Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [151]
An odd expression crossed over Terri’s face before she shook her head.
Knowing that Lila was right-handed and the stroke had paralyzed her right side, Lila asked, “All right then, do you think you could use your left hand if I got you a pen and some paper?”
Terri pursed her lips and tried again to speak. Puffs of air emerged through her lips, creating the sound of the letter “F” that she repeated several times as she glanced at the bedside table.
Lila glanced at the table, completely bare after Terri’s tirade, except for the telephone. Since she was unable to verbally communicate, Terri received very few telephone calls. “Did you receive a phone call that upset you? Did Mr. Tyler call you?”
Terri stared wide-eyed at Lila as she reached out and grabbed Lila’s arm.
Lila pulled Terri’s hand from her arm and patted her gently. “Did Mr. Tyler’s wife or your uncle Clement call you and tell you something that upset you?”
Terri shook her head.
“Did Mr. Ransom call?”
Terri shook her head and then, slapped her chest repeatedly. “Mu…tok…Ty.”
“Oh, you need to talk to Mr. Tyler. Is that it?”
Frowning and shaking her head, Terri squeezed Lila’s hand, a look of desperation in her blue eyes.
“You relax and I’ll see what I can do to get in touch with Mr. Tyler and Mr. Ransom—”
Terri went wild again, flaying and hollering and fighting Lila’s attempts to calm her. Feeling as if she had no choice, Lila prepared the hypodermic and with Monique’s assistance, administered the mild sedative. Within a few minutes, the medication took effect, enough so that Terri settled down, but she kept mumbling incoherently as she finally drifted off into a light drug-induced sleep.
“Please, stay with her for a while,” Lila instructed Monique. “And have someone check on her every thirty minutes the rest of the morning.”
Once back at the nurses’ station, Lila telephoned Mr. Ransom’s home. Ramona Cosgrove answered, “Owens residence.”
“This is Lila Newton, the RN in charge of Mrs. Terri Owens here at Green Willows Rehabilitation and Convalescence Center. May I please speak to Mr. Ransom?”
“I’m afraid you can’t talk to him,” Ramona said. “He’s not here.”
“When do you expect him? This is rather important.”
“Couldn’t say. He went out of town.”
“Oh, I see.” Lila debated whether she should ask for a way to reach Mr. Ransom, but since technically the situation with Terri was not an emergency, she said, “If you hear from Mr. Ransom, would you please ask him to contact me, Lila Newton.”
“I don’t expect he’ll be in touch. He’s off somewhere up-state doing research for his new book. When he goes off that way, I never know when he’ll be back. Sometimes it’s a week or more, and other times, he’s gone only a few days.”
After speaking to Ramona, Lila gave some thought to phoning Mr. Tyler’s wife, but decided against it. She and the staff would simply deal with Terri the best they could for the time being. After all, that’s what they were paid for, wasn’t it, to take care of their patient’s needs, both physical and emotional? Who knew what was going on in Terri Owens’s mind? It could be little to nothing, and certainly not cause enough to have either her son or ex-husband rush back to Danville.
For over a week, Lorie had been trying to talk Mike into allowing her to go to Treasures, to work in the storeroom, do inventory, price merchandise, or prepare brochures for their new summer sales items. She needed to do something—anything—that would get her out of the house and help keep her mind off the Midnight Killer and Shelley’s murder. This morning, she had finally persuaded him to drop her by Treasures on his way in to work.
“Please, I promise to stay out of sight in the back of the store. I can do inventory and place new orders and have lunch with Cathy and we can discuss plans for the tea shop and—”
“Stop!” Mike had held up a restraining hand. “I’d rather you stayed here, but I know you’re going crazy being cooped up this way.”
She had given him her best begging-puppy-dog look. “Please, please, please.