Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 189

Hank POV

Today was supposed to be me and the two ladies, but Bethany came home unexpectedly, and all plans of exploring our newly growing relationship died.

'Hank, why do you keep saying five babies? Have you forgotten that Judy's child is my Nephew, so she is part of your growing family, too? Plus, what about Felicity? She is pregnant, too, though I am concerned she has had the flu. Hopefully, it is not too serious and has not damaged the baby in any way! Bethany asked. She was seated on a single seat, her legs crossed under her body, and to me, she looked uncomfortable.

'I had not thought of the other babies. Because they live so far away, I was thinking of those just up the street that I will get to see more often. But you are right; I do not want to offend anyone, and when we do a large get-together, we need all seven babies here. That is almost a whole team right there. Wow, what a lot of very small babies. I felt like I was going to be sick; there were a lot of babies altogether.

'Hank, I am going to be headed out in a bit. I have a check-up that Theo does not know about; they want to check me to see if the babies are okay. I had a small bleed at work today, and the check-up is just a precaution. Bethany looked a little pale, and I was hoping she was not overdoing it. I should have noticed before; it's not that good a doctor to miss that.

'Why did you not come to me?' I felt offended at not being consulted.

'Hank, the bleed happened at work. Robson said no more surgery for me; he blamed the long hours on my feet; this was just a scan and check. You would need the machine to do the scan, so it was easier to make an appointment and check it.' She argued a good point, but it was still annoying that she did not come to me.

'I understand, and I agree with Robson, if you have had spotting of any kind, get off your feet. I chastised her; I knew I was giving her a dose of Doctor and Dad at that moment.Many paragraphs are missing. Read the complete book on FindNovel.net. Bethany left only a short time after that. After resting for a while, I looked at the girls, whispering to each other. I think they had something planned. But before I could approach the subject, my phone rang. I don't think I will ever get to spend time with these ladies today. 'Hello, Hank here. I did not recognize the phone number.

'Hank, George, we have a situation at the refurbished jail, and I was wondering if you could come and see it.' I sighed. Time with the girls is definitely out. 'Do I need my kit?'

'Please. It is mass food poisoning. It started early Sunday morning, and it is now Tuesday, and I am concerned it is more than food poisoning; the reports are not back from the labs yet, and all the food we tested and the kitchens were clean.' 'Okay, I'll be there in half an hour.' I hung up, and I could see the disappointed looks on the women's faces.

'Sorry girls, I have work to do. How about you head up to the attic, look at all those clothes Kitty made, and see if there are any you girls might like to have.' They were only going to waste time sitting up there, and the police said they did not need them, and I had no idea what to do with them. I hope to find someone who likes to sew to take over it all.

'We can. Bethany showed us that room yesterday and talked about all those machines. Can we make our own?' I was shocked they would like to do that.

'Please, I have no idea what to do with it all. If you girls are serious about wanting to use it, help yourself. I was wondering what to do with it all. I kissed them both and watched them squeal and rush up the stairs; that improved my day, which had not gone as planned. The drive was pleasant. I like this countryside; it is so calming, and the roads are rarely used, so they are never congested.

I arrived at the prison gates and was waved in. At the entrance, a number of people were milling around, and I wondered what was going on. George greeted me before I had even climbed out of the car.

'Come, it is getting worse. There was no hello or formal greeting; it was straight to the job.

I followed through the security without being frisked. The place was full of tension, and the guards looked around rather than eyeing me as they normally would. I am nervous now, too. What was going on? Had the prisoners broken out?

'This is a temporary infirmary. The mini-hospital is too small to hold all the sick prisoners, George said as we walked into the mess hall. Over thirty men and women were there, including Kitty and Cindy; I could not see Margaret. 'Symptoms. George gave me a sheet, and I scanned it.

'What did they eat?' I asked, already dreading the answer. He told me, and by the look of the treatment, they have a Dad so far. They knew they would not survive this. Some would be dead soon, and some would take up to a week, depending on how much they ate. 'This is Dead Cap mushroom poisoning. I have seen it before. Was the food tested?'

'Yes, what was left of it was clear; even the mushrooms taken were good ones. George said, reading something on his tablet.

'Then they ate all the bad ones. It is easy to mix them up; where do they get their fresh veggies from?'

'The same place as always, the co-op. George was organized, which is why I like working with him.

'With the treatment already administered, they are all more or less living corpses!

'We can do nothing?' I looked over at Cindy as she groaned in pain.

'The doctor gave treatment to stop the vomiting, which trapped the poison in the body. It is now day three, too late to do anything; their liver and kidneys are shutting down, and I am surprised you have not got dead yet!'

'We do, four dead. I looked up at him, and my face must have shown the question.

'Yes, she was one of the first to die.' I was sad to hear that I might not be her biological father, but I still raised her the best I could. I nodded my understanding. At least Margaret did not suffer for long.

'Is it worth sending them to hospital?'

'Nope, give them pain relief and wait; you can see their bodies are already starting to shut down; look how yellow some have gone; unless you got some kidneys or livers you can transplant, these people are all gone.' I am not heartless, but we cannot find body parts for all of them, and there are more deserving people out there who have been waiting for years.

'I knew you would know what this was, and I agree, it is too late. Mushrooms have done the job, and our judges will have less to worry about. Should I call the coroner and let him know that his morgue is about to get a lot more people?'

'I believe that would be wise. We may have to raise the temperature in the large fridges here to store them till the coroner can take them. I looked around and saw a lot of faces I knew, and they were all suffering and calling me bad, but I was glad that some of them were in this much pain; they had caused society a lot of grief.

Kitty saw me there and tried to call out, but I pretended not to hear her. Then Cindy started to call out, too, and together, they thought I would go to them, but I didn't. I started with the nearest person to me and slowly made my way around the room, not giving anyone preferential treatment. George was by my side the whole time, taking notes as I gave each person the once over and, using codes that George understood, told him how much longer I thought each person would survive. When I reached Kitty, she was yellow and in a lot of pain.

'About time you got to me. What was the meaning of avoiding me?' She spat with venom. Even as sick as she was, she still could not stop the barbs.

'You are not the only person here who is in pain and is sick. Do you want some pain relief or not?' I was in doctor mode, and sympathy was not on my list of things to administer at the moment. I had too much to do. 'How can you treat me like this? I am your wife!' she demanded again, causing some around her to look at her strangely. 'Do not go there. Do you want pain meds or not?' I was not going to debate with her.

'Of course I do. She growled at me the best she could before curling up in a ball and holding her stomach. I gave her a jab for pain, and she will most likely sleep for a while now; she has a bad time ahead of her; this mushroom poisoning is nothing to be sneezed at. 'Hank, the coroner is on his way; he is going to assess the place for possible holding the bodies till he can get through them all. We are giving him more work than he gets in months. He said something about having another group of bodies to deal with before he can deal with ours.'

'I wonder what case he got that filled his morgue; I hope a gang war has not started!' Cindy was not much better than Kitty. 'Daddy, it hurts so much, Daddy, please help me! She cried out to me when I reached her and tried to grab me to pull me to her for some comfort. It broke my heart to see her like this, the baby of the family, always so sweet and loving my cuddles. It hurt to discover she was not mine, and it hurts now like this. She may not be mine by blood, but I raised her and loved her with all my heart. I gave her some pain relief and moved on before I let my heart take over.

I finished off the last few people when the coroner arrived.

He looked at the people in the room, shook his head, and then followed George and me to the kitchen, where he inspected the two they had and commandeered them both.

'Pill them up in here, turn the cold to almost freezing. Mushrooms?' He asked. He could tell just like I did the moment I saw the first person.

'Yeah, George can send you a report if you need it.

'No need, I have seen enough to know already, but this time next week, there will be none left alive. More for me. He shrugged his shoulders and started to leave the kitchen.

'Let George know when you can start taking cadavers,' I suggested, and George gave him his card, not that he needed to; the coroner is aware of who we all are.

'Call me if you need me, George.' I offered my hand to shake.

'This is a nightmare; one will be glad to hand it over to the coroner. I will let the warden know what to expect; it will not be pretty over the next few days. I should call Jackson, too. He will want to know about this. 'Good luck. Over the next few days, his work would be to bag and tag the bodies and leave the rest to the coroner and police.