Page 56 of A Rose of Steel
“What?”
“I saw you through the window right when Bumper collapsed standing there with him and my auntie, but you weren’t there when we got CPR started.”
“I thought the other doctor did the CPR?”
“Dr. Hale.” I nodded. “He did. And perhaps I shouldn’t have said ‘we.’” I gave him a polite smile for catching my use of word after I’d just corrected him. “I was just wondering why you weren’t there.”
“Well for one thing I wanted to get out of the way, I heard the doctor say he was coming. And second, I’d forgotten the ring.”
“The ring?”
“Jorianne’s wedding ring. I was so nervous about losing it that I’d locked it up in the glove compartment of my truck. I had gone back to get it. And that’s when I saw Piper and she told me he’d fainted or something.”
“You and Piper friends?” I asked. I had already heard her answer.
“I guess we’re starting to be,” he said and shrugged. “I don’t live here, so really no need to strike up any kind of relationship—friendship or whatever.” He glanced her way.
“When did Bumper ask you to be his best man?” I asked. “You guys hadn’t been friends long, had you?”
“No. But he was a good kid and he was just trying to do the right thing. Trying to show me he could, at least.”
“What was the right thing?” I asked.
He shook his head. “It really doesn’t matter now. There’s nothing that can be done about it. He didn’t even get the chance to tell me everything.”
“Something was bothering him?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. I guess. But it’s not bothering him anymore.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The service was over and the pastor had announced that the family and friends could take another look at the body. I found Auntie Zanne. She stopped wearing her funeral director’s hat and switched to congregationalist. She was chatting and hugging everyone who passed by her.
“Auntie,” I said, pulling her away. “Did the Roble Belles find out anything?”
“They haven’t reported back yet,” she said.
“Okay,” I said. “Well, I spoke with Mrs. Alvarez, Piper and Chase.”
“And?”
“And they’re still at the top of my suspect list.”
“All three?”
“Yes. All three.” I gave a firm nod. “And isn’t that the same organist who was at the wedding?” I was thinking that maybe she was someone we should speak to. She’d been up at the frontline of all the happenings the entire time.
“Yes,” she said. “That’s Miriam Colter, member of the JOY Club, she’s our go-to organist.”
“She sure gets around,” I said. “I was thinking of speaking to her, but it looks like she might fall over at any minute. Maybe I should wait.”
“She always looks like that,” she said. “She’ll be fine as long as a breeze doesn’t push through.”
“Is that all it would take—a breeze?”
“Maybe even less. But she is not one to mess with, she’s as mean as a snake and sneaky as a cat. Don’t worry, though, I already asked her if she remembered seeing what happened to Bumper’s inhaler... Oh! Look a-there.” Her face lit up, and her attention was diverted mid-sentence. “It’s Rhett. He must be here as part of his sting operation.” She leaned in close to me and spoke in a barely audible voice. “I knew he’d be here to scope out the people attending. Told you it was the thing to do.”
“If he had a sting going, he wouldn’t have to scope, he’d already know,” I said. “It would be the people he was investigating, and he wouldn’t have come after it was over.”
