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“Speak for yourself,” said Scarlett snippily. “You may have passed your menopause but I haven’t. And that’s because I’ve been taking care of myself. As you know, I’m very sexually active, and therefore I need to protect myself from unwanted pregnancies.”

“Unwanted pregnancies! You couldn’t get pregnant if the Holy Ghost came down and impregnated you himself!”

Rory had returned with Scarlett’s prescription and now placed it on the counter. “That’ll be nineteen ninety-nine,” he said, rubbing his hands with glee. He was having a good sales morning. His smile vanished when Vesta grabbed the box and stared at it.

“Um, Vesta, you can’t just grab someone else’s medication,” he pointed out.

“Yes, Vesta,” said Scarlett with a smile. “That’s just plain rude.”

But Vesta was studying the pillbox closely.“This is impossible,” she said. “Rory, you don’t believe this nonsense, do you? A woman of seventy-five can’t possibly still be on the pill, right?”

Rory tilted his head.“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss Mrs. Canyon’s particular…”

“Miss Canyon,” said Scarlett. “I never married, which is probably why I’m something of a medical anomaly. Isn’t that what you told me just the other day, Rory, darling?”

Rory gave a curt and embarrassed little laugh.“It’s really not my place to—”

“Yes or no, Rory,” Vesta demanded. “Has she passed menopause or not?”

But the pharmacist merely tapped the prescription and shrugged.“Like I was trying to point out, it’s not a pharmacist’s place to make these kinds of judgments. If Scarlett’s doctor prescribed her the contraceptive pill, he must have done so for a good reason.”

Vesta now picked up the prescription. It was as she had surmised: written up by Tex. She frowned darkly. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, Scarlett, but I can promise you this: I’ll get to the bottom of your so-called medical miracle and I’ll do it right now!”

And as she stalked off, Rory called after her,“Vesta! Did you need something?”

But she was already slamming the door. Scarlett might have fooled Tex, but she wasn’t fooling her. No way a seventy-five-year-old woman could still be in danger of getting pregnant. And she was going to prove it, too.

Chapter 3

Chase Kingsley breezed into the police precinct and was greeted by Dolores, who waved him over the moment he walked through the door.

“Pssst!” said the grumpy-faced and heavily-made-up desk sergeant. She glanced around, as if expecting spies to pop out of the woodwork and listen in on their conversation.

“What is it this time?” asked Chase, who knew Dolores well enough to know she was eager to spill some gossip.

“It’s the big boss!” she said.

“The Chief? What about him?”

“Listen to this. Do you know Pamela Witherspoon? No, well, good for you. She’s a widow,” she said, making it sound as if Pamela was some kind of monster. “And last night she jumped the Chief in the park! Buck naked, she was, and dragging him into the bushes, asking him to make sweet, sweet love to her right then and there, if you please!”

“Huh,” said Chase. “And? Did he comply?”

“Of course he didn’t comply, you idiot! He told her he was on duty, and as everyone knows, cops on duty can’t just engage in any frivolous activity they damn well please. So he plucked her naked bosoms from his chest and told her to put some clothes on. And listen to this—he then escorted her home, like the sap—I mean gentleman that he is.”

“Right,” said Chase, too skeptical for Dolores’s taste, though, for she frowned.

“You don’t believe me? Ask the Chief. He’ll tell you it’s the God’s honest truth. The only part of the story I’m still a bit fuzzy on is what happened after he walked her home. I heard she invited him in for a quickie, but my sources weren’t clear on whether he was able to restrain himself and walk away, or if he went in and enjoyed some midnight nookie in the widow’s lair. Ask him, will you?” she added, as she picked up the phone. “And then tell me.” And as Chase walked away, she yelled after him, “Don’t forget to ask him, Chase!”

He held up a hand and set foot for the coffee machine. He had no intention of asking the Chief anything, but had to admit his curiosity was piqued. No smoke without fire, was one of Dolores’s favorite expressions, and he had to admit that more often than not there was some truth to it.

And as the Chief joined him and held out his cup for a refill, Chase eyed him with a keen expression on his face.“You look like you didn’t sleep a wink last night, Chief.”

“Oh, don’t you start, too,” the Chief grumbled. “You’ll never believe what happened to me. Zombies!”

“Zombies? I thought it was widows that had kept you up all night.”

The Chief rolled his eyes.“Dolores!”

“Yeah, if she’s to be believed you’ve been up all night doing the horizontal mambo with Pamela Witherspoon.”

“What?!”

Chase grinned.“You old dog, you.”