Ask Not For Whom The Panther Prowls (3 page)

Danny
starred at me in bewilderment, and asked, “Will, what are you doing
to Ms. Jane?”

“
I hope this
will save her life. Now stand back.” The AED measured her pulse or
rather the lack of a regular one, and in a mechanical voice said
“Charging,” followed by telling me to press the red button. I did,
and her body jerked, She began to breath a little, with a shallow
gasping breath, then stopped. I tilted her head back, cleared her
mouth and began rescue breathing.

The EMT's arrived and carted her off; leaving
behind a confused and tearful set of children, a frightened and
confused teaching staff, and yours truly trying to figure out what
to do.

In the end Laura was home before we were.

“
What took
you so long?”

“
Will took
the teachers shirt off. Then he kissed her.”

“
What?”

“
One of the
student teachers, Ms. Jane, had a heart attack. I used the AED,
then I had to breath for her in CPR. She was still alive when the
EMT's came.”

“
Is she
another GSU student?”

“
Yes.”

“
Sounds like
a night for pizza, wine and taking it easy.” Danny approved the
pizza and made sure he sat between us on the couch while we watched
a DVD. This was a big improvement. It used to be that he'd stand in
front of the screen and glare at us.

After
Danny's bedtime, Laura curled up next on the couch to me and asked,
“What's this about the deaths?”

“
Something
is wrong. Healthy nineteen year olds just don't die from heart
attacks. I'd like the medical examiner to take a look.”

Laura
thought for a few minutes, then replied like the lawyer she was,
“Will, are you a qualified medical doctor?”

“
No, you
know that.”

“
Then all
you have are your hunches, isn't it?”

“
Yes.”

“
That's not
enough. You're probably right, but you'll need more
evidence.”

“
Which I
don't have.”

“
Which you
don't have. So until you do, it has to wait.”

“
Damn.”

She snuggled
up closer and asked, “Any news about your money?”

“
No, most of
the funds were turned into gold, and the gold is buried somewhere
in North Georgia. It's quite a treasure hunt. It's been written off
as a loss so they're up for grabs.”

“
Tell you
what, after our honeymoon, let's buy a metal detector and go
camping.”

With all the excitement, Danny's school was canceled. As
Laura's case had to go on, it was he and I, alone together. My
student Tom could handle the class. A little suffering would do Tom
a world of good. I tried reading a book to Danny, one of his
favorites, and it went OK.

“
I still like it better when Mommy reads, Will.”

“
So do I.”

It was near ten when my cell rang. It was the principal
from Danny's school. “Mr. Sharpe?”

“
Yes.”

“
What are you doing this morning?”

“
Watching Danny, not much else. Why?”

“
Jane's parents wanted to meet you, and I was wondering if
you could see them.”

“
Depends where they want to meet, I'd have to be able to
take Danny with me.”

In the background Danny called out, “Take me where? I don't
want to go. I don't want to go anywhere with you.”

“
Excuse me.” I pulled my face away from the phone and told
him, “I think it's about Ms. Jane. Her parents want us to visit
them.”

Ms. Jane was one of his favorite teachers.
“Oh, I'll do that.”

Putting the phone near my face I continued,
“I think Danny would come if he's allowed.”

“
They'll meet you at the visitors waiting room at
Northside.”

“
When?”

“
They'll be there all day. Jane's alive, but in the
ICU.”

Since the last one I tried to help wasn't alive, this was
very good news. “If you have their number, tell them we'll be there
soon.”

Danny was already getting his coat from the
closet. Shoes, no, coat yes.

2

The visitor's waiting area at Northside was clean and tried
to have a calming cheerful feeling. Still, it was hard to miss the
dejection on the faces and in the posture of the two older people
who had spent the night waiting in a corner to see if they would
outlive their daughter. Danny and I walked over and introduced
ourselves.

“
You're the Dr. Sharpe who used the AED?”

“
Yes. I'm so sorry for you. Jane was.”

“
Jane is.” That was good, and unexpected, news.

“
Jane is one of Danny's favorite teachers. She had the
knack.”

They smiled. “We just would like to know why this
happened.”

Danny and I both replied, “Why?”

“
Jane was so healthy. There's no way she could have hidden
heart disease. It's almost out of a James Bond movie where some
secret oriental poison was used to kill the hero.”

“
If you'd entertain Danny, I have a few calls to
make.”

“
Will!”

“
Danny, these are Ms. Jane's parents. Her mommy and daddy. I
need you to be a big boy and look after them.”

He nodded, suddenly serious with a sense of his
responsibility.

I wandered out into the hall. Strictly
speaking, I could have made these calls in front of them, but it
might have been embarrassing.

“
Argus Detective Agency, Arthur Ellis here.”

“
Arthur, it's me, Will. I think we have a client for these
students.”

“
Not GSU?”

“
No, parents of a victim, but”

“
But what?”

“
I doubt they're rich. I don't want to charge
them.”

“
Pro bono
, again?”

“
Sorry.”

Arthur laughed, “It's a good thing one of us has a good
business head. Go ahead, I know I can't stop you, but try to find
someone who can pay next time.”

“
I will. Thank you.”

My next call was to Morrison.

“
Alvin, I've got a client. Can you tell me how to put in a
formal request for the medical examiner's records on the students
who died?”

“
I'll do it. Who's your client?”

“
The parents of Danny's favorite teacher. She was a student
teacher from GSU working in his school.”

“
Was?”

“
She's in the ICU at Northside. She might make it, but it
will be awhile before she teaches if I'm any judge.”

“
Damn, how do you find these cases Will? What do you need to
know?”

“
Did the M.E. Look for any poisons? Any drugs or signs of
injection? Is there any connection between the ways the students
died, other than they appeared to be in good health
first?”

“
That's a vague and big question. Don't know that they'll
bite.”

“
But you'll try?”

“
Yes. Your hunches have more than occasionally been
correct.”

I returned to the waiting area. Jane's mother was reading
to Danny. Her father pounced on me as I entered.

“
What did you find out?”

“
Are you willing to be clients of Argus
Detectives?”

“
How much will it cost? We're not rich.”

“
They'll do it for free. It's good publicity for
Argus.”

“
Aren't they the detectives who cracked that murder ring
last year?”

“
Yes.”

“
How do you know they'll do it?”

“
I'm one of the two detectives at Argus. Jane's not the
first student to fall ill. So far, she's the first to
live.”

“
Oh.”

“
I had one student die in my class.”

“
What!”

“
'Physics for Poets', last week. He collapsed towards the
end of class.”

“
So why us?”

“
Without a formal client, I'm 'freelancing'. The law frowns
on that. With a client, I can investigate.”

“
Show me where to sign.”

We'd just about finished the paperwork when
a doctor came into the room.

“
Mr. and Mrs. Phillips?”

Jane's parents looked up at him with a mixture of
exhaustion, anguish, fear and dread on their faces.

“
Yes?”

“
Jane was asking about you. Would you come?”

Danny asked, “Can I come?”

“
I'm sorry, not without an escort.”

“
I'll carry him. Jane is his favorite teacher.”

Danny and I stood outside the room, while Jane and her
parents talked.
I held Danny up so he could see Jane and while he was
waving to her, I asked the doctor.

“
Are there any poisons that could do this?”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Exactly what I said, is there any way this could be a
poisoning? She's not the first healthy student at GSU to have a
heart attack this Spring.”

“
Oh. Before I talk about this, who are you?”

“
Dr. Will Sharpe, Argus detectives and Professor of Physics
at GSU. Jane's parents are my clients.”

“
You don't wait do you? I've heard of ambulance chasing
lawyers but this is new, an ambulance chasing private
eye.”

“
There are something like ten, possibly more, students who
died at GSU with the same pattern as Miss Phillips. nineteen year
olds don't have many heart attacks, do they?”

“
No.”

“
One was in a class I taught. His best friend helped me with
the CPR. So I'm -”

“
Sorry. You're involved aren't you?”

“
Much more than I'd like.”

Danny asked, “Will, Jane waved at me. What's that machine
do?”

“
That's monitoring her heart and breathing.”

I asked the doctor, “Is there anything odd
about the case, besides being a heart attack in a young healthy
woman?”

“
It is a bit weird, more like respiratory arrest, her heart
seems fine. Her EKG is surprisingly normal for a heart
attack.”

“
So back to my first question, could it be
poisoning?”

The doctor continued, “Most of the poisons I know of that
could do this are things like tetrodotoxin, you have to eat them.
Fugu poisoning is an example.”

“
Fugu?”

“
A fish the Japanese like to eat. Prepare it incorrectly and
you're dead.”

“
Doesn't sound right, unless there's a way to make a time
release version. She wasn't eating sushi at
kindergarten.”

“
I suppose you could. Dr. Sharpe, I'm not really a
toxicologist. It's not my field, but one of my old prof's at the
Medical College of Georgia could give you an exhaustive
list.”

“
Thanks, who?”

“
Dr. Martin Shelby”

“
I'll find him.”

3

It didn't take that long to find Dr. Shelby the next day.
The reorganization of the Medical College into the Health Sciences
University and then finally into the 'Georgia Regents University'
meant that there were more than a few dead links on the way, but it
wasn't long before I called his lab.

“
Is Dr. Shelby in? I'm Dr. Sharpe from Georgia State and I
have a few questions for him.”

The person on the other end of the line was
very upset and I had to repeat myself. “Can I talk to him?”

“
No.”

“
Why not?”

“
He just had a heart attack. He's”

“
I'm sorry to hear that, you have my sympathies.”

“
Thank you. What was this about?”

“
It's about toxins, I'm investigating whether there is a
toxin that could be used to cause a heart attack or symptoms of
one.”

“
He would have loved to help you. Oddball toxins were his
field.”

“
Is there another expert I could call?”

“
Did you say you were at GSU?”

“
Yes.”

“
Why don't you talk to Dr. John Craft in the neurobiology
institute? He worked with Dr. Shelby. He'd know about
them.”

“
Thank you, and once again, you have my deepest
sympathies.”

Gee, that was convenient for someone. The expert I needed
just died. I could try Dr. Craft, but he was at GSU and it was just
barely possible he was involved. I'd have to discreetly check
before I talked to him.

4

Since the Georgia Regents University is in Augusta,
Morrison's contacts were of very little help. To be accurate, no
help at all. Dr. Shelby's obituary was published that afternoon and
it said he died from a massive heart attack. It was not unexpected
as he had a history of heart disease and had been 'bravely working'
up until the end.