"Sure. But I'm too close to this one. I'd be the prime suspect."

"I don't know about that. I think you could pull it off. But it shouldn't be your first option. Any idea how long she's expected to live?"

"Several years, I think. Probably at least five."

"We sure don't want to wait thatlong. Just keeping thinking, Carnie. I have great confidence in you. You'll come up with something."

"Okay. Thanks, Grandma."

Maybe she could poison Mallie Mae. Make it look like Hadley did it. But what would his motive be? Or what about Macy? She had easy access to the old hag's food. After years of being ordered around by that old woman, she'd finally had enough. Might work. Probably not.

But Elmo wouldchange his mind about postponing the wedding. Carnie would make sure of that.

Chapter11.

Elmo's study was on the main floor of the house, between the foyer and the master suite. But he spent little time there. On a typical day, by the time he made it home, after tending to his young patients for nine or ten hours, he was ready to feast on one of Hadley's delicious meals and watch a movie in the Media Room or read in his bedroom recliner. The maidspent more time in his study than hedid. At least she kept it free of dust and cobwebs.

He located the power b.u.t.ton and started up the desktop computer. Surprisingly, it still worked. He would be forced to endure countless updates to his various software packages. He leaned back in his leather chair and watched as each file was downloaded and installed.

He had ignored Mallie Mae for years. Now his mother was condemned to slog through an increasingly disoriented life on her way to a slow, miserable death. Couldn't he have found some way to make amends with her before now? He should have tried harder.

But she had nearly destroyed his plans to become a pediatrician. And she had interfered in his love life at every turn, never approving of any woman he dated. She was always there to disrupt his dreams with a punch in the gut. Because she had to awaken him to reality. Herreality. Still, he had held tight to his grudge far too long. And his bitterness had turned to overwhelming guilt after learning of her condition.

Finally, all software updates had completed and his computer had restarted. He opened a browser and went to the National Inst.i.tutes of Health website and began to read about Alzheimer's disease.

Drugs mentioned for early to middle stage Alzheimer's were tacrine (Cognex), donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon), and galantamine (Razadyne). The effectiveness of these drugs was limited. At best, they would delay the symptoms for short period.

Another drug, memantine (Namenda), was approved to treat moderate to severe AD. Also being studied by researchers was the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, antioxidants, ginkgo biloba, and estrogen.

He printed the web page and made notes in the margins, circling the drug name Namenda, and adding the note try this first. Then he drew arrows to antioxidants, ginkgo biloba, and estrogen, and scribbled try these in various combinations and strengths.

Greg had finished his lessons early, thanks to several cancellations. So, Cynthia had decided to wait and ride with him to Marshall. They had picked up a hamburger on the way out of town and eaten it in the car while driving. They would get to Beverly's house by 6:30 PM.

"Have you ever heard of Elmo Mobley? He's a doctor," said Greg.

"Yes. He has accounts at the bank. I've seen him there a few times, but I've never met him."

"Well, his name came up in church staff meeting this morning. He requested prayer for his mother, who's just be diagnosed with Alzheimer's."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"Yeah. But something the church secretary said kinda stuck with me."

"What?"

"She said Elmo's father had died in a freak one-car accident."

"And you looked it up on the internet."

"Well, I was curious. So, I found a Coreyville Courier article from 1984."

"I thought you were busy teaching lessons this afternoon."

"I was. This was during one of my cancellations. And I had way too many today. Didn't make much money."

"Well, did you find anything interesting?"

"Actually, I did. It said that Morford Mobley had crashed his car into a concrete wall under an overpa.s.s."

"That's not so unusual. People drink too much and think they can drive. Or they fall asleep at the wheel."

"Yeah, but he hadn't been drinking. And it happened on a sunny morning."

"But he still could have been sleepy."

"That's true. But here's where it gets weird. He went to a gas station and filled up two five gallon cans of gas. A witness reported seeing him put the two cans in the front seat of his car without the caps. He said gas was spilling out of the cans as he put them in the car."

"That isweird."

"Yeah. And then, instead of driving back toward his house, he went the opposite direction. The investigators estimated that he was traveling at least 90 miles per hour when he hit the wall."

"Whoa."

"The car immediately burst into flames. There was barely enough left of him to make an identification. Of course, they knewit was him anyway."

"It was suicide," said Cynthia.

"Clearly. But the newspaper reported it as an accident."

"The Mobley's must have a lot of clout. Sounds like the police and the paper were trying to protect the family. And you can understand that."

"But why would he want to kill himself?"

"I would imagine the only people who know the answer to that are his family."

Greg pulled into Beverly's driveway.

Cynthia said, "Well, let's go in and pack some more boxes."

It was a lot of work, but they were having fun with it. They got out of the car and started walking toward the back porch.

"Uh, before we go in, I have something I wanted to tell you."

"Okay." Cynthia stopped and turned around to face Greg.

"I've been meaning to tell you this for while. I mean, I think you know how I feel about you, but..."

"Yes?"

"I love you, Cynthia, and maybe I'm just a fool, but..."

She moved close to him and put her arms around him.

Maybe she just feels sorry for me, he thought. She wants to let me down easy, but she doesn't know how to do it.

"I love you too, Greg."

"Really?"

"Couldn't you tell? Couldn't you feel it?"

"Well, I wasn't sure. Sometimes I feel things that aren't really there."

"Kiss me, you silly man."

Greg was more than happy to be a silly man. Yes, he would proudly be hersilly man, and she could call him whatever she wanted to-as long as she loved him.

They walked into the house, beaming.

"What's gotten into you two?" said Beverly.

"What you mean, Mom?" said Cynthia.

"You look like you're on cloud nine."

Greg and Cynthia smiled knowingly at each other.

"Does it have anything to do with that talking and kissing out in my driveway?"

"Mom, you were snooping on us?"

"It's mydriveway. I think I have the right to look at it any time I want. Aw, come here and give me a hug."

As the three stood there hugging, Greg thought everything was going to work out just fine. Even if Beverly lived with them after they were married. But wait. One step at a time. She said she loved you. She didn't agree to marryyou. That's okay, he thought. He would worry about that some other day. She loves you!

After spending all afternoon and evening at his computer, Elmo finally dragged himself to his bedroom at 2:15 AM. He was so tired he didn't even bother to shower or brush his teeth. He just fell across the bed, fully dressed, and was asleep by the time his head hit the bedspread.

Carnie waited for Elmo to leave, and then slipped into his study. She took his stack of notes to the copy machine and made a copy of each page. Then she placed the papers back on his desk as she had found them.

She waited until she was in her bedroom to read through the papers. Her medical training and nursing experience made it easy for her to comprehend the material. Carnie had worked as a nurse for a several years. Until some patients on her floor mysteriously died.

She saw his notes in the margins and understood that he was planning to try a number of different treatment options. Her objective was to get Elmo and Carsie married. And the sooner, the better. How could she use the information in these papers to her advantage? What if Elmo were to quickly find an effective treatment for his mother? Then he could go ahead with the wedding. But it could take months or years to find something that worked. Maybe he never would. In the meantime, his relationship with Carsie could fall apart. No, she had to speed up the process somehow.

What he needed were a few volunteers for a clinical trial. Some women with AD who would each be given different treatments, to see which one worked best. And if none of the treatments were working, Carnie could always alter the results. Or, what if one of the volunteers didn't actually have Alzheimer's? The woman could pretend to have it, and then miraculously get better.

Once Elmo saw that his ingenious treatment idea was working, he would feel free to get married, knowing that he had done his best for his mother, and that her condition would rapidly improve.

Carnie could set it up in the sub-bas.e.m.e.nt. Elmo could work in the lab, and she would act as nurse in their own little hospital ward. But who would volunteer for such a thing? No problem. She would bring them in by force, if necessary. And once Elmo and Carsie had gone off for the honeymoon, Carnie could easily dispose of the 'volunteers.'

But the whole idea was insane. Elmo would never go along with any of it.

Carnie hashed through plan after plan for hours. There had to be a scheme that would work. And given enough time, she would think of it.

Chapter12.

Wednesday was Greg's a.s.signed hospital visitation day. The pastor took care of it on other days of the week, as needed. Greg would spend time visiting church members who were patients, and sit with the family of those having surgery. But first, there was time for breakfast at Jane's Diner.

"The usual?" Jane poured him a cup of coffee.

"Yeah."

"By the way, how's it going with your girlfriend?"

It seemed like Jane asked that question every day.

"Couldn't be better. She's absolutely wonderful. And I'm so in love with her."

Jane smiled. "Have you told her?"

"Yes. I told her last night." He beamed with pride.

"Well, all I've got to say is: what took you so long?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've known you were in love with her for months. Practically the whole town has."

"But how could everybody else know before Iknew."

"You knew."

"No..."