"Actually she probably did," Liz said with a half smile. "Sadie Hamilton has been after me ever since I started working here, probably because she knows how young I am. The other nurses keep telling me that if I can put up with her, I can put up with anything."
"Is she that bad?"
"Any of the residents can get grumpy sometimes, but Mrs. Hamilton is just plain mean. She's been even worse the past few weeks. She had a stroke the day after Thanksgiving, and she pretty much lost the use of the right half of her body. She could probably get some of it back in physical therapy if she'd just try, but she won't. She just mumbles the most awful things at us when we try to show her. How can you help someone like that?"
"You can't," I said.
Liz nodded. "I know, but I have to keep trying." She spotted the punch glass on the floor and picked it up. "I better get back to work."
"Me, too," I said, and returned to my station at the Christmas tree to finish handing out presents. We were just about done when I saw the bag for Liz still sitting there. That's when I got the idea of giving it to her to cheer her up, and instead handed her the knife that had been used to stab Mrs. Hamilton.
* * *
Liz had been trained well. Even after seeing the wound, she hesitated only a second before checking for a pulse.
"Is she...?" I asked.
"She's alive," Liz said, and then called out, "Get Dr. Buchanan!" Another nurse ran to comply.
"You better call the police, too," I told Liz in a quieter voice. Liz nodded, and I saw the doctor coming in at a run. I stood back out of the way while he and Liz exchanged a few words and then wheeled Mrs. Hamilton out of the room, still slumped over in the wheelchair.
I looked around for Richard. The other residents didn't seem as upset as I felt like they should be. After a slight pause, they kept on eating cake and drinking punch as if nothing had happened. Even the woman who had been shrieking had quieted down and was nodding in time with the carol Clifford was playing.
Of course, I told myself, they didn't know Mrs. Hamilton had been stabbed. As far as they knew, she had succumbed to another stroke or maybe a heart attack, and probably neither of those were unusual around here. Should I tell them? I couldn't think of a good reason why I should, at least until we knew more.
I finally spotted Richard coming out of the kitchen with a tray of cookies. I met him at the refreshment table and pulled him into a corner.
"What's the matter?" he asked as soon as he got a good look at me.
"Didn't you hear the scream?" When he shook his head, I told him what had happened.
As soon as I finished, he said, "Are you sure that's the knife that was used on her?"
"Of course I'm not sure," I snapped, "but I would hope that there aren't any other bloodstained knives floating around the place."
"Is there anything else in the bag?"
"I don't know." I pulled the bag open, but all I saw was the knife and some red tissue paper. "I don't want to touch anything." I looked around the room. "The awful thing is that whoever did it is probably still in here. I mean, we'd have noticed an outsider."
"I assume the police are on the way."
"I hope so. I told Liz to call, and I'm sure the doctor would want them here, too." We stayed there watching the party uneasily and listening for the siren which would mean that the police had arrived. Instead Liz came over to me.
"Laurie Anne? Chief Norton wants to talk to you." Richard nodded, and I followed her.
"Is she here?" I asked as we walked.
"No, she's on the phone." She led me to a paneled office marked Dr. Buchanan. "Chief Norton is on line 3." She closed the door behind her as she left.
I picked up the phone, and punched the blinking button. At first, all I heard were sirens and yells. "Junior?"
"Is that you, Laurie Anne?" she said, speaking loudly enough to be heard over the cacophony.
"It's me."
"Hold on just a minute, will you? I've got myself one hell of a mess to deal with out here. Three carloads of fools drinking beer ran into one another, and now they want to fight about whose fault it was."
That explained the noises I was hearing. I could just picture Junior in her blue jean jacket and cowboy boots wading into the middle of it. Even if she was only five foot three, she'd have them in order pretty quickly.
I've known Junior since we were five years old, and even then she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps as chief of the Byerly police department. Her name was the result of Andy Norton's wish for a son to name after himself. When his fifth daughter was born, he named her Junior. Naturally his sixth child was a boy. He became Andy Norton the Third, and Junior's deputy.
Junior finally came back to the phone. "Are you still there?"
"I'm here."
"Tell me, Laurie Anne. Why is it that every time you come to town, something like this happens? No, don't answer that. I don't have time. What's going on up there?"
I quickly told her what little I knew.
Junior said, "The doctor says that Mrs. Hamilton is going to make it, but it was damned close. Another inch or so, and she'd be gone. I hear you gave Liz Sanderson a gift bag with the knife that did the job."
"I think so."
"Where is it now?"
"I've got it." I hadn't known what else to do with it.
"Good. Don't let it out of your sight. Liz said there was no tag. Do you know who it was from?"
"Yes," I admitted reluctantly. "My cousin Clifford asked me to give it to her."
"Is that so?" she asked, and I just knew she had raised one eyebrow.
"Not the knife," I added hurriedly. "I was watching him when Liz pulled it out of the bag, and he was as surprised as she was. The bag wasn't sealed or anything, and it's been under the Christmas tree all evening. Anyone could have seen it and put the knife in."
"We'll see. What else was in the bag?"
"I haven't looked."
"I imagine you've got fingerprints all over the outside by now, so we won't worry about that, but don't put your hand inside. Just hold the bag by the bottom and spill out whatever's in there."
I cleared some papers off of the desk blotter, and then did as she instructed. The knife fell out first and was followed by two other items. "It's a Garth Brooks cassette tape, still sealed, and a little gold cardboard box. Like a gift box."
"See if you can use a pencil or something to open that box without touching it."
"I'll try." Fortunately Clifford hadn't taped it shut, and I used two paper clips to get it open. "It's a pair of gold earrings. Hoops." I leaned closer. "They aren't real gold, but they are pretty."
"Anything else in the box?"
I poked around with a pen. "Just cotton padding."
"How about in the bag?"
"Tissue paper."
I heard someone on Junior's end call her name, and Junior told me, "Hold on." A few minutes later she said, "Now what kind of knife is it? And remember not to touch it."
To tell the truth, I wouldn't have touched it if she had asked me. "It looks like a regular kitchen knife. Wooden handle, used but not real old. It looks shinier along the point, like it's been sharpened."
"It would have to be right sharp to go through the wheelchair and into Mrs. Hamilton's back."
"I suppose so."
I heard someone yelling for her again, and Junior must have dropped the phone she was talking on, because I heard it bounce off of something. Or someone.
This time she was gone longer, and I could hear her cursing long before she came back to the phone. "Laurie Anne, I've got a problem."
"Are you all right?"
"I am, but one of these fools just hit Trey upside the head and knocked him cold." Before I could ask, she added, "I'm sure he's going to be fine, but now I'm going to have to deliver this baby all by my lonesome."
"What baby?"
"I don't have time to talk about it right now, Laurie Anne. Is there a Bible anywhere around there?"
I didn't even ask, I just looked around the shelves. "I don't see one."
"Well, get a book, any book, and open it up."
I grabbed a Physician's Desk Reference.
"Put your left hand on the book and raise your right hand."
I did so, wondering what she was up to.
"Shoot, now how does it go?" Junior said. "Do you, Laurie Anne Fleming swear to uphold the laws of Byerly, North Carolina, and the United States, not necessarily in that order. Say, 'I do.'"
I said, "I do."
"Then by the power invested in me as Chief of Police in Byerly, I hereby make you a deputy of the Byerly Police Department, with all the rights and responsibilities I decide to let you have. You can put your hand down now."
"Junior––"
"Laurie Anne, I wouldn't ask you if I didn't have to, but I don't have any idea of how long it's going to be before I can get there. I'd ask for someone from the county or the state to take over, but they're all tied up with the ice storm same as I am. Besides, you and I both know that you're going to be asking questions anyway, don't we?"
"Probably," I admitted. I was getting a reputation around Byerly for curiosity.
"That's what I figured. This way you're obliged to tell me everything you find out, not just the stuff that doesn't affect your family."
That smarted, but she was right. I had avoided giving Junior information in the past when I thought it might cause more harm than good. "I've always told you everything eventually, haven't I?"
"Yes, you have, and that's why I'm trusting you now. At the very least, I need you to make sure that whoever it was who tried to kill Mrs. Hamilton doesn't try again. If you find out anything else in the meantime, that's fine too. All right?"
I could think of a good dozen reasons why I should tell her no, but of course what I said was, "All right, Junior." If she could deliver a baby in the middle of an ice storm, I could do this.
"Good. I'll be there when I can. Bye." She didn't wait for me to say goodbye back.
I hung up the phone and maneuvered the knife and Clifford's presents back into the gift bag while I tried to decide what I should do next. As Junior had said, the first priority was to protect Mrs. Hamilton. Obviously someone had to be with her at all times. The question was, who? What if I used the very person who wanted to kill her as a guard? Who could I trust?
Myself, of course, and Richard. And Vasti, and the triplets, and Clifford. Then I stopped. Junior was trusting me to be at least somewhat objective, and if they hadn't been my cousins, I wouldn't have crossed them off of the list so quickly. I had to be fair about it. I was going to assume that Richard was innocent no matter what, but that was as far as I could go without more proof. I could post Richard in Mrs. Hamilton's room, but I didn't think he'd be thrilled about my trying to find a murderer on my own. And actually, I wasn't too thrilled about the idea myself.
A knife in the back sounded like a solitary act to me, so maybe I could conclude that only one person was involved. If so, that meant that the solution was to use two guards at a time. That would have to do.
Liz was waiting for me outside the office, pacing nervously.
"Is Chief Norton on the way?" she asked.
"I'm afraid not. She's tied up because of the storm."
"Then what are we going to do?"
"Don't worry," I said, trying to sound a lot more confident than I felt. "She's deputized me temporarily."
She didn't look impressed, and I can't say that I blamed her. I don't know that I would have trusted a deputy in green tights myself.
"Where's Dr. Buchanan?" I asked. "I need to ask him some questions."
"He's in the infirmary."
"Can you show me the way?" She nodded, and I followed her.
I have never liked nursing homes. They smell too much like hospitals, and they're too quiet. Now that I knew that there was an attempted murderer on the loose, this place was downright creepy. I stuck close to Liz and watched all around as we walked.
The infirmary consisted of a treatment room and a small ward of half a dozen beds. One bed had been curtained off, and Dr. Buchanan had just closed the curtain behind him when we came in.
"Dr. Buchanan? My name is Laura Fleming. Chief Norton has deputized me to take charge here." I thought that the phrase "take charge" was properly official without promising too much. "I'd like to ask you some questions about Mrs. Hamilton's injury."
"Fine," he said, looking at his watch, "if you can ask them in a hurry."
"Are you going somewhere?" I asked, following him as he kept on moving. Liz trailed along behind me.
"I just got a call from the hospital in Hickory. I see patients there as well as looking after the residents here, and they need me tonight. There have been a number of weather–related incidents."
"What about Mrs. Hamilton?"
"She should be fine. The wound was deep, but no vital organs were hit, and there was relatively little loss of blood. We got to her before she could go into shock. The nurses will monitor her for complications, of course, but I don't foresee any difficulties."
"I see," I said, a little breathless from trying to keep up with him. "Could you slow down a little bit?"
"Sorry."
"Does what you said mean that this wasn't an attempted murder after all?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Another inch and the knife would have hit her heart. I'd guess that the heart was the intended target, but the difficulty of stabbing through the wheelchair back deflected the aim."
"Does that imply that the person knew what he or she was doing?"
"Combat knowledge, you mean?"
"Or medical," I said. Liz didn't look happy at that suggestion.
Dr. Buchanan stopped a second to consider it. "In most groups of people that would be a reasonable assumption, but not here. You see, most of our residents spend a fair amount of time reading up on their bodily processes. Comes with growing old, I suspect. Most of the residents' library is made up of medical books of one kind or another. Anyone here could easily have researched the issue."
By now, we were at the front door and Dr. Buchanan was pulling on an overcoat. He asked, "Was there anything else? I really need to get to the hospital."
At the moment I didn't have any other questions. I wasn't sure what Junior would say about my letting a possible suspect leave the scene of the crime, but I didn't think I had any right to stop him, under the circumstances. Besides, I was almost certain he had not been in the party for very long after the triplets made their play for him. The three of them together did tend to scare men off.
I said, "I guess not. Chief Norton will probably want to talk with you later on."
"Fine. I expect to be at the hospital for some time to come." He turned to Liz. "Let me know if there are any problems with Mrs. Hamilton or any of the others."
"Yes, doctor. Be careful out there."
I must admit I would have preferred for him to stay. A doctor made a comforting authority figure, and I wasn't too happy with assuming the role myself. "Who's officially in charge of the home now?" I asked Liz after he left.
"I'm not sure. Usually Mrs. Higgenbotham would be. She's the head nurse for the night shift. Only she couldn't make it in tonight because of the ice storm. And Mrs. Donahue, the administrator, left early for the same reason. As a matter of fact, we're on a skeleton shift because so many people stayed home. There's only six nurses, counting me, two orderlies, and the cook."
That kind of decided it for me. If I didn't take charge, no one would. I said, "The first thing we have to do is to make sure that Mrs. Hamilton is protected. Someone needs to be with her at all times."
"One of the nurses is in there now. I'll make sure she stays there."
"Good. I'll be sending one of my cousins to join her."
"What for?"
"Until we know who tried to kill Mrs. Hamilton, we can't trust anyone to be in there with her alone."
"Surely you don't think that one of us––"
&
nbsp; I cut her off by holding up my hand the way Aunt Maggie always does. "I don't think anything yet. The point is that we have to protect Mrs. Hamilton the best we can. Is she conscious?"
"No, she's under sedation."
"Fine. If she should come to and say anything, I need to know at once. Come with me so you can show my cousin back to the infirmary." I walked briskly away, imitating Dr. Buchanan's walk and hoping that she would follow. Fortunately, she did.
The party was still going on, but clearly the news about Mrs. Hamilton had begun to spread. Instead of mingling, people had gathered into tight little knots around the room. I noticed that no one was going near the spot where Mrs. Hamilton had been stabbed.
Richard was standing with Vasti and my other cousins. What I really wanted was a few minutes alone with him, but I could tell from the expression on Vasti's face that I wasn't going to get it. As soon as she saw me, she put her hands firmly on her hips. "Where have you been? What is going on around here? Where's Junior? How am I supposed to throw a decent party when I don't know what's going on?"
If Dr. Buchanan leaving hadn't convinced me, that would have. I couldn't afford to hesitate in taking charge, because if I did, Vasti was bound to leap into the vacuum. I might be unsure about my own skills, but I knew all too much about Vasti's.
As soon as she stopped to take a breath, I jumped in with, "Y'all must know what happened. Junior can't get through the ice storm, so she's put me in charge. Carlelle, Liz is going to take you to the infirmary to keep an eye on Mrs. Hamilton. There's a nurse there if she needs anything medical, but I want you to stay there and make sure no one bothers her. Don't leave her alone, not even to go to the bathroom, unless you get word from me."
The triplets looked at each other for a second, but after the silent conference, Carlelle nodded. "All right." She followed Liz away.
By now Vasti had her breath back. "Laurie Anne, just what in the Sam Hill is going on?"
I ignored her. "Idelle, I want you go outside and check the parking lot. There were only a few cars there when we got here, and they should all be covered in ice. See if there are any without ice, and if there are, get the license number. And see if you can tell if any cars have left."
"How is she going to do that?" Vasti wanted to know.
Crooked as a Dog's Hind Leg Page 3
