“Now how is it connected?” Asher asked.
“No clue, but I feel like we should go back to the nursing home. That’s where this whole thing started, and we never did interviewany of the nurses.”
* * *
Iknew Brandy wouldn’tbe working since we’d just kicked her butt in the Buddy Barrel Race, but she wasn’t the nurse I wanted to talk to anyway. Asher and Jake hung back while Addison and I approached the nurses’ station and asked to speak to Helen, the pill-slingin’ nurse my grandmother referred to as a Nazi.
“Helen’s not in,” Judy, the nurse on duty told us.“She doesn’t work here for the nursing home. She’s a private consultant who serves the board of directors.”
“She’s not a nurse here?” I asked.
Judy shook her head. “Nope. She just evaluates the clients and makes sure they’re comfortable and that their needs are being met.”
“She doesn’t give out medicine?” I asked.
“Nope.” Judy smiled.
I had no clue what to say. I’d seen Helen give bothGrandma and Ms. Long pills—pills that Grandma swore were poison—and now Ms. Long was dead. No, it had to be a coincidence. Maybe Judy was new and didn’t fully understand Helen’s role.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Judy asked, clearly annoyed by my repeated questions and refusal to go away and let her get back to playing with her phone.
“No, thanks. I think we’re just gonna stepin and see my grandmother.”
Dad was in with her. He looked up when we came in. “Hey, princess.”
I hated that nickname. I’d hated it growing up, and I hated it even more now that I knew my dad was stealing from old folks. Including his mother. Refusing to look at him, I greeted Grandma instead.
“That was a good ride today, kid,” Dad said to my back. “But you got lucky. You need to leave townand forget about this like I said.”
“Why?” Asher asked.
“And what do you know about the girth?” Jake added. “Were you a part of that?”
Dad held up his hands. “I saw what happened is all. Dylan knows town folk don’t like people from the city snooping around in our business.”
“She’s your daughter,” Asher growled. “You’re really not going to tell us what’s going on and keep her safe?”
Dad stoodand shrugged. “Less she knows, the safer she’ll be. That goes for the rest of you, too.” He stumbled over to me. “Why don’t you come outside and talk to me, princess?”
I couldn’t believe he’d even asked me that. “You mean man-to-man? So you can take a swing at me, too?” I asked.
“You know I’d never hit you,” he said.
I looked him in the eye and said, “No, but you’d stand by and let someonetry to kill me and my best friend. And you’d embarrass me by trying to assault the man I’m going to marry.”
Addison sucked in a breath and her eyes went wide as silver dollars.
The minute the words were out of my mouth, I regretted saying them. Not because they weren’t true, but because Asher was in the room and he hadn’t technically asked me to marry him yet. But I wanted Dad to know whereI stood on the matter. Asher was my guy and when he popped the question, my answer would be a resounding, hell yes, and my father needed to swallow his issues and deal with it.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to talk to my grandmother and then Addison and I are going to go solve this case so we can get out of this hell hole.”
He held my gaze for a few moments more before he stumbled out thedoor.
Grandma patted my hand. “That’s my girl,” she whispered. Then she looked at the rest of the group and asked, “Now what the hell are you all here to bother me about this time?”
* * *
Addison
