Beth was asleep, one arm sprawled above her head. There was a small lamp spreading light across the table and the bed. Peggy looked at her friend’s face. Relief made her sag into a chair beside the table. She was sleeping so peacefully. No hint of all the trauma she’d been through. There were still dark circles in the hollows of her eyes. Tracks that might have been tears stained her face.
Beth was fine. Of course she was fine. Peggy had broken into her house for nothing. She was going to have to buy Beth a new kitchen window because she acted impulsively instead of thinking the matter through. Some researcher!
But she realized as she watched Beth sleeping that she was too still, too quiet. No one slept that deeply. Not naturally anyway. The lamplight caught on a small plastic bottle on the brown carpet at her feet. She reached down for it. It was a prescription bottle. The top was gone, and it was empty. She looked at the information on the label. It was Nembutal, a barbiturate sleeping aid. The date was from yesterday. Yesterday! All the pills were gone! “Oh my God! Beth!”
Peggy frantically dialed 911 on the bedside phone. She barked her location at the operator who answered, then went to help her friend.
If she’d been in bed since before ten p.m., if she’d taken that many pills five hours ago, would she be able to survive?
“Wake up, Beth! You have to wake up!” Peggy jumped on the bed with her friend, pulled back the comforter, and tried to get some response. Beth’s pulse was slow and weak. She roused briefly, trying to speak, but didn’t open her eyes.
“You can’t do this! Think about Reddman and Foxx. They need you. You have to call them.” Peggy grasped at straws. She had to do what she could until the paramedics got there. “You didn’t call them last night. They’re still up waiting for you. You have to call them.”
Beth opened her eyes a little as Peggy forced her into a sitting position. “Peggy?” Her voice was slurred and heavy.
“That’s right. You have to wake up now. Where’s the phone? Foxx and Reddman need to talk to you.”
“Park . . .”
“I know.” Peggy heard the sound of a siren in the street below. “I know you loved him. But you can’t leave yet. You have to hang on. Things will get better.”
The phone on the bedside table rang. The paramedics were pounding on the front door. Peggy left Beth on the bed and ran down to let them in. She answered the phone as the paramedics examined her friend. It was Beth’s parents. Peggy briefly explained what happened and told them they should come quickly.
“She still has a chance,” one of the paramedics said. “We have to get her to Presbyterian Hospital fast. Are you her mother?”
“No,” Peggy answered. “Her parents are on the way.”
Peggy rode in the front of the ambulance with the driver while the other paramedic stayed with Beth in the back. She watched him continue to check Beth’s vital signs as he reported to the hospital.
We have to get there in time. Those boys can’t lose both their parents. Beth has to live.
“Who found her?” The doctor at the emergency room demanded when they finally got to the hospital. “What has she taken?”
Peggy produced the empty bottle from her pocket. “I found her. I think she took these.”
The doctor shook his head. “Jesus Christ! What could be that bad?”
“Her husband was murdered, and she’s been on trial for his death.” Peggy looked at the doctor and shrugged. “Help her, please. I know she wants to live.”
“We’ll do what we can. I’ll let you know when I have some idea of what’s going to happen.”
“Thank you.” One of the paramedics showed Peggy to a waiting area. She sank down into an orange plastic chair and buried her face in her hands. She suddenly remembered Shakespeare and reluctantly called Steve to go and rescue the dog after she explained what happened.
“Is she all right?” Steve asked in a voice heavy with sleep.
“I don’t know yet. Shakespeare is tied up in the back of her house. Can you go and get him for me?”
“I’ll get him. What about you? Are you okay?”
“I will be. I’ll talk to you later.” She sat in the chair after shutting the cell phone. She was freezing. Her hands trembled with reaction. She stuffed them into her pockets to warm them. Was there some warning this would happen? Was there something she missed? Some way she could’ve helped that she didn’t see in time?
Beth’s parents called on their way down from Salisbury and managed to find the hospital. They got there about two hours after Peggy. There was still no word on Beth’s condition. The three of them huddled together on the sofa and prayed. The morning that Peggy had wished for as she rode through the night slipped in through the hospital blinds, gilding them gold and pink. She peeked through them, admiring the sunrise but wishing it brought better news with it.
Hunter joined them halfway through the morning. Beth’s close friends and other family members came and went as news seeped out about what happened. They asked about the children, asked if they could do anything to help. Beth’s parents answered that they left the boys with family, their voices hushed and leaden. Everyone said they would pray for the family. No one said the word they were all thinking: suicide. The very thing Beth wanted so desperately to erase from Park’s name. When the doctor finally came out, everyone got to their feet, hands joined.
“I think she’s going to be all right. It was a close call, but I think you managed to find her in time. It’s going to take a while for her to recover.” He shook his head. “I realize the tragic circumstances behind this event. But I have no choice but to report any attempt at suicide to the authorities. She’ll have to spend some time in the psych ward. Obviously, she needs help.”
The family thanked him. He was leaving as Al and Jonas showed up. They spoke with the doctor briefly before returning to the family.
“I’m sorry about all this,” Al said to Beth’s parents.
“Like hell!” Her father turned away from his handshake. “You’ve persecuted my daughter. If anyone is responsible, it’s you and this police department.”
Jonas tried to smooth the waters. “We were only doing our job, sir. We did take the blame away from your daughter, too.”
“My daughter would never hurt another human being,” Beth’s mother sobbed. “Not even that evil old woman who loved to give her a hard time. You’ve had the wrong person since the beginning.”
“That appears to be true, ma’am,” Jonas replied. “I’m afraid we all make mistakes sometimes. We do the best we can.”
“Get out of here, you vultures,” Beth’s father demanded. “Leave my daughter alone!”
Al took Peggy to one side. “We actually came to see you. We’d like you to come to the precinct and take a look at Davis in a lineup. You said you saw him at the hotel in Philly and again here in Charlotte.”
“I thought you had him on videotape and you have his fingerprints in the hotel room.” Peggy shook her head. “You don’t need me.”
“Truth is, we need this case to be as strong as it can. We don’t have the boy touching the baskets. He walks right by them on the videotape. But that doesn’t mean the tape isn’t wrong or just didn’t catch him doing the deed. Come down to the precinct, Peggy. You always want to help. Now’s your chance.”
17
Thrift
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