Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Standing in the parking lot outside the ER—cell service inside the hospital sucked—I called Bev.
After I explained a little about the situation, I asked her to go to the house and pick up the lasagna.
Then I went back into the hospital, to find that Edward had wandered off to take care of his other patients.
Looking confused, Nana Cole asked, “Who would want to poison me? People like me.”
“It’s probably just a misunderstanding,” I said, lamely. I knew it wasn’t. There’s nothing to misunderstand about poison.
“You think it was meant for someone else?”
“You think it was left at the wrong house?” I asked. “That’s very unlikely.”
“No, I mean… Was it meant for you?”
Oh God, she was still delusional. Well maybe not that delusional.
But I’d stopped asking questions about Reverend Hessel.
It was over. There was no reason to think anyone had a reason to poison me.
Of course, it’s not like I’d taken out an ad in the Eagle.
People didn’t necessarily know I’d stopped asking questions.
“You have been asking a lot of questions about Reverend Hessel,” she noted.
“You asked me to!”
“Well, I didn’t think someone would try to kill you.”
I suppose she had a point. I might have gotten too close to Reverend Hessel’s killer.
And whoever that was didn’t know I’d stopped asking questions, so they decided to, you know, get rid of me.
Or at the very least slow me down. They just hadn’t considered the fact that I really couldn’t stand spinach.
Sitting in a plastic chair next to my grandmother’s bed, I tried to work out who might have baked the deadly casserole—but I didn’t get very far since Bev walked in holding the lasagna. A moment later, Edward was back.
“I took a fork and peeked at it. It’s not spinach,” Bev said.
“Really?” I said. “What is it?”
“I think it might be Solomon’s seal or, possibly, baneberry leaves. Of course, it’s the berries that are most poisonous. They may have been mixed into the sauce.”
“Those are native plants, aren’t they?” Edward asked.
Bev nodded.
“Oh my God,” I said, thinking, And people just leave plants like this lying around?
“Most people up here know that.”
“They wouldn’t actually kill a person, though” Edward said.
“No,” Bev agreed. “But just because people know a plant is poisonous doesn’t mean they know the particulars. Most people just know the plants are poisonous and that’s it.”
And then Detective Lehmann came through the curtain. It was getting quite crowded in that little space. I looked at Edward, who said, “The minute I suspected poisoning I was legally required to call the police.”
Detective Lehmann took a look at the lasagna, and asked, “Is that the, uh, delivery device?”
“Yes,” Edward said.
“I’ll take it then.” He opened up a bag he’d brought with him. Bev put the casserole inside.
“I suppose you’ve all touched the dish?”
“I haven’t touched it,” Edward said. The rest of us were mute.
“And what do you think is in here?”
“Either Solomon’s seal or baneberry leaves,” Bev said. “I can’t be sure, but it’s definitely not spinach. And berries. Possibly berries from either plant. Maybe both.”
“Where do you find those?”
“Everywhere. They’re native.”
Once again, it seemed very foolish to just—
“Oh,” Detective Lehmann said, sounding disappointed. “That doesn’t exactly narrow things down.”
“It wouldn’t kill anyone,” Bev said. “Well, not an adult. Whoever made the lasagna either didn’t know that or just wanted to make Henry sick.”
“Bev, we don’t know—”
“So, it was left for you, Henry?”
“Probably not. No. It was just left outside on the stoop. There was no note or anything.”
“You didn’t find that suspicious?”
“People have been dropping off casseroles since my grandmother had her stroke.”
“I made a hearty mac ’n’ cheese with ham and tomatoes,” Bev said.
“Oh, that one was good,” I said, and it was. I ate almost all of it myself.
“Do you have any idea who might have done this?” Detective Lehmann asked me.
“Isn’t it your job to figure that out?”
“You’d be surprised how often people know exactly who hurt them.”
“Well, no, I don’t—I mean, I guess it could have been Reverend Hessel’s killer. But I don’t exactly know who that is.”
“Yet,” my grandmother added.
I looked at her. Crap, I was going to have to find out who killed the drug addled, possibly, occasionally gay Reverend Hessel. Otherwise, that person might keep trying to kill me. Ugh.
“When can my grandmother leave?” I asked Edward.
“I think it’s best if we keep her overnight. It’s concerning when anyone her age gets this sick.”
“I’m not that old.”
“I didn’t say you were old. We’re just concerned when someone your age—”
“That means old.”
“The important thing is you’re staying the night.”
“In that case, I’m going to need the ladies’ room,” Nana Cole said.
“I’ll have a nurse bring you a bed pan,” Edward said.
“Oh, no, just have her walk me to the bathroom.”
“I’m afraid you need to stay in bed right now.”
She gave Edward a look I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. The rest of us quickly vacated.
I went out to the waiting room and took a seat, thinking about who might have done this.
It was someone who knew we wouldn’t think twice about accepting a casserole.
That only narrowed the field to twenty or so.
Well, no, people up here knew bringing a casserole was the right thing to do when someone had an illness or a tragedy.
Really, it could have been anyone in the county.
No one in Los Angeles brought you a casserole when you had a tragedy. In fact, if your neighbors knew you’d had a tragedy, they tended to avoid you as though it might be contagious. I still find a certain logic in that.
I went back to checking things off… It had to be someone who knew where we lived. Which didn’t narrow the field any further since Nana Cole was listed in the phone book.
And, of course, it had to be the person who killed Reverend Hessel.
Run through the suspects, one by one, I told myself.
People were often killed by someone close to them.
Ivy Greene was in a bar, seen by who knows how many people.
Her son, Carl, had been with Opal. So, unless he and Opal did it together it wasn’t him.
I considered for a moment whether they might have done it together.
Honestly, it seemed ridiculous. It was challenging enough having coffee with Opal, I couldn’t imagine she’d stop being annoying long enough to commit murder.
But then, Carl did have a better relationship with her than I did… so… maybe.
Or maybe it was Reverend Wilkie and Sue Langtree. Reverend Hessel had blackmailed them both. Of course, they were both ancient, decrepit really. I had trouble believing either of them could bludgeon someone to death.
And what about Denny? Maybe my questions had been a little obvious. Maybe he’d guessed I was trying to find Reverend Hessel’s killer. Which might possibly be him—
I looked up and there was Edward standing over me. I nearly swooned. Thankfully, I didn’t. I didn’t need another medical bill.
“Are you okay?”
“Oh yeah. I didn’t have any of the lasagna. I hate spinach—”
“That’s not what I meant. This is the second time your grandmother’s been in the hospital in what… two months?”
“Three.”
“That has to be frightening.”
"It is.”
And it was. He smiled at me so sweetly I felt dizzy.
“What time do you get off?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager.
“Six tomorrow morning. I’m on nights for the next week. And then I’m going camping in the UP for the fourth of July.”
“Who are you going with?”
God, I sounded jealous, which produced a smirk on Edward’s face. It was probably the most attractive smirk I’d ever seen.
“I’m going with my brother and his family.”
“Oh.”
“Can I call you when I get back?”
It seemed awfully far away, but I agreed.
Nana Cole was released the next morning around ten.
She’d spent the night on the second floor, which was nowhere near the ER so I hadn’t gotten to see Edward again.
I would have liked to pop into a supply closet with him and make like the sex-crazed Dr. Kovac on ER, but I didn’t get the chance to suggest that.
I did get lost on the second floor thinking about it though.
Once my grandmother was settled, I went home and took a couple of Oxys.
Well, maybe three. I woke up the next morning, afternoon, um…
shortly after lunch actually, and went to retrieve my grandmother.
I managed to get her into the SUV and start the twenty-minute drive before she said, “We can’t stop trying to find Reverend Hessel’s killer.
They tried to kill you. They might try again. ”
“We? I’m the one looking for his killer. I’m the one they tried to poison. I mean, you made a point of that.”
“Well, you’re not going to let them try again, are you?”
I did want to continue, knew that I had to really. It’s just that there were other considerations. Like my grandmother having a stroke if I told her too much.
“You know, if I find Reverend Hessel’s killer I’ll probably find out things about the reverend you probably don’t want to know.”
“Why are you saying that? It was a burglary. You just have to find the burglar.”
“I don’t think it was a burglary.”
I kicked myself. I should have told her that Reverend Hessel had been in prison for drug possession while she was still in the hospital. That way, if she did have a stroke, they could have taken care of her right then and there. Driving away from the hospital wasn’t exactly the time.
“I think you’d better tell me what he was up to.”
On the other hand, I was only five minutes from the ER so I decided to risk—
“Reverend Hessel went to prison for drugs.”
“And you didn’t want to tell me that?”
“No. I didn’t.”
“You thought I’d have another stroke.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’ve done drugs, though.”
“Well, yeah.”
“And your mother certainly has.”
“Yes.”
“So, there you go. I’m fine.”
Of course, if I was right and he was into PNP then that was another thing entirely. A thing I wouldn’t tell her. And I might be wrong. I probably was wrong.
I sighed as I turned into the driveway. I was going to have to do this. Since someone had tried to poison, us or me, whatever, I had to find out who killed Hessel. Just so my Nana Cole and I didn’t wake up dead.
Damn.