Sarah Woods Mystery Series (1-6) Boxed Set Read online

  “Mom, you’re awake!” The angelic voice came out of nowhere. I tried lifting my head, to no avail.

  Brian’s face came into view as he leaned over and placed his hand on my cheek.

  “Hi.” My throat burned and I started to cough. Brian reached over to a swivel table and filled a plastic cup with water. He cradled my head with his free hand and held the cup tenderly against my lips. After a few sips I struggled to push myself up into a sitting position.

  “Dad!” Brian yelled out into the hall. “Dad, she’s awake!” Daniel hurried into the room, holding his cell phone against his ear. The look of relief on his face was encouraging.

  Maybe it wasn’t my time after all. Perhaps I’d been spared.

  “Thank goodness,” Daniel said. “I was just on the phone with Sammy.”

  “What happened?” I asked. “How long have I been out?”

  “You were poisoned,” Brian said. “You were hooked up to a breathing machine for twelve hours.”

  “Poisoned?” I vaguely recalled the last moments in Ruth’s kitchen.

  “They found Tetrahydrozoline in your system,” Daniel said. “It’s a potentially lethal poison used in eye drops. Do you have any idea how that stuff got into your system?” Daniel and Brian both waited patiently for my reply.

  With no idea what had happened after I passed out in Ruth’s kitchen, I did the only thing I could do: play dumb. “How did I get to the hospital?” I asked.

  Daniel shrugged. “According to the hospital staff, some guy carried you into the emergency room and shouted to the doctors that you needed immediate medical attention. He gave them your purse and left before they could get his information. Apparently the police are looking for him to find out exactly what happened.”

  “One of the nurses followed him outside,” Brian chimed in, “and saw him drive off in a Comcast cable van.”

  I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The cable guy must have come into the kitchen and found me lying on the floor.

  I tried to recall those last moments. The details were fuzzy, but it was all coming back to me. I recalled Ruth’s expression as she cradled my face in her hands while begging forgiveness.

  “Hun,” Daniel said, rousing me from my thoughts, “can’t you remember anything?”

  I shook my head.

  He patted my leg. “It’s okay. We can talk about it later. Doctor Wang expects you’ll make a full recovery, but said you’ll need plenty of rest. If you think you’ll be fine for a bit, we’re going to head down to the cafeteria for some dinner. Neither of us have had a thing to eat for hours. We’ll come back shortly.”

  I smiled. “Okay.”

  Brian leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m glad you’re okay, mom.”

  “Me, too,” I said.

  After Brian and Daniel left the room, I eased my legs over the side of the bed and looked frantically around the room for my purse. I spotted it inside of a plastic bag on the bedside table. I opened it and rummaged around inside for the cell phone Carter had given me.

  How was I going to explain what had happened? Carter would certainly go ballistic when I revealed to him what I’d done. I’d not only botched our only chance at learning the truth, I had almost gotten myself killed in the process. As I was trying to frame the conversation, I heard a voice behind me.

  “I hope you’re proud of yourself,” Carter said, leaning against the doorframe with my orchid in his hand.

  Was he really standing there or was I hallucinating? As he approached the bed, I realized my eyes weren’t deceiving me; it was Carter, all right. But he didn’t look upset. In fact, he looked relieved.

  “What am I going to do with you, Sarah?” he said in a low voice. He set the orchid on the table and shook his head.

  “How did you find out?”

  “I found out a great many facts, thanks to you.”

  I squinted at him. “What do you mean by that?”

  Carter sat down in an armchair adjacent to my bed. “Why did you go to the old lady’s house? Please tell me it wasn’t because you suspected Harding was her son. If you did, it was a stupid, irresponsible thing to do. Especially without letting me know.”

  “Lance Harding is Ruth’s son?” My breath caught in my chest.

  “Okay, so you didn’t know? Well, that’s one notch in your favor.”

  “But wait a minute. How did you know I was at her house?”

  Carter smiled. “I was there, too.”

  “What?” After a brief moment, it all came together. “You were the cable man.”

  “Remember me telling you I needed to find a way to get into the house? It just took a while to get a van, a fake sign, and a uniform. I called Ruth, pretending to be with the cable company. I told her we needed to upgrade her connection. My plan was to get in, search Harding’s room, and hack into their computer. I thought I might find something to link him to Ted Wilcox. As it turned out, you were one step ahead of me. I didn’t see your car because it was parked out back.”

  “What happened after I passed out?”

  “I heard a commotion in the kitchen, went in, and found Ruth sitting there rocking back and forth talking to herself. Then I saw you sprawled out on the floor. Ruth must have panicked when she realized you had figured out what happened to Marty. Come to find out, she poisoned your coffee with the eye drops on the counter. I scooped you up, rushed you to the hospital, and called the police.”

  “Wait, what?” I took a deep breath. “You called the police? Did they arrest Ruth?”

  “Ruth is in custody. I just came from the police station. She confessed to everything.”

  “So? I’m still not clear on what happened. Did Ted Wilcox hire Ruth’s son to kill Marty?”

  “Well, according to Ruth, neither Ted nor her son had anything to do with Marty’s death.”

  “Huh?” I squinted at Carter.

  “Ruth did it.” Carter paused when he saw the massive confusion that must have shown on my face. “Ted Wilcox confided in Ruth, and told her everything there was to know about Marty, including the details of his Wednesday afternoon skirt-chasing sessions at the Chestnut Inn. So Ruth waited for Marty in the lobby last Wednesday. When he came down from the room around four-thirty, she followed him outside. It was raining pretty hard, so she opened her umbrella, walked up to Marty, and asked him to kindly help her across the street. And what decent gentleman would refuse a nice old lady?”

  I massaged my forehead, trying to come to terms with the revelation. “So she pushed him into oncoming traffic?”

  “Yep, with a little help from her walking stick. She jammed it into the gutter, causing Marty to trip over it. He landed in the street, head-first. Ruth was able to walk away undetected, due to the heavy rain and a few delivery trucks parked adjacent to the scene. By the time authorities and rescue workers showed up, she was long gone. But here’s the interesting part: Ruth didn’t even know it was her son who had hit Marty until later that day. Talk about karma.”

  “So Lance Harding lied to us, but only to protect his mom?”

  “Ruth’s son never lied because Ruth never told him what she did. She never told Ted the truth, either. The incident was initially written off as an accident, so I guess she figured it was better left unsaid.”

  “And she would have gotten away with it,” I said, “if not for Marty’s wife, Janet. Her hunch about who’d killed her husband was wrong, but overall, her instincts were correct.”

  Carter nodded. “Unfortunately, there’s no pleasure to be had in solving this case. Ruth is very ill, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by the murder of her daughter, Kelly. She’s been treated with various medications over the years, but still battles paranoia and delusions to this day. That’s why she and her son live together. She just wasn’t able to cope with being on her own. She volunteered at places like Andover Estates to keep herself busy.”

  “Which is where she originally befriended Ted Wilcox, right?”

&nbs
p; “Yep. When Ted confided in her about his daughter, Ruth evidently devised a scheme to protect Stephanie in order to ease the pain of having failed her own daughter. When you showed up and revealed how much you knew, she panicked.”

  “I see. And then I was treated to eye-drops in my coffee.”

  Carter nodded. “Ruth had no idea that Stephanie had already ended her relationship with Marty. If the guy had just kept his big mouth shut, he’d probably still be alive.”

  “I wonder why Ted never told Marty that Tiffany was his daughter. I’m sure Marty would have backed off if he’d only known.”

  “Ted was probably ashamed to acknowledge that his daughter was a stripper. And ashamed of the mistakes he’d made as a father.”

  “So what’ll happen to Ruth now?”

  “I expect she’ll end up in a psychiatric hospital. It’s probably where she should have been all along.”

  “What about Janet? Have you spoken to her?”

  “She’s grateful to have closure, in regard to her husband’s death. She’s very concerned about you, Sarah. She asked me to convey her deepest gratitude for risking your life in order to solve this case.” Carter reached inside his jacket and pulled out an envelope. “A bonus, from Janet,” he said, placing it beside me.

  I stuffed it inside my purse. “Actually, I’m the one who’s grateful. I needed this, you know, and I’m not talking about the money.”

  Carter gave me a curious look. “Why?”

  “Because I was starting to feel like everything around me was going to hell. This experience has helped me to see life from a different perspective, like maybe my situation wasn’t so bad after all. Having a near death experience will do that to you.”

  Carter smiled. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “So,” I brushed a few unruly strands of hair from my face, “I should be good to go in a few days. What’s our next job?”

  Carter laughed. “You’re something else.”

  “Hey, with all this experience under my belt, I’m feeling like maybe I can take on more.”

  Carter held his pointer finger up in front of his lips. “Just be quiet, will you? You’re beginning to give me a headache. Oh, by the way,” he added, producing a set of keys, “the rental car. I drove it over to your office and parked it out front.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled and looked up at the clock.

  Carter picked up on my concern.

  “I take it you haven’t gotten around to telling your family about me yet?”

  I shook my head. “Things have been a little shaky with my relationship. I don’t want to push it. Besides, you’ve done such a great job covering my tracks.”

  Carter laughed, shook his head, and turned to go.

  “What about Ted? Is he still here at the hospital, or is it ... too late?”

  “He’s stable,” Carter replied, turning back. “He’s in room 205, but you already knew that.”

  I nodded. “Maybe I should pay him a visit and apologize for upsetting him earlier.”

  “Maybe you should focus on your own health right now. Get some rest.”

  “Fine,” I said, swinging my legs back onto the bed.

  He gave me a wave and walked out of the room.

  I swung my legs back over the edge of the bed, this time feeling for the floor with my feet. I had to pee. My legs held as I pushed up from the bed and stood. I was about to take my first step towards the bathroom when the nurse walked in.

  “Glad to see you’re feeling better, Mrs. Woods. Here, let me unhook you,” she said, disconnecting the IV. “Dr. Wang will be in shortly. It looks like you’ve been cleared to go home later today.

  I thanked her then used the bathroom, got dressed, and peered into the mirror.

  My suspicions were confirmed: I looked like hell.

  I was about to climb back onto the bed to wait for Brian and Daniel when I realized what I needed to do. I picked up the potted orchid and walked down the hall to the elevator. I made my way to room 205, stopping just short of the doorway, and peeked around the corner. Ted was sitting up in bed, his daughter, Stephanie, at his side. Tears came as I watched the two of them holding hands, chatting, laughing, and crying. I said a silent thank you to Carter. No longer any need for me to explain my intentions, I left the orchid just outside the door and headed back to my room.

  Moments later I was comfortably back under the covers of my own hospital bed. I decided to check my cell phone while waiting for my family to return.

  I had a voice message from Max.

  I laid the phone in my lap and stared at it. My first instinct was simply to delete it, but I was curious and a little excited that he’d called.

  I called voicemail and listened: he was concerned about me and wanted to explain himself. I thought about what I would say to him, when Brian and Daniel strolled back into the room; Max would have to wait.

  “Hey, Mom, we saw your doctor in the hallway. He said you could go home later today. Isn’t that great?”

  “That is great, honey.” I still had a mild headache, and my stomach and throat felt sore. Despite my discomfort, I was truly happy for the first time in a long while.

  Chapter 27

  Two weeks later

  “Your first client is at ten,” Sammy said as I walked in. “And you have three more after that.”

  “Thanks, Sammy.” I set a Starbucks cup down in front of him. “Extra cream, no sugar, just the way you like it.”

  “Thanks, doll. So, how did the anniversary dinner go last night? Did Daniel treat you to a fancy restaurant?”

  “He took me to Applebee’s.”

  “Please tell me that’s a joke,” he said, rolling his eyes.

  I laughed and massaged his shoulders. “It was sweet. Applebee’s is where we first met. He thought it would be romantic.”

  “Hogwash.” Sammy shook his head in disgust. “You deserve better than that. Your mother must be rolling over in her grave.”

  “We had a nice time. Just be happy for me, okay?”

  Sammy seemed unconvinced. “Does this mean your marriage is on the mend?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but Daniel isn’t as cheap as you make him out to be. Guess what he did?”

  “I can only imagine.”

  “He booked us a ten-day trip to Hawaii.”

  “It must be one of those free trips to a time-share resort where you have to sit for three hours being force-fed a bunch of crap. Or he has a business meeting he neglected to mention. When do you leave?”

  “We’re taking off the day after tomorrow. Would you mind rescheduling my appointments for the week we’re gone?”

  “You leave in two days?” Sammy’s exasperated expression made me laugh.

  “Yes, and I can’t wait. I’m going to get my--” I was interrupted by the phone.

  Sammy answered then handed the receiver to me. “It’s someone from the police department.”

  “Sarah Woods? This is Sergeant Davis over at the Bridgeport Police Department. We’ve located your stolen vehicle. It’s impounded at Stan’s Garage and Towing. I’m sorry to have to break the news to you, but it was totaled in an accident.”

  “Do you know who was driving it at the time?”

  “A Mister Zach Pullman, Ma’am. Do you happen to know who he is?”

  The only Zach I knew was the bartender I had met at Lola’s. Was he talking about the same person? “I’m not sure” I replied. “Is the guy okay?”

  “He wasn’t injured, but we have him in custody for grand theft auto with his partner, Tony Solero.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Thanks so much for letting me know.” I shook my head and made a mental note to stay away from strip clubs, and to never trust good-looking bartenders.

  Chapter 28

  It had been another long day of drudgery. I remained at the office after Sammy went home, staring at the clock.

  After waiting almost a week to return Max’s call, he was now on his way over to talk.

&nb
sp; He walked through the door a little after six, flakes of snow on his head and jacket. “It’s almost April,” he said. “I can’t believe we’re getting another damn blizzard.”

  “I know.” I gestured toward the small sofa in the waiting area. We sat and faced one another.

  “Thanks for seeing me,” he said while resting his hand on my knee.

  “What’s on your mind?” I was trying to play it cool, pretending I hadn’t been anticipating this moment with every ounce of my being.

  “That girl you saw me with at the mall … it’s not what you think.” His eyes held mine. “Her name is Cindy. We dated years ago. I invited her to dinner, just as a friend.” He shook his head and sighed. “I was lonely, Sarah.”

  “You don’t owe me an explanation. You know that, right?”

  “When you saw us at the mall, I sensed some hurt in your eyes.”

  I looked away. “I’ll admit I was a little shocked that you’d moved on so quickly.”

  “I’m really sorry, Sarah. The last thing I ever wanted to do is hurt you.”

  “Well, life doesn’t seem fair at times, but I’ll deal with it. I don’t know what’s going on with my life right now, anyways. Things are really up in the air.”

  “I know what you mean. I’m in the same boat. I’ve been trying to find work, but it’s rough out there. I might have a temporary job coming up. At least it will keep me busy.”

  “Good luck. I hope it works out.” I stood up.

  Max followed my lead. He smiled and leaned over to kiss my cheek.

  I shifted my head so that our lips met, and they stayed together until I slowly pulled away.

  “You’re hard to resist, Max Stevens,” I said, planting my hand on his chest and gently pushing him away. “You’d better leave before we do something we’ll regret.”

  “Speak for yourself.” He backed away while wearing a huge grin, zipped his jacket, and waved. “Any regret would be yours alone.”

  Max stepped out into a mass of swirling snowflakes and I was alone.

  I stood there in the office for a long while, my body tingling from Max’s touch. I felt a bit foolish, but what would be the point of denying our attraction. I had no idea what might happen in the future, but it was okay.