Chapter 4 - Anna Noticed The First Change At Breakfast
Anna had worked for Margaret for four years.
She knew the older woman’s routines better than anyone.
At seven thirty every morning, Margaret drank coffee with half-and-half.
At eight, Anna brought her medication organizer.
At eight fifteen, Margaret read the business section.
At nine, she called either Daniel or the stable manager.
The routine rarely changed.
Five days after Daniel left, Margaret became unusually sleepy after breakfast.
Anna assumed she had slept poorly.
The next day, it happened again.
Then Margaret became unsteady during a transfer from her wheelchair to the bathroom bench.
That frightened Anna because Margaret normally performed that transfer with very little assistance.
“What did you take this morning?” Anna asked.
“My usual.”
Anna opened the pill organizer.
Something looked different.
Margaret normally took a small white blood-pressure tablet, thyroid medication, an anti-inflammatory, and several supplements in the morning.
Now there was an additional pale-yellow tablet.
Anna did not recognize it.
“Did your doctor add this?”
Margaret frowned.
“No.”
Anna called the medical office.
The nurse said no new prescription had been issued by Margaret’s primary physician.
That should have ended the mystery quickly.
Except when Anna checked the prescription bottles in Margaret’s locked medication cabinet, the yellow pills were inside a pharmacy bottle bearing Margaret’s name.
The label indicated they had been prescribed four days earlier by Dr. Leonard Price.
Anna had never heard of him.
Margaret hadn’t either.
Evelyn walked into the room while Anna was reading the label.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking her medication.”
“I handled that.”
Anna looked at her.
“You?”
Evelyn smiled thinly.
“Margaret had trouble sleeping. I arranged a consultation.”
“Without telling me?”
“You’re a caregiver, Anna. Not family.”
Anna felt the first genuine chill then.
Because Margaret was sitting only ten feet away.
May you like
And Evelyn was talking about her as if she weren’t capable of answering for herself.
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