Page 62 of Chosen Path
“Official business,” Booth answered.
“Police business?”
Jenny Booth held Kimberly’s gaze for a long, frosty moment. Then she said, “Didn’t you need to talk to Doctor Hart?”
Kimberly smiled faintly. “Thanks for reminding me.” She turned to Molly, and her gaze swept over Bodhi as well. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, Doctor Hart, but the council thinks it would be better if you and your friend don’t come to the service for Nikolas Lundgren.”
Molly arched an eyebrow. “Is there a right way to take that?”
“It’s nothing personal. It’s just that you’ve got some folks upset with all your talk of a death cluster. Bringing in a specialist, even. There’s no deadly virus or anything like that here. It’s irresponsible to suggest there is.”
Molly stared at her. She stared back.
Hope cleared her throat. “Isn’t the service open to the public? There’s a flyer posted on the bulletin board outside the post office inviting the entire village, and another one at the library.”
“I’m not saying Doctor Hartcan’tattend. I’m saying she shouldn’t. There’s a difference.”
“Nikolas Lundgren was my patient, however briefly. I’m going to pay my respects.”
Kimberly gave a small shrug. “Suit yourself. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
She handed her glass to Molly. “Thanks for keeping me company while I waited. Good luck with your project, whatever it is.”
Bodhi waited until she’d brushed past him on the way to get her coat from the rack beside the door. Then he said, “You’re right, by the way.”
She turned. “I beg your pardon?”
“You’re right. I no longer think there’s a death cluster here.”
“You don’t?”
“No. As the term is commonly used, a cluster of sudden unexplained deaths refers to a series of deaths that occur within a short time period in a given location. When the deaths can be explained, the term doesn’t apply for obvious reasons. And when the deaths are intentional, like they are here, then the phenomenon might be called a serial killing, mass murder, or spree killing, depending on the details. That’s not my area of expertise, but Officer Booth might know.”
Kimberly gasped, opened and closed her mouth, and finally sputtered. She yanked her coat from the rack, and raced out the door, slamming it shut behind her.
The four of them stood in silence for a moment, then Booth said, “As much as I enjoyed seeing that woman at a loss for words, I’m surprised you of all people would say something like that just to wind her up.”
“I didn’t.”
“You didn’t? She seemed pretty upset to me,” the police officer countered.
“She was, but that’s not why I said what I did. I said it because she’s going to spread it to at least half the village by the time the funeral service starts. If there’s a killer—or killers—preying on people, they’ll be sure to hear the rumor, too. The whole town will be at the funeral home and then the church, right?”
“More or less.”
“So we’ll have an excellent opportunity to observe their behavior.”
“Flush them out?”
“Exactly.”
She nodded her approval. “Weaponizing Kimberly Dickerson. Wouldn’t have thought to do it, but I like it.”
“At least it’ll divert attention away from me,” Molly said.
That was the other reason Bodhi had said what he’d said. Everyone would be so focused on Kimberly’s claim that there was a killer on the loose that they might not bother shunning Molly.
“I’m confused. I’ll admit I was half-asleep when you left this morning, but didn’t you say you thought Corrine may have used insulin to commit suicide?” Hope asked.
