Deadly Dosage (46 page)

“That goes for me too.” I moistened my lips. “I’m
falling in love with you Lloyd. Sure you’ll be around to catch me?”

“I’m already here waiting.” He pulled me close and
kissed me possessively. “Because I love you.”

“I love you too.” I returned his kiss with a
possessive kiss of my own. When our lips parted, I asked breathlessly, “Now
what?”

“Now, we see John before his lunch gets cold.”

Chapter
52

I followed him up another flight of stairs and through
the door, feeling much happier. This floor reminded me of a hospital, white and
sterile-looking. Blank-faced employees wearing periwinkle colored lab coats
passed us in the hallway. Most ignored us. Some offered a simple nod of
acknowledgement.

Lloyd slid his employee card through a scanner located
next to a pair of heavy, glass doors, and pushed the door open. I stepped inside,
feeling like a trespasser. The air was cold, so I slid my coat over my
shoulders.

Lloyd obviously knew his way around. In no time, we
were at John Tarver’s office door. He gave a knock and entered.

“Hungry?” he asked taking the bag from me and handing
it to John.

“Starving. Thanks.” John opened the bag and took out
his food. “Hope you don’t mind if I eat and talk. Busy day.” He glanced at me.
“Sunny?”

“Yep,” I said staring at the fortyish, balding man
with a comb-over. Like the other workers, he wore the periwinkle lab coat, with
the exception of a pocket protector with several pens in his pocket. At best, I
would describe his looks as average. His eyes however, sparkled with
intelligence. And his smooth, sexy tenor voice did not match his unattractiveness.

“Well,” he said shuffling through papers on his messy
desk, his light blue eyes searching, his mannerisms quick and efficient. “Got
it,” he said taking a report from the mound of paper. “Not good, Lloyd. Acute
Hypervitaminosis.” He turned a page and ate a French fry. “This man still at
your nursing facility?”

“Yes,” I said. “He’s doing better though since Lloyd’s
father and I have been keeping him off the orange juice.”

“Not surprising. Look here,” he said shoving the
report towards Lloyd. I leaned in to see the small print.

He pointed with the tip of a red pen he pulled from
his pocket. “Here’s the normal concentration of vitamins and minerals in one
eight ounce bottle of this type of orange juice. Most notably are the higher
levels of potassium and vitamin C.” He flipped to the next page and took a
large bit of his hamburger. Ketchup dripped onto one of his papers and he wiped
it off with a Post It note. “Here are the levels from the first sample,” he
said with his mouth full. He chewed and swallowed. “As anyone can see, all
percentages are the same with one exception, the introduction of vitamin A at
27,000 IUs.”

 He flipped to the next page and shoved some fries
into his mouth. “And here’s, the second sample,” he said while chewing. He
swallowed some coffee from a Styrofoam cup. “The level of vitamin A has more
than doubled over the first sample. Normal concentration is zip. This last
sample has a concentration level of 65,000 IUs.”

“So what exactly does that mean?” Lloyd asked. “Is
this enough of a change to make an impact on the man’s health?”

“Lloyd, if this man is being given a steady diet of
this doctored juice, with increasingly higher IUs of vitamin A, it will kill
him.”

“Dear God,” I said, unconsciously grasping Lloyd’s
hand and squeezing it tight.

“How long would it take?” Lloyd asked intelligently.
Giving my hand a little reassuring squeeze back.

“Depends on the deadly dosage.”

Lloyd and I exchanged glances.

He continued, “High amounts in a short period of time,
maybe a month, plus or minus a couple of weeks.”

“Mr. Tarver,” I asked, “What would the symptoms be
from this type of poisoning?”

“Oh, in the beginning blurred vision, bone pain,
decreased appetite, vomiting, dizziness, followed by hair loss, seborrhea,
yellow skin tone, intracranial pressure and if prolonged, liver damage that can
lead to death.”

“Lloyd, he has all of those symptoms. I checked his
diagnosis codes each time he came back from the hospital.”

“John, are you able to fax this information to the
Milwaukee police department?” he asked. “We need to have this woman arrested
before she does any permanent damage. We have a friend, a police investigator,
working with us.”

     “Sure. Just give me his fax number.”

     “Give me a sec.” I reached into my handbag and
pulled out my cell phone. I dialed Alan’s work number, which I kept for
emergencies. On the fourth ring, he answered. “Alan, it’s Sunny. Lloyd and I
are at Allied Health. We have the lab report. Can we fax it over?” I pulled a
pen from inside my handbag and wrote the number down on a Post It note given to
me by John. “Uh huh. Yeah. Determination is vitamin A poisoning, which can be
deadly at the dosage Mr. Schroeder’s being given.”

     I listened to Alan and hung up. “Here’s the fax
number. Just put it to the attention of Alan Leif, l-e-i-f.”

     John took the number along with his report and
left to use the fax machine.

     “Lloyd, Alan’s test came back too. Seems the
daughter injected the vitamin A into the bottles with a syringe. A small hole
was found just below the cap, where traces of vitamin A were discovered. They
lifted fingerprints, so they should be able to match them up to the daughter
once she’s in custody.”

     When John returned, he handed Lloyd a copy of the
report.

     “We can’t thank you enough for your help, John.
Are you sure you won’t get in trouble for this?”

     “No. I removed the company name from the report.
Besides, I’ve worked here twenty years. I can get away with pretty much.” He
smiled and shook our hands. “Good luck. Sunny, nice meeting you. Lloyd, stop by
again when you’re in town. You can buy me a beer.”

     “Will do. Thanks again.”

     “Bye, John. Thank you.”

     We left the lab and this time took the elevator
to the first floor. Before the doors opened, we hugged each other tightly. When
the doors opened, we walked to the lobby where Lloyd signed us out.

     Safely tucked into the vehicle, away from prying
eyes, I kissed him. “Not a wild goose chase.”

     “No,” he said. “And here I thought I came up with
a clever way to date you.”

     “Really? I’m impressed.”

     He smiled. “Looks like it worked with the added
bonus of helping an old guy live a little longer.”

     “Yeah,” I said smiling, “we’re quite a team.”

     “Indeed we are. Now let’s go celebrate.”

Chapter
53

The view of Lake Michigan from the restaurant windows
was awe-inspiring. The snow-encrusted water lapped the shoreline causing a soft
roar inside that could hardly be heard over the classical music. Lloyd’s taste
in fine dining was exquisite. The atmosphere was quite romantic.

He insisted on surf and turf
with white wine, though I argued chicken was more than adequate. I’m happy I
let him have his way. Not only was the steak juicy and perfectly grilled, the
lobster tail was succulent. The meal tasted twice as sweet knowing he loved me.

     We toasted to our success and to each other, and
stuffed ourselves to capacity before leaving with smiles on our faces.

We listened to music on the way home. I mentally
reminded myself not to sing and embarrass myself. Lloyd discussed various songs
his band performed and which ones they were working on. The traffic was thick,
but the conversation made the drive go quickly. Before long, we were back at
his house, in the kitchen.

     “Oh, darn. I forgot my bag with my comfortable
clothes inside my car,” I complained while Lloyd helped take off my coat. “Knew
I’d do that.”

     He took my coat from me and shrugged. “So wear my
sweatshirt and socks. You’ll be comfortably cute. I’m going to change. I’ll
leave the stuff on my bed for you.”

     “Thanks.” I placed my take-home box on the
kitchen counter and Rufus began doing the ‘ole figure eight around my ankles.
“Smart kitty. I didn’t forget about you. Tonight you can dine on expensive
lobster.”

     I pulled off a little piece of lobster and held
it out for him. He started purring and licking it. It fell to the floor and he
gobbled it up. The meowing started, so I took the leftovers and placed them in
his food dish. He ate it in three bites and looked at me for more.

     “Sorry big guy, regrettably that’s it.” He gave
me one last meow after I pet him, and then strolled into the living room in
search of his roommate. I washed the lobster from my fingers and wiped them off
on a kitchen towel hanging from the handle of the refrigerator.

     I walked into the living room as Lloyd was
leaving his bedroom. He came out, wearing nothing but cotton, Gumby shorts. I
smiled ear to ear. “Only you could look sexy in Gumby shorts.”

     He looked down at his shorts. “Birthday present
from my nieces. They know I like Gumby cartoons.” He smiled at me. “So, Gumby
does it for you, huh?”

     I laughed. “Well, the bare chest and abs aren’t
hard to take either.”

     “I was going to put a T-shirt on, but I’ll stay
this way if you want.”

     “Better put the T-shirt on. The Gumby shorts will
be distracting enough.”

     “As you wish. I have to get some laundry from the
basement. Go ahead and change.” He messed my hair as he walked by and bent down
to stroke Rufus, who was lying on a flannel blanket in a box.

     I walked into his bedroom and changed out of my
suit. It felt good to slip on his sweatshirt and socks. I looked at myself in
the mirror above his dresser. Not what I’d call attractive. My hair looked
crazy so I pulled off the elastic band, combed through my hair with my fingers,
and redid my sloppy bun. Not great, but it would have to do.

     Lloyd came in with a laundry basket and dumped
its contents on the bed. He glanced over at me. “Yep, cute.” He selected a
white T-shirt and pulled it over his head. “I need to put this stuff away. Do
you mind making some popcorn? It’s in the upper cabinet near the microwave.”

     “No. I can do that. Have fun folding.” I glanced
at his freshly washed laundry on the way out, impressed that his whites were
actually white.

I stood in front of the microwave, watching the bag of
popcorn turn in a slow circle. Two minutes until I needed to start listening.
Let's just say I burnt more popcorn than your average person did. Lloyd came up
from behind and moved the loosened strands of my hair aside. His breath warmed
my neck and other unmentionable places as his lips pressed into my skin, and
his arms circled my waist. One minute to go.

    “If this burns, it's your
fault,” I admonished.

    “Is it?” One of his hands
moved higher cupping my left breast, while his other hand moved lower to
you-know-where.

     I inhaled sharply and tried to focus on the damn
popcorn.

“I can't sleep at night. I lie in bed and imagine you
next to me. Your perfume is on my sheets.”

    “Maybe you should wash them,”
I said breathing deeply. Thirty seconds. The popping was sporadic.

    “Don't want too,” he
whispered. “Your body is responding to me Sunny-Bunny; you can't hold out
forever.”

    He was right. Another minute
and I'd turn to marshmallow crème. “Lloyd, you're not helping matters. I'm
trying to behave.”

    “Okay.” He reached over and
stopped the microwave with five seconds to spare. “Popcorn's done.”

    I looked at him in disbelief.

    “What? You think I’m giving up
too easy. Should I go back to tempting you?” His hands were on me again.

    “No! God, no! You want me
to spontaneously combust!”

    He laughed and opened the
refrigerator. “Here,” he said grabbing a diet cola, handing it to me. “Cool
off.”

    “Thanks. Got a bowl for this
or you want to eat out of the bag?”

    “Bag's fine.” He took some
liver sausage out and fed it to Rufus who had been watching us from the
entrance to the kitchen.

    “Rufus is a spoiled kitty. I
already gave him lobster,” I said, watching him gobble up the offering from
Lloyd's outstretched hand.

    “He had a rough start. I’m
just making up for it.”

    “He's lucky he found you.” I
paused briefly before adding, “So am I.”