Page 66 of Chosen Path
Perth’s voice crackled back. “I don’t have to talk to her, do I?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, Perth. Just watch her. Do not let her out of your sight. Or Rockman either.”
“What if she goes to the bathroom?”
“Don’t let her.”
“How’m I supposed to do that?”
“Figure it out. Remember, Greg and Kimberly.” She turned off the radio and clipped it back to her belt. “I’ll see you three at the funeral home.”
“What happened to supposition?” Bodhi asked.
“I said conjecture, for the record. And let’s call it following the evidence to see where it leads.”
“Are you going to get a warrant to search Kimberly for the insulin?” Hope asked.
“I don’t have time for that. In fact, I gotta go now. Thanks for going over the details about your mother, Hope. I know it’s hard, but it’s important.”
Hope pressed her lips together as if she was trying not to cry and nodded, twice, rapidly.
Officer Booth let herself out, and Molly tugged on Bodhi’s sleeve. She pulled him over to the window and whispered, “Laura’s death does sound almost identical to Corrine’s. And Hope remembers there being three mugs in Laura’s drying rack.”
Interesting.“Is she okay?” he whispered back.
“I think so. I’m not sure how fruitful going through Doc’s papers will be, but it’ll take her mind off her mom.”
He nodded. “We have plenty of time.”
Hope cleared her throat. “If you two are done talking about me, can we go look through Doc’s stuff now?”
Bodhi gave her a close look, and she managed a smile. “I’m fine,” she told him.
“In that case, let’s do this,” he responded.
Hope ran into the office to get her notepad, and the three of them mounted the steep, narrow staircase to the second floor. When they reached the hallway at the top, Molly led them to another flight of stairs.
“Attic?” Bodhi asked.
“Nope another whole floor of living space,” Molly told him.
They climbed the second set of stairs, steeper than the first, and stopped just beneath a skylight. “There’s a bedroom and a bathroom back there.” Molly gestured toward the back of the old house. “And another bedroom in the front. I lugged all of Doc’s stuff into the front room.”
“I can’t believe Doc was able to keep up with this big house and his practice all by himself—especially at his age,” Hope marveled.
“I was amazed, too,” Molly said as they walked toward the closed door at the end of the hallway. “I said something to that effect to Doc, and do you know what he told me?”
“No, what?”
“He didn’t have any family to take care of him, and he couldn’t afford to become a burden on the community, so he had to stay active and healthy.”
“That’s sad,” Bodhi said.
Hope twitched her mouth to the side. “But he wasn’t wrong. There’s no assisted living center or nursing homes up here. Heck, we don’t have any social services. Young or old, we all have to pull our weight and take care of each other. It’s actually the village’s official slogan.”
“What is?” Bodhi’s interest was piqued. He expected Hope to recite an inspirational quote about community and interdependence.
Instead she said, “I will not be a burden.”
