“I’m still struggling with this.” Leon shook his head. “This is not the man I knew.”
“It’s early days in the investigation,” Laurie said. “But I’m getting a picture of a man whose debts were out of control. One line of inquiry I’m pursuing is a possible gambling addiction.”
“It’s quite a jump from a poker game or the racetrack to murder.” Leon was trying and failing to picture his friend, Alan, as the person who had stabbed two kind older women.
“Of course it is. And that’s why we’re looking at this from every angle.” Laurie’s voice was firm and reassuring. “But right now, I’m interested in the fact that both women spoke to Flora. You said they had discussed the treatment they were getting from Alan Grayson?”
Flora nodded. “That’s what Lilith said. They were good friends and they’d shared their suspicions that he was treating them for illnesses they didn’t have. And he actively discouraged them from doing further research on those conditions.”
“But they didn’t confront him?” Leon asked.
“According to Lilith, Joy did. His reaction made her trust him even less. Soon after that, she came to me,” Flora explained. “And Alan would have known about that, since it involved the transfer of her records to the Ryerson Center. Maybe he killed her because he suspected she had disclosed his malpractice to someone else?”
“Perhaps so. Except...” Laurie appeared lost in thought for a moment. “If that was the case, wouldn’t it have made sense to kill her as soon as she made the decision to switch doctors? Once she’d spoken to you, it was almost too late. There was another witness.”
Flora shrugged. “Who knows what was going through his mind? He probably panicked.”
Leon looked out across the familiar landscape. His grandfather had known what he was doing when he built the house in this precise location. At this time of the evening, dying sunlight softened the craggy face of the Devil’s Peak. Puffs of cloud broke up the endless blue of the sky and a golden glow gave the landscape a peaceful hue.
The conversation had lurched him out of his comfort zone and he took a moment to examine how that made him feel. One thing was for sure. He had no desire to crawl away and hide, or head for the nearest bar. He felt calm and in control.
Leon looked at Flora’s face. Listened to the childish laughter from the kitchen. When he spoke, he was surprised at the lack of hesitation in his speech.
“What Laurie is saying concerns me for a whole other reason.” Both women turned to him with inquiring expressions. “If Alan Grayson is your number one suspect in these murders, then Flora is a material witness. That means she and the twins need protection.”
“You’re sure you don’t want me to follow you as you drive home?” Cameron asked Flora as he helped her to strap the sleepy twins into their safety seats.
“Thank you, but Leon is going to put Bungee in a cat carrier and bring him, together with all his belongings, to my place.”
She smiled across at where Leon and Laurie were deep in conversation on the porch. She knew he was forcefully outlining his thoughts about how the Stillwater Police Department should have an officer at her side, and one watching the twins, until the criminal was caught. Even though Laurie was offering a scaled-down version of that plan, Flora’s own preference—a panic button inside her house, an alert on her cell linked to the PD call center, an officer checking the house every hour during the night—his concern felt good, like a warm blanket draped around her shoulders on a cold day.
Flora moved away from her vehicle to continue the conversation out of range of the twins’ sharp ears. “He thinks I don’t know it’s an excuse to check out my place in case there’s a serial killer hiding under one of the beds.”
“You’re very calm about it.”
“No. I don’t think calm is the first word that comes to mind when I try to describe how I’m feeling. But I can’t see how having strong hysterics will help the situation.” She looked across at the car, where two curly heads were beginning to nod. Her whole world was right there. Everything had gone crazy, but Stevie and Frankie were the reason she had to hold it together and believe it would all be okay.
She dragged her attention back to Cameron. “By the way, I met someone today who may be able to fill in until we advertise for a receptionist.”
He listened in silence as she told him about Eve Sloane. When she finished, he asked a single, probing question. “And you felt comfortable around her, even with what’s been going on?”
Flora gave it some thought. After Danny’s death and Luella French’s threats, her urge for self-preservation was razor-sharp. She didn’t give her trust easily, preferring to keep her distance and weigh other people up instead of getting close. Yet, over the last few days, when her senses should have been on their highest alert, she had allowed two people to slip inside her defenses.
One of those people was Leon, whose past should have had her running in the opposite direction instead of wanting to rest her head on one of his broad shoulders. The other was Eve Sloane, who Flora had instinctively liked. Taking risks with her children’s safety wasn’t an option, but she didn’t believe she was wrong. About either Leon or Eve.
“Yes.” Her reply to Cameron was confident. “And her references checked out. The only unusual thing is that she seems to have traveled around a lot. But that’s not exactly a crime.”
“If you’re happy with her, that’s good enough for me,” Cameron said. “I’ll check with the other trustees, but my suggestion will be to hold off on advertising
