Part 9 (1/2)
”Sure. But I'm too close to this one. I'd be the prime suspect.”
”I don't know about that. I think you could pull it off. But it shouldn't be your first option. Any idea how long she's expected to live?”
”Several years, I think. Probably at least five.”
”We sure don't want to wait thatlong. Just keeping thinking, Carnie. I have great confidence in you. You'll come up with something.”
”Okay. Thanks, Grandma.”
Maybe she could poison Mallie Mae. Make it look like Hadley did it. But what would his motive be? Or what about Macy? She had easy access to the old hag's food. After years of being ordered around by that old woman, she'd finally had enough. Might work. Probably not.
But Elmo wouldchange his mind about postponing the wedding. Carnie would make sure of that.
Chapter11.
Elmo's study was on the main floor of the house, between the foyer and the master suite. But he spent little time there. On a typical day, by the time he made it home, after tending to his young patients for nine or ten hours, he was ready to feast on one of Hadley's delicious meals and watch a movie in the Media Room or read in his bedroom recliner. The maidspent more time in his study than hedid. At least she kept it free of dust and cobwebs.
He located the power b.u.t.ton and started up the desktop computer. Surprisingly, it still worked. He would be forced to endure countless updates to his various software packages. He leaned back in his leather chair and watched as each file was downloaded and installed.
He had ignored Mallie Mae for years. Now his mother was condemned to slog through an increasingly disoriented life on her way to a slow, miserable death. Couldn't he have found some way to make amends with her before now? He should have tried harder.
But she had nearly destroyed his plans to become a pediatrician. And she had interfered in his love life at every turn, never approving of any woman he dated. She was always there to disrupt his dreams with a punch in the gut. Because she had to awaken him to reality. Herreality. Still, he had held tight to his grudge far too long. And his bitterness had turned to overwhelming guilt after learning of her condition.
Finally, all software updates had completed and his computer had restarted. He opened a browser and went to the National Inst.i.tutes of Health website and began to read about Alzheimer's disease.
Drugs mentioned for early to middle stage Alzheimer's were tacrine (Cognex), donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon), and galantamine (Razadyne). The effectiveness of these drugs was limited. At best, they would delay the symptoms for short period.
Another drug, memantine (Namenda), was approved to treat moderate to severe AD. Also being studied by researchers was the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, antioxidants, ginkgo biloba, and estrogen.
He printed the web page and made notes in the margins, circling the drug name Namenda, and adding the note try this first. Then he drew arrows to antioxidants, ginkgo biloba, and estrogen, and scribbled try these in various combinations and strengths.
Greg had finished his lessons early, thanks to several cancellations. So, Cynthia had decided to wait and ride with him to Marshall. They had picked up a hamburger on the way out of town and eaten it in the car while driving. They would get to Beverly's house by 6:30 PM.
”Have you ever heard of Elmo Mobley? He's a doctor,” said Greg.
”Yes. He has accounts at the bank. I've seen him there a few times, but I've never met him.”
”Well, his name came up in church staff meeting this morning. He requested prayer for his mother, who's just be diagnosed with Alzheimer's.”
”Oh, that's too bad.”
”Yeah. But something the church secretary said kinda stuck with me.”
”What?”
”She said Elmo's father had died in a freak one-car accident.”
”And you looked it up on the internet.”
”Well, I was curious. So, I found a Coreyville Courier article from 1984.”
”I thought you were busy teaching lessons this afternoon.”
”I was. This was during one of my cancellations. And I had way too many today. Didn't make much money.”
”Well, did you find anything interesting?”
”Actually, I did. It said that Morford Mobley had crashed his car into a concrete wall under an overpa.s.s.”
”That's not so unusual. People drink too much and think they can drive. Or they fall asleep at the wheel.”
”Yeah, but he hadn't been drinking. And it happened on a sunny morning.”
”But he still could have been sleepy.”
”That's true. But here's where it gets weird. He went to a gas station and filled up two five gallon cans of gas. A witness reported seeing him put the two cans in the front seat of his car without the caps. He said gas was spilling out of the cans as he put them in the car.”
”That isweird.”
”Yeah. And then, instead of driving back toward his house, he went the opposite direction. The investigators estimated that he was traveling at least 90 miles per hour when he hit the wall.”
”Whoa.”
”The car immediately burst into flames. There was barely enough left of him to make an identification. Of course, they knewit was him anyway.”
”It was suicide,” said Cynthia.
”Clearly. But the newspaper reported it as an accident.”
”The Mobley's must have a lot of clout. Sounds like the police and the paper were trying to protect the family. And you can understand that.”
”But why would he want to kill himself?”
”I would imagine the only people who know the answer to that are his family.”
Greg pulled into Beverly's driveway.
Cynthia said, ”Well, let's go in and pack some more boxes.”
It was a lot of work, but they were having fun with it. They got out of the car and started walking toward the back porch.
”Uh, before we go in, I have something I wanted to tell you.”