Gorham recalls that at one point Foster came out of his office and placed three envelopes in the out-box on her desk. The envelopes had already been addressed, stamped and sealed by Foster, which was unusual. She looked at the envelopes to make sure they had postage and recalls that one was addressed to Foster's mother in Hope, Arkansas, and another was addressed to an insurance company. She cannot recall how the third envelope was addressed. Sheila Anthony was with their mother when she received correspondence from Foster a day or two after his death. The letter contained oil leases which had been left to Foster's mother after his father died in 1991. Foster wrote a very brief typewritten cover letter providing instructions to his mother regarding the leases. Lisa Foster believes that the correspondence sent to the insurance company and the third envelope mailed by Foster were bill payments that she had asked Foster to make.
Hubbell stopped by Foster's office on July 19, and Foster told him that the weekend had been good for him and that he and Lisa were planning to go away the following weekend. Lisa Foster recalls that she and Foster had spoken about going away the following weekend but that no plans had been made. Foster also told Sheila Anthony during a telephone conversation on July 19 that the weekend had gone well, and he contemplated getting away more often. He also said that he was not yet ready to contact a. psychiatrist.
On the same date, Foster contacted Dr. Larry Watkins, his physician in Arkansas. He told Watkins that he was under a great deal of stress and was depressed, that he had a loss of appetite and was losing weight. Watkins prescribed an anti-depressant drug called Desyrel, which has the generic name trazadone. Watkins stated that he had never before prescribed an anti-depressant for Foster. A pharmacy in Washington filled the prescription for 30 tablets, in a dosage of 50 milligrams per tablet, and had the tablets delivered to Foster's home in the late afternoon on July 19. (1) Lisa Foster saw Foster take one tablet during that evening.
Foster left work earlier than usual that day and arrived home around 7:45 p.m. During the evening Foster received a call from President Clinton. The President had heard that Foster was feeling down about the Travel Office matter and called to invite Foster to watch a movie with him and others at the White House. Foster declined the invitation. After chatting about Foster's weekend in Maryland, the President told him that he wanted Foster's advice on possible White House organizational changes. They agreed to meet on Wednesday, July 21. The President did not perceive during this conversation that Foster was downcast or depressed.
(1) The pharmacy had no record of having filled any prior prescriptions for Foster.