Off the Record Read online

  Off the

  Record

  Mystery

  and the Minister’s Wife

  Through the Fire

  A State of Grace

  Beauty Shop Tales

  A Test of Faith

  The Best Is Yet to Be

  Angels Undercover

  Into the Wilderness

  Where There’s a Will

  Dog Days

  The Missing Ingredient

  Open Arms

  A Token of Truth

  Who’s That Girl?

  For the Least of These

  A Matter of Trust

  Funny Money

  To Have and to Hold

  How the Heart Runs

  A Thousand Generations

  Home to Briar Mountain

  Flight of the Sparrows

  A Firm Foundation

  Off the Record

  A Distant Memory

  Tea and Sympathy

  The Master’s Hand

  Strangers in Their Midst

  Mystery and the Minister’s Wife is a registered trademark of Guideposts.

  Copyright © 2009 by Guideposts. All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to the Rights & Permissions Department, Guideposts, 110 William Street, New York, New York 10038.

  The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or occurrences is coincidental.

  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

  Guideposts.org

  (800) 932-2145

  Guideposts Books & Inspirational Media

  Cover design by Dugan Design Group

  Cover illustration by Dan Brown

  Interior design by Cris Kossow

  Typeset by Nancy Tardi

  Printed in the United States of America

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Acknowledgments

  MANY THANKS TO the fine folks of the American Red Cross and the Madison, Minnesota, blood drive team for giving generously of their time and expertise to teach and demonstrate the details of a blood drive. The personnel were more than accommodating to this inquisitive author. What liberties the story takes with their processes are purely fictional license.

  Also, thank you to Jessie Berckes, RN, Madison Lutheran Home Director of Nursing, and Corla Enevoldsen, MLH Health Information Management Director, for answering questions about the handling of medical records. Any errors or variations can be laid at the door of my imagination.

  Much appreciation to Kristi Zeeb, PharmD, for her well-educated opinion on medication issues.

  Thanks, as well, to my son Walter for supplying information about aspects of a government organization.

  Finally, my heartfelt gratitude goes out to the editorial staff at Guideposts Books and Inspirational Media for supplying the chisel and polish to make this story shine. Readers, we hope you thoroughly enjoy the journey from first page to last.

  Chapter One

  How is Mrs. Kraemer doing since her hip surgery?” Kate Hanlon sent an inquiring look toward Nehemiah Jacobs. Lucy Mae Briddle, the wife of Copper Mill’s mayor, had mentioned her mother’s surgery to Kate the previous week at the Country Diner.

  Nehemiah was seated at a table across from Kate in the sun-washed dining room of the Orchard Hill assisted-living facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kate and her husband Paul had taken advantage of a warm early May afternoon to drive over from their home in Copper Mill to visit their old friend.

  “Shirley Kraemer is usually in the thick of the chatter at coffee time, but I see she’s not here today,” Kate added, looking around.

  The elderly gentleman shook his gray head. “Shirley’s stayed pretty much in her apartment since returning from the hospital about a week ago.”

  Paul set his coffee cup down. “When my aunt had her hip replacement, they had her up and walking before they discharged her from the hospital. But Mrs. Kraemer is older than my aunt was when she had her surgery. Maybe it’s just taking her longer to feel like getting out.”

  Kate nodded. “Lucy Mae told me she’s a little worried about her mother, but she’s hosting a ladies’ meeting this afternoon at her house, so she can’t be here. When she found out we were going to visit you, she asked if we’d check on her mother. I’d hoped to see her smiling face in the dining room.”

  She glanced once more around the large area populated with snowy-haired men and women perched around the tables, some in wheelchairs, others with walkers nearby. The pleasant hum of voices and laughter filled the air as residents enjoyed coffee and cookies. A petite, graying woman named Pearl, a regular volunteer, passed out napkins and chatted with the residents. Windows lining the walls on three sides offered pleasant views of manicured lawns, budding shrubbery, and on one side, the blue heights of the Smoky Mountains.

  “Nurse Pritchard, we need you stat!” A male voice grated from the wide entrance to the dining room.

  Kate turned her head to see a burly aide dressed in a deep green scrub suit. He was waving one beefy arm toward a short, husky woman taking a resident’s blood pressure at a table near them. The nurse hastily stripped the cuff from the resident’s arm and stuffed it into her pocket as she hustled away. The rubber soles of her shoes squeaked urgently against the waxed floor. A tense hush fell over the room, but as calm descended on Orchard Hill once more, conversations resumed.

  “I hope no one’s fallen.” Nehemiah’s concerned tone drew Kate’s attention back to the others at the table. “Too many of us around here are a tad unsteady on our feet, and falls are the worst nightmare for old folks.” His gentle gray eyes focused in the direction the nurse and the aide had disappeared.

  Kate smiled and touched Nehemiah’s arm. “That’s why we’re glad you stay active and fit. I’m surprised the staff around here can keep up with you.”

  The older man chuckled, accenting sprays of wrinkles around his cheeks, mouth, and eyes. “Well, now, just because I retired from pastoring doesn’t mean I plan to sit in a rocking chair and knit.”

  “What a picture.” Kate grinned. “If you ever show signs of slowing down, we’ll be sure to get you a set of knitting needles.”

  They all laughed.

  A renewed round of shouts and running feet drew their heads toward the hallway beyond the adjoining sunroom.

  “Sounds serious,” Paul said.

  “Let’s see if we can find out who it is so we know who to pray for.” Nehemiah rose and led the way.

  Kate scrambled to keep up with the men. She smiled toward Paul. Not many fifty-seven-year-old women could boast a sixty-two-year-old husband who exhibited the vigor of someone a decade or two younger. His salt-and-pepper hair announced distinguished, not over the hill.

  Out in the corridor, nurse’s aides in brightly colored scrubs swift-footed toward an apartment at the end of the hall.

  Nehemiah groaned. “That’s Shirley’s place. Now what?”

  “Mrs. Kraemer?” Kate asked.

  Was there some kind of complication from the surgery? Maybe a blood clot? The whole place was in an uproar. A few other residents, who’d been enjoying their coffee a moment before, crept up beside Kate. Their pinched faces reflected the universal fear: at any moment they could be in need of such attention.

  Paul touched Kate’s arm. “Nehemiah wants us to go to his apartment and pray for Mrs. Kraemer. We should get out from under foot of the
staff anyway.”

  “Good idea. Let’s—”

  “Nu-urse!” The querulous voice sounded familiar.

  Kate turned to see Edith Naples, a woman they’d met before on their visits to Orchard Hill. Leaning on her walker, the elderly woman hobbled toward the male aide who’d called for Nurse Pritchard’s help. He was striding up the hall toward the nurses’ station, his raw-boned face wearing a scowl like thunder.

  “Nu-urse!” Mrs. Naples demanded again.

  The aide swept past the resident and spared a few gruff words Kate couldn’t decipher. Maybe reminding her he wasn’t a nurse, only an aide. Not that the correction would do any good. Many of the residents called any worker in uniform a nurse. He went behind the station and grabbed the phone.

  “Y’all go on,” Kate told her husband. “I’ll see what Mrs. Naples wants and get her settled.”

  “Go for it! We’ll be upstairs in Nehemiah’s apartment, praying through the storm.” Paul and Nehemiah stepped to the elevator on the near side of the nurses’ station.

  Kate moved toward the elderly resident, who still hollered for attention. On the way, she passed the desk where the aide was speaking urgently on the phone. The words ambulance and severe anaphylactic shock carried to Kate’s ears. Her heart tripped over itself.

  Hadn’t one of their friends in Texas nearly died of anaphylactic shock during a camping trip a few years back? They’d said it was an allergic reaction to a bee sting. It was unlikely that a resident would be stung by a bee inside the facility, but any substance could cause an allergic reaction, and that could be life threatening. Kate sent a silent prayer heavenward for Shirley Kraemer.

  She reached Mrs. Naples and smiled down at the woman who had likely reached Kate’s five-foot-six-inch height before her spine curved and her shoulders hunched from advanced age. “Hello, Mrs. Naples. Do you remember me? I’m Kate Hanlon. My husband, Paul, is the pastor of Faith Briar Church in Copper Mill.”

  Watery hazel eyes peered up at her. “Oh yes. You come to visit Nehemiah a lot.”

  “We’re doing the same today. Since it looks like the nurses are busy right now, is there anything I can help you with?”

  Mrs. Naples’ birdlike fingers closed around Kate’s arm and the elderly woman tugged Kate toward her apartment. “I can’t change the stations on my television, and I’m missing my favorite show.”

  Kate allowed herself to be drawn into Mrs. Naples’ living room. Electronics were not her forte. She should have asked Paul to come along. Or maybe not. She chuckled to herself. Electronics weren’t his forte either. The remote control proved as uncooperative as she’d suspected, but she was able to change the channel manually, a feat Mrs. Naples’ feeble eyesight made impossible for her.

  “I think you need new batteries,” she told Mrs. Naples as she handed her the remote.

  The old woman frowned up at Kate from her recliner. “I was afraid of that.” She sighed. “Now I’ll have to ask, and who knows when they’ll get around to changing them.”

  “I’m sure as soon as the staff is less busy, they’ll have time to take care of the problem. As a matter of fact,” Kate said as she eased toward the door, “if I run across someone in the hall who isn’t occupied, I’ll mention it for you.”

  “Oh, would you?” The elderly woman’s face crinkled into a road map of delight.

  “I surely will.” Kate put her hand on the doorknob, then froze.

  Out in the hallway, the sound of sobs carried to her and then faded as the person darted past. Kate’s pulse sped up. Did that spell the worst for Shirley Kraemer?

  Kate stepped out into the hallway and looked toward Mrs. Kraemer’s apartment. A few staff members lingered in the area, but the congestion had thinned out. Were they waiting for the EMTs...or the coroner?

  Chapter Two

  Kate spotted a pair of aides loitering near the nurses’ station. One of them was the husky male who’d been on the telephone, an aide she’d never seen before today. The other was a slender brunette, Rita, whom she knew. Several sober-faced residents, along with Pearl, the volunteer, hovered in a clump near the dining-room entrance. Their attention was riveted on the two aides as they eavesdropped on the conversation. Kate hurried toward the small group.

  “Can you believe even a new nurse would make that kind of stupid mistake?” The male aide’s bray carried easily to her, but she caught only “wrong med” and “dumb lie” from Rita’s response.

  A mistake by a new nurse? Wrong med? Did that mean a medical procedure or a medication? And who told a ‘dumb lie’? Maybe someone was making an excuse to cover up the mistake.

  Kate reached them. “Is Mrs. Kraemer going to be all right?”

  Their shuttered faces stared at her. The man’s name tag identified him as Stephen.

  “I understand you’re not supposed to give out information to unauthorized people,” Kate said. “But I’m not just being nosy. Our mayor’s wife is Mrs. Kraemer’s daughter. She asked us to check on her mother today.”

  Rita shrugged. “Well, I guess it’s safe to say we don’t know how things are going to turn out yet.”

  A breath heaved from Kate’s lungs. “She’s still alive then?”

  “No problem admitting that much.” Stephen gazed up the hallway toward Mrs. Kraemer’s apartment. “Uh-oh!” All their heads swiveled to see a pair of uniformed workers streaking toward them. “Back to work and out of the way for us grunts,” he said. “Better not let Sergeant Pritchard catch us loafing.”

  He exchanged a glance with Rita, who bobbed the slightest nod, then he lumbered in the opposite direction of the crisis. Kate blinked after him. His language and general demeanor made him seem like someone who’d be more comfortable in the military than working at a retirement facility.

  Rita turned toward the dining room and shooed the small group of lurking residents back to their afternoon snacks.

  Kate followed her and tapped her on the shoulder. “I almost forgot. I gave Mrs. Naples a hand with her TV. She needs new batteries in her remote control.”

  “I’ll take care of it as soon as things settle down around here.” Her smile was tense. “Thanks for helping out. If the new batteries don’t do the trick, I’ll have Stephen look at her TV set. He’s a whiz with electronics.”

  Excited voices buzzed from the nurses’ station. Kate went to the doorway of the sunroom and turned toward the noise.

  The workers who’d run from Shirley Kraemer’s room were grabbing supplies from a closet behind the counter. A cadaverously thin woman in a business suit had joined them—someone else Kate had never seen at Orchard Hill. She assumed the floor personnel had been explaining the emergency to her because the woman looked a bit shell-shocked. The uniformed workers took off back up the hallway, and the thin woman turned toward the counter, her eyes enormous behind a pair of thick-lensed glasses. Her stunned expression gave no indication that she saw Kate standing less than ten feet away.

  Kate’s cell phone rang, and she answered while she watched the thin woman stick a little key into a tall filing cabinet against the far wall and wiggle it back and forth.

  “Hello, wife-o-mine,” Paul’s voice came back at her. “Where are you?”

  The key finally turned and released a sliding cover that lifted to expose a tightly packed row of sturdy binders with labels on their spines—patient charts like those used in other medical facilities Kate had visited.

  “I’m standing opposite the nurses’ station on my way to the elevator,” she told Paul.

  “Why don’t you wait there? I’ll be right down.”

  “Will do.” Kate closed her phone and took up a post near the wall to remain out of the way of the Orchard Hill personnel.

  The woman at the station jerked out a medical record, relocked the cabinet, and then darted to the end of the counter. She peered up the hall toward Mrs. Kraemer’s apartment.

  Then the woman turned, frowning severely, and took a seat at the desk behind the tall counter. Kate could only
see the sleekly groomed top of her dark brown hair pulled into a bun by a large amber hair clip. The snap of the binder opening and the rustle of papers told Kate that work was being done on the chart. Next, keys clattered frantically on the computer.

  Then a throat cleared, and the woman jerked and let out a little cry. She surged to her feet and faced Nurse Pritchard. Kate blinked at her sudden appearance. For such a large woman, she certainly did move quietly. The nurse hissed a few words. Kate caught “fixed the file.” The thin woman bobbed her head. “It’s done,” she answered and whisked away toward the elevator.

  The elevator door opened, and Paul stepped out. The woman in the business suit went into the elevator and turned on low-heeled pumps. Her wide gaze met Kate’s. The woman’s chest heaved as if she’d run a sprint, and all color had drained from her pinched face. Was she about to faint? Kate stepped forward, but the elevator door swished shut.

  Paul touched her arm. “Are you all right?”

  “What?” She looked up at him. “Oh, I’m fine. I was just wondering if that woman who passed you at the elevator was going to be okay. She seemed very upset.”

  “Everyone’s on edge just now.”

  “I guess you’re right. I certainly am.” She took a deep breath.

  Paul’s gentle smile radiated comfort. “God’s got it covered.”

  Kate leaned toward him and answered his smile. “I know. Thanks. Sometimes the pastor’s wife needs a little pastoral reassurance too.”

  He chuckled, then sobered. “Lucy Mae called Nehemiah while I was up there. The facility notified her and Lawton of the emergency, and they’re on their way. They were hoping we hadn’t left Orchard Hill yet because they’d like us to meet them at the hospital.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll let the nurse at the desk know that friends of the family are available if we can do anything to help.”

  Kate approached the station, where the nurse lingered. “Excuse me, Nurse Pritchard.” Kate leaned her elbows on the counter. She’d seen this woman fairly regularly on their visits to Nehemiah, but she’d never had cause to speak to her before.