Mercy & Mayhem: A Mercy Mares Cozy Mystery (19 page)

She grimaced, then, realized I was speaking to her. “Yeah, I guess, but how did you know there had been an accident? All I'm hearing is a lot of blah, blah, blah from you.”

I continued, “Like I said, I'd been assigned to clean up the mess. Underneath layers of what I'd call petri dish contents, were forms, receipts, folders, among other items. Well, on several of them were paw prints. If you'd seen them, you may have worried that they belonged to a raccoon or other animal who had gone in there foraging for high fat snacks, but our friend Barney proved me wrong. I'd seen him eating table scraps the day I arrived. He was out in the dining room. I'd figured, since he didn't suffer any reaction to the food, that he was used to feasting on human food, so I put two and two together. Paw prints where a virtual grocery store existed under the nurse's desk and on quite a few important documents told me all I needed to know about what may have happened to Betty's chart.”

Kathy crossed her arms in front of her. “Okay, so now what?”

I deferred to Charlie.

He asked, “Did you or anyone that you know of provide lemonade in the water pitchers on the morning that Rowdy was murdered?”

She shook her head immediately. “No, of course not. I didn't even realize that she had lemonade. I don't handle that. The nurse's aides refill the pitchers in the morning.”

Tina gasped.

“Good. Thank you. You're free to go, Kathy.” Charlie said, indicating the door.

“I can go?” Kathy asked.

“Sure can. Thank you.” Charlie stood up and held the door open for her, while the others watched in bewilderment.

“Are we done here?” Pug asked.

Charlie and I looked at each other, then, at him.

“Why? Do you have somewhere you need to be, Paul?” Charlie asked as he walked passed him and sat back down in his seat.

I took the opportunity to move on to the next revelation. “Stacy, when you saw Mr. Knott and Mr. Kale arrive, did you notice if either of them were carrying anything in their hands?”

Stacy squinted as she tried to bring up that day in her mind's eye. After a moment, she answered, “Yes. Pug... Mr. Kale was holding a briefcase and a thermos.” She inhaled slightly as Charlie and I exchanged glances.

Charlie asked her, “Did you happen to notice if either of them poured themselves a cup form that thermos?”

She shook her head. “No, I'm sorry, I didn't.”

“Okay, thank you, Stacy. You're free to go.” Charlie said, smiling at her.

“That's it?” She looked from me to him and back again.

Charlie answered, “Yes.”

After she let herself out, I noticed that the others started looking at each other more. I wondered if they were finally beginning to suspect each other.

Betty sat completely still, seeming to contemplate every word that we said, while Randy continued to fume as he listened. I was just glad that he didn't allow his anger to get the best of him again.

“Carol,” Charlie began, “tell me about the cameras.”

She put her hand to her neck. “I don't understand.”

I decided to give it a try. “Why were there cameras installed under the desk? Who were you watching and why?”

She pursed her lips, carefully contemplating how she would respond. I couldn't wait to hear what she had to say.

“I didn't... I wasn't...” She sighed, closing her eyes briefly. “The maintenance crew had informed me that they continued to find food and other items under the desk on the dementia unit. I'd repeatedly asked the nursing staff not to eat in there and they all swore that they weren't. I thought the issue had been put to bed, until Jeb and his team continued to complain. They refused to clean it up anymore, so I installed a camera to find out who the culprit was.” She put her hand on her head. “I'd totally forgotten about the camera until you mentioned it that day in my office, so I asked Jeb to remove it and destroy the footage.”

“Why destroy it?” I asked.

“I felt bad and it wouldn't have been kind to make a spectacle of someone who devoted so much time and dedication to her job.” She answered.

“I understand. Thank you for your time, Carol.” Charlie said before ushering her toward the door.

“You don't want me to stay? I'm the administrator.” She protested.

“You can wait in the lobby for us. If we need you, I'll let you know.” He closed the door behind her and addressed those of us left in the room. “Anyone care for something to drink?”

They looked dumbfounded for a moment. I don't think anyone expected to be offered a beverage.

Charlie pulled out an empty seat for Tina. Her eyes met mine. I could feel how frightened she was by what was going on, but this needed to be done. Betty and her son deserved to know the truth.

Pug asked, “What about me? Are you going to get this guard dog off me?” He pointed to the officer standing next to him.

“No.” Charlie answered, turning his attention back to the drinks he'd offered. “Thirsty, anyone?”

Betty answered, “I'd like a glass of water, please.”

“Sure. Absolutely. Randy? Pug? Tina?” Charlie asked.

Tina shook her head. “No, thank you.”

Randy and Pug answered at the same time. “Coffee.”

We'd already discussed this, so I wasn't doing anything out of line. I said, “Lemonade, please.” I looked at the others to gauge their reactions.

Tina started coughing uncontrollably. Charlie ran out of the room and came back with a cup of water from the dispenser for her.

“Here you go. Take a drink.” He said, handing her the cup.

I felt sorry for her. I'd been in her shoes. I knew what it felt like to feel like everyone in the room was conspiring against me. I wished things could have been done differently, but this is the way Charlie wanted it to happen and, unfortunately, that meant making some people very uncomfortable.

We waited for Tina to compose herself. No one said a word. Charlie's phone beeped and he excused himself, looking back at me before leaving the room.

He returned a few minutes later, followed by Jeb. I bit my lip as I watched how the others reacted to his presence. Just as we'd expected someone was not thrilled to see him.

“What are we doing here? First, you call in the cavalry, then, you send them home. Now, what? Are we getting a new round of people here?” Pug's face was red with anger.

“Nope. Just Jeb. Does that make you uncomfortable, Pug?” Charlie asked, a smug grin on his face.

Jeb sat down next to me. The others looked at each other, trying to figure out what that meant, but neither Charlie nor I had asked him to do that, so we were just as surprised as they were.

“Hello.” He nodded at everyone in the room.

Betty began to whimper. I feared this may have been too much for her to bear.

“I'm okay,” she offered, shaking her head. “Please, go on.” She looked up at me with her tear stained face. I wanted to hug her and comfort her in some way. Her son grabbed her hand. That seemed to calm her momentarily.

“Can we get this over with? My mother is exhausted. She should be in her bed, not here.” Randy voice boomed around the room.

Betty spoke up. “I am fine. Quit trying to control what I do and where I go and when. That's not your concern.”

“Mom, you're just tired. I can see it on your face.” Randy protested.

“No, what you see is anguish. I lost my husband. You should be more concerned with that, then, hanging around with the likes of him.” She pointed at Pug. “You know all he wants is the property, so he can get rid of it and profit from it.”

Pug snapped back. “No, I don't. I was very fond of Rowdy too. I want what's best for you.”

I looked to see if Charlie was going to stop their argument, but he just sat back and listened as they each blamed each other for being unsympathetic.

Jeb whispered to me, “Why am I here?”

I shrugged. I thought it was obvious why he'd been asked to attend, but I didn't have the energy to point that out to him.

Charlie let them go back and forth until they began to shout at each other. “Enough. Now is not the time or the place to do this. Handle this on your own time.”

Randy and Betty immediately stopped. She placed her hand on Randy's arm, patting it gently. “I apologize,” she said.

Pug breathed heavily, but didn't argue the point further.

“I'll go get those drinks now. Do you think you can use your inside voices while I do that?” Charlie took a moment to make eye contact with each of them before he stepped out of the room again.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Tina leaned forward and asked, “How much longer do we have to be here?”

I shrugged. “I'm not sure. Who has your son?” It occurred to me that she would have had to find a sitter to watch her son while she was here.

She answered, “My neighbor.”

Randy immediately chimed in. “The neighbor? You can't be bothered to let the family see him for a few minutes, but you'll let some stranger watch him? I just don't understand you. I told everyone that you were no good.”

I could handle a lot of things, but insulting a decent human being wasn't one of them. I had to say something.

“You apologize right now. I don't know the situation, but I do know that Tina is a wonderful gal and she loves that little boy, so don't you go judging something you don't know anything about.”

His nostrils flared as his anger took on a new form. He shouted, “You don't know anything! Everything was fine until you got here! My father died. Do you get that? I don't care what you and Charlie have going on, you're guilty, in my eyes, and no amount of talking and shenanigans that you or him come up with is going to make me think any differently!”

The deputy didn't intervene. I assumed he was told not to unless things got physical or he had some sort of vendetta against me too. Whatever the case, no one told Randy to pipe down.

“You killed my father!” Randy stood up and tried to walk out of the room, but Charlie was standing on the other side of the door with the drinks in his hands.

“Going somewhere?” Charlie asked, pretending that he hadn't just heard the yelling.

“I refuse to sit here with a murderer.” Randy answered, looking back at me.

Charlie stood his ground, without saying a word. Randy sighed heavily and stomped back over to his seat. “Fine. I'll stay, but someone needs to hurry this up. I can't promise that I won't explode soon.”

Setting the drinks down on the table, Charlie began passing them around, stopping at Jeb. “Oh, sorry. Did you want something to drink? The air is a little stale in here.”

Jeb nodded, saying, “Yes, lemonade, if you have any.”

The collective gasp in the room, sucked the life right out of Jeb. He realized his faux paux, but it was a minute too late. The moment had finally arrived and it was even better than Charlie and I had hoped for.

“How do you take your lemonade, Jeb? With a dash of oleander nectar just to sweeten it up a little more for you?” Charlie asked as Jeb broke out in a cold sweat.

“What? No. I don't know what you're talking about.” Jeb offered as he wiped his brow with a handkerchief he pulled out of his pocket.

“You don't?” I asked, anxious to back him into a corner with his own words. “So, how did you poison Rowdy then?”