“Because I’m not white? Because I emptied her refrigerator, and they seemed to think food is how she killed herself? I don’t know. Do I need to talk to your lawyer person?”
Lawyer person—Jax. Jax had been chatting up her client, of course. That’s what lawyers did. “Let me talk to him first. He’s expensive, and we don’t want to go off half-cocked. Call her doctor, if you know who it is. Let’s see if she visited him. I’ll get right back to you.”
Her junk pile of a mind finally called up ethylene glycol—antifreeze. Iddy had sent warnings to the owners of all the pets she treated cautioning them not to leave antifreeze out where the animals could drink it. How much of the stuff did it take to kill? Surely no one would drink the nasty stuff straight? Well, animals did.
She clicked Jax’s number as soon as Stacey hung up. “Granny was murdered with antifreeze. Now what do we do?”
“Antifreeze? Administered how? Did she drink soft drinks? Eat Jell-O? I’ve heard of it taken in Gatorade. Does anyone drink that stuff anymore?”
She could tell he was taking notes and typing into his computer at the same time. She loved the way he turned his full attention to her problem. That almost felt like... respect?
She dropped off her first doggy client and pocketed the cash with a wave instead of her usual chat. Hurrying down the street, she juggled phone and leashes and avoided pedestrians and bicycles. “Don’t know how it was ingested. Fruity water. Alcoholic drinks. I drank something called a grasshopper once. Horrible, sweet green stuff. That could have been straight antifreeze as far as I’m concerned.”
“We need the coroner’s report and security camera footage for the week she died. Who was there last? Check with Reuben to see if he’s discovered any cloud account where Granny might have stored her backups. Do the apartments have nurses on staff? Would she have called for help? Do the cops know Stacey is inheriting all Marlene’s worldly goods? They’re trained to suspect the worst.”
“They’re saying suicide for now. Stacey was in New York. But if the stuff could be kept in fruity water...”
“You may have a murderer for a client.” He swore in what sounded like several languages.
Evie didn’t think Marlene’s worldly goods were enough to kill for, but admittedly, she hadn’t looked into them either. She’d been working on stolen identities, not murder.
“I need to talk to Granny before she fades,” she warned. “As time goes on, the spirit has less energy and becomes less connected to reality. Besides, I need to help her pass on.”
Jax cursed some more. His military background had taught him phrases she’d never heard—or he was very creative.
“I’ll take you. Don’t you dare go with Reuben by yourself. Chances are good if Stacey didn’t kill her, then the real murderer was in the room with us the last time we were there.” He clicked off.
Well, that was helpful. As she delivered the rest of the dogs, Evie made a mental list of all the people in the room when they called in the cops. The apartment had been pretty crowded, but aside from the residence and HR directors, Marlene’s friends were all elderly. Why on earth would any of them murder her? Stacey had the best motive.
No point speculating. Evie rang Reuben next. She was really starting to enjoy this phone. She’d avoided cellphones, not just because she couldn’t afford one, but because observation was her skill and phones a distraction. But now that her cases had moved beyond Main Street, she couldn’t observe anything relevant there, so she wasn’t missing out. She called and clued Reuben in.
“Yeah, I found the victim’s cloud account.” He sounded as if he was eating while typing. “I’m still digging around for her passwords. Ms. Gump was one wily old lady and knew her way around computers. This phone the old guy gave us even has a burner app. I’ve been concentrating on it, thinking her secrets were on here. Kinda weird giving it to the old guy like that, as if she expected someone to kill her.”
“Or he stole it after he killed her,” Evie added pragmatically. “Although why a killer wouldn’t steal all the computers, too, is problematic.”
“Pigs get fat, hogs get eaten. Let me know when you’re ready to head out. I’ll look into Stacey’s finances while I’m at it.” He hung up.
Pigs get fat... No one had noticed a missing spare cell phone. They might have been alarmed had the thieves got greedy and taken all the computers. But Stacey hadn’t known about all the computers... Maybe there were others.
Evie knew her leapfrogging mind was good at puzzles, but right now, her thoughts resembled a cyclone.
She called Roark as she was walking up to the house. After filling him in on Stacey’s news, she asked, “Are you following the activity at the Gump apartment?” He’d wired the front room and phone and ought to have some notion.
“The grandkid’s sleeping there,” Roark answered laconically, as if occupied with another task. “She’s been giving a lot of stuff to Goodwill. Some of the ladies stop by and bring her casseroles and ask for trinkets in the old lady’s memory. Kid’s smart and hid all the good stuff, so they’re toting off junk, best I can tell.”
“No suspicious characters snooping around?”
Roark snorted. “All little old ladies and gents, and they all snoop. Dey been asking about furniture. The Nazi came and asked when she thought the kid would be out so she could have da place cleaned. Some gloomy Gus called to ask about da funeral, sounded like her dad.”
“I’d like to meet the dad. Marlene asked about him and was disappointed he hasn’t shown up. Do you have time to look him up or should I ask Reuben?”
Roark hesitated. “How much you want me in on dis gig? I don’t want to muscle in on your job. I might haveta leave again.”
“We’re a team. That doesn’t mean we don’t have lives. Reuben is practically living with Larraine these days, handling her internet campaign. Doesn’t mean he can’t do the team’s work too.”
She didn’t need Roark’s aura to know he was in a funk. The Cajun usually exuded energy and take-charge confidence. He was operating on rote and with something else on his mind now.
“Mais oui. I’m messing with some other t’ings, but you let me know what you need, and I’m on it. I’ll check out dear old dad. Need me to go with you to talk to Granny again?”