Cynthia Kessler (Toy Obsession Series, Book 1) Read online

  After a quick glance through the peephole, Cynthia welcomed her friendly guest into her home.

  “Justo a tiempo,” said Cynthia with a smile while beckoning him to enter.

  “Huele bien,” he replied, following her toward the kitchen and taking a seat at the bar area that separated it from the living room. “¿Puedo ayudar en algo?”

  Cynthia continued her preparations. “No, I’ve got it covered. You just sit tight. How would it look if I were to put my guest to work?”

  “Ha, ha, I see your point, but I did offer. By the way, where’s little man?”

  “Oh, he’s in the other room sleeping. He’s only a few months old. Sleeping is his favorite pastime.”

  “Sure would have liked to see the little guy.”

  “Oh, you can peek your head in on him after dinner.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “I take that back, you can help me with something,” said Cynthia.

  “Sure, anything.”

  “Would you grab a couple plates from the cabinet here and placed them on the table over there? Thanks.”

  “You bet.”

  “Dinner is ready. I hope you like your pasta New Orleans style.”

  “As a matter of fact, the spicier, the better.”

  “Ha, me, too.” After seating and apportioning the servings, the two engaged in more light conversation.

  “So, is that where you’re from, New Orleans?” asked Freddy.

  “Close enough. I’m from Slidell.”

  “This is delicious, Cynthia. You are a very good cook.”

  “Why thank you. What about you, Freddy, from where do you hail?”

  “Right here in Baton Rouge.”

  “Are you serious? I don’t know why I thought you were from up North somewhere. Maybe it’s because you were a military man and all.”

  “Well, yeah, I traveled the world while in the service, but this is my home, born and raised.”

  “They do say home is where the heart is.”

  “It’s true, you know, and my heart is here, always has been.”

  “I get that. I get that. Listen, I don’t mean to switch gears like this, but ever since you showed me that picture, I’ve been wanting to know more about that boat of yours.”

  “You mean Sally Girl?

  “The very one.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything.”

  Freddy spent three hours over at Cynthia’s place that night, the two of them covering a range of topics, bouncing between English and Spanish. Spending time with them was a welcomed change for Freddy. For Cynthia, it was her bid to put more pieces of her plot together.

  BUILDING upon a growing rapport, I had Freddy over for dinner several more times over the next three months. During his last visit, I initiated the favor. Though initially reluctant, he agreed to give me the access code to the medicine room in the medical/surgical unit. I’d convinced him that I needed medications for a condition that I had, those that were far too expensive. I told him that I was doing this for the baby, who needed a healthy mother to care for him. Because he and Asher had bonded, I knew that Freddy wouldn’t want to jeopardize his well-being in any way. Priest, I didn’t like using Freddy, putting his job on the line, but I had to get on with the rest of my plan.

  The following shift, I set out to make my move. I had never been more nervous in my life, constantly glancing at my watch, counting down the hours till break. Preoccupation with routine data entry and account management was little match for the slowly-passing time. I wondered if breaktime would ever come until it finally did.

  Using caution, I took the stairs. Five flights up. With the medication room located on the corridor behind the nurse’s station, I had to be careful. Luckily for me, it was a relatively quiet night with only two on-call nurses. The plan was to get in and out without suspicion or incident. However, schemes rarely went without a hitch.

  As I was nearing the medicine room, a nurse’s assistant entered the same hallway, temporarily thwarting my mission. Thinking fast, I simply kept walking, giving her a nod as I passed before stopping at the bathrooms and water fountains. By the time I’d taken a few sips of water, she’d vanished. Wasting little time, I approached the medicine room and punched in the access code. Success. There I was surrounded by thousands of drugs, some behind glass doors, others in open containers. It was an oasis for the infirm.

  Pressed for time, I immediately began scanning the room soon finding my drug of choice. I quickly secured the vials inside my pant waistline and exited the room then down the stairs back to my post. Naturally, now that the deed was done, I was still a bit on edge, wondering if security would make their way to my station. Again, I found myself tracking the hands of my watch. An hour passed. Nothing. Two. Nothing still. Three. As I’d hoped, all appeared normal. I could breathe again, exhaling a sigh of relief.

  After my shift, just as I was about to start the car engine and exit the parking garage, someone tapped on the passenger side window. It was Freddy. I lowered the window.

  “Oh my god, Freddy, you scared me.”

  “Sorry about that,” he said. “Can I get in for a minute?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “How did it go?” he asked.

  “Piece of cake. I could take Houdini’s job,” I said jokingly.

  “Look, Cynthia, I still don’t feel comfortable about this. I mean what is done is done, but if somehow someone finds out about tonight, then that’s it for me and for you.”

  “I know, Freddy, and I appreciate you putting your job on the line like this, but I promise you that I was careful. No one saw me. Well, okay, that’s not true. There was this one NA, but I played it off.”

  “Say what?!”

  “Calm down, okay. If she saw anything, it was only of me taking a sip of water. That’s it. No one suspects a thing.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Don’t worry. Everything’s fine. Just act normal.”

  “Yeah, okay. You just be careful around this place.”

  “I will,” I replied.

  “Guess I’ll let you get out of here so you can get little man home.” Asher was fast asleep in his car seat in the back.

  “Thanks again for everything, Freddy. You’re a lifesaver.”

  “Yeah, sure,” he said, getting out of the car. “Talk you soon.”

  “You bet.”

  The car ride home was frequented by more of one of the last conversations I’d had with the professor. It only confirmed that I was doing the right thing. I was certain of it.

  “Asche, can I ask you something else?”

  “Aren’t you the inquisitive one? And, yes, ask away, my love.”

  “What would you do if you couldn’t teach anymore?”

  “Why would you ask that? Why wouldn’t I be able to teach?”

  “I don’t know, maybe failing health. I tell you all the time that you need to slow down. I worry about you.” Asche had already had a few health scares earlier in the year. Bouts of neck and chest pains, even shortness of breath, he told me. Still, the man acted as though he were bulletproof. Drinking his coffee, smoking the occasional cigarette, eating spicy foods, refusing to exercise consistently. Perhaps it was a cultural thing.

  “My love, some things are just in the blood. For me, that’s teaching. I can’t see myself giving it up. The administration would have to mandate my retirement. I could not voluntarily step down. It’s just too much of a passion. I’ve spent my life taking in the world so that I might share it with my pupils, do you understand?”

  “I do. It’s the reason I was drawn to you.”

  “Besides, what would I do with the rest of my life, go fishing? Do I look like the sort who fishes?”

  We both chuckled. “We both know the answer,” I replied.

  “When one cannot do the thing that he loves, he’d just assume die,” he said. That statement resonated with me the most. His whole life was wrapped up in his teaching
. If he didn’t have that anymore, he’d have this void. I hoped, for his sake, it never came to that.

  “Asche, I want you to take better care of yourself. You can’t be so cavalier about your health, not after what happened earlier this year.”

  “My love, you shouldn’t worry yourself like this. I’m fine. I’m going to be around for a very long time, and you and I will have many more moments like this. Now think no more on the matter.”

  “Must we keep going? Can’t we stop here for the day?”

  “No, Ms. Kessler, we must continue,” replied Dr. Danzell, as he shifted in his seat.

  “Fine. What else do you want to know?”

  “Well, we’ve just uncovered your motive, but now I need you to tell me how you did it.”

  “Trust me, doc, you’re not going to like any of what I have to say.”

  “That’s not why we are here, Ms. Kessler. Please proceed.”

  WHEN Cynthia woke that morning, she walked over to Asher’s crib, lowered the railing, and leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. She studied his little face for a while, his peaceful state as he slept. She surveyed his chubby fingers. For six months, she’d cared for this child, loved him, protected him, but after today, that could all change. She tried not to think about that, though. She just focused on the baby. She had all day to cater to his every whim until her shift at the hospital that night.

  By all accounts, it began a typical shift, the familiar staff going about their routines. As the night progressed, things slowed considerably, and her post was as mundane as ever. Though the plan that she had orchestrated would not be easy to execute, the darkened stairwell and quiet corners would aid her well in her mission.

  A determined Cynthia rehearsed the plan once more before an interruption averted her attention.

  “Hey, stranger.” It was Freddy.

  “What are you doing over here?”

  “I just stopped by to see if everything worked out,” he replied.

  “With what?”

  “You know, from that day. Did the meds help you?”

  “Sure did. Thanks again,” she said, giving a halfhearted smile then shifting her focus to her computer screen. Not that she had anything work-related pressing. Cynthia had hoped that her actions would discourage him from carrying this conversation any further and prompt him to leave. Freddy wouldn’t take the bait.

  “Listen, about that.”

  “What’s the matter, Freddy?” Now, she was getting irritated.

  “Well, I don’t like being dishonest.”

  “It was a one-time thing. You are no longer involved in this.”

  “But I am involved.”

  “Is that going to be a problem?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Listen, just put it out of your mind. Go back to your life as usual.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m just being paranoid.”

  “You are. Now, can we not bring this up anymore? Are we good?”

  “Yeah.” While he agreed, the look on his face certainly didn’t reassure Cynthia. In fact, it made her a bit uneasy.

  Freddy took his leave at that point, trudging down the long corridor behind a push mop. She didn’t want to think it, but... No, no, Freddy would be okay. He’d done a good thing for a friend. He’d just have to remind himself of that the next time he started feeling edgy about his involvement. Besides, her shift was nearing its end, and it was time to make her move.

  With just under an hour to pull off the unthinkable, Cynthia ascended the several flights of stairs to his floor, bypassing the nurse’s station, in route to his room. She slipped in unnoticed.

  He lay there peacefully, though hooked to gadgets and IVs. The steady beep of the heart monitor sent a chill through her, causing a momentary lapse. Could she go through with this? Time didn’t permit any deliberation on the matter, so she checked the nerves and proceeded. She removed the vial from inside her elastic waistline and studied its content, a colorless solution, lethal at just the right dosage. Once administered, its affect would begin to set in within half an hour, more than enough time for her to clock out and be well on her way home.

  “Before I do this, I have got to tell you something,” she said while slipping on a pair of latex gloves. “There’s a child. And even though you probably would have rejected us, I’m not doing this out of malice or anything. It has got to be this way, can’t you see? You are wasting away here, no longer able to use those beautiful hands of yours, and I can no longer live with that. I can no longer watch you like this. So, I’m setting you free, Asche, I’m setting you free. Good-bye, my love.”

  As she raised the syringe up to the IV to inject the substance into the line, she heard voices growing closer. In haste, Cynthia scurried into the bathroom and slipped behind the shower curtain. Someone had entered the room. Dammit!

  “MS. Kessler, nothing’s ever a perfect crime, as you well know,” acknowledged the psychologist. “And it seems you got in over your head, but you didn’t kill him.”

  “No, I didn’t. I didn’t kill him.”

  “Then what became of your professor?”

  She lowered her head a bit. “Sadly, he succumbed to his coma.”

  “I see. Then who, Cynthia, who is the reason that you sit behind bars, away from your child?”

  “Like I said before, doc, you’re not going to like what I have to say.

  “I’m not here to like or dislike, Ms. Kessler. I’m here to record the events and examine how your state of being played into what transpired. So, please continue.”

  While confined to agonizingly tight quarters, Cynthia reassured herself that the unexpected visitor was only an attending nurse checking vitals, and that the whole debacle would be over soon. Still, nothing separated her from being outed save for a hanging layer of opaque plastic and the series of sneezes that she managed to suppress.

  Utter panic nearly unraveled her efforts when she heard loud clanging followed by a collection of voices. This was it. This was the end. They were going to find her, and once they did, how was she going to explain herself? Her mind raced with possible defenses as she contemplated stuffing any evidence down the drain.

  A few minutes later, the commotion outside ceased; there was silence. A relieved Cynthia slowly released the trapped air from her lungs while thinking that she’d narrowly avoided a close one. She readied herself to make a quick escape when suddenly the curtain flung opened.

  “What are you doing in here, girl?”

  “Freddy! Oh, my god, Freddy, thank goodness it’s you.” Flubbing over her words, Cynthia attempted to offer a trite explanation for her whereabouts. “Hey...yeah, I—uh—I know this looks bad, but...”

  “But you better be glad it was me who found you in here and not one of the nurses. Now, answer me, girl. What are you doing hiding in here?”

  “It’s not what it looks like.”

  “It looks like you are up to no good. And wait, what are you doing with those vials? Is that what you took from the—”

  “Shh.”

  “I thought that was for the boy. I knew you got me involved in some mess. How do you know this man?”

  “Not now, Freddy. Let’s just get out of here.”

  “Yeah, but I want some answers, girl.”

  “You’ll get your answers.”

  By the time Cynthia slipped back down the stairs, clocked out, picked Asher up from the nursery, and strapped the sleeping infant into his car seat, Freddy had popped on the scene.

  “I can’t talk right now. Asher’s sleeping. I’ve got to get him home,” she said to him.

  “You can’t keep avoiding me, girl.”

  Cynthia had now settled into the driver’s seat and buckled in. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

  “Then why were you in that room? That guy’s been in a coma for months. I’ve cleaned his room for weeks now.”

  “Freddy, you are not thinking straight.”

  “You’ve got me involved in a
ll this, haven’t you?”

  “Involved in what? You’re being paranoid.”

  “In whatever you were planning to do before I caught you.”

  “Nothing was going to happen. I swear.”

  “Then why all the hiding, girl? And what about those vials?”

  “Freddy, I panicked. I do know him. He used to be one of my professors. I just wanted to check in on him. That’s all.”

  “And the vials?”

  “I found those on the floor and didn’t have a chance to toss them into the trash because I panicked.”

  “I don’t believe you, girl, and somehow you’ve got me involved. So, this has got to stop.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I have to come clean about giving you the access code.”

  “Freddy, be rational. You were helping me so that I can be in the best state for Asher. Don’t you want to see him grow up having a healthy and strong mother?”

  The angered man softened a bit. He nodded yes.

  “Then, go home, get some rest. It’s been a long night for both of us.”

  Freddy then looked in the backseat where the sleeping child rested and complied.

  Cynthia watched as the man she’d considered a friend disappeared into another section of the parking garage. She regretted that things had gotten so complicated, but even more his involvement. After all, Freddy was a good man. He had been good to her and Asher, even putting his job on the line for them. He’d been a very good friend. But now...well, now he was a problem. At least, that’s what her intuition was screaming. The signs were saying that she’d only momentarily calmed the storm, that eventually it would become uncontrollable, and that she had to do something about that...soon. For her, it was a terrible and frightening realization.

  Every year when February 16th rolled around, Cynthia would request a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from the prison library. It was the one story she’d read to Asher before bed. She was well into chapter eight when Patty appeared in the door frame of her cell.

  “What’s up, lady? I see Asher’s made another birthday.”