Murder Old and New by Chet Williamson

Author:Chet Williamson [Williamson, Laurie Williamson, Chet]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: mystery, suspense
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2020-03-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The next morning was so busy in the store I barely had time to grab the usual starvation lunch. I wanted to get to the Gates Home a little early and pop in on Karen, so as soon as I’d downed my yogurt (caramel cream flavor, all ninety calories of it) I set Ted up with enough work to gainfully employ him and motored on over to the Gates Home. I caught Karen on a rare break, but before I could fill her in on Genevieve Tucker’s shady past, she insisted I tell her all about the date with Dave. I did, and she didn’t believe the happy if dispassionate ending.

“You didn’t stay the night?” she asked.

“No, I didn’t stay the night, nor did I become overly intimate with him. Just some lovely kissing, and that was all. But I didn’t really come over here to share the details of my sex life, or lack of same.”

And then, swearing her to secrecy, I told her about Genevieve and her aunt. I was rewarded by the sight of Karen’s eyes getting bigger and bigger, until at the end I thought they might pop out into her coffee cup and splash her white sweater.

“Oh, my god,’ she said. “Oh, Livy, you have to tell Doris about this.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good…” But Karen was already out the door and down the hall, and I followed in self-defense.

Once inside Doris’s office with her, we closed the door. Doris looked up at us in surprise as Karen said, “Go ahead. Tell her.”

Well, I had no choice, so I told, making Genevieve’s actions as sympathetic as possible. Doris’s eyeballs didn’t bug, but I could tell she was concerned when I’d finished.

“So you know for sure,” Doris said, “that Genevieve was involved in an assisted suicide.”

“Apparently she was involved in some way, but she wasn’t actually guilty of anything,” I said. “She was acquitted. Nothing even went on her record.”

“Legally it wouldn’t have to.” Doris shook her head. “But still…”

“I don’t know her that well,” I said. “How’s she been since she’s worked here?”

“She’s fine,” Doris said. “Some of the nurses are just businesslike, but Genevieve is very friendly to everyone, very solicitous to the patients. Not in an obnoxious way, just quietly helpful. She’s always seemed concerned over the residents’ welfare. In fact, the only time she ever slipped up was not making sure that door was locked when she…”

Doris’s words trailed away, and I knew what she was thinking. One mistake that marred an otherwise exemplary record, at least at the Gates Home, and I could see her wondering whether that mistake, conspicuous in its singularity, was a mistake after all. Doris looked directly at me. “How’s she been with your mother?”

“She’s been…great. She visits her frequently, seems very concerned about her.” I didn’t say anything else. No suspicions that Genevieve’s interest in her might be less than friendly, and especially no suspicions that the burglar was Genevieve in disguise.

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