Evening of Reading

By Bill Meetze

Here are two stories for a great evening read. One is a novella (longer than a short story) that may take a couple of evenings to read depending on your particular reading speed. A husband is dead, and it is ruled a homicide. Detective Dan in all his years in law enforcement had never experienced a case with so many obvious clues. The clues led in the direction of the one obvious murderer but boy was he in for a surprise.

            The next story is a short tale of a heartbreaking death that leaves Laura in total despair and loneliness.In the end, all will turn into happiness for Laura.

            I hope you enjoy both of these evening reads. Both are in the process of being developed into a novel.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Bill Meetze
• Release date: Feb 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386589167

Bill Meetze

I have been writing since 2005. I have had 3 short stories published in paper magazines and quite a few in ezines. I have many articles in blogs and two paper magazines. I have had a book published in 2013 that never hit the best readers list anywhere, but I still enjoy writing.

Book preview

I have to dedicate this book to my wife, Marilyn, whose support and help and love make my life possible.

Introduction

Chapter 1  Gut Feeling (novella)

Chapter 2 She is not alone (short story)

The following two stories are both based on true facts. Of course, the names have been changed and some fiction added to dramatize the stories.

One is a novella and the other a short story and both are being currently being, fattening up for a novel.

I hope you enjoy them and please feel free to contact me at [e-mail] with any comments or suggestions.

Gut Feeling

By

Bill Meetze

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I have heard hundreds of times someone say, I just had this gut feeling.. Sometimes the gut is like a fortune teller and wants to lead you in the right direction. And, sometimes it is a wise decision to follow the gut feeling.

The EMS ambulance pulled into the emergency room entrance at 0533 hours. They unloaded Jeffrey Masters and took him directly to the admitting desk and handed the clipboard to the nurse. She glanced at it and motioned them to take him to cubicle e5 just 20 some feet away where Dr. Ronald Sweat was awaiting the arrival of the patient that he had been awaken for about 20 minutes earlier.

The normal procedure for all EMS transports in Alachua County Florida was for the EMS attendants to contact the hospital they were transporting to and relay info on the condition of their patient.  This not only lets the hospital staff prepare for the incoming patient but the doctor on call could advise on any life-saving techniques he wanted the EMS personnel to do.

Jeffrey Masters had gotten up that morning and was trying out his first cup of coffee when he realized he was extremely dizzy and could hardly stand. He had just started a new job and was anxious about the day ahead because he had been assigned to a special detail that he would learn. But, as usual, his wake up time still remained at 5 am and after staggering back to the bedroom he awoke his wife with his symptoms and fell to the floor. She had immediately called 911 and the dispatch lady along with the arriving EMS personnel assumed he was having a stroke. This is the info that had been relayed to the VA hospital in Gainesville from the EMS ambulance. Dr. Sweat was reading the report when Jeffrey was wheeled into the cubicle and transferred to the hospital bed from the EMS stretcher.

Dr. Sweat immediately had the nurse draw blood for the lab, and started a consult for the x-ray department for intestinal x-rays while he asked Jeffrey some questions.

What seems to be the problem, Mr. Masters?

Doc, something ain’t right. I’m really dizzy, got stomach pains and a case of diarrhea and it hit me all at once this morning when I first got up.  Jeffrey replied with a very weak voice.

Seems to be something you ate, what did you have this morning to eat?

I didn’t eat a thing, just got my coffee and then, BAMM, I got dizzy and all before I even took a sip of coffee,  Jeffrey said with even a weaker voice.

The Doctor swung around on his stool next to the bed and began feeling for the pulse and looking at Jeffrey and during the eye inspection asked a few more pointed questions and found out that Jeffrey and his wife, Diane, had eaten dinner at about 7 pm the night before and that was basically all that Jeffrey had consumed within the past 12 hours.

After nearly 2 years working at the VA Medical Facility, Dr. Sweat had become aware of how some veterans were mistreated by family members. Sons, daughters, siblings, grandchildren and even spouses often had the veteran staying with them for the income the veteran received. Care was not a top priority with the caretakers all the time. A red flag went up in Dr. Sweat’s mind while asking questions. The biggest red flag was, how did two people eat from the same prepared meal and only one get sick? Jeffrey had just told the doctor that his wife seemed fine this morning after calling 911, she was on the way to the hospital after locking up the house after the paramedics had left with him.

Did you see her prepare the meal? the doctor questioned?

No, I was in the living room watching the news while she cooked, and then I went to the dining room which is separate from the kitchen,  Jeffrey answered with even more of a strain in his voice. He also had a questioning look on his face.

So you didn’t see her actually dish the food on the plates, did you?

No I didn’t. was the response from Jeffrey.

The doctor knew that something Jeffrey had eaten was causing his misery. A round of x-rays to the intestines would hopefully give him an insight. The lab work would take at least 2 hours and Mr. Masters looked like he was in a downhill run with his health. The doctor ordered Jeffrey to be taken to the x-ray facility down the hall immediately. He then called the lab to ask for a special hurry up and while he was on the phone with the lab the CODE BLUE buzzer began ringing.

CODE BLUE was an internal alarm in the medical facility that was sounded when someone went into cardiac arrest. Following the CODE BLUE alarm was a series of rings that indicated the location area of the cardiac arrest within the facility. There were