"Mrs. Broke," said the tired and irritated voice, with a deep sigh.
"The IRS has already seized the back taxes from your bank
account as of yesterday."
"But you can't do that!" Brandy sobbed. "That is all the
money I have. I have two children and I am seven and a half
months pregnant, and my husband is missing. I can't even work
until the baby is born. Please don't take my money!"



"Mrs. Broke, the government has already taken your money; there is nothing
I can do. If people would just pay there taxes on time we would not
have to go and take the money by force."
"But there must be something you can do," Brandi pleaded.
"No, Mrs. Broke, there is nothing I can do. At least your taxes are all paid
now, and you will not have to go to jail. Have a nice day." (*click*)



Brandy just stood there motionless and in a daze with the phone to her
ear, not believing the conversation she had just had. She only moved
when the phone started beeping in her ear and the recording came on:
"If you'd like to make a call please hang up and dial again."
Next, Brandy called her bank to see how much money was in the
account. Maybe they had made a mistake and had not yet taken the
money out. Then she would run down there and yank it all
out of the bank before the IRS could get their grubby
hands on it.
No such luck for Brandy, who now thanks to the IRS, really was broke.
She had $800.00 in her checking account.
The rest of the afternoon passed in kind of a haze for Brandy. Brandy
changed back into her new maternity dress at about 2:40 pm. Tasia would
be there to pick her up at 3:15 pm. And the Nanny would be arriving
soon.



Brandy sat on the couch and ...



... just cried and cried. Beau was down for his nap, and Dustin
was at work.Being alone, she could just let it out. All the stress
of everything suddenly came gushing out. Hot tears stung her
eyes with the force of her emotional outburst.





"Why God ?"
"Do you hate me or something?" she screamed at the Lord.



"I just can't take anymore, Lord. I am at my end."



"God please help me, help me now!"



"I just don't know what to do," she said out loud, as she sobbed uncontrollably.



Then she heard the Nanny's carpool arrive, and she knew she had
to pull herself together quickly. Nanny gave her a funny look when
she came in the house, but said nothing. Nanny had been around a
long time; she was long in the tooth, you might say.
She knew that sometimes a pregnant woman just needed to cry. It could be
very stressful sharing your body with another human being.



Soon Tasia arrived at 3:15 and they drove to the hospital. The traffic
was terrible due to construction, so it was a good thing that they left
as early as they did. They made it to the appointment fifteen minutes early.
Tasia was nearly always cheerful and helped Brandy to forget her troubles
for a little while.



She did not tell Tasia about what the IRS had done to her; she was
to embarrassed about the whole thing, anyway.
But Brandy had decided not to worry about the money too much.
If push came to shove, she would just bury her pride and go on welfare
for a few months. Brandy, of course, would rather work and make her
own money and support herself. But this was a emergency. She had a
good job waiting for her in the Jewelry business, once she was through
her pregnancy and maternity leave. The rude man on the phone was
right, at least now the back taxes were paid, and she would not have
to worry about being sent to jail for tax evasion. (That was a very good thing.)




"Do you have an appointment?" the young woman said, in a snively,
shaken kind of voice, as if she had just been crying.
You
see, earlier that week, something really bad had happened at the
hospital. This young woman, a nurses assistant, a candy striper by the
name of Gretchen Smith, had witnessed something very disturbing.



One hour earlier that day.
The hospital Administrator and the Chief of Staff, had called
Gretchen Smith into the office to ask her to relive that terrible
day again.



"It was horrible, just horrible!" Gretchen said, as her mind relived the moment.




"Please Gretchen, just take a deep breath and tell us exactly what happened,"
said the Administrator, Mrs. Vivian Flagg.
"But I have already told all of this to the police."
"We know Gretchen, but our Hospital policy requires that you tell us
what you saw that day, for our own personal records."
"It was just awful," gasped Gretchen. "The most horrible thing
I have ever seen and that is a lot, considering I work in the Emergency room."



"I was out in the parking lot, when I noticed Nurse Linda Crews running
out into the lobby," said Gretchen, beginning her account of that day.








"She was running like someone was chasing her!"



"And she was covered in blood!"









"I was there in the parking lot talking to Nina, as I watched her run
towards us. It happened so fast! Yet is seems like it took forever
for her to get there to us."



Linda worked up in the Intensive Care Unit. "Nurse Linda, she was
a friend of my mother and I for years. I knew her well," said Gretchen.



"She was my friend!," sobbed Gretchen.



"When she came out in the parking lot all covered in blood, I asked
her, "What is wrong Linda? What happened!!," Gretchen began to shake
and cry, as she remembered the details of that day.



"But Linda could not seem to catch her breath, or get any words out!"



"She just gave me this terrified look!"



"I could tell that she wanted to tell me something, but she could not talk!"



"She tried to take her own pulse."





"And then she just - she just ..."




"... collapsed, right there in the parking lot!"




"And died right there on the spot!"










"Next thing I know, the police and medics were everywhere!
But it was too late for Nurse Crews," she sobbed despairingly.




"Thank you Gretchen. We won't ask you to do that again, unless we have
to. Would you like to go home for the day?" Dr.Brooks, Chief of
Staff, asked her. "No, nobody is home right now and I don't want
to be alone. I actually feel safer here. They have not even caught who
ever did that to poor Nurse Linda yet. Who could do such a horrible thing
to such a nice person?" "We have the police and our own hospital
Private Detectives on the case, and security has been tripled. If you
want to stay for your shift, that is ok, but go and take a break and get
yourself together," Dr.Brooks told her gently.



"Yes, I will," she gave a sad look, as she left the office of Dr.Brooks.





"Well, this is absolutely horrible. The coroner is doing an autopsy right
now. So far, it looks as if she died from fright, as she has no
noticeable blows or cuts that were fatal. And worst of all, we have no idea
who has done this or why. If the press gets a hold of this, it could be very
bad for the reputation of the hospital."



"The reputation of the hospital is the least of our worries, Vivian.
We have a killer on the loose, possibly in the hospital."
"This has been a difficult week for all of us, " said Vivian. "Yes",
agreed Dr.Brooks ,he noticed the time. He had his next appointment
to get to in twenty minutes. He concluded his meeting with the
Administrator, Vivian Flagg then got back to his appointments.



"Yes, I see you're on for Dr.Brooks at 4pm," Gretchen said, with a forced
smile. "You can go ahead into the waiting room. I will let him know you
are here and Dr.Brooks nurse will call you in a moment," said Gretchen,
with puffy eyes and a slightly runny nose.