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When Gran was assisting Odelia on her investigations, there was no one to staff the reception at the doctor’s office, so Dad had to work a little harder to answer all the phones. It was one of the reasons Odelia preferred to do these murder inquires by herself. She knew Dad didn’t mind, but she also knew he preferred to have Gran taking care of the front desk, and contend with the patients. The factof the matter was that Gran liked the change of pace. She didn’t enjoy being cooped up in the office all day and looked forward to these trips with her granddaughter, interviewing suspects and catching killers. It provided her with the kind of excitement and thrills life as a doctor’s assistantlacked.

“So? What’s going on?” asked Dad, a good-natured man with a shock of white hair and the bedside manner of a country doctor.

“Nothing,” said Gran.

“Everything,” said Odelia.

Dad frowned.“So who’s the patient? You or Vesta?”

“Odelia,” said Gran.

“Gran,” said Odelia. She took a deep breath, then placed the pillbox on Dad’s desk. “Gran has been taking these. She bought them off a drug dealer and thought they were vitamins, but in actual fact they’re called ecstasy pills. They’re—”

But Dad whistled through his teeth.“That wasn’t very smart of you, Vesta.”

“Oh, don’t give me that sanctimonious crap,” Gran said. “Just take my temperature or my blood pressure or whatever you quacks do to sick people around this place.”

“You know perfectly well what we do to sick people around this place, Vesta,” said Dad in his kindliest, most reasonable voice.

“Well, get on with it,” she said. “Give me another lecture. God knows I’ve had to endure one lecture after another from my own granddaughter already.”

“I’m not going to lecture you, Vesta,” said Dad. “What I am going to do is tell you that these pills are the equivalent of a severe chemical shock to your system. A shock that at your age could very well have fatal consequences.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Dad couldn’t control himself any longer. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking they were vitamins! Vitamins!”

Dad listened to Vesta’s heart, checked her pulse, listened to her lungs, and did everything a doctor would after hearing that his septuagenarian patient has been popping ecstasy as if they were M&Ms. In the end, he pursed his lips.

“Just give it to me straight, Doc,” said Vesta, looking up at her son-in-law with a modicum of trepidation written all over her features. “How long have I got?”

“You’re actually in excellent fettle for a woman your age.”

“My age!” she said, trepidation quickly giving way to indignation. “I’m a young woman!”

“Not that young,” he said diplomatically. “As I said, for a woman your age you’re in excellent health, and the pills don’t seem to have done any damage to your system. I would like to take some blood, though, and have it examined.”

She stuck out her arm resignedly.“Here. Take my blood, Count Dracula.”

“So I’ll see you tomorrow morning, completely sober.”

“I never drink and you know it.”

He smiled indulgently.“You know the drill, Vesta. First thing tomorrow morning I’m going to draw some blood and we’re going to send it to the lab and then we’ll know more.”

She rolled her eyes.“Yeah, yeah, yeah. So are we done?”

“For now, we’re done.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here, Odelia. This place makes me sick.” And as they walked out, she muttered, “Too many sick people,” and gave a cursory nod to Mrs. Baumgartner.

It was amazing, Odelia thought, that her grandmother, in spite of her age, and in spite of her shenanigans, was in such good health. Probably her character. God didn’t want to snatch her up from this life and foist her on the next, so he’d decided to leave her be.

“Doctors,” said Gran as she yanked down her seatbelt. “Always fussing, fussing, fussing. Why doesn’t anyone ever believe me when I tell them I’m fit as a frolicking filly?”

“You keep falling asleep,” Odelia reminded her.

“It’s my naptime!”

She held up her hands.“Okay, okay. Fine.”

“So what’s next? Are we going to talk to this Animal person now?”

“I think I’m going to wait until Chase is free. He sounds like the kind of guy you don’t want to meet without some muscle to back you up.”

“I’ll be your muscle,” said Gran, stripping up her sleeve and flexing a non-existent bicep.

Odelia laughed. Looked like Gran was back to her old self, and she was glad for it. The woman might be a pain in the patootie, but she loved her to death.

“I want to drive by Jeb’s place again. Check that fence where our mystery witness says he saw Jeb kill Camilla. And then I want to have another chat with Helena and Fae. Give them an update on the investigation.”

“Good. Let’s get going. I don’t have all day, you know.”

And as Odelia put the car in gear, Gran promptly dozed off again.

Chapter 29

Odelia parked her car on the road’s shoulder, and we all got out.

“So what are we doing here?” asked Dooley.