Page 99 of A Rose of Steel
“Because you go to school in Baton Rouge,” Auntie Zanne chimed in, her tone sarcastic. “You had to know how humid it was Louisiana, especially near water.”
“You knew that was his trigger,” Jorianne said, repeating my already mentioned observation. “Is that why you wanted to keep it a secret?” She got more upset with each word. “Where you were taking him? Upset because he posted those pictures of the Golden Nugget?”
“No,” Boone said. “I didn’t think about that. None of this makes sense. How would I have even killed him?”
“You put poison in his inhaler,” Auntie Zanne said.
“I did not!”
“Yes, you did,” I said. “In the inhaler that you told me you hadn’t seen.”
“I didn’t see it,” Boone said. “And Piper told you that Chase had it. He’s probably the one who did it.” He flung an arm toward Chase. “We don’t even know anything about him.”
“Oh, Chase did have Bumper’s inhaler,” I said. “The one he used in the gazebo that day. But he gave it to Dr. Hale when he was going into the ambulance.” I looked at Pogue. “He can verify that’s what happened.”
“That is what happened,” Chase said.
“And I bet if we test Chase’s military uniform pants pocket, where he put it after he picked it up when Bumper collapsed, we might even find traces of the poison he used to kill him.”
“How’d Boone get hold of an inhaler?” Pogue asked, coming to stand next to me.
“I’m sorry to say it, but Mrs. Hackett had them strategically placed everywhere.” I glanced over at her. “She had even passed them out to the wedding party.”
“He was having trouble breathing,” Mrs. Hackett said. “I didn’t want... I didn’t know...” She broke out in sobs. Piper went over and rubbed her back. “I didn’t want anything to happen to him,” she blurted. Her eyes were red-rimmed. “I wanted to have his medicine close by.”
“And Boone counted on you doing that,” I said. “That way he wouldn’t have to worry about it being suspicious that he had an inhaler.”
“Boone asked me did I have any around,” Mrs. Hackett said.
“When?” I asked.
“After he came home from school for the wedding.” She sniffed. “He thought maybe the nervousness of the day might trigger an attack. Said he just wanted to careful.”
“Boone said that to you?” Jorianne said.
She nodded, she was trying to hold back more tears so she could speak. “Asked me if I still put them all around.”
“I did no such thing,” Boone said.
“Yes, you did,” Mrs. Hackett said.
“What did you tell him?” Auntie Zanne asked.
“I told him yes. But they probably weren’t any good after all this time. Still that made me think I should get more.”
“How did you get them?” I asked, remembering that Mr. McDougal at the pharmacy said he hadn’t seen a prescription for Bumper since he left for college.
“Miriam Coulter,” Mrs. Hackett said and pointed.
We looked over at her. She held up her hands in defense. “Didn’t I just say I hadn’t killed anyone?”
“You gave Mrs. Hackett inhalers?” I asked.
“Yes. They were for him. Doc Westin had ordered some for Mrs. Hackett when Bumper left for college. I just got some of those.”
The box, I thought. There were inhalers in the box where the ricin was.
“Did you bother anything else in the box?”
