Page 41 of A Rose of Steel
“You finish the report, then what?”
“Then I think we need to figure out where the inhalers came from, and where the inhaler he had when he collapsed went to.”
“I don’t know about the one he had, but didn’t Delores say she had had the ones that got passed out?” Auntie said.
“Some of them, but I thought she said some of them were new.”
Auntie shrugged.
“Either way,” I said. “We need to know. Do you know where she would have gotten them from? Who Bumper’s doctor was?”
“No,” she said, and shook her head. “But McDougal is the only pharmacy in town. She would have probably gone there. Plus, he gives the football team a discount.”
“Giving gratuities to the football players seems like a common occurrence around here,” I said. “The pharmacy. The caterer. I don’t understand how you figured those same actions precipitated a murder.”
“It’s different when outsiders are involved. Those men—Shane and Coach Buddy are from big universities, and even bigger cities. Criminal behavior is stitched into their fiber.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say,” I said.
“May not be nice,” she said, “but in this case, I think it might be true.”
“And what if it’s not? What if they didn’t do it? After you’ve talked about these people, practically defaming them. Damage done. Then what?”
“Well, darlin’, then I’ll just apologize.” She smiled. “Now come on, I’ll be up all night embalming Bumper if we don’t get a move on. I’ll have to call Rhett to bring the hearse over. My good, sweet friend, Delores Hackett, is counting on me, and I can’t let her down.”
“Okay.” I flipped over page the I was working on and signed the request, finishing up all I needed to do for the lab. Then I shuffled through the papers to find the release form I needed to give to the funeral home. I read the name and address of who’d be picking up the body and I cringed. That’s when I realized that my ride home was going to be awful.
I put down my pen. “Auntie,” I said and took in a breath. “I have something to tell you.”
Chapter Twenty
“That woman is as loyal as Benedict Arnold!”
It was the next morning after she’d gotten the news and Auntie Zanne was still upset that Delores Hackett had gone with another funeral home to handle the remains of her only child.
We’d planned to go to McDougal’s Pharmacy first thing, but I didn’t know if I could take another car ride with her. She had fussed all the way home the night before, and it looked as if she still wasn’t going to let the perceived slight go even though it was a brand new day. I just knew if I rode in the car with her, having to endure another round of kicking and screaming, I was going to have to prescribe myself a sedative.
Auntie Zanne was sitting at the kitchen table when I came down, three pots boiling on the stove filled with who knows what each with as much steam coming out of it as she had coming out of her.
“How dare her not entrust her son’s remains to Ball Funeral Home.”
“Maybe it was because it had bad memories for her,” I said. “This is where...” I rocked my head from side to side. “You know... Where it happened.”
“Oh just spit it out. Where Bumper was murdered. You don’t have to be discreet when it’s me you’re talking to.”
Pogue had had to let Mrs. Hackett know the reason I was doing the autopsy, and I thought, and thoroughly understood how that could have played a part in her not choosing Auntie’s place. She hadn’t had any say over what happened with her son once I made my determination because state law requires that if an ME or justice of the peace deemed one necessary, the family couldn’t fight it.
It must have been hard for her to lose her son at our house, and me being the one to determine he’d been murdered.
“Auntie, maybe you should just have a cup of tea,” I suggested.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she grumbled.
“I’m not, but you have to be in a better frame of mind when we go to the pharmacy.”
“There is nothing wrong with my frame of mind.”
“Do you want me to just go by myself?” I asked. “I can share notes when I get home.”
