Trouble in Santa Fe (Will Travel for Trouble Series Book 16) by Minnie Crockwell

Author:Minnie Crockwell [Crockwell, Minnie & Crockwell, Minnie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Minnie Crockwell
Published: 2019-12-20T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“Yes. Can I give you his number? The sooner you call him, the better able he’ll be to tell us what the toxin is. This affects my mom too. I gotta say, I’m kind of worried.”

“Well, your mom sells coffee and people drink it all the time. You know I have to wonder if something got into it...or was put in it.”

Jeff paused. “I hear what you’re saying. Let me give you the medical examiner’s number. He’s waiting to hear from you.”

“You mean tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Now?”

I looked over my shoulder to see everyone watching me. “Okay, what’s the number?”

He gave me the medical examiner’s number, and I repeated it twice to memorize it.

“Let me know what he says,” Jeff said before hanging up.

I looked over at the crowd of people to see who might help me. “Raul,” I called out. “Do you mind dialing a number for me?”

Raul rose promptly, came to my side and dialed the number I recited. He returned to his seat as I cradled the phone to my ear again.

“OMI, Dr. McGuire.”

“Hello? This is Minnie Crockwell. Deputy Redstone asked me to call you?” I knew from past experience that OMI stood for Office of Medical Investigator, and that office was located at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

“Miss Crockwell, thank you for calling.”

“Minnie, please. How can I help?”

I was acutely aware that all eyes and ears were absolutely glued to me.

“Well, we’re working on an autopsy on a Mr. Leland Sturgis here, and I heard you had some involvement in the matter.”

“I’m not sure. Maybe.”

“Deputy Redstone told me that you wiped up some spilled coffee that Mr. Sturgis might have drank at some point.”

“There was a half-empty cup of coffee in the trailer in which Leland was found. I picked it up to throw it away and spilled it. My hands started burning almost as soon as I started wiping the coffee up.”

“I see. I heard you went to the doctor?”

“Yes. Blisters erupted, and they treated them with a steroid and some antihistamines.”

“Did they say what they think caused the blistering?”

“No, but they thought it was something in the coffee too.”

“Did they have any educated guesses as to what it was?”

“No. They knew the coffee was cold, so they knew the inflammation wasn’t from a heat burn, but it was an urgent-care clinic. They were busy, so they treated me and told me to follow up with my doctor.”

“What did they treat your hands with?”

“I can’t think of the medications off the top of my head, but as I said, some sort of steroid and antihistamines.”

“Okay. Well, there was something in that coffee, something that was fatal to Mr. Sturgis because he consumed it. Thank goodness you didn’t drink any of the coffee, or you’d be in much worse shape.”

“I thought it might be the coffee. Do you know what was in it?”

“Not yet. I’ve got some toxicology tests pending. I have asked Deputy Redstone to find the source of the coffee and start their investigations from there.

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