Page 31 of A Rose of Steel
“I think it was the reason Bumper was murdered.”
“What?” My mouth dropped open, and I felt my stomach lurch. “Did you say murdered?”
“You got cotton in your ears, Sugarplum?”
I couldn’t believe she’d come to the same conclusion that I had, and she did it without saying one word to me about it. “What makes you think he was murdered?” I asked.
“Asthma is not contagious.”
“What does that mean?”
“Whatever caused Bumper’s death, made your Chief-of-Staff sick. Came back to pick you up looking like death warmed over. Cause of death couldn’t have been asthma.”
“Poison isn’t contagious either,” I said, intrigued at her reasoning.
“Don’t play dumb with me, darlin’. It might not be contagious but a person can pick up poison from somewhere else, skin contact, ingestion. Don’t you know that?”
“I do,” I said, enjoying her line of reasoning.
“I think that’s just what happened.”
I smiled at her. I always fussed about her nosiness and intrusive nature, but I felt the same way and was itching to look into it. but Pogue was locking me out. It was good to have someone to discuss it with.
“I think so too,” I said.
She blew out a breath and then smiled back. “Good. I thought I was going to have to use up all my energy trying to convince you and I wouldn’t have any left to get you to help me.”
“Help you do what?”
“Solve it.”
I chuckled. “You may not believe this is me talking, Auntie, but I am right with you.”
“You are?”
“I am. That’s exactly what I want to do.”
She smacked her hands together. “Hot dog!” She shut the door to the closet and locked it. “C’mon,” she said and grabbed hold of my arm. “Let me tell you what I think and you can help me plan the inquest.”
Uh-oh.
That’s just what Pogue said would happen. That big ole grin she was sporting was soon to disappear. I hated to do it to her, but I had to tell her she wasn’t going to be the one to get the information to start the criminal investigation.
I waited until she sat down, then I sat opposite her and leaned in. “You’re not going to do the inquest, Auntie.”
“What are you talking about?” she said. “I’m the Justice of the Peace and we don’t have an ME. It’s in my job description.”
“You don’t have apermanentME.”
“What does that mean?”
“Pogue asked me to do the autopsy.”
“He... You... How did... You’re not even... Oh my gosh!” Her little face was turning red as half sentences sputtered out. She wasn’t even able to complete a full thought.
“Spit it out, Auntie before you have some sort of stroke.”
She stood up and kicked her foot. “How are you doing the autopsy? You’re not the ME. I am duly elected to do the job when there’s no ME.”
