Pretty Poison by Joyce & Jim Lavene

Author:Joyce & Jim Lavene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

SHE WAS STILL WAITING to be X-rayed at Carolinas Medical Center when Al and Paul found her. A nurse had left her in a wheelchair in the drafty hallway about an hour before. She was starting to get impatient and thinking about leaving.

Paul crouched down beside her. “Are you okay? Al caught what happened on the police scanner and called me. Why didn’t you call me?”

“It’s not that serious. I think the knee is wrenched. I’m pretty sure my wrist isn’t broken either.”

“That doesn’t matter, Mom. You should’ve called me. I feel like some kind of moron that I had to hear about it this way.”

Peggy sighed. “I tripped going up the stairs at the house two weeks ago. I didn’t call you then either.”

“This is different,” Paul insisted. “You were assaulted. What happened?”

She explained everything. Al wrote as she spoke. “I already told the officer at the scene. I didn’t think homicide detectives had time to investigate assaults.”

“This homicide detective has time to check out anything that happens to an old friend. Who do you think did this to you?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t even want to think there’s someone lurking around my shop who wants to kill me.”

“Maybe it’s involved with the murder somehow,” Al suggested. “Maybe questioning people around town has hit someone the wrong way.”

Peggy didn’t have time to answer. The X-ray technician came for her, and she spent the next twenty minutes with him. By the time she came out, Al was gone, but Paul was waiting for her.

When a nurse didn’t come for her, he pushed her wheelchair back up to the emergency room. “You know, you might be right about your homeless friend not being responsible for Warner’s death. If someone came after you, there might be something else to hide. They must want you out of the way.”

She waited to answer while the nurse told them it would be another hour until the X rays came back. “I’ve talked to a lot of people, Paul. I don’t think I could zero in on any one suspect who seems more likely than another.”

“I wish you’d leave this alone. If the killer is out there and worried about you finding out about him, this may only be the beginning. Al is taking a forensics team to check out the loading dock. Hopefully, whoever did this left something behind.”

The fall had rattled Peggy, but the idea that someone thought she was on the right track kept her focused. It also made her angry. Did they think it would all go away if she stopped asking questions?

“I’m going to get a Coke from the machine,” Paul said. “Do you want something?”

“I’ll take the same. I don’t think I have to worry about the caffeine keeping me awake. Thanks.”

He started to walk away, then turned back. His thin, young face was anxious. “Will you be okay by yourself? I don’t have to go, if you need me to stay.”

She held his hand a moment. “I’ll be fine with all the nurses and orderlies walking around through here.

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