up this morning and found him passed out on the front porch. I am sorry because I didn't go walking with him this morning. Maybe I could have helped him sooner." She sniffled and looked at Taj. "Thank you so much for being here with me."
Taj nodded. "It's no problem Anne."
"No, I mean it," Anne said emotively. "It's so good to have you here."
Taj started frowning and pulled his hand away from her back slowly.
"Anne I don't...."
Natasha looked into Anne's face. She was gazing at Taj with such emotion that it was almost palpable.
What was going on here?
Anne lowered her eyes. "Sorry, Dr. Jackson. It's just that..."
"Okay," Dr. King walked into the room, his jacket flying behind him, a relieved look on his face.
"I don't know how you knew this Jackson," he said nodding to Taj, "but he had a huge amount of potassium chloride making its way through his system. It didn't knock out his heart but it caused it to slow down significantly. I am going to give him Thiazide to block the reabsorption of sodium now. It's a good thing you told us where to look," he said hurrying away, "or Carter would be a dead man this evening."
Natasha and Anne froze after hearing that bit of news.
Taj looked down at Natasha, a look of alarm in his eyes.
Same M.O. Natasha thought feverishly. What would be the reason for killing D.M. Carter though? Maybe he was against Bancroft to be president. Natasha looked at Taj who was staring off into the hallway. Maybe Taj was next.
"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Taj asked close to Natasha's ear.
They were sitting under a lignum vitae tree in the hospital gardens, after excusing themselves from Anne who had started sobbing afresh.
Natasha looked at him. "We are, if you are thinking that Anne Carter has a thing for younger men."
Taj laughed. "I was thinking that a Christian institution had no right to have so much intrigue."
Natasha turned serious eyes to him. "You have to be careful. Someone with a grudge is going around with a lethal needle."
Taj nodded. "It's almost enough to make me want to go home to Florida."
Natasha frowned. "You are probably right."
"I won't though." Taj said. "These two weeks made me realize that I like it here at Mount Faith, despite the drama. I love the weather," he said grinning at her, his straight white teeth almost dazzling. "I also like a certain female detective."
Natasha pursed her lips. "Taj this is getting serious. First Edward Carlisle, now D.M. Carter. You may be in danger."
Taj took her hands in his. "But I have a kick-boxing expert by my side what on earth can go wrong?"
Natasha looked down at their joined hands. "Taj I am serious, this is totally..."
He put his finger over her lips and then took her mouth in a hot, hungry surge of possession. With a strangled moan, Natasha caught fire in a surging blaze of passion. With a stifled groan, he suddenly tightened his arms around her.
Taj dragged his lips free of hers, staring down at her with chocolate brown eyes. His cheek-bones harshly delineated beneath his smooth, honey-gold skin as he snatched in a ragged breath.
"And I have to say this too. You can't deny this thing between us, Natasha."
Natasha looked at him her breath coming in gasps. All she was thinking about was that
this was the best kiss she had ever had. Her traitorous body was reminding her that she was a woman. She had tried to suppress her female reactions around Taj and now all he did was rip away the facade she was trying to put up–he had done it so easily.
Her hands were still trembling. "I can deny this thing between us," she said shakily "and I will."
He kissed her lips again. "Like candy," he whispered. "It's going to be interesting to see you try."
Natasha jumped up. "I am going to talk to Anne."
Taj nodded. "I guess you must."
She walked off and then looked around. She caught Taj looking at her butt, a small smile on his face.
"Stop it Dr Jackson."
Taj winked at her. "When you are completely out of sight I will."
She sighed and walked off.
Anne had composed herself somewhat and was still in the waiting room. Her eyes were still red but there were no tears.
Natasha sat beside her. "We need to talk," she said quietly.
Anne nodded. "I guess so."
"Tell me about Edward Carlisle."
Anne sighed tremulously. "Why?"
"Because his death was by potassium chloride. The stuff that is put in lethal injections."
Anne gasped. "How did you...you are not a student are you?"
"No," Natasha said, "I joined the police force seven years ago. I'm undercover"
Anne inhaled and then looked at her knowingly. "It makes sense to me now. You never really went to any classes and you were always in Dr. Jackson's office. At first I thought you liked him but..."
"Anne," Natasha said seriously, "there is nobody else in this waiting room. Speak to me about Edward Carlisle. You told me he did sickening things, what were you referring to?" Her voice brooked no argument and Anne stiffened perceptibly.
"He was a lovely boss," Anne said grimly, "fair, jovial."
She looked at Natasha and grimaced. "He had his doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies, which meant he was very passionate about families and their make up." She spread her hands. "He tried to be a good Christian, I could see that, but he had a lot of struggles."
Saving Face (Mount Faith Series: Book 1) Page 9