Chapter 30
"Greg is a heavy drinker," Dr. Stockton said.
"Laura told me he became physically abusive with her on more than one occasion.” His face tightened, and his cheeks reddened.
"When she told me that, I wanted to punch the guy.
She begged me not to confront him. She didn't need a scene, especially with the divorce going on.
Let's just be honest. Laura was the breadwinner in that family.
He's a freeloading dirtball, if you ask me.”
Dr. Stockton was pretty hot about it. He may have had more feelings for Laura than he wanted to admit.
“What about the hygienist, Hannah?”
“My God, that girl is hot,” he said with a lustful face. “I understand why Laura got rid of her.”
“Was she having an affair with Greg?”
He dismissed the notion. “No. That guy couldn’t get laid in a morgue. I don’t know what Laura was doing with him.”
I exchanged a look with Jack.
“Were you having an affair with Hannah?” I asked.
Stockton remained silent for a moment, looking a little guilty.
“Let’s just say we connected. I think that’s probably why Laura fired her.
Laura could be insecure at times.” He frowned.
“After she got let go, Hannah called me, asking for money, saying she couldn’t make rent.
I didn’t need another mouth to feed, and that would have been a never-ending thing.
I met her at a motel, gave her a little money, and told her it was a onetime deal. ”
“I assume you two…”
He smiled. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”
“I’ll need your wife’s contact information,” I said.
Panic filled his eyes. “What for?”
“Just routine.”
“I don’t know how you’re going to dance around some of these issues.”
“I’ll be delicate.”
Stockton forced a smile. “I trust that you will be.”
I handed him my card, and he texted me her number.
He looked at Jack. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
Jack frowned. “Well, Dr. Latham had prepped a tooth for a crown.”
“Ah,” he said with a head nod.
“Ah, what?”
“Oh, nothing,” he said innocently. “It’s not unusual to experience some discomfort after a procedure like that. It’s not like a filling. This is major trauma.”
“You’re telling me. Apparently, I’m not an outlier in her practice.”
Stockton bit his tongue.
“Go ahead, say it.”
After another beat, he leaned in and muttered, “Between you and me, she probably overcooked the tooth. Those drills get hot. If you rush through without proper cooling, you can damage the nerve. You’ve probably got a little pulpitis.
Hopefully, it’s just temporary and calms down, but you could lose the tooth. Are you taking an anti-inflammatory?”
“Yeah.”
“Keep up with that for a few days. Avoid stressing the tooth. No extreme temperatures. Stick to soft food.” Then he asked, “Who’s going to finish your crown?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Go see Dr. Tillman. That’s who I use.” He dug into a drawer, pulled out a card, and handed it to Jack. “Let him do an X-ray and make sure the nerve is still healthy. In 2-3 months, you’ll probably forget all about it, but if it still bothers you, come to me and we can talk about a root canal.”
“Thanks,” Jack said.
We shook hands again before we left, and I thanked him for his cooperation.
By the time we had stepped out of his office, Brenda had bagged the body, and her crew rolled it out atop a yellow gurney.
The sheriff had arrived, and he stepped out of Latham’s office after Brenda’s crew. He caught sight of us and didn’t look pleased. He pointed at us, then the ground by his feet, and demanded we get our asses over there.
JD and I hustled around the building to join him.
“This is your personal dentist?” Daniels said to Jack as we arrived.
“Not anymore.”
The sheriff frowned at him. “You two are off this case.”
Jack’s face wrinkled. “Why?”
“Conflict of interest. I hear you weren’t too happy with your recent procedure.”
“Hell no, I wasn’t!”
“I bet you’d like to take a dental drill to her without anesthesia.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t let her off that easy.”
The sheriff’s face crinkled. “Exactly my point.”
“He was with me at the time of the murder,” I said.
“Oh, sure. You guys would say anything to save each other’s asses.”
I scoffed at the notion of JD as a suspect. “You don’t think for a minute—“
“No, I don’t. But someone else might.”
“Do you want the case solved or don’t you?” I said.