Christmas at Saltwater Cove: a Westcott Bay novella Read online

  “Okay. I’ll go to the kitchen. Oh – look for medications, too. Prescription drugs or other things. Herbal supplements, diet pills. And look at any kind of alcohol they have in the house – anything homemade or home brewed could cause a problem.”

  He nodded. “Got it.”

  Sandy went to the kitchen and decided that she would look methodically from the right side of the room over to the left. She opened every cupboard and drawer.

  She found a basket of prescription medications – nothing looked unusual. There weren’t even any herbal supplements – sometimes those could be the culprit, but maybe they were somewhere else in the house? She made a mental note to check the bathroom.

  She looked at the spices and didn’t see anything weird – nothing moldy or with unusual growth.

  Under the sink, there were a variety of bottles of cleaning supplies. But again – nothing unusual. Nothing that even was slightly remarkable.

  She opened the fridge and studied its contents. There wasn’t much in there – Linda was really taking this diet seriously. There were some leftovers from a meal. Sandy picked up the container and lifted the lid – it looked like it was just some old pasta. It smelled fine, nothing bad.

  There was a carton of eggs, a container of take-out (past its prime but not suspicious) and in the back of the fridge, there were several glass jars of pickled things.

  Sandy gasped. “I think this is it! Why didn’t I think of it until now!”

  “What is it?” Jack called out.

  “Well, actually – it’s more common in infants, so I just didn’t make the connection.”

  She grabbed a jar from the fridge and turned to walk into the living room, just as the front door opened and a man walked inside.

  Sandy stopped dead in her tracks.

  Chapter 12

  Immediately, Sandy started talking.

  “Oh good, hello! I was just finishing up watering the plants for Linda.”

  Jack stood frozen in the other room. He could only see Sandy – not whoever just walked in.

  “And who are you?” said a man’s voice.

  “Oh, haven’t we met? I’m Sandy, one of Linda’s friends.”

  “I don’t know any Sandys.” There was a pause. “Looks to me like you’re ransacking the place.”

  Jack cringed – that was his fault. He’d left some drawers open with things that he wanted to show Sandy – just in case she thought something was significant, because he had no idea what he was looking for.

  “That was the cat,” Sandy said.

  Jack knew that he shouldn’t make any noise, but it was extremely hard not to laugh at Sandy’s comment.

  “Oh yeah? If you’re Linda’s friend, what’s the cat’s name?”

  Oh boy. This guy wasn’t bluffable at all. Jack took a step toward Sandy – he couldn’t leave her to get out of this on her own.

  But almost instantly, she threw a hand up – a subtle signal for him to stop.

  “I don’t know, I just call her Cat. Listen, Linda asked me to come over here by myself and water the plants.”

  Jack frowned. Was that “by myself” directed at him?

  “Gee that’s funny, because I’m their neighbor and I’m pretty sure that David asked me to come over here and feed Dolly.”

  “Right,” Sandy said slowly. “Because Linda is in the hospital and they had to leave early to get there. Listen – I’m not a burglar. I’m trying to figure out what made them sick.”

  “Then why are you holding that, and why did you tell me that you were watering the plants?”

  “I didn’t want to startle you,” she said. “I do know Linda, and I am actually a doctor.”

  “Yeah, and I’m an astronaut,” he said with a scoff.

  She continued. “I think I know what’s making them sick. I need to get back to the hospital.”

  “Sure lady. You can tell it all to the cops.”

  “No, please! I think it’s these green beans. I think Linda grew them in her garden and then tried to can them and didn’t do it right – I think she gave herself botulism poisoning. And David, too.”

  “Back to the plants, huh? I’m locking you in the bathroom until the cops get here. This is a citizen’s arrest!”

  Enough was enough; Jack wasn’t going to let this unfriendly neighbor get Sandy arrested. He stepped into the room just as the neighbor spun Sandy around and started to push her toward the bathroom.

  Jack opened his mouth to yell something but Sandy shot him a look and pointed at the open door. There was enough of a scuffle that Jack was still unnoticed – but he couldn’t just leave Sandy there!

  “Please,” she called out, “the most important thing is that the doctor knows that botulism could be causing their illness – every minute counts. We need to call the state – the health department, or the epidemiology office. We need to have the antitoxin flown in as soon as possible.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said.

  Jack’s window of opportunity was closing. It seemed like he needed to get to the hospital right away – but he didn’t want to leave her there.

  Plus, time seemed slower as he stood, completely panicked. Just before the final push into the bathroom, Sandy flailed a hand wildly at him and yelled, “Go!”

  Okay – so she did want him to go. He turned and ran out of the front door and to his car parked on the street.

  He didn’t go undetected – by the time he reached his car door, he heard a “Hey!” yelled from the house.

  Jack looked at him for a moment but didn’t stop – he jumped in the car, turned the key and hit the gas.

  It took him a while, but there was one message he got loud and clear: this information was time sensitive. Now he just had to get to the hospital and not sound like a crazy person as he explained it.

  The drive wasn’t long enough for him to calm down – his heart was still thundering away in his chest as though he just escaped a shootout.

  But it wasn’t all that bad, right? No harm would come to Sandy – well, except for getting arrested. But that didn’t seem to bother her much. She even tried to smooth talk the guy as soon as he walked into the house.

  Jack chuckled to himself. It was kind of impressive – even though it failed.

  He got to the hospital and parked his car – the same spot he’d been in before. Jack walked into the emergency room lobby and saw that it was now empty. It wasn’t a very big hospital, and luckily, the same lady was at the desk from when they came in before.

  He walked up to the counter, breathless and aware that he was a bit sweaty. “Hi there.”

  She looked at him and smiled. “Hi! How can I help you?”

  “This is going to sound kind of crazy – but do you remember me from before?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think so? Were you here recently?”

  “Well I wasn’t here as a patient – I wasn’t sick. I came here with Sandy – she’s a friend of Linda and David Miller.”

  The woman smiled. “Do you want to take a seat?”

  He let a sigh. He’d failed at not sounding like a crazy person. “No, thank you. I’m actually not here to be seen – I need to talk to the doctor about Linda Miller. We think we were able to figure out what is going on with her.”

  “I’m sorry sir, I can’t confirm or deny the identity of any patients, and we can’t discuss any patient cases with you.”

  He frowned. He knew there were a lot of privacy rules – and he had no idea how to get around them. “Can I please see the doctor?”

  “Of course. Let me just get some insurance information from you and…”

  “No, I don’t need to see the doctor for me, I just – ”

  A woman in a white coat walked into the lobby. “Is everything okay?”

  “Oh good!” He said. “Hi, I’m Jack. I was here earlier talking to David Miller.”

  “Hi Jack.”

  “Were you the doctor on duty about…three hours ago?”

  She smile
d. “Yes, why?”

  “I know you can’t tell me anything – but maybe I can tell you something? My friend Sandy and I were here talking to David about Linda getting sick.”

  The doctor smiled at him. “Do you want to have a seat?”

  “No, thank you – I’m sorry, I’m fine. But the thing is – Sandy is also a doctor, and she was determined to figure out what was going on. So we went to Linda’s house, and she thinks she found the cause. She said that Linda’s been gardening since she retired, and she canned a bunch of green beans, and she thinks that Linda might have given herself botulism poisoning. She said that it was really important that you know right away so that you can order an antivenom? No – sorry, an antitoxin?”

  The smile faded from the doctor’s face. “Green beans? Is that what you found at her house?”

  He nodded. “Yes! And Sandy figured it out – not me. She works with kids, she said it’s more common in babies, so she didn’t think of it at first. And she couldn’t get here but – I needed to tell you as soon as possible.”

  The doctor stood up. “Well Jack – thanks for stopping in today. I need to make some calls.”

  “Good luck – I hope it’s not too late.”

  Jack got back to his car and immediately drove back to Linda and David’s house. Despite driving a little too quickly, by the time he got to the house, no one was there.

  No angry neighbor, no Sandy, and no cops.

  Shoot. Now what was he going to do? He didn’t have Linda or David’s phone numbers – they could clear Sandy of any wrongdoing.

  Well, actually, no they couldn’t – they were both deathly ill.

  He sat in his car for fifteen minutes running through scenarios in his head. He knew that there must be something he could do – maybe Margie could help? He was about to drive to her house when he remembered that she wasn’t home.

  He pulled out his phone to look up the number for the Sheriff’s Department and saw that he had a message from an unknown number.

  “Hi Jack – sorry to bother you. This is Margie, Sandy’s sister. I haven’t gotten any updates from her recently and just wanted to know what’s going on.”

  Bingo!

  He called the number and Margie picked up immediately.

  “Hello? Jack? Is everything okay?”

  “Hi Margie, yes – everything’s fine. Well, mostly. I think Sandy figured out what happened to Linda.”

  “That’s great news! What happened?”

  “Sandy thinks that Linda gave herself botulism poisoning when she canned some green beans.”

  Margie gasped. “That’s awful! Is she going to be okay?”

  “I honestly don’t know. But I told the doctor and she seemed to take me seriously, even though I sounded insane.”

  “Why didn’t Sandy just explain it?”

  Jack sighed. “That’s kind of the problem. We may have done something a little unorthodox…and Sandy might have gotten arrested.”

  “Jack, is this some sort of a joke?”

  “No Margie – for once, I’m not joking.”

  She laughed. “Well that’s a new one. Don’t worry – I think I can still call Hank before he gets on his flight to London. I have to go!”

  “Okay, thanks Margie.”

  Jack sat back and put his face in his hands.

  Three weeks ago he didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing. And now he’d gotten pulled into a medical mystery with a brilliant and beautiful woman, who promptly got herself locked up.

  What a trip.

  Chapter 13

  The bathroom where Sandy was trapped had a small window – too small for her to crawl out of. Not that she was terribly interested in escaping; she thought that she had a much better chance of reasoning with the police when they got there.

  At least Jack finally took the hint and got moving. Or maybe he was just running as far away from her as he could because he thought that she was completely crazy.

  That was a possibility. But no, he wouldn’t do that.

  Would he?

  No. He’d at least stop at the hospital first and pass along the information – he wasn’t a monster. But how long would it take him to get there?

  And how long would it take for the antitoxin to be flown in? Sandy wasn’t sure where it was even kept in Washington state – unlike back home in Massachusetts, where she knew all of the details.

  When she was doing her residency, she saw a case of infant botulism. It was terrifying and something that she’d never forgotten. Luckily, the baby fully recovered.

  Would Linda and David be so fortunate? If David hadn’t progressed into full paralysis yet, then he had a very good chance of a quick reversal…but what about Linda? How many of those green beans had she eaten?

  Sandy let out a sigh. Another reason she didn’t like diets – vegetables could kill.

  She stood up, walked to the door and gently knocked. “Excuse me? My purse is just in the kitchen. May I please have my phone so I can call the hospital?”

  No answer.

  “Are you still there? If you call David then we could just clear all of this up.”

  “That’s enough! I can’t believe that you heard about Linda getting sick and took the opportunity to rob her house.”

  All right then. He still wasn’t happy with her.

  There definitely wouldn’t be any convincing this man. Sandy gave up and took a seat on the edge of the bathtub. Even if she got her phone, it would be really hard to get the doctor on the line. She could try paging her, but by the time she called back, Sandy might be getting put into a jail cell!

  She let out a laugh. She’d never been arrested before – this was quite an extreme situation. Her residents would love it – they always loved a good story.

  But truth be told, Sandy didn’t care about the arrest or how good the story was. All she cared about was getting David and Linda back to normal. There was a chance that she was wrong and botulism had nothing to do with it. There’d be no harm done – the antitoxin wouldn’t do anything.

  But if she was right, then the antitoxin would start working pretty quickly. Especially for David. And in her gut, she felt like she’d cracked it.

  It wasn’t too long before a sheriff’s deputy arrived. Sandy could hear them chatting inside the house before they opened the door to the bathroom.

  “That’s her,” the neighbor said, pointing.

  “Thanks Hal. I’ll take it from here.”

  Sandy offered a small wave. “Hi there, I’m Sandy Randall. I’m very sorry about all of this, and I can assure you that it’s a misunderstanding.”

  The deputy nodded. “Okay. Come with me and you can tell me your side of the story.”

  That sounded reasonable – it didn’t sound like she was getting arrested yet. She slowly got up from the bathtub and the deputy motioned for her to stop

  “Any weapons on you?”

  “No sir.”

  He quickly patted her down, then allowed her to pass. Sandy made her way down the hallway.

  “I’m sorry – can I please get my purse? Or – can you get it?”

  “Show me where it is.”

  She nodded and made her way to the kitchen as Dolly pranced in, purring with delight when she saw Sandy.

  “It’s just there – on the kitchen counter.”

  “Is it okay if I take a look inside?”

  “Please.”

  He picked up the purse. “Anything sharp that could poke me in here?”

  “Oh no – nothing like that.”

  The deputy used a pen to look around in her purse, at one point pulling out her elf hat and holding it in the air.

  “This yours?” he asked.

  Sandy had to force herself not to laugh. “Uh, yes sir. That’s from my elf costume. I was dressed up yesterday at the Christmas cookie party, where I met Linda. That’s where all of this started.”

  “All right.”

  She continued. “Linda got severely sick after the
party and had to be rushed to the mainland. I talked to her husband, David, at the hospital and came here to look for a possible cause.”

  “Did you have permission from Linda or David to enter the home?”

  Sandy paused. What if she said yes? Would he just let her leave?

  But no – she couldn’t lie. “Not exactly.”

  He nodded. “Let’s go for a ride.”

  Oh. Now that sounded a little more like she was getting arrested.

  Nothing she could do about it now – if the antitoxin worked, she was sure that David would forgive her for sneaking into his house.

  If it didn’t work…well, she’d have some more time to think about what was causing their symptoms when she was stuck in jail. She followed the officer’s directions and took a seat in the back of the police car.

  From a purely academic standpoint, Sandy found the entire process fascinating. It was different than what was shown on TV – maybe that was just because she was being cooperative. She really had nothing to hide – and though she knew that theoretically she could request an attorney, she hoped that it wouldn’t get that far.

  When they got to the county jail, Sandy was placed into a holding cell by herself. It wasn’t a very big place, and the only other person there seemed to be a drunkard. He was fast asleep, snoring – though his cell was close enough that Sandy could catch the stench of stale alcohol.

  She wondered if she would get a chance to make a phone call – or was that just something that happened in the movies? And even if she did have the opportunity, she couldn’t decide who she should call.

  She wanted to call the hospital, but she didn’t know the number or how to get through to anyone. Her best bet was probably Margie – especially because Margie knew everyone in this town.

  Sandy tried to run through other potential diagnoses in her head. Nothing else fit quite as well, but she kept running through ideas. Anything other than having to think of poor Jack.

  He had no idea what he’d gotten himself into that morning by agreeing to drive her. At least he didn’t also get arrested. Maybe he really did just run off and try to get off of the island as soon as possible – maybe he wanted nothing to do with her again.