Free A Fever in the Heart: And Other True Cases by Ann Rule Page A

blood pressure for ten years.
    He had had to hospitalize him for the same condition five years earlier, almost to the day. Now, Myers was really concerned, he could see that there was a clot on the arterial opening in the midsection of Gabby's left nostril. Gabby was going to be in trouble if he didn't get his blood pressure lowered and right away. Gabby didn't want to go to the hospital, he just wanted Dr. Myers to give him something to stop the nosebleeds. Myers wouldn't listen to his argument snot with such sky high pressure registering on his sphygmomanometer. It didn't matter that Gabby was only forty-four, he was in danger of dying and soon. With Gabby complaining all the way, Dr. Myers checked him into his own hospital, the Valley Osteopathic Hospital, at 3003 Tieton Drive. From November 18 until November 22, Gabby Moore stayed in his hospital bed in a room just across the hall from the nursing station. He tried to check himself out earlier, but Myers would not allow him to go. Jerilee knew that Gabby was in the hospital. His mother had called to tell her after he had been there for a day. Although she felt bad for his mother, she had disconnected emotionally from Gabby. In a way, Gabby's illness and hospitalization made Thanksgiving a much happier day for Morris and Jerilee Blankenbaker. For two blissful days, he didn't call and he didn't show up to pound on windows or demand to be let in. They were back together for their first big holiday in this, the second phase of their marriage. Thanksgiving meant so much more to them this year. They were fortunate to have salvaged what had been a good marriage, to be able to forgive and forget, and to start over. Both Morris and Jerilee had to work on the day after Thanksgiving.
    He didn't have to teach, of course, because it was a school holiday, but he was due at the Lion's Share at eight that Friday night. Jerilee had to work all day at the bank, and Morris stayed home and looked after Rick and Amanda. He was so happy to have his kids back, to have her back. They needed time, but they would regain the comfortable, secure world they had known before Gabby moved in with them. While Jerilee didn't know if Gabby was still in the hospital, she hadn't heard from him and that was a good sign. "When I got home from work about six-thirty," she said, "Morris and the children and I went out to Shakey's for dinner, and Morris then took us home and dropped us off before eight o'clock." Jerilee had planned to stay home all evening on Friday, but a friend, Helen Crimin, dropped by around nine and asked her if she wanted to go and listen to Helen's husband play in his band. He was an officer on the Yakima Police Department and he and some fellow policemen had formed a band that was playing at a cocktail lounge called the Country Cousin. Helen's invitation sounded like fun. Jerilee called her mother-in-law and Olive said she'd be glad to look after Rick and Amanda if Jerilee would bring them over to her mobile home. Olive had bought the double-wide trailer to use as an office, and now she made her home there. "We stopped by the Lion's Share before we went to the Country Cousin so that I could tell Morris that I was going over there," Jerilee recalled. "We left about a quarter to ten. Then my girlfriend and I went down to the cocktail lounge and listened to her husband play ... oh, probably ten songs."
    Although she went to the clubs with some trepidation, Jerilee was relieved to find that Gabby wasn't in either of them. She and Helen had a good time and she began to breathe a little more easily. "We left and went to my mother-in-law's to pick up the children and then we went straight home to Sixth Street. It was about eleven o'clock when we got home." When Helen Crimin's car pulled up in front of the Blankenbakers'
    house, everything looked normal. Still Helen sensed that Jerilee was a little nervous, and she walked her and the children to the front door to be sure they got in all right, and