Contents

• Bonnie and Art’s African Road Trip 2021
• Dying Slowly
• What Doesn’t Kill You
• Murder in Two Parts

“Bonnie and Art’s African Road Trip 2021”

Click to access africaadventure_v8.pdf

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“Murder in Two Parts – Part 1”

My name is John Stone.  I’ve been sheriff here in Lyndon County for nearly 30 years.  There haven’t been many murder cases during my years in office because Lyndon County is a sparsely populated, mostly rural, county.   It sits about a 200 miles east of the Pacific Ocean.  But one case does stand out.

The victim, Noah Grange, was a good looking middle-aged man, 46 years old, slim and muscular, with an athletic build.  His hair was light brown in color.  His full beard exactly matched his hair color.  His face was long and narrow.  His eyes were narrow slits sitting on top of a long thin nose.   His smile was more of a grin than a smile, rarely showing his teeth. 

His father was a wealthy, successful businessman.   He owned a thriving business with nearly 50 employees that designed and sold medical components.  After graduating from college, Noah went to work for his father, directing the human resources department.  His father owned a cabin on the lake about a half-mile north of the trail head to Lookout Point.  But his father was rarely seen at the cabin.  Noah, however, frequently came over from the small town he lived in on the coast several times a year and often stayed for a week or more at a time.  He loved to hike and spent much of his time at the cabin fishing in the lake and hiking the many trails in the area.

Noah’s wife, Isabella, had just turned 40.  She had long jet black hair and a winning smile displaying beautiful pearly white teeth.  And she seemed to always be smiling.  She was somewhat short, barely standing up to Noah’s shoulders.  Occasionally she would join Noah when he came to the cabin, but when she did she usually drove separately and stayed for only a few days. 

Occasionally Noah and Isabella Grange would invite friends to the cabin.  The murder occurred on one such occasion.  Noah and Isabella had invited two couples to join them.  Lucas and Mia Taylor were fairly new friends of the Grange’s, having met them only about 6 or 7 months earlier.  Lucas was about the same age as Noah, but his pretty wife Mia was much younger, in her mid-30’s.  The other couple, Oliver and Emma George, were old friends.  Both were older than Noah, in their mid-50’s. 

This was the group’s second gathering at the cabin.  They had all visited the cabin less than 3 months earlier and had all had so much fun that they decided to do an encore gathering.  Previously, they had stayed only 3 days.  This time they were planning to stay a week.

I learned my skills as an investigator, for what they are worth, from the previous sheriff.  He taught me to always start with the “MMO”:   Motive, Means, and Opportunity.  He claimed that every crime can be quickly solved once you have determined the MMO.  Once you had the MMO, he claimed, you would have a good idea of who the murderer was, even if you didn’t yet have the evidence to prove it. 

But the old sheriff was wrong about that.  I was able to figure out the MMO pretty quickly, but still couldn’t figure out who the murderer was.  I was not even able to eliminate any one of the remaining group of 5 suspects.  But I didn’t give up.  I just added another letter to “MMO”.  It became “MMOD”:  Motive, Means, Opportunity, and Details.  Yes, the eventual solution to the crime was in the details.  We began examining every detail of the events leading up to the murder, back-tracing until the solution finally emerged.

The three couples had each driven to the lake in separate cars.  To fit everyone and everything in they would have to take at least two cars anyway, but with three cars any person or couple could leave separately at any time if they felt they weren’t enjoying themselves enough.  And each couple contained at least one person who wasn’t sure how much they would enjoy themselves at the lake for a whole week. 

After arriving at the cabin, the couples each went to their designated bedrooms.  Their rooms had all been decided by lot back before they had left.  Lucas and Mia Taylor had won the largest, most desirable bedroom with a partial view of the lake and a small private bathroom.  Lucas had short brown hair clipped on the sides.  He was nearly blind without his large glasses which he was never seen without.  Although he was nearly the same age as Noah, he looked nearly 10 years younger.  His wife Mia although much younger, looked even younger than her age.  Like Noah’s wife Isabella, Mia was always smiling.

Oliver and Emma George had won the other bedroom.  They were the oldest of the group, both in their mid-50s.  Oliver had brown eyes and short, dark hair covering mostly just the back of his head.  He too was severely nearsighted and rarely seen without his glasses.  He was also only rarely clean-shaven.  His wife Emma wore blond hair down to her shoulders, parted on one side.  Her nose was long and narrow and her eyes were closely set just around her nose.  Her smile always seemed a little hesitant, like she wasn’t really sure whether the moment called for it. 

Noah and Isabella were left with the cabin storage room as their “bedroom”.  It had no windows.  Since there was no bed, they would be in sleeping bags on a spare mattress they would lay down on the floor.  Noah didn’t mind.  He actually preferred his guests to have the better rooms, but Isabella wasn’t so happy about it, mainly because she would have to share the main cabin bathroom with Oliver and Emma. 

On their first day they began a hike up to Lookout Point.  It seemed like a good place to start.  From Lookout Point they would have a clear view of the lake and surrounding area.  The whole valley could be seen, surrounded by mountains with the lake in the center.   They had hiked up there on their previous trip, but had started late and the conditions were hazy.  This time they started earlier and the conditions were sunny and clear.  It would be a spectacular view from the top.

The three men, along with Mia and Emma, all went on the hike.  Isabella decided to stay at the cabin in order she said to finish unpacking, do some cleaning, and prepare for the night’s dinner.   After moving through the forest trees that surrounded the lake the trail began winding up Lookout Mountain through a series of gradually ascending switchbacks.  Near the top the trail narrowed with the mountain rising steeply on the right and a sharp drop over the left side of the trail.  Fortunately if a person happened to fall off the left side of the trail, they would only fall about 6 or 7 feet to a ledge sitting below the trail and banked towards the mountain.

As anyone knew who had ever hiked with Noah, he always took the lead.  He simply could not stand to be behind anyone.  He would inevitably feel that the hikers in front of him were either moving too slowly, too erratically, stopping too often, or that they weren’t paying enough attention to where they were going.  This hike was no exception.  As they reached the narrow section of the trail, Noah was in the lead.  He stopped and turned around waiting for the others to catch up.  “OK, we need to take this section of the trail single file.  Figure out where you want to be in the pack because you won’t be able to easily change positions until we get through this section of the trail.  It also can be gusty on this side of the mountain so keep close to the cliff on the right side of the trail.”

About half-way up the narrow section of the trail, Noah came face to face with debris on the trail.  It looked like a large bush or tumbleweed had wedged itself into a crack in the cliff and extended across the trail.  While he was looking it over trying to figure out the best way to move it off the trail, the others stopped just behind him.  “OK, gang, we have our first challenge.  It would be too dangerous to try to climb over this or move around it.  I think I’m going to try to push it over the side.  I’m just trying to figure out the best way of doing this.”

Oliver spoke up, “Maybe we should just leave it and head back down the trail.  Even from here we can get a pretty good view of the valley.  We don’t want to start our trip off with any injuries.”  Oliver apparently didn’t realize that this would only make Noah more determined to continue.

“Don’t worry; I’m not going to take any chances,” Noah replied with some noticeable irritation.  As he spoke he looked up the side of the mountain trying to see where the bush had dropped from.  He didn’t see any bushes like it growing on the cliff above.  He could see the continuation of the trail as it switched back about 20 feet above.  He wished he had brought some tools with him.  He didn’t even have a pair of gloves to wear while he grabbed onto the bush.  First he tried pushing it forward on the trail, but it didn’t budge.  Then he tried pushing it to the left off the trail using the cliff as leverage.  He couldn’t seem to get enough of an angle.  Finally, he tried gently pulling it straight out of the crack in the cliff.  He was careful to keep his weight forward towards the cliff as he pulled.  There seemed to be some give as he pulled.  Suddenly the bush sprung out of the crack launching the bush and Noah over the side.  Noah landed hard on the ledge below, fortunately rolling back towards the cliff.  The bush continued over the side disappearing somewhere below.

“Oh my God!  Noah, are you all right?” 

“I’m OK, just bruised.”  He had scraped his leg in several places as he landed.  Blood was slowly oozing from several spots on his leg and thigh.  He stood up shakily.  Luckily he hadn’t smashed his head or broken anything.  It hurt to stand, but he thought he would be able to slowly hike down the mountain.  At first he wasn’t sure how he could get back up to the trail, but then he noticed a rock on the ledge that he could maybe stand on and reach up.  Oliver and Lucas together should be able to pull him back up to the trail. 

And so it was.  They were able to get Noah back up to the trail and then they all slowly walked Noah back down to the cabin. 

When they finally arrived back at the cabin, Noah was still limping and bleeding.  They sat him down in a chair on the front porch.  “There’s a first aid kit in the common bathroom closet.  It’ll have antiseptic and bandages,” Noah advised.

Isabella opened the closet in the bathroom and the light flooded into it.  She immediately noticed the first aid kit on the bottom shelf.  As she reached for it she glanced at a number of small bottles on the shelf above it.  One ancient bottle with darkly colored amber glass caught her attention.  It had a worn label with the skull and crossbones symbol of poison.  She briefly recalled the discussion they had all had about this bottle on their previous trip to the cabin.  Apparently Noah’s father had gotten it from somewhere and put it there with his other collection of ancient bottles.  There even appeared to be some liquid left in the bottle, although no one knew whether it really was poison. 

After she retrieved the first aid kit, all three couples watched as Isabella cleaned each of Noah’s scrapes and then applied a generous portion of antiseptic from a bottle in the kit.  She then covered each of the scrapes with bandages.  “I’ll dress these again in a few hours.  None of the injuries look all that serious to me.”

The rest of the day was filled with activity as they all found various things to do.  Some walked to the lake and sun bathed on the small beach.  Others milled around the cabin.  Noah mostly remained in his chair, occasionally hobbling to the bathroom or kitchen.  He tried to read, but found himself nodding off frequently.  Several times he complained about feeling odd and a little headachy.  But he guessed that was to be expected after his fall.  Every few hours Isabella took another look at his injuries and applied new bandages and antiseptic.  Around 5pm they opened a couple of bottles of wine and began drinking, laughing, and talking.  Emma and Isabella began working on dinner. 

After dinner they continued partying until Noah began to complain of feeling sick.  He told Isabella he needed to get to bed.  Shortly thereafter, each couple headed off to their respective bedrooms. 

Around 7am the next morning a scream rang out through the cabin.  As people ran from their bedrooms into the main cabin room, Isabella stood at the open door of the storage room she and Noah had been using as a bedroom yelling “He’s dead!  Noah’s dead!”

Shortly thereafter we were called in.

We quickly learned how Noah was killed.  It was determined that poison in the antiseptic applied to Noah’s wounds killed him.  Isabella was the person (and apparently the only person) to apply the antiseptic to Noah’s wounds, but that didn’t mean she was necessarily the murderer.  She may not have known that the antiseptic she applied to Noah’s wounds was poisoned.  So the key question was how the antiseptic came to be poisoned? 

First, where did the poison come from?  That question too was quickly answered.  The poison came from the ancient jar sitting on the shelf of the closet in the bathroom, the same closet that stored the first aid kit.  The lab was able to conclusively determine that the poison in the antiseptic was not only the same kind of poison as that in the jar, but that it also came from what was in the jar.  The poison in the jar contained impurities that were also found in the antiseptic. 

Someone must have poured some of the poison from the poison jar into the antiseptic jar.  But who?  That person would be our murderer.  In trying to determine this we first had the lab examine the poison and antiseptic jars to try to determine who had handled the jars.  In this case, the poison jar was completely wiped clean.  The lab was unable to get any finger prints from it.  The lab was only able to get one set of prints from the antiseptic jar, those of Isabella.  It appears that the antiseptic jar had also been wiped clean some time before Isabella began touching it. 

Other than Isabella, who else could have poured poison from the poison jar into the antiseptic jar?  Everyone knew about the poison jar from a discussion they had about it on their previous trip to the cabin.  Unfortunately, other than the victim himself, we could not rule out any of the 6 who came to the cabin.  The bathroom with the closet that contained the poison jar and the first aid kit was a common bathroom used by everyone.  Anyone who had entered the bathroom could have done it.  And since the time of the injury everyone at one time or other had used that bathroom.

In short, we had no way to independently determine who poured poison from the poison jar into the antiseptic jar.   Everyone had the means to do so.  We had to determine who the murder was another way.

Next we looked at the sequence of events.  Noah comes to the cabin with his injuries.  Isabella immediately goes into the bathroom and gets the first aid kit.  She then attends to Noah’s injuries.  The only person who could have put the poison into the antiseptic jar prior to Isabella’s first application of the antiseptic to Noah’s injuries was Isabella.  No one else in the cabin had had time to get into the bathroom between the time Noah arrived at the cabin and the time Isabella first applied the antiseptic to Noah’s injuries. 

However, the antiseptic was applied 3 more times to Noah’s wounds after the first initial application.  A second application was given a couple of hours after the first and a third of hours after the second.  The last application was applied just before Noah went to bed.  It seems clear that by the time of the third application Noah was already suffering from the effects of the poisoning.  If so, the poison had to have been put into the antiseptic jar sometime before the first or second application. 

Unfortunately, we cannot rule out either application.  It’s true that Noah first started complaining about not feeling well about an hour after the first application.   Maybe he was already starting to feel the effects of the poison.  On the other hand, maybe he was just suffering from the injuries themselves and not from the poison.   It’s possible that Noah’s poisoning occurred with the second application and not the first.  Although Isabella can’t be ruled out as a suspect, other suspects would include anyone who could have put the poison into the antiseptic jar between the time of the first application and the second application.  Unfortunately, other than the victim himself, we could again not rule out any of the 6 who came to the cabin.  This includes Isabella.  So it appears that everyone in the cabin had both the means and opportunity to kill Noah. 

Next we considered motive.  Let’s start with Isabella.  Noah worked at his father’s company, Grange Medical Supplies, as Director of Human Resources.  As part of his compensation package, he was given a half-million dollar life insurance policy, which will now go to Isabella.  In addition, Isabella is entitled to Noah’s pension plan which currently contains close to a million dollars in benefits over her life time.  So Isabella clearly has a financial motive for killing Noah, since she will gain total control over these assets.  However, it’s not clear why she would want to kill Noah now, since she would gain these assets and much more if she waited to kill him, say, in 5 years.  Is there anything that has happened recently that would give her a reason to want Noah dead at this particular time?  We were not able find anything.

What about Lucas and Mia Taylor?  They had only recently become friends with Noah and Isabella after moving to the area about 6 months earlier.  Given their general lack of history with the Grange’s, it would seem unlikely that anything in the last months would give one or both of them a reason to murder Noah.  To the contrary, Noah had recently helped Lucas get a job at Grange working with him in the Human Resources department.  Why would he want to kill Noah, one of his advocates at the company?  We also looked into whether Noah and Mia may have had some sort of romantic or sexual relationship.  If so, this might give Isabella, Lucas, and possibly even Mia herself as well, some sort of motive for killing Noah.  Isabella and Lucas would have a motive to kill Noah because he was cheating on them.  Mia might have a motive if, for example, Noah had decided to end the affair.   But we couldn’t find any evidence that Noah and Mia were romantically or sexually involved with each other. 

We also looked into the Taylor’s backgrounds and we discovered one interesting thing.  Lucas had been fired from a previous job he held.  When we inquired with the CEO of the company why he was fired, the CEO said that they suspected that Lucas may have stolen some company funds.  Lucas denied it and the company was never able to prove it, but they decided to let him go anyway.  We checked with the Security Chief at Grange as to whether anything similar to this was suspected there.  According to the Chief, a theft had occurred at the company a month earlier.  Some expensive diagnostic equipment had been stolen.  But according to the Chief, no specific employee was suspected.  They weren’t even sure whether it was an employee.  It’s possible a vendor or service worker had stolen the equipment.  It’s theoretically possible that Lucas was guilty of this and that Noah was in a position to discover it, which would then give Lucas a motive for killing Noah, but we have no concrete evidence that this was the case. 

What about Emma and Oliver George?  They have been friends with the Taylor’s for many years.  During our interview with Mia we learned one very important fact.  Mia had discovered that Noah and Emma had had a brief affair.  Completely by accident one day she had spotted the two of them lying together in a secluded area of a nearby beach.  We confronted Emma about this.  She eventually confessed to having had a brief affair with Noah, which she claimed had ended a couple of months ago.  She claimed that it had ended amicably and she believed that neither Isabella nor Oliver were aware of it.  She was sure Oliver had never learned of it, for she had no doubt he would confront her about it if he had.  And she said that Noah was sure Isabella never learned of it. 

Nevertheless, we cannot rule out the possibility that either or both Oliver and Isabella had learned of it somehow, but kept their knowledge quiet.  So it’s possible that one or the other of them had a motive to kill Noah.  And we can’t rule out the possibility that Emma had a motive.  We have just her word that the affair ended amicably. 

The problem, however, is that all we have are possible motives.  We have nothing concrete.  Several members of the party may have had a motive, but we can’t establish that they actually did have one.  None of this really helps us.  Motive doesn’t help us.  We have nothing definite there.  Opportunity doesn’t help us either, since everyone had the opportunity to poison the antiseptic.  And since the poison was already there in the closet along with the first aid kit, everyone had the means to pour the poison into the antiseptic jar.

“Part 2”

When motive, means, and opportunity don’t help you solve a crime, what do you do?  As I mentioned earlier, you look into the details.  MMOD:  Motive, Means, Opportunity, and Details. 

First we examined the hike and accident that started the whole mess.  One of my deputies interviewed the rangers at the station near the entrance to the park.  Some hikers reported to the station about 3 days before the incident that they intended to hike up the Lookout Point trail, and they left contact information with the station.  We contacted and interviewed the hikers.    They reported that they had indeed hiked to the top of Lookout Point without incident.  There was no debris across the trail at the time they hiked it. 

So the debris had come to be on the trail just a day or two prior to the incident.  That certainly seems suspicious.  It raises the question whether the debris had been placed on the trail deliberately just prior to the trip?  Was it an earlier failed attempt to murder Noah?  We examined the slot in the cliff where the debris had been wedged, but found no evidence that it had been placed there deliberately.  All we found was evidence of Noah’s efforts to dislodge the branch from the cliff. 

In the end we concluded that it was unlikely to be an earlier attempt to kill Noah.  Falling off the side of the trail at that location would be unlikely to kill anyone.  The ledge below would catch them before they could fall further.  Surely the murderer would not be so stupid as to think it would kill anyone.  The worst that could reasonably be expected to happen is what did happen.  The victim would fall off the trail to the ledge below.  That might injure the victim, but it would be extremely unlikely to kill him. 

The additional details about the hike didn’t help us either.  The murder appeared to be a crime of opportunity.  The murderer was surely among the party at the cabin.  The murderer saw an opportunity to kill Noah by poisoning the antiseptic in the first aid kit and took advantage of that opportunity.  But we were no closer to determining which person in the group was the murderer. 

Next we examined the details about the trip to the cabin and about the days leading up to the trip.  We interviewed each member of the party.  The convoy started at Noah’s and Isabella’s house.  The first stop along the way was at an In-N-Out Burger for lunch.  Two things of note occurred.  First, a couple of the people interviewed reported that Isabella and Noah appeared to be arguing as they pulled into the restaurant parking lot.  The argument though stopped when they got out of the car.  They appeared friendly with each other while they were in the restaurant.  We asked Isabella about the argument.  She said it was nothing.  She said that Noah had complained, as he often did, about her “navigation techniques” as he drove.  He thought she should be paying more attention and given him more advanced notice of turns he needed to make.  This was nothing new, she said.  This often happened when they traveled together.

The other thing of note was the fact that Lucas didn’t seem to have much of an appetite, which was very unusual for him.  He barely ate half of his burger and he handed over most of his fries to the others in the group.  When Mia asked him about it, he said he was fine.  He just wasn’t that hungry.

Typically when traveling to the cabin, Noah stopped at a gas station just before the turnoff to the park.  He did so on this occasion and the others followed him into the station.  They would all need to fill up at some point for the trip home and this seemed like a convenient place to do it.  Lucas and Noah and Oliver each filled their cars with gas while the ladies rummaged through the small store for last minute snacks and supplies. 

A sign on the window of the gas station store advertised lottery tickets.  According to the sign, the current jackpot was now at $16 million.  On a whim, Lucas suggested they each buy $10 worth of lottery tickets and agree to share any winnings.  The drawing was to take place a couple of days later while they were all at the cabin.  It would be fun to watch the drawing on the web site over a few drinks.  As Lucas and Noah walked towards the store door, Oliver was busy checking the air in his tires.  “Have Emma get the tickets and choose the numbers.  I need to finish checking my tires.”

Everyone was also interviewed about the days at home leading up to the trip.  It wasn’t clear what purpose this would serve, but details sometimes lead into unexpected areas.  On the 3 days before the trip Noah and Lucas both worked at Noah’s father’s business.  Except for an hour or two, here and there, they spent their days at the office.  According to Isabella, Noah and she stayed at home during the evenings.  Isabella’s sister did have dinner with them one evening.  We talked to the sister.  She reported that nothing unusual happened at dinner that evening.

Lucas’s wife Mia worked as a dance instructor.  She had dance sessions over each of the 3 days leading up to the trip.  Between the dance sessions she reported performing chores in the studio as well as bookkeeping.

Oliver’s schedule was the most varied.  He reported having been recently laid off from the technology company he had worked for.  Generally, he said, he spent his days searching, applying, and interviewing for jobs.  He reported having 2 phone interviews over the 3 days leading up to the trip.  We asked for the names of the companies he interviewed with.  We called them and confirmed they had indeed interviewed him, one of interviews taking place on the day before the trip. 

Oliver’s wife Emma worked for a small marketing agency.  She had worked the previous 3 days.  Both she and Oliver reported spending their evenings prior to the trip at home.    

We also investigated all of the credit card transactions and phone calls over the days leading up to the trip.  There were no unexpected transactions or calls by any of the people in the group. 

I studied the reports from all the interviews.  As I considered all the reports, I wondered about one of the details in the report.  I asked one of my deputies to investigate further.  A few hours later he called and told me what he had learned.  Shortly thereafter we sent a car out to arrest the murderer. 

It was all there in the details.

“Epilogue”

When you examine the details you look for two things.  First, of course, you look for any detail that seems suspicious or odd.  There were a couple of such details on the trip over, namely, the argument between Isabella and Noah and Lucas’s poor appetite.  Upon examination, nothing much came of these.  But it’s not just the suspicious or odd details that you need to look at.  Seemingly innocuous actions or activities can indicate possibilities you may have overlooked. 

You have probably figured out by now which detail gave away the murderer.  In this case it was the fact that Oliver, unlike everyone else in the party, did not enter the gas station store to buy lottery tickets or snacks.  Of course, it might be just as he said:  He needed to check the air in his tires.  But if we discounted his stated reason, was there another alternative reason why he wouldn’t want to go into the store? 

And that’s when it hit me.  Maybe Oliver had wanted to avoid being seen by the store manager.  Why?  Because maybe he had been to the store on an earlier occasion and didn’t want to reveal that fact.  Maybe he had stopped for gas there on a previous day.  He would have had to go into the store to pay for the gas unless he used a credit card at the pump.  We know he didn’t use a credit card to pay for gas at that station because there was no transaction reported.  So he would have needed to pay cash for the gas. 

Moreover, Oliver could have traveled to the lake on one of the days leading up to the trip.  In fact he was the only member of the party who could have traveled there on one of the previous days.  He did have a telephone job interview the day before the trip.  We confirmed that.  But he could have been anywhere when he had that interview.  I asked my deputy to show the store manager a picture of Oliver to see if he recognized him.  The store manager recognized Oliver immediately. 

If he had come up a day or two earlier it could only be to prepare for the murder.  We had assumed that the murder was a murder of opportunity.  Noah “accidentally” is thrown off the trail to Lookout Point.  The murderer sees the opportunity to poison the antiseptic and kill Noah.  But if Oliver had come up the day before he could have poisoned the antiseptic at that time.  Noah’s “accident” on the trail was not an attempt to kill him directly.  It was an attempt to bruise him so that antiseptic is applied to the wound.  The poisoned antiseptic was all along intended to be the murder weapon. 

When interrogated, Oliver eventually confessed.  He had learned about Emma’s affair with Noah.  He didn’t say anything because he was afraid he would have to move out.  Since losing his job he wouldn’t be able to pay for another place and he needed Emma’s income until he was able to get his own job.  He was also angry at Noah for not helping him get a job at his father’s business.  Noah helped Lucas, who he had only known for a few months, get a job there.  Why wouldn’t he help Oliver, who he had been friends with for many years?  There may have also been a third reason.  Lucas seemed to think that Noah’s wife Isabella was attracted to him.  And it was clear from several things he said that he had thought very highly of Isabella.  Perhaps Lucas believed that eliminating Noah would open up the possibility of a closer relationship with Isabella. 

I asked Oliver how he came up with his plan for murdering Noah.  His original idea was to create an “accident” on the Lookout Point trail.  He knew Noah would take the lead on the trail.  He brought a knapsack worth of tools with him when he drove up to the lake the day before their planned trip.  He wasn’t sure what kind of accident he could set up, but he recalled the narrow section of trail with the drop-off from their previous hike.  He thought maybe he could cause a part of that section of the trail to give-way when it was stepped on, so that the hiker would fall to his death over the side of the mountain.  But when he looked at that section of the trail, he realized that a fall off the trail there would be unlikely to kill the victim; just scrape him up.  And he also realized that he would never be able to set up a part of the trail to give-way and make it look like an accident. 

Oliver said, “That’s when I noticed the crack in the cliff next to the trail with part of a bush growing out of it.  I thought he might be able to create a “spring” that would throw Noah off the trail with enough momentum to throw him over the ledge to his death.  But once I made it, I realized that when triggered there would probably not be enough thrust to toss Noah off the ledge.  I left the trap there anyway and headed back down the trail.  If nothing else, at least it would injure Noah.”

“On the way down the trail I remembered the first aid kit and the poison in the closet.   Since I knew where a key to the cabin was hidden the rest easily fell into place.  I entered the cabin and poured some of the poison into the antiseptic jar.  I didn’t know whether the liquid in the poison jar was actually poison.  No one, of course, had tested it! But I hoped it was.” 

Oliver’s plan almost worked, except for just one small detail!  MMOD!

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“Dying Slowly”

As he ran up the trail he reflected on how he had come to be in this small town at the foot of the Andes.  Midway through his last year in high school he had run away from home looking, as he put it to himself, for adventure.  Starting in Mexicali, Mexico he had decided to take the train as far South as it would go.  But after several grueling days, he had jumped off the train at this stop, exhausted from standing up in the train for days, filthy dirty from the black soot coming in through the open windows, and sick from food he should never have eaten.

He laughed to himself as he remembered how the Mexicans at the Mexicali train station had run for the open passenger cars as soon as the gate opened.  He had hesitated because he had assumed there would of course be a seat for him, since he had been sold a ticket.  But that was not the way it worked.  The only spot he could find by the time he got on the train was leaning against the wall in the front of one of the cars, trying to avoid the feet of the passengers sitting in the first row.  Thankfully, they were nice.  Mom and Dad were on the seat with a young girl sitting on their laps.  A young boy was sitting next to them, almost in the isle, on one of their suitcases.  Not much room left for his feet. 

Despite the heat, the car wasn’t air conditioned, so all the windows were open.  Black smoke poured in from the engine a couple of cars in front of them.  There was nothing on the train to eat but baloney sandwiches:  one piece of meat between two pieces of white bread with a little mayonnaise and lettuce (which would have made him sick if he had eaten it).  There was nothing to drink but coke and beer.  He craved a glass of water, but he hadn’t been stupid enough to drink the water from the faucets in the bathrooms or the drinking fountains between the cars.  But he had been desperate enough to buy a plate of food from a vendor at one of the stops.  The food tasted wonderful, but within hours he began to get sick from it. 

After several days of this Hell, he bailed when the train stopped at this small town.  Now he was renting a small shack on some land owned by a local farmer.  The floor was dirt and the building didn’t have window panes or a door.  Not much, but it provided some protection from sun, wind, and rain.  And it was cheap (“almost free,” as the vendors say). 

He was running up the mountain trail from the town.  For weeks, he had been running every day up the trail as far as he could go.  Each day he would try to go a little bit farther.  He could now run up the trail several miles, past several lookout spots where you could look down the mountain through the thick forest trees and see the trail weaving up through them. 

Each morning before he ran, he studied and wrote for several hours.  He was reading and studying Plato’s Republic.  In it Plato talked about the need to improve oneself physically and as well as mentally.   Taking Plato seriously, he had initiated his own running and fitness program.

——————-

The trailhead up the mountains was about a mile from his shack.  On the way to it he ran by a large, wealthy Hacienda.  One day on his way back, one of the workers at the Hacienda called out to him as he ran by.  He said his name was Miguel and that Mistress Mariella would like him to join her for a glass of lemonade. 

After cleaning up back at his shack, he returned and was led back to the inner plaza where Mariella sat in the shade under a large umbrella.  “Welcome.  My name is Mariella.  I have seen you running by here for weeks.  I know you are not from this town.  Please sit down and tell me what brings you here.”  She looked to be maybe in her late 20’s.  She had long, soft dark hair and very dark, brown eyes. 

“Thank you for asking me here.  Here, I call myself Francisco.  At home I’m called Frank. I came from the U.S. by train.  I got off here because I couldn’t stand the train any more.  I started out looking for a little adventure, but I haven’t really found any.”

“I’ve seen you reading and writing in the mornings.  What are you reading?”

“You’ve seen me reading?  I’ve never seen you around my shack.”

“I sometimes walk along the fence next to your place heading to the market.”

“I’m reading Plato’s Republic.  I only had room for one book in my pack and decided to take that one.”

“That’s not a bad choice.  It’s filled with interesting ideas.”

“You’re familiar with it?”

“Yes, we read that in Humanities class at the University.”

“Oh, you’ve been to the University!  I’m planning on going to the University when I return to the U.S.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt this pleasant conversation, but my mother is signaling me that we need to start preparing food for supper.  Thank you for stopping by.  If you like, please stop by again tomorrow after your run.  We’ll have more time to talk.  But before you go, let me introduce you to my mother.” 

Mariella’s mother had been discretely sitting the whole time on the other side of the plaza looking off to the side, but still able to observe Mariella and Francisco out of her peripheral vision.   Mariella and Francisco got up and walked over to her.  When they arrived at her table, Mariella’s mother said, “Welcome to our hacienda.  I am sorry I need Mariella’s help today.  Please stop by again.”

——————————–

Over the next several weeks, Mariella and Francisco talked together several times a week, all in the hacienda plaza with her mother sitting off to the side. 

On this particular day after they had been talking for about an hour, Mariella leaned forward:  “Do you not like the way I look?  Or maybe you think I’m too old for you.  Don’t you want to kiss me?”

“Of course I want to kiss you!  I, ah, didn’t realize it would be proper.  What about your mother?”

“My mother has also been wondering why you haven’t kissed me!  She has suggested that I try another look for you, with my hair behind my ears and redder lipstick.”

Mariella was still leaning towards him, only a foot away.  He leaned forward and slowly met her lips as he looked into her eyes.  They kissed gently for several long seconds before pulling away.  Francisco was a bit stunned, but Mariella just looked at him and smiled, sighing sweetly.  Suddenly she seemed to him like the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.

—————————

Several days later as he ran all he could think about was Mariella.  It had been difficult not seeing her for this long, but her father had had visitors and it wasn’t possible.  Anxious to finish his run and get to the hacienda, he began running faster and faster up the mountain.

Finally, after returning from his run and cleaning up he went over to the hacienda.  Miguel wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but the gate was partially open.  He looked around but saw no one.  Finally, he began walking through the gate and back towards the inner plaza. 

It was odd that there wasn’t anyone around.  Gardeners and other workers had always been active before when he had come over. 

He rounded the corner to the plaza.  “What was Mariella doing lying on her stomach on the ground?  What?  In a pool of blood?  What?”  Paralyzed with shock he stood staring at the body of Mariella lying on the ground.  And just beyond her body was her mother’s body. 

Someone was shouting behind him.  It was Miguel.  “Run.  Run.  Get away.  They will kill you.  Run now!”

He turned around and stumbled back just as he heard loud shots and shouting.  Bullets hit the ground around him.  He began to run, naturally heading towards the mountain trail he always ran to.  He ran fast, not looking back until he reached the head of the trail.   When he turned to look, he saw that no one was near and no one was chasing him.  But in the distance coming from the direction of the hacienda, a couple of men with rifles were casually walking slowly in his direction. 

—————————–

He decided to run up the trail to the first lookout point.  From there he would be able to see down to the trail head.  When he reached the lookout point he saw that the two men he had seen walking earlier were now sitting in some shade under a tree a short distance away from the trail head.  Now he saw that they were wearing boots and some sort of uniform, like soldiers.  It would be difficult to get by them undetected.  He wondered if there was a way around them from the trail, but he didn’t know of any.  

He decided to wait them out.  In the meantime he needed water.  The trail intersected the South side of the river in a number of places.  Here the river was about 15 feet below the trail with fairly easy access.  He carefully climbed down to the water and drank his fill.  What he really needed was a canteen or at least a bowl or cup to carry some water back with him, but he didn’t see anything he could use.    The best he could do was to wash and soak his shirt in the river.  That would cool him down a little, and give him another sip or two of water before it dried. 

He rested in a shady spot near the lookout point.  Every so often he checked the trailhead.  The two soldiers still hadn’t moved. 

Hours passed and it began to get dark.  He would have to spend the night here, which was not a big deal.  At home, he mostly slept outside.  He began building himself a mattress of leaves.

—————————

The horrible images of Mariella and her mother, the fear from being shot at, and the adrenalin pumping through him made it difficult to sleep, but eventually he must have.   He awoke just as it was getting light.   

He looked down to the trailhead hoping that the two men had abandoned their post.  But now there were other men with them.  Five men were wearing military-type uniforms and carried rifles.  They also had revolvers holstered to their belts.  A sixth man was dressed differently from the others.  Perhaps he was an Indian from one of the local indigenous tribes. 

After climbing down to the river for water, he continued hiking up the trail.  He could better assess the situation from the next lookout point. 

As he hiked he looked around for food.  He saw fruit hanging in some of the trees.  The monkeys ate it, so presumably it would be OK for him to eat.  But it looked difficult and dangerous to climb up the trees to get it. 

There were fish in the river, lots of them.  If he caught one, he would have to eat it raw, but he guessed that wouldn’t hurt him any.  To catch one he would have to build some sort of fish trap.  But he didn’t think he would have enough time to build a trap and wait for fish to fall into it.  He had to stay ahead of the soldiers coming after him.

At the next lookout point he stopped and looked back down the trail.  The soldiers were moving up the trail slowly.  The Indian was in the lead, constantly studying the trail as they moved.  His pursuers didn’t appear to be in any hurry, which puzzled him a little.  How did they expect to catch him at this pace?  He could easily stay well ahead of them.

After hiking for a few more hours he started looking for another way down to the river for water.  He found one, but now the river was about 20-25 feet below the trail.  It was not as easy to get down to the river and back up.  He was breathing hard when he got back up to the trail. 

The heat was starting to feel more and more oppressive.  His face felt hot, almost as if he had a fever.  He would need to be drink more water to avoid getting dehydrated. 

 And his feet were getting sore.  Visiting Mariella, he had changed from the shoes he ran in to more comfortable sandals.  But they weren’t made for this kind of hiking.  He didn’t think they would hold up very long under this punishment.

Finally, and thankfully, it began to get dark.  At dark he could stop and rest.  His pursuers, he assumed, would have to do the same, and set up camp somewhere behind him.  

After finding access down to the river and drinking, he returned to his make-shift camp, made another mattress of leaves, and then dropped off to sleep from exhaustion.  He hoped this would be the last night of this. 

After some time had passed, he sat up looking around.  Something had woken him.  It was dark, but there was a little light coming through the canopy from the moon.  He wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep.  He could see flickers of light through the trees from a fire somewhere down the trail.  He could barely hear what sounded like laughing and singing.  Oh, so his pursuers were enjoying themselves!  Well, at least they weren’t chasing him.  He drifted off back to sleep.

—————— 

He awoke a little after day break, hungry, thirsty, weak, and stiff, but he had to get moving.  He should have been on the trail 40 minutes earlier.  He scrambled down to the river and drank what he could hold.  The river was now farther down from the trail and climb down was more difficult.  He was exhausted by the time he got back to the trail.  And he hadn’t even started hiking! 

As he struggled, he finally understood.  The soldiers weren’t trying to catch him.  They didn’t need to.  They just needed to keep chasing him.  While they were chasing him, he would never have enough time to find and gather food, drink enough water to prevent dehydration, or recover from the exertion.  He was slowly dying of hunger, thirst, and exhaustion.  Eventually, he would just collapse on the trail. 

What would they do when they finally caught up to him?  Probably just shoot him and head back down the trail.  Why did they care this much about him?  He had no idea.

Despair washed over him.  What could he do?  He couldn’t fight them.  They were five men with guns and he had no weapons, not even a knife.  He could try hiding from them somewhere along the trail.  But the Indian tracker would quickly spot that he had left the trail.  And where would he go if he went off-trail?  He couldn’t go far and would eventually have to come back to the trail.  He could try to get around his pursuers and head back down the trail, but then he would be trapped between his pursuers and the men at the trail head. 

That night, a few hours after stopping for the night and falling asleep, he awoke to shouting and laughter from below.  The soldiers were taunting him:  “Come on down for supper.  We have delicious fish, freshly caught, and we have rice and beans.  Come down and eat with us!”

—————– 

He awoke to a decision.  He had to take the fight to them.  They had to feel a cost for coming after him.  If they did, then maybe they would stop.  It would be difficult, especially now given his weakness.  He would probably be killed in the process, but he was already dying, just more slowly.   One thing was clear.  Whatever he did, he had to act now while he still had some strength left.

He had only the beginnings of a plan. He climbed down to the river one last time for water.  He wouldn’t be able to stop for water for many hours.  He started to hike up the trail as fast as could manage in his weakened state.  He had to get sufficient distance ahead of the men chasing him, so he would have enough time to double back off-trail to their location.  And he needed to achieve this sometime before dark.  Although he felt feverish from dehydration, he actually felt a little better.  He was fighting back!

Three hours before dark, he began climbing down to the river.  Finally he could drink after hours of relentless thirst.  But this time after drinking, he didn’t return to the trail.  Instead, he began walking (‘stumbling’ might be a better word) along the river bank.  It was very slow going.  He had to stay close to the shore, holding on to branches and boulders along the shore to keep from slipping and being carried down the river. 

As it began to get darker, he heard his pursuers.  They appeared to be stopping to set up camp on the trail just above him, a little further down.  This was just where he wanted them to be.  He had to stop and wait.  He couldn’t take a chance they would spot him or hear him moving below them. 

—————- 

After the soldiers quieted down and seemed to be sleeping, he began climbing slowly up from the river towards the trail, moving at a slant to intersect with their camp.  There was a very small amount of light from the moon, which thankfully was rising behind the camp, and not behind him.  He climbed mostly by feel, careful to keep as quiet as possible. 

He finally arrived at the river side of the camp.  The camp was partially on the trail, but extended over a clear patch on the other side.  A small fire was slowly dying out. 

He stood just outside the camp hidden behind a tree.  The men all appeared to be asleep.  Now what?  He hadn’t really thought this through.  He would fight back.  But what should he do exactly?  He began having second thoughts.   Maybe he should forget about attacking them and just circle around them and head down the trail.  No, he knew that wouldn’t work.  He would be trapped between these men and the men at the trailhead.

He needed a weapon.   He found a broken branch on the ground which he could use as a club.  But how much damage could he do to them with just a club?  He was beginning to panic.  Just then the man lying closest to him started rising from the blanket he had been lying on.  As he did so, he picked up his revolver and began walking towards where Francisco was standing.  Then he turned his back to Francisco and began peeing in the weeds.  Francisco smashed his club down on the man’s head, much harder than what was needed.   Did the other men hear the blow?  The man fell to the ground, no doubt dead. 

Francisco was shaking uncontrollably and gasping for breath.  He didn’t dare move until he was calmer.  He stared at the other men checking whether they were disturbed by the noise of the clubbing or the man falling to the ground.  Then he remembered the gun the man had been carrying.  He felt around on the ground until he found it. 

He looked in again at the camp.   Two men were sleeping about 5 feet apart directly across from him on the other side of the trail.  A third was to his right of him lying on his side of the trail.  The Indian and the fourth man were on the far side of the camp to his right.   He felt his anger rising as he watched the men sleeping calmly.

Slowly and quietly, he moved towards the two men directly across from him.  He held the revolver with both hands pointing it at them.  He closed in as far as he dared.  He practiced pointing the gun first to the man on the left and then to the man on the right.  He visualized then turning and moving quickly to the third man on his lower right. 

He pulled the trigger on the first man.  The explosion was deafening in the quiet of the forest.  Then he pointed at the second man and shot again.  He immediately turned to the third man and began shooting as he moved towards him.  He saw the man grab his rifle and start to turn it towards him.  Francisco kept shooting until the gun ran out of bullets.  The man in front of him collapsed onto the ground.

He defenselessly turned to face the fourth man, expecting to be shot.  But when the shooting started the fourth man had leaped from his blanket and ran down the trail.  He hadn’t even taken his rifle, which was still lying near his blanket.  Francisco grabbed the rifle and pointed it towards the Indian.  The Indian was motionlessly sitting with his back against a tree and his hands out to his sides.  Francisco pointed the rifle at the Indian and told him to go.  The Indian nodded and left quickly down the trail.

Francisco went around to each man gathering up the weapons.  The first and third men seemed dead.  The second man was holding his arms against his chest, groaning in pain.  Francisco ignored the groaning man and opened a blanket on the ground.  He began throwing everything that might be useful on the blanket.  He would keep what he could carry and hide the rest.  He also stripped the dead men of their clothes and shoes. 

He was starting to leave when the injured man pleaded, “Please leave me water.  I can’t move to get to any.”  Francisco looked down at the groaning man.  “I don’t think so.  It’s your turn to die slowly.” 

With that he headed up the trail.  He didn’t know where the trail went, but he could never return to the town below. 

—————————————————————-

“What Doesn’t Kill You”

Chapter One

Sarah

It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Her family loved him and considered him a great catch.  They all thought he was smart, successful, and charming.  She agreed he was smart and successful.  And he was somewhat charming, even if a little boring.  Alan wasn’t unattractive, even if he wasn’t exciting.  And even though he wasn’t rich, as owner of an established successful business, money would never be an issue.  So why not marry him?  Certainly he wanted it.  She knew that from his point of view, he felt like he had died and gone to heaven. 

But after 2 years of marriage, she knew she had made a big mistake.  It wasn’t unpleasant around Alan, but she was totally bored with everything about her life now.  His devotion to her only made things worse.  She knew he wanted nothing more than to spend every waking and sleeping moment with her.  He was always thoughtful enough to give her private time, but she knew he had no particular interest in having his own private time.  His life seemed to go on hold until she came back around.

And when you’re unhappy, which she guessed she was, even a not-unattractive man begins to look unattractive.   “Why can’t he trim his nose hairs?”  “Does he have to get his hair cut that short?” “Why does he have to look so much like my father?”

What charm?  How could she ever have seen him as charming to any degree?  He just seems silly and a little stupid, even though she knows he is actually quite smart.

But what can she do?  Divorce?  Her mother and family would never understand that.  Her family’s deeply held religious views frown upon divorce, without a very good reason.  And they all love Alan and the respectability that comes from being married to a successful and well-respected member of the community.  From their point of view she cannot have done any better with her life.

She has even thought about killing Alan.  That would certainly solve all of her problems.  She could retain all the money and respectability without having to endure a life-with-Alan.  “Life-With-Alan”; it sounds like a TV sit-com, but nothing funny about it.  “Life-Without-Alan;” now that has a ring to it. 

But fantasizing is one thing.  She knows she can never get away with murder.  And even if somehow she can keep from going to jail, just the suspicion that she had something to do with it would be enough to ruin her image of respectability with her community and family. 

What can she do that doesn’t raise any suspicions about her?  Actually, she can do a lot of things that don’t raise suspicions.  The problem is that none of these things would get rid of Alan!  “And,” she thought to herself laughingly, “what doesn’t kill Alan only makes him stronger!” 

But that’s not really true, is it?  She had always thought the saying “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” was ridiculous.  What doesn’t kill you only makes you weaker!  And that gave her the idea.

Alan

 Alan loved a dip in the spa before work, especially when it was cold.  They kept the spa a little hotter than most people he talked to with spas, around 104-5 degrees.  5-10 minutes in the spa and any chills in the body just melted away. 

He was careful stepping onto the wooden deck from the concrete because he could see that the wood was a little wet.  But it all happened so fast!  One moment he was stepping onto the deck; the next moment he was falling backward.  He didn’t even have time to get his arm out behind him.  He felt his head strike the concrete.  He wasn’t sure whether he was losing consciousness.   And he felt a deep pain in his right thigh from catching his leg on the side of the planter box as he fell. 

He must have lost consciousness for a minute.  He came to hearing Sarah talking.  “Alan, help me if you can.  I need to get you inside out of the cold.”  He tried to push back with his legs as she tried to drag him across the concrete through the sliding door into his office.  After she got him inside she ran to get a pillow and blanket.  He lay back on the pillow groaning in pain.  From his position on the floor he heard Sarah yelling “I’m calling an ambulance.”

Several hours later he was back home resting on the couch.  He was diagnosed with having gotten a concussion.  The gash in his leg was not too deep but required stiches.  The doctor told him to change the bandage every night before bed. 

All in all, he was lucky.  It could have been much worse.  And there was an up-side.  That night his beautiful wife Sarah was there to change the bandage on his leg.  She seemed particularly lovely as she doted and fussed over him.  It was almost worth having the accident just for the attention.  He decided he was going to take the next day off from work.  Why not take advantage of spending more time with Sarah?  He would return to work later in the week or in the following week.  He wasn’t worried about his business.  His manager was completely capable of running things while he was gone.

The next day he felt better but his leg was itching and aching.  When he mentioned this to Sarah, she was quick to respond.  “OK, let me take a look at it.  I’ll put some more antiseptic on it and change the bandage.  We don’t want to take any chances with infection.  Let’s see if this helps.”

But it didn’t help.  That night the leg hurt more than ever and he even began to feel a little feverish.  When morning came they both took a close look at the wound.  It was obviously infected.  They agreed that he needed to see the doctor again and get some antibiotics. 

 Sarah

She was reasonably happy with the way it had worked out.  There were zero suspicions that the fall was anything but an accident.  And she was surprised how quickly the infection developed.  Again there were no suspicions.  It was easy to cover her tracks.  She had quickly cleaned the deck with solvent and dirt after the fall while Alan was on his way to the emergency room in the ambulance.  It was easy to dispose of the bandages she had contaminated with toilet fecal matter and drain sludge after she had applied them. 

She had removed some of the medicine from the antibiotic capsules in an effort to prolong the infection, but she was having only modest success.  To avoid detection, she was only able to give Alan the fake capsules when she personally administered them to him.  She didn’t want to alter any of the capsules in the medicine container itself.  So he got the genuine article whenever he took the medicine himself.  So he was probably getting more than half the dosage he was supposed to.  It was definitely reducing the infection, even if he wasn’t getting enough to totally eliminate it. 

Nevertheless, he was weaker than he was before the accident.  To that extent it was a success.  “What doesn’t kill him makes him weaker!”  Her next steps would build on this.

Alan

Now what was going on?  First the accident and infection, and now this.  And what was “this”?  Ever since his accident and it’s now been nearly a month since the accident, he was getting weird illnesses that would come and go.  One day he would feel a little dizzy and light-headed, but it would only last for a few hours.  Then he would be fine.  Then a day later he might feel nauseous and have some diarrhea.  But again it would only last a day and then he would be fine.  The worse thing that happened was some weird thing going on with his heart.  That scared him.  It felt like his heart was racing.  But it had only lasted a minute and hadn’t returned.

The worst part was that he didn’t have the energy he had before.  He was constantly tired and felt no desire to go to work.

He presumed these were after-effects of his accident:  the bump on the head and the infection.  The doctor had told him that there could be some lingering effects of the concussion and that he needed to take it easy.  He had had a follow-up examination by the doctor and the doctor said everything looked good.  He had told the doctor about his dizziness, but the doctor didn’t seem too concerned.  He said he just needed to take it easy after the concussion until he returned to normal.  But he found it difficult to “take it easy.”   

Sarah as always was wonderful.  But he worried about how things were for her.  Between his work and these strange illnesses (she had come to start calling them “Alan-isms”) they weren’t able to do the fun things they used to.  She said she didn’t mind.  She said she had plenty to do between managing the house and going to her various fitness classes.  Even so, he worried that despite what she said, she really did mind.

Sarah

She was amazed at how easy it all was.  She had created two concentrated extracts from daffodils and Angel’s trumpet.  Initially she had decided to mix the two together, but had changed her mind.  She now had two small bottles of extract from each separately.  She could administer small doses (“micro doses”) using a medicine dropper.  Having them separate gave her much more flexibility.  She could give him a little of the daffodil juice to cause nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea or she could give him the Angel’s trumpet to attack his heart and nervous system.  At some point she might even give him both together.  That would be interesting!

The key was to use small enough doses, infrequently enough that the effects never got to the point where he felt he needed to go to the emergency room.  She just wanted him to feel “crappy”.  What doesn’t kill him makes him weaker.  And it was working.  She could tell already that he was getting depressed and stressed from his various ailments and lack of energy. 

Alan

He was sitting on the couch feeling sorry for himself, feeling crappy with no energy, when Sarah came in.  She said, “Honey, I’ve been thinking.  We need to do something.  You’re starting to act like an old man.  We’ve got to get you out of this house and doing something fun and exciting.  That’s just what you need.  Staying home and resting all the time is not helping you.”

Alan was hurt, but he tried not to show it.  This was just what he had feared.  He was starting to lose her because he was no fun anymore.  He wanted to tell her that he was sorry, that there was something wrong with him and he just didn’t know what to do.  But that sounded so pathetic.  Instead, he just asked, “What do you think we should do?”

“Don’t laugh when I suggest this!  Just hear me out.  I’ve thought about it a lot.  We need an activity, something we can do together that will get us outdoors and out of the house, something exciting that will snap you out of your doldrums.  Remember don’t laugh!  We get two motorcycles, learn to drive them, and then take them out on some of our local mountain roads.  We can ride up to the lake and find nice places to picnic while we’re out riding in the mountains.”

“But you’ve never driven a motorcycle before, have you?  I sure haven’t.  I’m scared to death to even get on one.”

“No, I haven’t, but why should that stop us?  We can take lessons together and learn how to drive them safely.  That’s part of the fun.  I’m nervous too, but that’s part of the excitement.  We’ll take the lessons until we feel comfortable riding them on the streets.”

He wanted to say, “No.  Absolutely not.”  The idea was so ridiculous, so unlike anything he ever wanted to do, but he was afraid to say so.  He couldn’t disappoint her. 

Instead he just said, “Ok, we can explore the idea, but I don’t even know where to buy a motorcycle.”

“Don’t worry.  I’ve already looked into it.  I know just what to get and where to get it.  We don’t have to buy the two bikes.  We can just lease them for two years.  If we don’t like it we don’t renew the lease.  We won’t be out that much money.  And I’ve already found out where we can get training.”

Chapter 2

Alan

A week ago they had leased two new motorcycles from a local store named, of all things, “Hot Cycles”.  They had no idea what to get so they relied heavily on the salesman’s recommendations, ending up with two Honda Interstate bikes which they were told were good for mountain curves as well as general highway travel.  Together the two cycles leased for about the same as a moderately priced automobile.  Of course Sarah also insisted they buy matching motorcycle suits and colorful helmets.  As part of the sale the dealer agreed to store their motorcycles until they were able to drive them off the lot.       

For their first lesson, they met their trainer, Darrell, at a deserted parking lot about a mile from the dealer.  They watched nervously as Darrel unloaded his and their bikes from the trailer he had used to haul them from the dealer’s lot. 

Alan felt awkward and shy in his new one-piece riding suit.  It felt like he was shouting to the world that he was an experienced, cool rider, when he wasn’t even sure how to get on a bike.  He felt even more foolish that Darrell showed up wearing nothing but jeans.  Thankfully, Darrell didn’t comment on their outfits!  But wow did Sarah look beautiful in her suit, with her dark hair flowing down over the top of the suit.  Her dark eye liner matched the color of her suit.  Her lipstick, which seemed a little more reddish than usual, nicely contrasted with the deep dark color of her suit.  She was obviously excited and couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

Although he didn’t feel 100% well he did feel a little better.  No headaches and no stomach issues.  The sun and outdoors seemed to be just what he needed. 

Most of the first lesson was spent just learning about the bike:  Turning the bike on and off, taking their bikes off and on their stands, walking with their bikes, sitting on their bikes, working various controls.  The lesson was moving slowly, which was more than fine with Alan. 

He liked Darrel, who thankfully wasn’t younger than they were, probably in his mid-30s.  Darrel had told them that he used to race motorcycles, but had since given that up as too dangerous. 

More than half way through their first lesson, they finally began to drive their bikes.  They practiced just driving them in a straight line for short distances.  And then the first lesson was over. 

He was amazed at how exciting it was, even what little they did.  He could see that Sarah was feeling the same excitement and it felt wonderful to be experiencing it together.  For the first time in several months he felt more positive about life. 

The lessons continued for several weeks.  Each new lesson built on what they had previously learned.  They were both becoming much more comfortable on their bikes and were now able to ride around the parking lot with ease. 

Finally, Darrel decided they were ready to apply for licenses.  He generously took them to the DMV and helped them through the process.  Thanks to Darrell, they both easily passed.

The lessons continued but now they were riding from their house, where they were now storing their bikes, to nearby destinations on public roads.  Darrel was now even taking them up some nearby mountain roads to practice driving on slopes and curves. 

The evening after their last lesson they opened a bottle of nice champagne to celebrate.  As their glasses clinked Sarah said, “Here’s to going out on our own together!”

“How about getting out this weekend?  We don’t want get rusty!  Thank you, Sarah, for suggesting this.  It’s so nice to be doing this together.  And you were right.  It was just what I needed.  I have been feeling so much better since we started this.”

Sarah

She had reduced the amounts of poison plant extracts drastically while they were taking their lessons so that Alan would feel good about what they were now doing.  She could tell that he had somewhat regained his energy and optimism about life in general.  No doubt he attributed his revival to the motorcycle riding, the fresh air, the outdoors, and the adventure of it all. 

Alan was now going to the office more frequently and staying longer.  While he was gone she took her bike out to practice and to scout out locations for the “accident”.  She finally settled on one road that went up to the top of a nearby mountain and then dropped down to a reservoir on the other side.  There were a number of curves on the downgrade where the road ran near steep drops.  She had finally decided on a turn which looked like the most dangerous to miss. 

She would be on the inside of the lane riding with Alan side-by-side.  As they rounded the turn the plan was to move slightly ahead of Alan and then begin “drifting” in front of him forcing him off the road.  When his bike’s wheel hit the shoulder she hoped he would lose control and go right off the side.  She tried to picture Alan flying off the side of the cliff to try and gauge what she would feel when it finally happened.  She was a little surprised that she only pictured herself feeling free at last, with not the slightest feeling of remorse.

The timing of the accident was crucial.  She would have to stop any poisoning at least two weeks before the accident, so no poison would be in his system at the time of the accident.  Secondly, it should happen before Alan became too skilled a cyclist. 

The biggest risk was to her.  She had to maintain control of her bike while it “drifted”.  She wasn’t worried about Alan intentionally running into her, but if she moved too quickly in front of him his bike might accidentally bump hers.    

They were now getting out most weekends.  During the days leading up to a ride, she slowly reduced the extracts as the weekend drew near.  He had shared with her many times how the rides were “just what the doctor ordered,”  how he always felt better getting out.  She made sure to reinforce just that conception. 

The ironic thing was she was now enjoying her life and time with Alan much more than before.  And she wasn’t bored in the least.  But though this made it much easier for her to pretend around Alan, it hadn’t shaken her conviction about what she needed to do.

Alan

It took Alan by surprise.  For one split second he saw in the expression on her face and in her eyes, or thought he saw it: deep anger and disgust. But it quickly disappeared as she smiled and said, “Oh, Honey, you know this bowl goes in the corner cupboard, not in the cupboard over the stove.”

“Oh, I know that!  I must have gotten distracted, probably by you coming into the kitchen while I was doing dishes.  I can’t think when you’re around!”

“Whether that’s the reason, it’s nice to hear you say it.  I want you to be distracted when I’m around,” she said soothingly as she put her arms around him and pressed herself against him.

With that he tried to forget about the whole thing, but over the next few days, he couldn’t quite get Sarah’s look out of his mind.  It sure did look like deep anger, but maybe he had just imagined it.  Maybe she had just been struck at that moment by indigestion or something of that sort. 

He finally decided he was just being over-sensitive.  These strange illnesses were making him paranoid.  He knew he was worried that Sarah would become unhappy with him because he wasn’t enough fun.  Maybe his worry was now infecting how he viewed her attitudes towards him.

But it was puzzling.  He thought things were going so much better.  Although he was still having his strange health issues, they weren’t nearly as bad as before.  And he was able generally to at least act like he felt OK.

He found himself studying her more closely, not to bask in her beauty as he always did, but to try to figure out her general attitudes and feelings towards him. 

Sarah

Sarah had never taken Alan seriously, but now he was starting to annoy her.  “What an idiot?  No matter how many times I’ve showed him where that bowl goes, he still doesn’t know.  And yet he runs a successful company?  How does that happen?”

But she knew she had blown it.  How could she let him see her annoyance?  He definitely had reacted to her initial anger, even if she was able to quickly cover it up with a smile.  And though she wasn’t sure, and Alan hadn’t said anything, it seemed like Alan hadn’t forgotten what had happened.  He seemed to be watching her more closely, as if he wasn’t as sure of her as he was before.  And this, despite the fact that she had been especially nice to him these last several days, going out of her way to make him his favorite meals and wearing clothes (or not wearing clothes as the case might be) she knew he would enjoy seeing her in (or not in). 

She decided she needed to give him an alternative explanation of what he thought he had seen in her expression.  She sat down in the built-in cushion chair between the two cupboards at the back of the kitchen and said, “Alan, honey, would you do me a favor.  I have the worst headache.  Would you mind getting me a couple of Ibuprofen?  For the first time in my life I seem to be getting allergies.  Over the last week or so I just haven’t felt right.  I’m sorry I haven’t a better wife. ” 

She could see some relief wash over his face.    “Oh, Sarah, you never need to be sorry.  Just be yourself.  You don’t need to be the perfect wife.  I couldn’t be happier with you.  I love you so much!  I’ve never loved anyone more!”

In response, she wanted to tell him that she loved him, but she was afraid she couldn’t say the words in a convincingly enough manner.  She might only make things worse.  Instead she just ignored that part and said, “We have such a good life together.  I never dreamed I could have such a life.  You are so good to me.  I don’t deserve you.”

Alan

As he went to fetch the ibuprofen Alan’s momentary panic receded and his relief took hold.  “She had a headache!  That’s all it was.  What’s the matter with me?  I need to forget my past issues with women and just trust in what I have now.  I can’t blow this!”

“But why didn’t she tell me she loved me?”  Now that was bothering him although he was careful not to show it.  “She has a headache, but still, why not tell me that?  It would have been so easy.  And I practically invited her to say it.  What is the matter with me?  Why am I being so sensitive?”

Sarah

The next morning Sarah was sitting at one corner of the big couch in her bathrobe filing her nails.  Her nails didn’t really need filing, but it helped her to relax and think.  She looked up and smiled at Alan as he walked by heading for the kitchen.  He looked distracted.  He had barely glanced at her as he went by, probably just thinking about work.  Still, it was annoying.  Her bathrobe was partially open at the top and her breasts were almost spilling out.  That should have gotten his attention.  Usually it did.  Usually, he would come over and kiss her.  She would then take his hand and move it to her breast under her robe.  That never failed to excite him.  She knew of course that it wouldn’t go any further because he had to get to work.  

“Darling, come here and give me a kiss.”

“I’ll be right there.”   

Alan

“Why does she do this to me just when I’m leaving for work?”

That night when Alan returned Sarah greeted him at the door.  “You have to see what I bought.  It’s perfect!  It’s a small cooler that easily fits on our bikes.  It’ll keep our drinks and sandwiches cool for hours.  We can have a really nice picnic at the reservoir.”

“Do you know what the road is like over to the reservoir?  It’s not too curvy is it?”

“No I don’t,” Sarah lied, “but I did some research on the motorcycle blog.  Several cyclists said it was a great ride.”

“OK, sounds wonderful.  Let’s do it this weekend!”

“That’s great, Alan, I’m glad you want to do this.  It’ll be so much fun.  But let’s wait until the following weekend.  I think the weather is supposed to be warmer then, better for a picnic.”

He was a little surprised that Sarah had suggested they wait, which was very unlike her.  But, whatever, that was fine with him.

Chapter 3

Alan

Alan sat at his desk in his corner office in the back of his shop reviewing the report earlier handed to him by his accountant.  The report confirmed what he already knew, namely that his business was doing well.  He looked up towards the ceiling as he again felt a wave of gratitude towards his team of five employees.  He pulled out the company checkbook and wrote five checks, one to each of his employees.  He had intended to wait until Christmas to hand out the bonuses, but just now changed his mind. At the bottom of each check he wrote simply “Good work.  Thank you!”  He put each check in an envelope with each employee’s name and then put them in his out box for his secretary to pass around later.

What a great mood he was in!  And what a beautiful day!  He felt the warmth of the sun as it came in through the window.  It looked like it would be a great weekend.  He checked the 10-forecast on weather.com.  This weekend would be nice and warm.  They were going on their picnic next weekend.  Next weekend would also be nice also, but about 5-7 degrees cooler.  That was surprising.  Sarah had suggested they wait until the following weekend when it was supposed to be warmer, but actually it looks like it’s the other way around, not that it made much difference. 

Sarah didn’t answer when he called the house phone.  He started to leave a message, but she still didn’t pick up, so he said, “Hi Sarah, it’s me.  Call me.  I’m wondering if we might want to go on our picnic this weekend instead of next weekend.  It looks like this weekend will be warmer than next.  And we don’t have anything else planned for this weekend.”  He called her cell phone, but she didn’t pick that up either.  When it went to voice mail he just said that he had left a message on the house line.

Sarah called the office awhile later.  When he answered the phone he immediately felt defensive as he felt an undercurrent of anger in her tone.  “Alan, we’ve already made plans to go next weekend.  I can’t just change on such short notice and leave tomorrow.  I’ve already planned out this weekend.”

“Ok, Sarah, next week is no problem.  I just happened to look at weather.com and it showed that this weekend would be warmer, that’s all.  I thought you might prefer this weekend when you learned about that.”

They talked for minutes longer, while he told her about the report from his accountant and the bonus checks he had decided to hand out.  Finally she interrupted to say that she needed to go to turn off the water that was running in the back yard. 

After the call he sat there reflecting on it.  This was the second time he had detected anger from her.  And in neither case did he feel it was deserved by anything he had done.  He wasn’t so much disturbed by the anger itself but by what it meant.  What did it mean?  These were the only times since they met that she had ever seemed angry to him.  Was there something bothering her that she’s been unable to open up to him about?  Even that seemed a little weird.  He had never known Sarah to be shy about what was on her mind. 

Well, he wasn’t going to think about it anymore now.  He felt so good!  For the first time in a very long time he felt almost completely, 100% well.  More than that, he felt energetic and ambitious to get to work and get things done. 

Sarah

She knew she had shown some anger as she talked to Alan on the phone, but she frankly didn’t care anymore.  Besides it wouldn’t matter after next week anyway.  He had caught her in a falsehood, but so what?  For all he knew the weather prediction had changed from earlier in the week.  Or maybe she had just got it wrong.  No big deal. 

It was crucial that they not go until next weekend.  The toxins would then be completely out of his system.  There would no doubt be blood tests for alcohol and drugs to see if they were contributing factors to the accident.  There might even be an autopsy.  Who knows what was required?  At worst an autopsy might show some damage to some of Alan’s organs, but clearly that would have nothing to do with the accident. 

Alan didn’t arrive home until after 6pm.  She had already started dinner.  She was making one of his favorites.  He said when he saw what she was making, “Wow, my favorite.  What did I do to deserve this?”

“Nothing whatsoever!  I just decided to do it.  We haven’t had this in a while.”

“Honey, I wanted to ask you about something.  Can I ask you now while the chicken is roasting or do you want me to wait until after dinner?”

“Sure, Alan, I have a few minutes before I need to prepare the vegetables.  What do you want to ask me?”  She kept her response casual and conversational.  She thought she knew what was coming.

“I just wondered whether anything was bothering you.  I know I’ve been difficult to live with from all my crazy illnesses these past months.  Right now though I feel great!  No ailments at all!  I’m sure this has been difficult for you.”

She knew that was coming.  What a fucking baby he was?  She had never known any man this sensitive.  In some ways sensitivity was good, but there are limits.  “No Alan, there is nothing bothering me.  You’re just being over-sensitive.  I know things have been difficult for you.  That’s why I’m making you one of your favorite meals.  But you don’t need to worry about me.  I love my life with you.”  As she said this she let herself show some exacerbation, wanting Alan to view this more as his problem than hers.

“Alan, you just worry too much.  But now I need to get going on the vegetables.  Go out to the wine cooler and find us a nice bottle of wine to go with dinner.”

Alan

Since meeting Sarah he had always felt that he understood her and knew just who she was.  He felt without any questioning that they both wanted the same thing and that they had both found it in each other.  They were soul mates.  He had never doubted her and trusted her without any reservations.  He wanted to continue in this unconditional faith and the bliss that came with it.  He missed the feeling of unconditional love and wanted it to continue.

He knew of course that he was totally infatuated with Sarah from the moment he first laid eyes on her.  And he knew that infatuation can be blinding.  He knew that infatuation never lasts.  At some point in every marriage it begins to diminish.  There is nothing to be feared by that as long as the love remains.  But they had only been married for a little over two years. 

Chapter 4

Sarah

They drove away from the house a little after 10am.  Sarah had made gourmet chicken sandwiches for their picnic at the reservoir.  With the sandwiches she had packed a half-bottle of wine, some Amsterdam cheese, and some homemade oatmeal cookies for desert.   The weather was a little overcast, but the warmth of the sun came shining through.  It was a very nice day for the ride to the reservoir.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t enjoying it.

She didn’t think she would be this tense and nervous.  Before, whenever she imagined the “accident”, she never imagined herself as nervous or afraid.  But now that it was actually happening she couldn’t calm herself down.  She felt like she was almost hyperventilating.  And yet she still couldn’t seem to get enough air.  Her thinking was muddled and distracted.  It was almost more than she could handle, just to keep her mind on her driving and the job at hand.  But she was determined to go through with it. 

When they reached the mountain road that would take them to the reservoir, she concentrated on her driving, looking mostly straight ahead, and maintaining a constant speed with her cycle.  For the accident to happen as planned, she would need to be riding just in front and to the left of Alan’s bike as they entered the curve where she was to begin crossing in front of his bike.  She couldn’t rush to that position at the last minute.  That might alert him that something was going on, even if he didn’t know what it was.  She needed the element of surprise for this to work.  If he was paying close attention to what she was doing, he might be able to slow down quickly enough to keep from missing the turn and driving off the side of the cliff.

She began maneuvering her bike to a position in front and to the left of Alan’s bike.  She wanted that position to seem like her natural position.  They would reach the curve where the accident was to take place about 10 minutes after they reached the summit, which she estimated was about 30 minutes away.  She felt it was better to establish and maintain “her position” sooner not later. 

With her peripheral vision, she saw Alan riding on her right, but avoided turning her head to look at him or engaging with him.  She didn’t trust herself to look at him and smile in a natural, friendly manner.  Given how nervous she was, any smile she tried would look forced. 

Alan

The summit was about half way up the mountain road.  It would take roughly 30 minutes to get to the summit and then another 30 minutes to drop down to the reservoir, assuming they didn’t stop anywhere to look at views and maintained a somewhat constant speed.  No doubt they would want to stop once or twice on the way up.  He remembered from his high school days, when they would cut school and drive over to the lake to spend the day, a couple of spots where the whole valley and town were visible from the side of the road. 

When they reached the lake, the road forked off to the left and right.  The left fork ran clockwise along the South side of the lake.  The right fork ran counter clockwise along the North shore.  At the far end, another road headed away from the lake off into the mountains on the other side.  Once they arrived at the lake the plan was to take the right fork to a picnic spot on the far side, just before the road on the other side.  After the picnic they would return on the left fork around the South shore.

As they headed up towards the summit, Sarah was riding a little ahead just off to the left.  Alan watched her out of the corner of his eye.  She wasn’t glancing at all in his direction and seemed totally fixated on her driving.  After a few minutes, he sped up to move up next to her on the right and yelled, “Here we go!  Isn’t this is great!”  She briefly looked over and smiled tightly but then sped back up to her position just in front of him on his left. 

It was a little odd.  She didn’t seem to be enjoying this as much as he thought she would or should.  She seemed totally focused on her driving and on just getting to the reservoir and not enough on enjoying the ride.  After about 15 minutes riding up the hill, he again moved up next to her and yelled, “There’s a nice view of the valley coming up on the right.  Let’s stop.”  Oddly she didn’t even glance his way or seem to hear him, but instead sped up to her position on the left. 

“Come on Sarah, let’s enjoy this,” he thought.  As he was thinking this, he sped up and moved a ways ahead of her.  Then he signaled with his left hand as he slowed down to turn off for the view.  He shut down the bike, got off, and then walked to edge to look at the view.  The view was spectacular!  Sarah followed him into the turnoff and then slowly walked over to where he was standing.  “Why did you stop?” she asked him coldly. 

“What do you mean, Sarah?  Take a look at the view!  What’s the hurry?”  He put his arm around her as he said this and gently pulled her towards him.  At first she seemed to resist a little, but after a few moments succumbed.  But standing there, she stared straight ahead out towards the view without speaking.

“What the Hell is going on?” he thought.  “This isn’t like her.”  Or maybe it was.  This type of odd behavior seemed to be happening more and more frequently.  He didn’t know what to say to her, and she didn’t say anything.  After a few minutes he just walked back to his bike.

Once back on the road, Sarah again immediately pulled slightly ahead and to the left.  She seemed determined to maintain that spot at all costs.   Alan decided to play a little game with her.  Without even glancing her way he sped up and maintained a position just in front of her and to the right.  He was curious how she would respond.  Sure enough, after a few minutes when they reached a bit of a straight-away, she again sped up and moved back to “her position.”

Again, as they rounded a turn running over the top of the hill, he sped up to “his new position” in the front and to the right.  This time she didn’t even wait for another straightway, but immediately began moving back in front of him on the left without even glancing his way.  As he watched her trying to pass him around the turn he worried she would lose control of the bike.   “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” he thought.  “She might do something reckless.  Besides she’s not enjoying my little game anyway.  No more games.”

Sarah

Finally they went over the summit.  She had only to keep herself together for another 10-12 minutes.  Then she could become hysterical.  It would be just what would be expected after such a terrible accident.

She sped up a bit.  She didn’t want to allow Alan to play any more games and try again to get past her on the right.  By speeding up she would make that particular game more dangerous.    But when she glanced back she saw that Alan hadn’t sped up but instead she was slowing falling behind her.  This wouldn’t work.  Now he was getting too far behind!  She needed to be just in front of him when she started her “drifting” to the right in front of him.

She slowed back down and saw with relief that the gap was closing back to where it needed it to be.  They were now getting close to the sharp left turn where “the accident” would happen.

Alan

As they rode over the top, Alan studied Sarah’s driving.  She was carefully maintaining her position just in front of him to the left.  He noticed her starting to speed up, but carefully maintained his same speed.  He watched as she glanced back to check his position and then slow back down when she noticed he wasn’t matching her increased speed.  He wondered again why she felt she needed to maintain that exact distance and position.  She was up to something.

Up ahead he saw a sharp turn to the left coming up.  Sarah glanced back at his bike just before they started the turn.  Alan watched her closely.   As he saw her bike begin drifting to the right in front of him, he immediately slowed and moved right.  But it wouldn’t be enough.  On his present trajectory he would run right into her!  He slowed even more and turned even further to the right, but he saw that they both would very soon have to start turning back to the left or they would miss the turn and ride right off the cliff! 

She wasn’t turning back to the left but kept pressing him to turn even further towards the cliff.  She didn’t seem to understand the danger they were in.  Suddenly, he saw her quickly glance in front of her bike and realize her mistake.  She quickly steered back to the left, almost but not quite losing control.  He also managed to stay upright. 

Alan slowed and began pulling off to the side of the road, what little there was of it.  His hands were shaking.  He was breathing heavily.  He expected Sarah to pull off too, but he watched in amazement as she continued to ride away from him, heading down the hill towards the lake.  She didn’t slow down or even glance back at Alan, as she disappeared around the next turn. 

He shut the bike down and pulled off his helmet.  Sarah was now nowhere to be seen.  Taking several deep breaths, he tried to calm himself.  What had just happened?  As he thought about it and replayed it, it seemed more and more obvious that Sarah had deliberately tried to drive him right off the road over the cliff!  As the magnitude and horror of it sank in, he felt a tremendous anger welling up inside.  He had loved and treated her as well as any man could.  She would do this to him? Such a betrayal!

Without thinking much about it, he got back on his bike and went after her.  She wasn’t going to get away with this.

Chapter 5

Alan

As he went down the road to the reservoir after Sarah, he flashed back to how they had met. 

It was at one of his office Christmas parties.  At the time, he was seeing Maria.  They had been going together for several months.  Maria was a dark Latino woman in her mid-20s.  There was an age difference, Alan was almost 8 years older than she was, but that didn’t seem to matter to either of them.  He loved her energy and youthful enthusiasms.  She loved his quiet authority.  Lately they had been growing closer.  Now they were often spending the night together at one of their two places, Maria’s apartment or Alan’s house.

They had grown close enough that Maria now took him to her family house for occasional dinners and family events.  Her family was large so there were frequently family events such as birthdays, holidays, and graduations.  These gatherings felt a little strange to Alan since his family was small and they didn’t celebrate much.  Growing up they tended to celebrate his birthday with special treats, but little more.  Christmas and Thanksgiving were the only two holidays where anything much happened. 

Alan had taken Maria home just one time for dinner with his parents and younger sister.  The reception towards Maria by his family wasn’t as warm as he had hoped.  He suspected this had something to do with either Maria’s somewhat dark complexion or her youth.   The contrast between her and his family members was indeed striking.  Where they were mostly somewhat puffy and pale she was fit and tan.  Where they were somewhat blondish, she had dark eyes, jet black hair, and a deep tan.  All in all, he didn’t really care much about whether his family approved of Maria.  It was his life and he felt he was doing pretty well with it.

Although he had always encouraged his employees to bring along their spouses and friends to the Christmas party, he himself had never brought anyone until this year when he decided to bring Maria.  He was glad he did.  She seemed to fit right in and was clearly enjoying herself.

About an hour into the party one of his employees, Leonard, arrived with his girlfriend, whom Alan had never met before.  After mingling on the other side of the room for a while Leonard came over to Alan to introduce her.  “Alan, I would like you to meet Sarah.  I brought her along to meet all my partners in crime.”

“I’m glad you did, Leonard.”  As he reached out to shake Sarah’s hand he looked squarely at her.  She was smiling demurely, but looked directly into his eyes, as she took his hand.  She was amazingly beautiful.  He felt the pull of her eyes as he began to release her hand.

“Thanks for coming Sarah.  I would like to introduce you to my friend Maria.  It’s also the first time she has come to one of our parties.”

Sarah turned to Maria.  “Nice to meet you, Maria.  I love your earrings.  Where did you find them? You couldn’t have gotten them here in this town…” 

As Sarah and Maria chatted, Alan turned to Leonard.  He could still see Sarah out of the corner of his eye, but resisted glancing over at her directly.  “What do you do, Leonard, when you are not at work?”

“Mostly birding.  This morning I walked around the lagoon on the North side of town.  I saw an amazing bird.  It’s called a Bittern.  Very rare.  Actually, not really rare, buut rarely seen because they tend to stay hidden in the marsh reeds.  They are very secretive.  They have a very distinctive call, which sounds like a frog.  I’ve seen them at the lagoon before, but never so close up…” 

Leonard continued, but Alan began to lose concentration.  Finally he was able to break in, “That’s very interesting, Leonard.  I had no idea you had this wonderful hobby.  I’ll need to have you tell me more about it.  But right now I think I need walk around a little and welcome everyone.  Duty calls.”

In the days that followed, Sarah’s image would occasionally float across his mind.  Each time he smiled to himself from the pleasure of it.   

A couple of weeks later, Maria called him at work.  “Sarah called me.  There’s a fashion show at our local Macy’s.  She says it’s a fund raiser for something or other.  Anyway, Sarah asked me if I wanted to go with her.  I think it sounds like fun.  Afterwards we were going to get something to eat at the restaurant across the street from Macy’s.  Would you like to come?  I mean, if Sarah can get Leonard?”

“Sure.”  He didn’t mind at all.                                                                                                                                 

When he arrived at the restaurant, Maria and Sarah were sitting across from each other at a table for four.  Alan sat down, with Sarah to his left and Maria to his right.  A few minutes later Leonard arrived and took the seat across from him.  During the meal, the conversation was light and pleasant.  Sometime during the conversation Maria had brought up subject of farmer’s markets.  At that point Alan had interjected that on most Wednesdays he went over to the market a few blocks from his office around lunchtime.  He would usually buy a couple of things, mostly fruit, and then grab lunch from one of the outdoor lunch venders.

A few days later he went to the market as he usually did.  As he went up the stairs towards the booths he spotted Sarah looking at something in one of the booths.  He felt a small surge of Adrenalin rise up.  He had never seen her there before or surely would have noticed her.  He walked over to where she was standing.

“Sarah, I’m surprised to see you here.  How are you?  That was a fun evening we all had the other day.”

“Oh, Alan, what are you doing here?”

“I’m just getting away from the office for my lunch break.   I buy berries here for my breakfast cereal.   I think I mentioned at dinner the other night that I came here.”

“Oh, maybe you did.  I missed that.  I often come to this part of town to shop for clothes.  When I do I usually stop by the market.  I don’t recall ever seeing you here, but maybe that’s just because I didn’t know who you were.  Do you know if there are any other pepper vendors here?  I’m looking for some Manzano chilies; they’re hard to find in the stores.”

As she said this, he felt another jolt.  No doubt she was lying about not hearing that he came to the market.  Did she want to run into him?  “Yes, there’s a chili pepper stand on the far end of this row.  I don’t know if they have Manzano chilies.  I can show you where the booth is.”  With that he started to walk towards the pepper booth.

“Wait, Alan, do you mind if I look through the booths on the way over.”

With that they moved slowly through the booths, not saying much to each other.  He stood just outside each booth glancing at her as she went through the items and at the people as they walked by.  At one point as they began to leave one booth moving towards the next, she says, “Wait a minute.  I want to check something over there.”  As she says this she gently grabs his arm at the bicep, brushing away her fingers as she turns to walk to the other side of the booth.  Alan felt another small jolt run through him.  He turns and watches as she moves to the corner of the booth.  Then she reaches for something just a little out of reach.  Her breast rises with the effort.  Alan is momentarily fixed on the sight.  Sarah glances in his direction.  Realizing that he might be staring, he quickly averts his eyes, feeling a wave of embarrassment.  She saves him with a smile.  “I think I may have found something I’ve been looking for for a long time.”

They eventually reach the chili pepper booth they were heading to.  “They have Manzano chilies,” Sarah exclaims gleefully.  “Thank you Alan for helping me to find them.  Well, that’s all I need.  What are you up to now?”

“I want to get some berries in a booth up above.  Then I was going to grab some lunch.”

“You know, I should probably get some lunch too.  I’ve run out of lunch fixings at home.”

Again, Alan felt a jolt.  “She wants to have lunch with me!”  After getting his berries, they had lunch in the pleasantly warm sun at one of the tables near the food vendors.  

Afterwards as Alan walked back to the office, “What do I do now?  Sarah obviously seems interested in me.  Does she realize how taken I am with her?  But how is this supposed to work?  I’m going with Maria.  She’s going with Leonard, who happens to be one of my employees.”

That Friday he got a call at the office from Maria.  “FYI, we’re going out for dinner and dancing with Sarah and Leonard.” 

At dinner, he expected Sarah to mention at some point that they had run into each other at the market, but she never did.  He felt like if she didn’t mention it, he probably should.  So they happened to run into each other?  It wasn’t a big deal.  But he said nothing either. 

The next Wednesday he again headed towards the market at lunchtime.  He didn’t think Sarah would be there.  Wouldn’t that be a just little too obvious?  But a part of him hoped she would be.  As he went up the stairs he looked around for her.  At first he didn’t see her but then spotted her walking towards him.    

It wasn’t long after that that he broke up with Maria.  How could he continue with Maria while feeling such an attraction to another woman?  It wasn’t fair to Maria. 

After the breakup, Sarah stopped coming to the market and he had no further contact with her.  He wasn’t really surprised at that.  Still he didn’t regret breaking up with Maria.  He knew it was something that had to be done.

He heard nothing more about Sarah until weeks later when Leonard came into his office.  “Sarah has broken up with me,” he said.  The Wednesday after that, Sarah again showed up at the market. 

Chapter 6

Sarah

Sarah had glimpsed Alan coming down the road to the reservoir.  She was not going to let Alan catch up to her and confront her on his terms.  Not here anyway.  Nor was she about to ride away into the hills on the other side of the lake never to be seen from again.    

She had found a nice little hiding place on the South side of the reservoir.  In addition to her view of the South road she had a small window to view a section of the road on the far, Northern side.  She would be able to see Alan whether he took the right fork to the far side road or whether he passed by her on the left fork road.  She wasn’t sure which way he would go.  Maybe he would take the right fork thinking she would go the way they had originally been planning to go, or maybe he would take the left fork thinking she probably wouldn’t do what they had been originally planning to do.  Either way, once he passed by she could back towards town.  She had kind of wild idea about what she would do once she got she got back to town, but hadn’t made a final decision.

As she sat there waiting for Alan to pass, she flashed back to how they had met.  At the time she was hanging out with Leonard.  They had been dating for a little over a year.  He thought of her as his girlfriend and that was fine with her.  He had a good job and made good money and he generously lavished it on her, frequently taking her out for nice meals and events.  He seemed smart, but was somewhat narrow in his interests.  He was obsessed with birds.  Every day he wasn’t working he went on trips to various birding sights.  He used much of his vacation time to attend birding festivals and workshops out of town.   Many evenings after work he practiced memorizing bird calls from his huge set of bird-call recordings.  At first he tried to get her to join him on some of his numerous birding expeditions and travels, but she made it clear to him right off that there was just no way.  She wasn’t going to get up at dawn in the damp cold to search around for hours for some stupid bird.  Fortunately, he wasn’t willing to give up his hobby just to spend more time with her, which was just fine with her.

The problem she had with Leonard was that he kept her mostly to himself.  He had friends, some from work and many from birding, but they never went out with any of them.  She had girlfriends of course, but he didn’t even want to get together with them either.  He wanted her all to himself.  She on the other hand would enjoy getting out with others and meeting his friends, at least those who wouldn’t talk incessantly about birds.

He had talked with her often about his job and his boss and colleagues at work.  She knew that the annual office party was coming up and she wanted to go.  She asked him to take her with him.  As expected he tried to talk her out of it, “You wouldn’t enjoy yourself at the party.  They’re pretty boring.  Not much happens.  Nobody drinks much.  There’s not even any music.”

“That’s OK.  I want to meet your fellow workers and see what the place looks like.  Are you embarrassed by me?  Do you think I might do something to embarrass you?”

“No, of course not. ”

 “Then why won’t you take me?”  She of course knew why:  Jealousy.  But she wasn’t about to say that out loud.  Finally he had agreed to take her.

She always felt it was better to arrive at a party after it had been going for a while.  It gave you more options.  When they arrived, the party was already humming along.  Leonard introduced her to some of his colleagues and then left to get drinks.  When he returned he said to Sarah, “Let me go introduce you to my boss, Alan.”

When Leonard introduced Alan to her, she could tell immediately that he found her attractive.  It was something about the way his eyes sparkled and lingered over her.  When he introduced her to his friend Maria, she saw her way in.  She immediately turned and began to chat with Maria.  She gave Maria all of her attention, ignoring Alan entirely, but staying within his view while he began to converse with Leonard.  After some time she noticed Alan leaving to mingle with other guests.  Leonard also drifted off.  She stayed continuing to enjoy her chat with Maria.  Maria, she noticed, loved clothes.  She wasn’t wearing anything particularly flashy, probably because she was at an office party rather than on a date, but what she wore was very fashionable and she had obviously had put a lot of thought into it. 

Eventually she left Maria to find Leonard, but not without getting Maria’s phone number.  Her path through the party to Leonard took her near Alan.  As she passed by, she briefly glanced in his direction and smiled.  He responded with a slight nod and smile.

Over the next couple of weeks she regularly checked what was happening around town.  She was looking for something she thought might interest Maria.  Finally she spotted the announcement of a fashion show at Macy’s.  Perfect.  When she called, she could tell Maria was happy that she called.   Maria said she would love to go to the show and thought it would be great fun to get together afterwards with Leonard and Alan. 

Now she couldn’t remember much about the fashion show, but it was fun enough.  At dinner the conversation was light and friendly.  The conversation went from one topic to another in the typical haphazard way of most dinner conversations.  Along the way she learned of Alan’s Wednesday lunchtime trips to the town outdoor farmer’s market.  Perfect.

The following Wednesday she went to the market.  She wasn’t sure when Alan took his lunch breaks.  She needed to get there before he did, so that he could run into her rather than the other way around.  She also needed time to walk through and familiarize herself with the market, which she had never been to before.  After about a half-hour of browsing the market she situated herself around booths a few rows up from what seemed to be the main entrance up the stairs from town.  She would be visible to Alan when he came up the stairs.  After a while, she saw him coming up the stairs and got busy looking through the fruit at the booth nearest to her. 

When he walked up to her she pretended to be surprised to see him.  She could tell he was surprised to see her.  When she asked him what he was doing there, she could see his uncertainty as he mentioned that he generally came there for lunch on Wednesdays as he had mentioned at their dinner.  She said to him that she often came to the market, which was of course a lie, but she didn’t care if he thought she was lying or not.  What was important was for him to feel excited to see her and that was pretty obvious even if he was trying to hide it.

She could tell he was more than happy to go along with her story of looking for Manzano chilies.  She could see him watching her discreetly as she slowly browsed each booth on the way.  At one point she found a reason to brush his arm as she reversed direction to look at something.  When he turned back to look, she reached over for something raising her breast up toward his eye level.  She saw him momentarily look down towards her breasts and then look away in embarrassment.  She turned to him with a smile as if to say, “It’s OK, Alan, you can look at me.”

Later when they all went out for dinner and dancing, she wondered whether he would bring up their meeting at the market or whether he had already mentioned it to Maria.  He hadn’t and he didn’t.  Perfect.  If he didn’t mention it this time, he wouldn’t when she appeared at the market the following week!

Alan was obviously happy to see her at the market the following week.  He didn’t act surprised and seemed to pretty much assume they would be going around the market together.   She encouraged that thinking.  Some days later when she called Maria she learned that Alan had broken up with her.  Apparently Alan had said nothing to Leonard about it since he didn’t know about it. 

She decided she should stay away from the market until she got rid of Leonard.  If her visits to the market somehow got back to Leonard, it could create problems for Alan at the office.  She waited a few weeks and then broke things off with Leonard.  The Wednesday after that, she went to the market to run into Alan. 

Chapter 7

Alan

This was Alan’s third time around the lake, this time in the counter-clockwise direction.   He was going very slowly looking from the road into the trees and bushes on both sides.  Sarah was nowhere to be seen.  “She must have headed into the mountains on the far side of the reservoir,” he thought.  Could she have doubled back to town?  He didn’t think so.  When he had first arrived at the reservoir, he had gone to a small beach where they used to go as kids.  From that spot he could view parts of the road all around the lake.  He sat there for 20 minutes looking for any sign of her.  Surely, he would have seen her if she was still on the road around the lake.  She must have headed off on the mountain road.

When he finally started riding around the lake, he of course had to choose one fork or the other, but he had a 50% chance of running into her if she was trying to double back to town.  And whenever he could he stopped to look at what he could see on the road on the other side.  There was just no sign of her.

It was now well after noon and he was getting hungry.  The picnic food was all on Sarah’s bike.  He just carried the drinks.  He decided to just head back home.  There was plenty of alcohol there and he had a feeling he would need a lot of it tonight.  When he finally pulled into the driveway, he was exhausted physically and emotionally.  He wasn’t thinking about much of anything at the moment.  He was just too emotionally hammered.  There would be time for him to try to figure out how he could have been so mistaken about Sarah, but right now all he wanted to do was deaden the pain.  At least he knew how to do that.

He drove into the driveway in the late afternoon.  He sat for a moment just staring at the house.  Finally he clicked the remote to open the garage.  What?  Sarah’s bike was sitting in the garage in its usual spot.  She was home!  He didn’t know what to do.  “Do I go in?  It’s my house, after all.  Or should I just leave?”  Again his anger drove him.  “Fuck her!  This is my house.  And, now, it is just my house!  She has no business here.”  With that, he drove his bike in, parked it next to hers, and walked to the door which led into the kitchen.  It was locked.  It had never been locked before and he didn’t have a key.  He went out the garage door to the front door of the house.  He unlocked the door and walked in.

Sarah was standing a ways back from the door with a glass of wine in her hand.  He looked at her for a few moments and then she said, “Alan, can I get you a glass of wine?”

He didn’t answer her, but said instead, “Sarah, what’s going on?  What are you doing here?”

“I live here, Alan.”

“Not any more.  You tried to kill me.”

“What are you talking about, Alan?  I didn’t try to kill you.”

“You tried to run me off the road over the cliff!”

“That’s crazy, Alan.  Why would I do that?”

“Then why did you take off?”

“You scared me, Alan.  I thought you were going to run into me.  I looked behind me and there you were, coming right at me.  And you looked so angry.  When I turned back around I was the one heading off the cliff!  And when you were stopped, you looked so angry.  I was afraid you were going to hurt me.”

“You didn’t try to run me off the road?  Is that what you’re telling me?”

“No, Alan, I didn’t try to run you off the road.  Are you nuts?  I would never do that!”

“How did you get around me and get back to town before me?  I searched all over for you.  Were you hiding from me?”

“No, of course I wasn’t hiding from you.  I just rode slowly around the lake after taking the left fork and when I reached the road to town I took it.”  He knew that wasn’t true.  From the East beach he could see all around the lake.  If she was moving on it he would have seen her.  She had to have stopped and waited for him to pass. 

Alan decided not to continue arguing with her.  He couldn’t believe anything she told him anyway.  It was just another game she was playing with him.  “How long has this been going on?” he wondered.  “Suddenly wanting to learn to ride motorcycles; that must have been part of the game.  What else was part of the game?” 

“Well, Sarah, I don’t know what to make of all this?  We have a lot more to talk about, but not now.  Right now I just want to have some wine.”  He watched her carefully as she poured him a glass of wine.  And that’s how the rest of the evening went.  They said little and just watched each other suspiciously.  When it came around to bedtime, he weighed sleeping in the spare room, but thought he would feel safer having her around where he could watch her.  When he got into bed, he turned away from her pretended to try and sleep.  Of course, he didn’t get much sleep.  He spent most of the night reviewing all the things that had happened over the last few months and what she had said about them.

The next day was much the same.  There was a definite chill as they each pursued their own activities.  When Monday came, he left for work as usual.  Around 10:30am, he left the office and drove back to the far corner near his house.  Around quarter to 11am, he watched as Sarah drove out of the driveway presumably heading for her fitness class.  If so, he would have about 75 minutes to search around the house.

He didn’t find anything in the bedroom, so he began looking around the kitchen.  In the kitchen cabinet over the stove, behind some dusty, old cooking wine bottles, he found the tincture bottles.  He couldn’t tell of course what was in them, but it didn’t look like it would be anything good.  And the fact that they were in the kitchen raised the suspicion that she was adding drops to his food or drink.  He thought back to the headaches and dizziness he had felt a couple of weeks back which somehow miraculously went away just before the motorcycle trip.  He imagined they might be ready to return.

He retrieved a pair of pliers.  He wrapped some medical tape around its jaws.  After opening each vial with a towel, using the pliers he poured about an eighth of an inch of the liquid into a small aperitif glass.  He returned the tincture bottles to their same exact positions.  He wiped the handle of the cabinet with a wet cloth.  He opened the cabinet with their wine glasses and dumped the tincture from the aperitif glass into one of the wine glasses, which he placed off to the far side of the cabinet.

Later that evening, Sarah was in the kitchen cooking dinner.  He went in and began setting the table as usual.  After putting the silverware out, he went into the cabinet for their wine glasses.  In his right hand was the glass with the tincture.  In his left hand he carried an empty wine glass.  He set the glass with the tincture next to Sarah’s plate and the other glass next to his plate.  Then he poured wine for both of them into their two glasses.  Afterwards he said to Sarah, “I’m going to take a quick shower before dinner.” 

After turning on the shower he walked back to the master bedroom door.  From there he could see a small part of the kitchen cabinet above the stove where Sarah had hid her tinctures.  He wouldn’t be able to see what she did in the cabinet, but he would be able to see whether she opened the cabinet.  He could think of only one reason she would do that.  He wasn’t surprised when she did.

Later after his shower he returned to the kitchen and sat down at the table with her.  He grabbed his glass of wine to take a drink, but before he did, he looked over into the living room.  “Sarah,” you left the light on in the living room as usual.”  He got up and went into the living room to turn off the light.  On the way, he switched his glass of wine for one he had earlier set behind a picture frame resting on a cabinet in the living room. 

When he returned to the table he took a big gulp from his glass of wine.  He nibbled at the bread on his plate while he drank.  It didn’t take him long to finish his glass and pour himself another.  Sarah too began drinking from her glass of wine.  And it wasn’t long before she poured herself another.  He ate very slowly, starting with the bread.  He presumed she had put the poison in the wine, but he couldn’t be sure.  But he didn’t think she wouldn’t put it on his bread.

After some minutes he said, “I’m feeling a little odd and this food doesn’t taste good to me.  I think I’m going to save it for later.”

“Sure, Alan, let it cool down first and then put some cellophane on it and put it in the refrigerator.”  When she said this, she didn’t seem disappointed or worried, so he guessed that she must have put the poison in his wine, rather than his food. 

Alan continued to sit at the table watching Sarah eat.  After another few minutes Sarah started to tremble.  Sweat appeared on her forehead.  She looked scared.  “What’s going on, Sarah, you don’t look so good?”

“I can’t breathe, and my heart is going crazy.  I feel like I’m having some sort of seizure.  Call an ambulance.  What did you do to me?”

He rushed to the phone and dialed 911.  “What do you mean, Sarah, I didn’t do anything to you?  Why would you think that?”  He watched as she suddenly threw up all over herself and on the floor.  He gently pulled her off the chair and sat her down on a clear area of the floor with the refrigerator behind her to lean on.  Sweat was now pouring off her head into her eyes and on her clothes.  White foam was appearing at the corners of her mouth.  To the 911 operator he said, “My wife appears to have some sort of severe food poisoning.  We need an ambulance immediately.”  He went on to give their address.

The operator responded, “OK, we have an ambulance on the way.  Did you eat the same food?  Are you suffering at all?  At this point be sure not to eat or drink anything further.”

“I’m not having any ill effects, at least not yet.  I won’t touch anything.”

Later as they were taking Sarah on a stretcher out to the ambulance he could hear her yelling, “My husband poisoned me!  Help me!”

He was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital when the police arrived.  One officer walked up to him and handed him a piece of paper, “Sir, we have a warrant to search your house and property.  We would also like you to come with us to the station for some questioning.”

“What’s this about officer?”

“This is not the place to talk.  We’ll discuss things at the station.  You are not under arrest.  We just want to talk to you.  But we will need a key to your house and car unless you want us to break into them.” 

At the police station he was put into an interview room.  After some initial questioning he was left alone briefly.  They came back and asked him to describe exactly what had happened before dinner and up to the time when Sarah became ill.  After he told his story, they again left him alone. 

Finally two officers, one male and one female, came in and sat down across from him.  After reviewing some notes the female officer said, “When your wife was taken to the hospital, she claimed she had been poisoned and accused you of being the person who had poisoned her.  That’s why we were called in.  We are sorry to have kept you in here waiting so long, but we wanted to get preliminary results from the examination at the hospital and from our search of your property.  Both are still ongoing, but we have gotten some preliminary results.  The doctors at the hospital have confirmed that she was indeed poisoned.  They are now running tests to determine the exact type of poison.  We have also turned up some things during our search of your house.  We have located two vials of what appear to be poison.  Do you know anything about those vials?”

“How is my wife?”

“We don’t have a lot of information on that.  The doctors we talked to think they were able to get to her soon enough to survive the poisoning.  It was good that you dialed 911 immediately.  Do you know anything about the vials of poison we found?”

“Vials of poison!  Where did you find them?  What kind of poison?”

“We found them in the kitchen.  Do you know anything about them?”

“I don’t.  I have no idea where they came from or what they are doing in our house.”

“Our preliminary examinations of the finger prints on the two vials show them to be your wife’s prints.  We have not found prints of anyone else on the vials.  We think that the same poison was in your wife’s wine glass, but not in your glass or in the wine bottle itself.  Both yours and your wife’s prints are on her glass.”

“Well I didn’t put the poison in her glass!”

“As of now there is no evidence that you did.  We will continue searching your house and property and will try to determine where the poison came from and how it got into the vials.  We won’t be able to let you back in your house for 1 or 2 more days while we continue the investigation.  We will also be examining your movements and your wife’s movements over the past weeks.”

—————————————————————

Epilogue

Sarah survived the poisoning, but even after a couple of weeks she still needed constant care.  Several of her internal organs had been severely damaged.  Alan still hadn’t visited her since being released from the police station.  After a few days he was able to return home.  He went to work each day and tried to continue living as normally as possible.

One day the two officers who had first interviewed him came to see him at his office.  “We’ve finished our investigation.  We have evidence that your wife purchased the plants from which the poison in the vials was created and we have solid evidence that she processed the plants to extract the poison in your garage using tools we found with her prints on them.  We haven’t found any evidence linking you to the poisons.  Our best guess is that your wife intended to poison you, but accidentally poisoned herself instead.  When she recovers a little more we will interview her and we are continuing our investigation into her background.  Depending on the results of these further investigations, we will decide whether to charge your wife with attempting to murder you.  I want you to know that you are totally in the clear as at this point.”

The next day Alan visited Sarah in the care facility.  She had lost all pretenses and just stared at him and sneered with palpable hatred.  He just stared back at her angrily.  She no longer looked at all good to him, in so many ways.  Finally he said, “Well, Sarah, at least you survived.  And you can take some comfort in knowing that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger!  Goodbye Sarah.”