“Just put it to your ear and talk,” said Claudia. “Ned will be able to hear you.”
“Hello, Ned,” said Essie loudly. “How are you?”
“Hi, Grandma,” Essie heard her grandson say. “I hear you’ve been having some unpleasant symptoms since you started this vitamin powder.”
“Yes,” replied Essie, “it’s silly. Nothing for you to worry about, Ned.”
“I don’t know, Grandma,” said Ned slowly. “Maybe I do need to worry about it. What sort of symptoms have you been having?”
“Oh, I told you,” said Essie, stammering. She didn’t want to reveal to her grandson the strange symptoms that she felt might indicate she was slipping into senility. “I just passed out at the field trip.”
“Is that all, Gram?” pressed Ned. “Nothing else? Nothing strange? Like strange visions? Or feeling light-headed? Dizzy?”
“Maybe,” said Essie. She always knew that Ned was insightful, but this was uncanny. “Maybe a little strange, like you say.”
“And this started when you started taking the vitamin powder?” asked Ned.
“I don’t remember,” replied Essie, and truly she didn’t remember.
“Wasn’t that the day that we all came over to help you clean out your closets?” asked Ned.
“I don’t know,” muttered Essie.
“I think it was,” said Ned. “I remember Aunt Pru telling your aide about it and when and how to give it. I was there to install your answering machine. Remember?”
“Yes, Ned,” said Essie. “Of course, I remember the answering machine. It’s…wonderful!”
“Grandma,” said Ned, “I’m so glad that you’re in the hospital and that they’re taking good care of you. You stay right where you are and let them figure out what’s best to do for you. I have an idea or two of my own that I’d like to check out. Can you give the phone back to Mom?”
“Of course, dear,” said Essie. She handed the cell phone to Claudia. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Okay,” said Claudia into the phone and then she clicked it and put it back into her jacket. She shrugged.
“What was that about?” asked Pru.
“I don’t know,” replied Claudia. “Ned says he has an idea. I’m not sure what he’s up to.”
The curtains parted and the doctor returned, chart in hand, followed by the same entourage.
“Miss Essie!” he exclaimed, looking from Essie down to the chart. “I believe we have solved your mystery. And possibly created another one.”
The sisters looked at each other.
“Given your symptoms, I had the lab do a rush analyze of that vitamin powder of yours,” said the doctor, “and it’s full of hallucinogens.”
“What?” said both daughters at once. Essie merely stared at the doctor.
“Not enough to kill anyone,” continued the doctor, “unless they drank the entire container in one sitting, but certainly enough to make anyone consuming a tablespoon or more quite intoxicated.”
“You mean this vitamin company manufactures this stuff and it’s full of illegal drugs?” asked Claudia.
“Oh, no!” said the doctor. “We actually use this particular supplement in the hospital. We tested some of our own supply against the container from your apartment, Essie, and your supply is definitely tainted with drugs and the hospital’s supply is drug-free. That means, Essie, that someone put illegal drugs in your medicine. Can you think who would do this?”
“No!” cried Essie. “No one at Happy Haven would do such a thing!” She imagined that the doctor suspected her aides. She knew that Lorena and DeeDee would never hurt her like that.
“Jenny, can you bring in the Inspector?” said the doctor to one of the nurses. She quickly exited and immediately returned with a large, droopy looking man in a wrinkled overcoat.
“Essie, Inspector Shoop, from the Reardon Police Department,” he said introducing the two. “I really have nothing to add, Inspector. I can confirm for you that Miss Cobb’s supply of vitamin supplement that we tested in our lab is contaminated with a fairly strong hallucinogenic drug. Whoever mixed it in didn’t do a very thorough job. That means, Essie, sometimes when you took your supplement, you probably got little to none of the drug, but other times, you may have been dosed with quite a large amount. Luckily, you never took enough to do you any real physical harm—just a lot of psychological trauma. But, the main thing is that we’ve found what we firmly believe has been causing all of your strange symptoms and now that you’ve stopped ingesting it, you should be feeling much better. Even so, you will probably have some questions. Essie, the Inspector is here to help you. He’s going to track down the person who did this to you. And when the Inspector is done, Essie, we’ll be moving you to a private room, at least overnight.” With that, the doctor and his attendees departed.
“Miss Cobb,” said the large policeman, “sorry to hear about your troubles. Do you have any idea how this drug got into your vitamin supplement?”
“No, Inspector,” said Claudia, barging between Essie and the policeman. “She doesn’t. And do we really need to interrogate my mother now? She’s just experienced a horrible ordeal!”
Pru joined her sister, barricading her mother from the questioning of the Inspector.
“Girls!” cried Essie from behind them. “I can answer the questions.” Just then, Ned came quickly through the curtains.
“Excuse me, Sir,” he said politely to the policeman. “I believe I can answer your questions. You won’t need to bother my grandmother. Please let her rest. If you’ll come out in the hallway, I’ll tell you everything I know.” He motioned for the Inspector to follow him, which he did.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
“As first cock-crow the ghosts must go
Back to their quiet graves below.”
––Theodosia Garrison
It had been a harrowing night for Essie. Yes, they had moved her to a private room, but even though the bed was more comfortable than the cold slab in the emergency room, she had tossed and turned all night worried about Ned. What had he told the police? She hoped that Ned—her sweet, smart grandson—was not involved in drugs. She just couldn’t believe that such a thing would be true.
By the time the sun was up, Essie had had a nice breakfast. Of course, it wasn’t as nice as the ones Cook fixed at Happy Haven, but it was hearty and filled her tummy nicely. She’d just finished her coffee when her daughters and Ned entered her room.
“Hi, Mom!” exclaimed Claudia. She was smiling, so Essie assumed that things had gone well with Ned and the police. And, besides, Ned was there too, so obviously, Ned hadn’t been arrested.
“Hello, girls! Ned!” replied Essie. Pru and Claudia sat on either side of Essie’s bed.
“I hope you’re up for quite a tale, Mom,” said Pru.
“I had my breakfast,” said Essie, “so let me have it!” She smiled at her family.
Ned stood at the foot of Essie’s bed. He looked primed to tell a fantastic story.
“Grandma,” he began. “You are at the center of a real loony plot!”
“Me?”
“Yes,” said Ned. “When Mom told me on the phone that the doctor here thought you might have ingested some bad drugs in your vitamin supplement, I started to recall when we brought you that supplement. I was there, you remember. A whole bunch of us were there. Mom and Aunt Pru came over to clean your closets. I came over to install your answering machine and Bo and his pal Dugan came over to help. And, of course, DeeDee was there. That’s the day you started taking the vitamin supplement.”
“I brought it,” said Pru. “I feel horrible.”
“But, Aunt Pru,” said Ned, “there was nothing wrong with the vitamin supplement you brought Grandma.”
“I thought you said it was full—” Essie interrupted.
“Not at first,” explained Ned. “Aunt Pru just bought the supplement from the drug store and gave it to DeeDee and she put it in the liquid and gave it to you, Grandma
.”
“Which was fine,” added Claudia. “At that point. Go on, Ned.”
“It was really crowded in your apartment that day, Grandma. Remember?” asked Ned.
“I do,” agreed Essie. “Far too many people for such a little place.”
“I don’t really know who was doing what, or watching what that day,” said Ned, “but I do know that we were all in the living room at least some of the time when the vitamin supplement was discussed. Either its purchase, its delivery, something. Everyone there knew that Grandma was going to be taking this vitamin supplement.”
“So?” asked Essie.
“And that she would take a tablespoon morning and night,” added Pru.
“And, more important,” said Ned, “that the vitamin supplement can would remain on Grandma’s kitchen sink because it was too large to be locked away in her pill cupboard.”
“Mom,” said Claudia, “that stuff was just sitting on your sink for days. Anyone could have opened it.”
“But why would they want to?”
“Exactly,” said Ned, pointing his finger in the air. “Certainly not to take any of it.”
“Sleepy creepies!” cried Essie, “I should hope not. It’s disgusting!”
“But possibly to add something to it,” explained Ned. “It would certainly be easy to do. Remember, Grandma, you’re hardly ever in your apartment.”
“See, Mom!” said Claudia, wagging her finger at Essie.
“Anyway,” continued Ned, pacing, “when Mom told me about you fainting and being in the hospital and then when I learned when your symptoms actually began, I really started to connect the vitamin supplement with your symptoms.”
“You mean, you figured it out before the doctor?” asked Essie.
“Sort of at the same time,” replied Ned with a shrug. “But more important than figuring out that someone had laced your supplement with drugs, was figuring out who. And when I thought about the group that was there when we brought the supplement in, it really narrowed down the choices. Obviously, Mom and Aunt Pru wouldn’t drug you. I knew I wouldn’t and I was pretty sure Bo wouldn’t—although I wasn’t positive. So that left Bo’s weird friend Dugan. I didn’t really know the guy well, except that Bo’s been running around with him for a few months and the two seem inseparable. Of course, this Dugan has his own apartment, so that makes his situation especially desirable to Bo who lives at home. So, I decided to pop in on him. I’d dropped the two of them off at Dugan’s place before so I remembered where he lived. Yesterday, I just went over there and knocked on the door. When Dugan answered, he was obviously strung out. He wasn’t too happy to see me and when I forced my way in I could see why. He had drugs all over his coffee table. And, worse, he had jewelry strewn around the table too. I didn’t know all the pieces, but I did recognize one particular one, because it was the one Mom and Pru were discussing with you, Grandma, the necklace with the cameo surrounded by pearls and diamonds. Sitting right there on Dugan’s coffee table. He was barely able to stand up, but it was evident that he realized he had been caught. I grabbed the necklace, yelled at him not to move, and left. Then I called the police and told them about the drugs and the jewelry and gave them his address. I waited in my car down the block until a police car arrived.”
“Mom,” said Claudia, “Ned brought that cameo necklace to me last night and asked me if it was yours. I recognized it at once and both of us went immediately to your apartment and located your jewelry box to be sure. A whole bunch of your jewelry was missing. You didn’t even know it was gone, did you?”
“No,” said Essie. “I don’t really pay much attention to jewelry. I hardly ever even look in my jewelry box.”
“Jewelry boxes, Mom,” noted Pru. “Remember, you have two.”
“Anyway, Grandma,” said Ned, “we checked with Inspector Shoop early this morning and they’ve arrested Dugan for drug dealing and poisoning, and also for theft. He’s probably going to be in jail for a long time.”
“You mean,” said Essie, “that this young friend of Bo’s put these drugs in my vitamin supplement so he could come into my apartment and steal my jewelry?”
“It appears so, Grandma,” replied Ned. “He just waited until you left your place and then he sneaked in and took what he wanted.”
“When did he do this?” asked Pru.
“Evidently,” said Ned, “that’s what all those unrecorded voice mail messages were, Grandma. The police think Dugan called your apartment to check to see when you weren’t there and he just didn’t leave a message. He knew about the answering machine because he was there when I installed it. He just kept calling you until he knew you weren’t home and then he sneaked into Happy Haven and into your place and grabbed the jewelry he wanted. He knew where the jewelry box was.”
“Why did he need to poison me to do it?” asked Essie. “Couldn’t he just have done exactly the same thing without putting those crazy drugs in my vitamins?”
“Of course,” said Ned, “but Dugan didn’t know that. For all he knew, you checked your jewelry boxes every day, and if you found something missing and reported it, he probably figured that people might not be so likely to believe that someone stole it if you were acting loony.”
“I would have given him an entire box of jewelry if he wanted it so badly!” said Essie. “He made me think I was losing my mind! He made me think I was haunted by a ghost!”
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” said Claudia.
“And now,” said Essie, shaking her head, “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not. At least not among the things that have happened over the last few days.”
“It will all sort itself out,” said Pru. Both daughters were hugging Essie.
A head of shaggy hair peeked into Essie’s hospital room.
“Grandma,” said a small voice.
“Bo?” said Essie. “Come in.”
“Grandma,” said the teenager, coming reluctantly towards Essie, “I’m really sorry about what Dugan did to you. I didn’t know he did it. Really I didn’t. If I knew what he was up to, I’d have beat him up, Grandma. I’d never let anyone hurt you.”
“Of course, Bo,” said Essie. “I know you wouldn’t get involved with anything like this.”
“I’m really sorry,” said Bo, bending down beside Essie’s bed and plopping his head on her mattress.
“Come on, Bro,” called Ned. “Don’t let’s mope around here. Grandma needs her rest. You and I need to get going.” He tapped his brother on the back and the younger boy leaped up and followed his older brother out the door after waving good-bye to those in the room.
“Good gravy boats!” exclaimed Essie when the two boys had departed. “I can’t believe this all happened because some boy wanted my jewelry!”
“It’s true, Mom!” replied Claudia. “Even seeing Dad at Tippleton House.” She gave Essie a sweet smile.
“I’m not so sure that that wasn’t real, girls,” said Essie, turning back to include Pru on the other side of the bed.
A nurse entered with a clipboard.
“Miss Essie!” she called out cheerily. “Looks like we need to get you ready to go! Doctor Mendes says your most recent blood work is clean and he’s discharging you!”
“Hurray!” cried Essie. Both daughters laughed.
“What about the vitamin supplement?” asked Pru. “Should we get a new can? Should we discontinue it? What?”
“I don’t know,” replied the friendly nurse, “but let me check with Doctor Mendes and see what he says so we’ll know something before she leaves.”
She turned and headed quickly out of Essie’s room.
“Okay, Mom,” said Claudia, “let’s get you dressed! You’re going home!”
“Happy Haven, here I come!” exclaimed Essie. She felt excited and calm at the same time. Excited to be leaving but calm now that her medical dilemma was over.
“And, you’ll be back in time for Halloween!” added Pru. “I know they always have all sorts of fun a
ctivities going on over there.”
“Girls,” said Essie. “I think I’ve had enough Halloween activities for a while. If I never see another ghost it will be too soon!”
“I hear you, Mom!” said Claudia.
“Do you really think that my problems will stop if I stop taking that vitamin supplement?” Essie asked.
“If you stop taking the one with the LSD or whatever drug was laced in it,” said Pru.
The daughters worked quickly to help Essie dress. Even so, it didn’t go as fast as it usually did when DeeDee or Lorena dressed her, thought Essie, probably because they knew her so well and they had a lot of practice. When Essie was finally ready to go, the cheerful nurse returned with discharge papers for Essie to sign.
“What about the vitamin supplement?” asked Claudia.
“Doctor Mendes contacted Dr. Graves,” said the nurse, “and he said just to pick up another can of it at your leisure. There’s no great rush.” She smiled at the daughters and Essie. “We have a wheelchair here for you, Miss Essie.”
“Oh, I’m Fay for a day!” cried Essie as she settled herself into the wheelchair. Soon she’d been wheeled out of the hospital by the nurse, and was being whisked away home by her daughters in Claudia’s van.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
“Nine times out of ten we find reasons for everything going on that aren’t paranormal.”
––Brian Robertson
“I just can’t believe it!” declared Marjorie, her pretty curls shaking with anguish. “You were all drugged up like some street addict, Essie!”
“Not intentionally,” declared Essie as she smacked down a card on top of the growing discard pile.
“I feel terrible making you go on the field trip, Essie,” added Opal. “It’s a miracle you survived.” She shook her head as she gazed at her hand of cards.
“Boiling bobolinks, Opal!” snorted Essie. “You know it’s really a good thing that you all forced me to go on that trip, because if you hadn’t, I’d have probably collapsed in my room and who knows when anyone would have discovered me. As it was, they got me to the hospital right away and drained that horrible drug right out of my system. And besides, if I’d told my daughters about the hallucinations earlier instead of just trying to tough it out, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up in the hospital at all. So, it’s really my fault.” Opal played a card and Essie followed suit. The turn moved to Fay, who was sitting quietly as usual in her wheelchair.
Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 04 - Ghosted Page 18