Page 81 of Chosen Path
“Molly gave her a sedative. She’s going to struggle until she knows exactly how things played out with her mother. She called her sister again, but Kara’s blocked her calls.”
“I’m not surprised.”
The timbre of her voice made him open his eyes and sit up straight. “You know something.”
“Greg’s talking. Kimberly’s not. He swears ups and down that five of the eight people they injected with insulin came to them.”
“Everyone except Nikolas, Corrine, and Laura?”
She nodded. “According to Greg, Kara’s husband came to the council the day after Thanksgiving.”
“The day after George Alden’s body was found.”
“Right.”
“Joel said he had concerns about his mother-in-law’s physical and mental condition. Right away, the council started arguing. Corrine and Nik weren’t happy about helping hasten George’s death, as Greg puts it. And they definitely didn’t want to go down that road with someone who hadn’t come to them herself. They also wanted to wait and see what Molly did in the aftermath of George’s death.”
“She called the medical examiner.”
“Which made the rift on the council deeper yet. But Joel kept pushing. He and Kara wanted to move to Connecticut. They didn’t want to be stuck in Scandia Bluff because of Laura.”
“Laura was perfectly healthy. And she had Hope to help her out.”
They rocked a bit more, then Jenny cleared her throat. “Laura had made it clear to both her daughters that she thought Hope should move away—that there’d be more opportunities for Hope in a large city. Hope, by all accounts, loves it here and has no intention of leaving. But Kara got it in her head that she would be saddled with caring for her mother eventually.”
“So she preemptively killed her?”
“Well, she and Joel did a full-court press to try to convince Laura to move with them. Kara gave her some pamphlets for a retirement community, and Laura was outraged. She was a fixture around here, and she had no intention of being uprooted. Joel spun her response as evidence of dementia when he went back to the council. They took a vote, and the result was predictable.”
“Two to two?”
“Right. Which should have been the end of it. But Greg and Kimberly went to see Laura anyway and, according to Greg, she didn’t take the conversation well. They were sure she was going to come to the police. They’d only used one vial of insulin for George, and Kimberly ‘just happened’ to have the other two. So they killed her to keep her quiet. He claims it wasn’t premeditated. He says Kimberly snapped.”
“And the others, aside from Corrine and Nik?”
“They have signed statements from all five attesting that they were acting voluntarily. Apparently, the council did have requirements and keep records. But after Laura, Corrine and Nik were done. The in-fighting was getting worse. So far, Greg isn’t giving the prosecutor much detail about anything that happened to anyone but Laura. He’s got a lawyer and is trying to get a good deal, but copping to three murders is a different beast than copping to one. In any case, I don’t think Nik saw them coming, but I can’t imagine why Corrine opened her door for those two ghouls.”
“I can,” Bodhi said softly. “My arrival shook them up. Corrine blew up at Molly earlier that day when Molly mentioned all the deaths. And they had a council meeting that evening. I met Kimberly as she was walking home, and Molly told her why I was here. The three of them probably panicked. And while Corrine may have had reason to fear them, they were all in it up to their necks together. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d gone to her and suggested killing Molly. Or me.”
“Me neither,” Jenny said. “We’re only getting Greg’s version, but to hear him tell it, once they killed Laura, something fundamental shifted in Kimberly. He called her broken. She seemed to think insulin could solve all her problems. He truly believes she would have killed him today in the municipal building if Perth hadn’t been there.”
They fell silent for another moment, then Bodhi said, “He might be right. I know of at least two documented cases of medical professionals—a nurse in Canada and a nursing assistant in Virginia—who committed multiple murders using insulin. I think, for some people, knowing they hold the power of life and death in a tiny glass vial is too great a temptation to resist.”
“Those people are called murderers, Bodhi.”
“I’m not saying otherwise, and I’m not excusing it. I’m saying Kimberly isn’t unique.”
“There’s a terrifying thought. I’d rather consider her a one-of-a-kind monster.”
“While I can see the appeal, it’s dangerous to dismiss her as an evil anomaly. Is she all that different from the person in the hypothetical you posed to me? What if you knew you could kill your enemies for any slight, no matter how small, and get away with it?”
“I’m coming around on the loving-kindness meditation.” She grinned as she said it.
“What happens next?”
“The district attorney is going to seek to have Laura Gardener’s body exhumed. That’s why I’m here. I stopped by Hope’s place to give her a head’s up. She wasn’t home, so I took a gamble and came here.”
“It’ll comfort her to know that Laura didn’t commit suicide.”
