Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 04 - Ghosted (16 page)

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 ha
ve 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 activities 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.

“Do you know what happened to the boy who did this to you?” asked Marjorie while Fay was contemplating her next move.

“Oh, yes,” replied Essie.  “I was told he was arrested.  I guess he’s in jail now awaiting trial.  I didn’t really even notice him when the girls were over cleaning my closet.  There were so many people in my apartment that day, it’s a miracle I could keep track of any of them.”

“He got what he deserved,” said Opal with disgust.

“He did,” added Marjorie.  “Imagine drugging an old lady like you, Essie!  Just so he could steal your jewelry!”

“And so unnecessary,” added Essie.  “He could have had the whole box of jewelry.  I have no use for it.”

“Did the police ever get your jewelry back?” asked Opal.  Fay played a card, causing Opal to frown and consider her hand more intently.

“Yes,” replied Essie.  “Actually, I don’t have it
back yet.  My daughters took it to a jeweler for appraisal.  Evidently, that one necklace is worth quite a lot.  I had no idea.  It’s the one John gave me to wear with that beautiful black dress that I seemed to be remembering a lot.” Essie set her cards face down on the table and looked off wistfully.

“Surely all those vivid dreams you’d been having are fading now, Essie,” said Marjorie, “now that that drug is out of your system.”

“Oh, yes,” said Essie.  “I feel completely better.  But I still think about John a lot and somehow that drug caused me to remember things about him and events from the past that I had completely forgotten.  So I guess there is a silver lining in all the bad things that happened to me.”

“Leave it to you, Essie,” said Opal, “to adopt such a positive attitude.”

At that, Fay placed all of her cards face up on the table and held her hands out in triumph.

“Oh, no!” cried Marjorie.  “She’s won again!  How does she do it?  She always beats us!”

“She just concentrates on the game and not on gossiping like we do,” suggested Opal, placing her unplayed hand of cards in the discard pile along with those of Marjorie and Essie.  Fay smiled broadly.

Before Opal could deal a new hand, a man walked over to the table and stood directly beside Essie.  The women looked up
to see it was Edward Troy. 

“Miss Cobb
, uh, Essie,” he said quite formally.  He was not wearing his signature bomber jacket, but he still looked stunningly masculine in a blue chambray shirt and chinos.  His white hair and thick mustache glistened in the glow from the sunlight streaming through the family room window.  He stood as erect as a pine tree without the aid of any cane.

“Uh, yes,” said Essie nervously, “that’s me
.”  She eyed the man carefully over the tops of her glasses, fearful that he might grab her again or hit her or something equally violent.  Of course, she realized she didn’t know for sure that the person who had grabbed her was this man—but she was reasonably certain. 

“
Essie,” began the man, somewhat hesitantly, “I wanted to stop by and express my concern and also tell you how happy I am to see that you have recovered and are back at Happy Haven.”

“Thank you,” said Essie, “uh, Mr. Troy?”

“Yes,” said the man.  “I’m Edward Troy.  Forgive me.”  He nodded to all four women at the table and they all smiled and blushed—even Fay.  “I forgot to introduce myself.  But, Miss Essie, I believe we’ve met, although not officially.”

Essie cringed.  Surely, he wasn’t going to tell her friends about grabbing her in the back hallway?  What good would that serve?  Even though she was anxious to hear what explanation the man had for his actions.

“You probably don’t remember,” he continued, “but I was standing there with you in the patio of Tippleton House when you collapsed.”

All four women gasped.  Troy continued.

“I don’t know if it was seeing me, or what,” he said, “but you were sitting on that bench and when you stood up and turned around, as soon as you saw me, you tumbled to the ground.  I was the one who called Sue Barber and then she contacted 911 and the ambulance came right away.”

“Oh, Mr. Troy!” cried Marjorie in an obvious attempt to get the attractive man’s attention, “you saved our Essie’s life!  How can we ever thank you?”  Marjorie moved closer to Edward Troy and placed her hands adoringly on his arm.  Edward Troy appeared oblivious to her ministrations.

“No! No!” he said, shaking his head.  “I didn’t do anything more than any reasonable person would.  But I couldn’t help thinking afterwards that my presence had somehow contributed to your fainting, Essie.”  He eyed her quizzically.

“Why would you think that, Mr. Troy?” asked Essie, smiling politely.  “I certainly do appreciate your efforts on my behalf the day of the field trip, but you have nothing to apologize about.  I have no memory whatsoever of even seeing you.”  She smiled, and seeing his face so obviously twisted in guilt, she placed her hand gently on his.

“Actually, Miss Essie,” continued Troy, his face now a map of red anguish, “I must confess that I followed you into the patio at Tippleton House that day.”

Marjorie and Opal gasped even louder. Marjorie removed her hand from Troy’s arm and reached out for Opal.  “He’s smitten with our Essie,” she whispered in Opal’s ear.

“Shh,” cautioned Opal, as she obviously wished to hear Troy’s explanation.

“You followed me?” asked Essie, feigning surprise, although she wasn’t really surprised at all.  “Why?”

“I think you know,” he said, now looking down at his feet which were twisting. 

“He’s shy!” whispered Marjorie to Opal.  “Isn’t it cute?”

“Quiet, Marjorie!” said Opal, giving Marjorie a small smack with the back of her hand.

“Because I wanted to apologize for grabbing you in the back hallway the other day!” he blurted out.

“What?” said both Marjorie and Opal.

“You grabbed Essie in the back hallway?” cried Marjorie.

“Essie, you never told us this!” added Opal.  Both women glared at Essie with moon-sized eyes.

“I don’t know why you didn’t report me,” said Troy.

“I wasn’t sure it was you,” said Essie, “although I had a strong suspicion.  I didn’t see you.  But I was trying to gather more information before I acted.  Now that you’ve revealed yourself, Mr. Troy, maybe you’d like to tell me just what you were doing leaving the building out the back entrance, meeting the person in the car, and bringing that package in.  It was all very suspicious the first time I saw you do it, and it was even more so the second time.”

“Essie!” cried Opal. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” added Marjorie.

“
I wasn’t sure,” said Essie.  “I thought something strange was going on, but before I could find out any more information, the hallucinations got worse and I ended up in the hospital.  I had no idea that Mr. Troy had attempted to talk to me in the patio of Tippleton House.”

“I can’t imagine what you must think of me,
Miss Essie,” said Troy, “but it must be horrible.  There’s no excuse for grabbing you the way I did.  I guess I just went into combat mode from all my many years in the military.  I felt terrible afterward and I’ve been meaning to apologize ever since, but this is the first opportunity I’ve had, what with your being in the hospital.”

“So, there is a logical explanation for your behavior?” asked Essie.

“Logical,” replied Troy, “but embarrassing.”  He looked down again at his feet.  “As you all know, I’m new here.  I was living on my own for many years since my wife died, but recently because of some health issues, my doctor recommended that I move in to Happy Haven which I did.  My son and daughter-in-law live nearby and they’ve been great.  My son and I see eye to eye on almost everything, but he is a sort of man’s man and he frowns on anything I might do that he feels isn’t manly enough.  I know it’s ridiculous.  He doesn’t live here.  It’s my life.  But that’s the way it is.”

“You can do as you like here,” said Essie.  “What sorts of activities interest you?  Building bombs?”

The women at the table gasped again, this time at Essie’s forwardness.

“What?”
said Troy, mystified.  “Why would you say that?”

“I mean, Mr. Troy,” said Essie, “all those packages you’ve been sneaking in the back way.  All your military experience.  I thought maybe you might be a terrorist.  That’s why I was following you!”

“Miss Essie,” said Troy, laughing.  “You are a card!”

“She is indeed,” agreed Marjorie, now touching the man’s arm again.  “A real card!”

“So?” continued Essie.  “What was in all those packages that you brought in the back way so no one would see them?”  She glared at him courageously, backed by her three good friends.

“I’ll admit I was trying to keep the packages secret,” he agreed.  “But not because they contained bombs!  All they contained was
…cake decorating materials.”

“What?” asked Essie.

“Yes,” said Troy, almost glumly.  “My son would die of embarrassment if he knew that his macho, old school, military commando father was a cake decorating addict.  I hinted at my interest once and he freaked out.  But my daughter-in-law is on my side.  She works just up the street behind Happy Haven and she sneaks supplies to me on her way to work a lot.  It’s just easier for her to drop the stuff off to me at the back entrance.  And, besides, I don’t want any of my supplies being left at the front counter because I’m afraid people here might find out.”  His erect posture had devolved into a beaten up, rolled shoulder version of his former self.

“Cake decorating!” cried Essie.  “That’s your big secret!”

“Yes,” he said with a shrug.  “It’s not very manly, is it?”

“Oh, who cares?” said Essie, laughing.  “Most of the men at Happy Haven are not all that manly
anymore!”  This elicited a chuckle from the still elegant Edward Troy.

“Mr. Troy,” said Marjorie softly, tapping his arm, “I for one think you’re still very manly, and I’d just love to see your
…cakes.”  She fluttered her ample eyelashes in the man’s direction and smoothed her sweater provocatively.

“Marjorie,” whispered Opal, “that sounds funny.”

“I guess the word is out now!” replied Troy with a happy sigh.  “Maybe I’ll create one of my special holiday cakes for Halloween tomorrow!”

“That would be
lovely!” said Essie. “We have a wonderful Halloween at Happy Haven.  All the residents dress up and we all come out to the lobby and give candy to children who come over from nearby schools.  Your cake could be the centerpiece!”

“That sounds
great!” said Troy, smiling at the women.  “I don’t know why I was ever so worried about being myself here.  Happy Haven is so welcoming!”