“I think you and Myra are right. Did you ask the others?”
“Not yet. We were just discussing it before you phoned. We’re thinking we’ll do it at lunch with Fergus and Annie. We don’t want to do it in front of everyone, just in case it would embarrass Charlotte.”
“Good idea. What time are we convening today?” Isabelle asked.
“Let me check with the others and get back to you.”
“Roger that.” Isabelle ended the call.
Charles called Annie to ask her to contact the sisters to see who would be available later that day. He also explained that he and Myra wanted to inform Charlotte of what they had discovered, and he asked Annie to bring Fergus over for lunch so they would be there when everything was explained to Charlotte.
Annie agreed, ended the one call, picked up the phone again, and began reaching out to the sisters. Within a few minutes, Annie sent Charles a text: All in. Four o’clock. Dinner at six, please.
Myra returned to the kitchen with a tray of empty plates. “Our girl has a very good appetite. She said she hasn’t eaten this well in months.”
“It’s those pills they were giving her. Nausea is another side effect.” Charles grimaced at the thought of Charlotte being poisoned by those creeps.
“Well, that part is over for Charlotte. But we need to stop these men from doing it to others. And I would love to get some of Charlotte’s money back.” Myra was contemplating how that would happen, but they still needed to gather more intel.
“Oh, I am sure you and the sisters will come up with a very fine plan.”
“What plan?” Charlotte asked, startling both of them as she entered the kitchen.
Myra took a deep inhale and fiddled with her pearls. “Charlotte, dear, please sit down.”
“Myra? What’s wrong? Is everything all right?” Charlotte grabbed the back of one of the kitchen chairs to steady herself.
“Well, yes and no.” Myra looked to Charles for assistance.
Charles took Charlotte’s arm and assisted her into a chair. He patted her hand. “Now, now. Don’t fret. Everything is all right—”
“At least for the moment,” Myra interrupted.
Charlotte had a worried look on her face. “Please tell me. What is going on?”
Myra pulled her chair around and gently turned Charlotte’s shoulders so they could sit face-to-face, knee to knee. Myra began, “First, I want to apologize.”
“Apologize for what?” Charlotte burst out, causing Lady to yelp, which started a short howling session among the dogs.
“Please, it’s okay.” Myra took Charlotte’s hands in hers, again glancing up at Charles.
“Charlotte,” Charles began again, “we have been doing a little research on your Drs. Marcus and Steinwood. Concerning the vitamins and medications they’ve been prescribing.”
“But how?” Charlotte implored.
“That’s what I wanted to apologize for,” Myra continued. “You know we love you very much, and when we received your letter, we were very concerned.”
“Oh yes. You have been wonderful hosts.” Charlotte sighed.
Myra was beginning to vacillate between feeling guilty for invading her friend’s privacy and being energized by the idea of fixing the situation. “Charlotte, I breached your trust.” There. It was finally out.
“What on earth are you talking about?” Charlotte was almost pleading.
“When you were at the spa, I went into your room and took samples of your drugs, vitamins, or whatever it was that Dr. Marcus was calling them.” And there was the rest of it.
Charlotte was taken aback, but not in a disturbed way. “My goodness. Myra, why didn’t you just ask me?”
“Because that was before you told me what was going on, and I know this is going to sound totally ridiculous, but I didn’t want to pry! Well, at least not to your face!” Myra and Charlotte howled with laughter at the contradiction. Then the dogs joined in. It was a cacophony of yaps and laughs.
The room vibrated from the barking of the dogs responding to the arrival of Fergus and Annie.
“What have we here?” Fergus reached into his pockets to reward each dog with a treat. Mostly to quiet them down. “What is so hilariously funny?”
“Care to share?” Annie asked, chuckling.
Myra inhaled slightly. “I was trying to explain to Charlotte that I stole some of her meds because I didn’t want to pry”—she paused—“to her face!”
Hysterics broke out again.
“That is a bit ironic, wouldn’t you say?” Fergus added.
“Yes.” Myra caught her breath. “We were going to wait for you to get here, but Charlotte overheard me and Charles talking about plans and asked us what it was about. And here we are.”
“How far into the explanation have you gotten?” Annie inquired.
“That was it. You walked in just as I was about to explain.” Myra gestured for everyone to sit down. “Let’s continue.”
“Charlotte, while the humorous aspect of this has come to light, there is a much more serious issue at hand.” Charles needed to steer the conversation to the nuts and bolts of the scheme the doctors had concocted. “We had the pills tested, and what we discovered is very disturbing.”
Charlotte began to go pale. “What . . . What do you mean?”
“Some of them were relatively harmless herbs, but every other bottle in the sequence contained low dosages of a drug that works like phenobarbital. It’s a narcotic. Probably why you were getting foggy, as you said. The next day you would take a low dose of Adderall, which is in the same class of drugs as cocaine.”
Charlotte started to tremble. Myra grabbed a cashmere throw from the atrium and wrapped it around her friend. “There. There. It’s all going to be all right. You are perfectly fine now.”
Tears started streaming down Charlotte’s face. “They could have killed me,” she whispered. “No wonder I was feeling highs and lows. They told me that it takes several months for our bodies to adjust and things would be level after six months. That’s when they’re supposed to reevaluate you.” She put her hands to her face. “I’ve been such a fool!”
Myra hugged Charlotte. “You were not being a fool. You went to a doctor whom you thought you could trust. And then, when you were feeling a bit off, you reached out to us. That was a very wise move. And let me remind you, you stopped taking those pills when you were not feeling right. So, you are far from a fool.”
Everyone murmured in agreement. Annie stooped down to wrap her arms around Charlotte and Myra.
Fergus interjected, “While we are on the subject, can you bring the pill bottles down here? I want to see if there are any legal markings on them.”
Wiping the tears, Charlotte nodded and looked up. “So what do we do now?”
In unison, Annie and Myra exclaimed, “We thought you’d never ask!”
High fives and hoots, then the dogs. Yes, there were some big surprises coming for a trio of good-for-nothing scoundrels. The game was afoot.
Chapter 19
Aspen
Avery Snowden peered out the motel window. The mountains were spectacular, topped with the last of the winter snow and beautiful aspen trees. He wasn’t much of a snow or winter guy, but he could certainly appreciate the natural beauty of the area. He checked the digital clock on his laptop. It was 6:00 A.M. He sent the photo Eileen had taken of the mysterious guy to Charles to see if he had a police record. Charles had many ways to get that sort of information. The photo was a clean shot of the kid’s face. Yes, Eileen was very good at her job.