GrowingOlderHopeWiser

The wheelchair squeaked and strained as Andre tried to climb the ramp. Assisted living, my ass, he thought, as sweat beads freckled his forehead. His sister finally caught up with him, dragging two large suitcases behind her. 

“Here we are, home sweet home,” she said cheerfully.

She pressed the call button and was buzzed in.

“More like home sweet prison!” Andre snarked.

“Honey, it won’t be that bad; it’s only until you can get back on your feet. Be a good boy and do your exercises. You will be out in no time.” 

Andre was not that convinced. At his age, this felt like a prison sentence, a place he’d been afraid of and never wanted to be in. He was angry. He met the head nurse, Mrs. Brown, tall, neat, and efficient-looking, and Veronica and Ron, two of the assistants. Jessica, an overly cheerful social activities coordinator, introduced herself as well.  

Andre was shown to his room. He was glad it looked more like a bedroom than a hospital room. It had a large desk by the window where he could sit and write on his computer, and a bookshelf for his favorite books. The bed looked like a comfortable double, and a Tiffany lamp sat on the nightstand. A few of his things, including his favorite easy chair, had been brought over from the house to ease the transition. Even the bedspread was familiar. 

After a couple of weeks, Andre finally settled into a routine and even made friends. Mr. Hobs is in room 222, Elena, the Cuban lady, is in room 210, David Holmes is in 225, and Martha is in 216. They became his posse. He had physical therapy every day. He enjoyed therapy in the pool the most. He found out he was popular with the ladies and liked being doted on.

Chapter 2

It was 2 AM; flashing lights lit up Andre’s room like the Fourth of July. Physical therapy was paying off, and he could now stand and get into his wheelchair by himself. He went to the window to see what was going on. Outside, there were a lot of police, an ambulance, and paramedics bringing someone out on a gurney, but the person’s face was covered, so he could not see who it was. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest. Elena burst through his door and said, “Did you see that?”

“That is Nurse Brown; they found her in the kitchen. She is dead, Andre.”

“Who found her?” “How?” Andre’s old police instincts kicked in.

“The cleaner found her; the kitchen was a mess. Apparently, some struggle had gone on.

Elena and Andre went out into the hallway, and police and CSI were everywhere. One of the older detectives recognized Andre. 

“Andre, what are you doing here, man?” Said Smith.

“I had a couple of knee replacements that went bad; I’m recovering now, Sam. What is going on?”

“Pretty ugly homicide. Maybe you can help me since you are on the inside and this is your specialty.” 

Andre’s eyes lit up; this was what it took to get some of that old spark back. It was sad, however, that someone had died. He followed Smith to the scene with Elena in tow. They were apparently a team now. 

Chapter 3

Aurelia Brown had swapped with Ingrid Jones for the night shift during the summer while the kids were on vacation from school. She wanted to be with them during the day. She was a single mother of twins, a boy and a girl, 8 years old. Stephanie and Joe. Her mother lived with them and helped take care of the kids. Her ex was in prison back in Illinois, where they were originally from. She had come to Florida with her mother and the kids for a fresh start. She thought she had left all the drama behind her now. She had become a Buddhist and practiced meditation at home. Her life had finally settled into a comfortable sigh of relief. 

John Brown was released a week ago; they had failed to notify Aurelia. She was taken by surprise when he showed up at her job. He confronted her in the parking lot a few days ago. He wanted to start over again; he was still hoping for a future with her and the kids. He had been in prison for embezzlement. Aurelia did not want any part of the drama anymore.

John Brown became the number one suspect in the investigation. Andre was not that convinced. It was too neat a package. The scene was messy and violent. John Brown was not considered a violent man. Andre suggested that they take another look at the evidence. More than one person was involved, according to the evidence. Two separate sets of footprints were found. There were no prints because they wore gloves, suggesting that it was premeditated and got out of hand. The final clue was the best one. An empty box of Oxycodone was found smashed in a corner of the kitchen under a metal table. 

“I bet you this is about drugs, Sam. Check the inventory of controlled substances.” Said Andre

An audit was conducted, and indeed, a large amount of inventory was missing from the cabinets. Who had access was the question. According to the facility, only the nurses. They needed a code to access the cabinet. The last nurse to access the cabinet was recorded as Aurelia Brown at 11:53 PM. They checked the security tapes and found a disruption at that time. There was unaccounted-for time that could indicate someone purposely jammed the cameras. 

Elena reported she had seen Ron and Veronica in the parking lot earlier that night. She thought it was odd because they usually checked out around 5 PM, and it was like 9:30 PM. 

Ron and Veronica were brought in for questioning and put in separate rooms. They had seen each other and nodded.

Ron had a cut on his hand, which he could not properly explain.

Veronica was the first to break down. She said that they had not expected it to go that far. All they wanted was the drugs, and it all went wrong. They thought they had planned it carefully. They disguised themselves with pig masks and black body suits. Ron had turned off the cameras because he was good at that. They surprised Aurelia and forced her to open the cabinet by holding a knife to her neck. Then they took everything to the kitchen and planned to tie Aurelia up and leave her there. But she started to fight, and they had to subdue her. Aurelia pulled Ron’s Mask off, and all bets were off. Ron slid her throat.