“Not even remotely. I can’t blame them though. Nick had to walk me through the facts twice before I could make head or tail of them.”
Now I sat down as well. Cosmo jumped onto my lap, every inch your ordinary, affectionate cat. I stroked him and he purred. A little of Ange’s tension eased.
“Spill,” I said.
“It’s like this. We were wondering why Doc Hansen wasn’t suspicious, right?”
I nodded.
“The thing is, he had no reason to. Jake died of heart failure.”
“No poison? It was natural causes? That’s a relief.”
“Not so fast. The toxicology report showed that he had three times as much digitalis in his system as he should’ve had had from his medication, and only the normal amount of other substances mixed in with the pills. Nick says that excludes an accidental overdose. The surplus digitalis came from another source. Home-distilled, Nick believes.”
“And those rumors about poisonous mushrooms?”
“That’s the weirdest part, because there was one mixed in with the fungi he had in a bowl in the kitchen. If it weren’t for the toxicology report, the most obvious explanation would have been that he either ate some and threw up, so there was no trace left in his body, or he only saw the blasted thing and panicked. In both situations he could easily have had palpitations and swallowed another tablet, to be on the safe side. If the police hadn’t received a letter, insisting Jake was murdered, nobody’d given it another thought.”
I moved my lips as I worked my way through Nick’s explanation. “That’s very complicated.”
“Nobody said a murderer has to streamline their plans. It’s also easy to poison someone, if you think about it.” She took my hand. “Are you sure you want to poke around?”
“Would you prefer there’s a killer on the loose?”
Ange pulled me up. “Have you told Harper?”
“Not yet.”
The neon sign above theBlue MoonInn shone upon a dozen cars parked outside the bar. There’d be an open mic session later, so we’d decided to get in early. I clenched my hand inside my coat pocket, running through everything Cosmo had told me.
Ange held the door open for me. Inside, low lights above the tables, and the back-lit mirror behind the bar created a cozy atmosphere. Jeans and flannel shirts dominated the scene, but a couple of brave souls haddecided on evening dresses. I took them to be ready to go on stage later and dazzle the audience. Or not. TheBlue Moondidn’t draw a tough crowd, but once in a while, they’d heckle a performer, until Harper or her staff threw them out. For some, it had become a rite of passage to have tussled with her (and, for the record, lost).
“Bex!” The scent of roses after a summer rain hit my nose before I saw her. Harper’s wife had returned from the trip to see her parents.
A fuzzy feeling spread through my whole body as Reina hugged me. She was hands-down the most beautiful woman in town, with her porcelain skin and almond-shaped eyes. Her mother Mizuki was responsible for those, as well as the raven-black hair that came down to Reina’s chin. Her dad Dean had passed on his infectious grin and his love for swing and jazz music to her.
I hugged her back. “It’s so good to see you.”
She took Ange and me to our table. Jimmy waved at me from a few feet away, where he sat with Louisa.
Mimi, and her stockbroker husband, Roger, had also put in an appearance. I’d rarely seen them together, since he spent most weeks in Portland where he had an office and an apartment. The garden club ladies, Darla and Marion, rushed past us, to join two men at another table.
“There’s romance in the air.” Reina twinkled at me. “Now, sweetheart, let me think if there’s an eligible single around for you.”
“Let her get over her divorce first,” Ange protested.
Reina cocked her head to one side. “I think she’s already moved on.”
Had I?
Harper joined us. She put a pitcher with beer, a bottle of wine, and soda water on the table, while Reina went to fetch glasses. “Is my wife playing matchmaker again?”
Only Mimi and the two men with Darla and Marion had the grace not to eyeball me. Embarrassed heat rose in my cheeks as Reina returned.
“Now you’ve made Bex blush,” Ange said. “You could at least have waited until she’s had a drink.”
“It’s fine,” I said, as I helped myself to soda water. I’d rather not risk having wine loosening my tongue. “But I’m happy being single. At least for now.”
