Page 74 of A Fabulously Unfabulous Summer for Henry Milch

“Who are you going with?”

God, I sounded jealous, which produced a smirk on Edward’s face. It was probably the most attractive smirk I’d ever seen.

“I’m going with my brother and his family.”

“Oh.”

“Can I call you when I get back?”

It seemed awfully far away, but I agreed.

Nana Cole was releasedthe next morning around ten. She’d spent the night on the second floor, which was nowhere near the ER so I hadn’t gotten to see Edward again. I would have liked to pop into a supply closet with him and make like the sex-crazed Dr. Kovac onER,but I didn’t get the chance to suggest that. I did get lost on the second floor thinking about it though.

Once my grandmother was settled, I went home and took a couple of Oxys. Well, maybe three. I woke up the next morning, afternoon, um… shortly after lunch actually, and went to retrieve my grandmother. I managed to get her into the SUV and start the twenty-minute drive before she said, “We can’t stop trying to find Reverend Hessel’s killer. They tried to kill you. They might try again.”

“We? I’m the one looking for his killer. I’m the one they tried to poison. I mean, you made a point of that.”

“Well, you’re not going to let them try again, are you?”

I did want to continue, knew that I had to really. It’s just that there were other considerations. Like my grandmother having a stroke if I told her too much.

“You know, if I find Reverend Hessel’s killer I’ll probably find out things about the reverend you probably don’t want to know.”

“Why are you saying that? It was a burglary. You just have to find the burglar.”

“I don’t think it was a burglary.”

I kicked myself. I should have told her that Reverend Hessel had been in prison for drug possession while she was still in the hospital. That way, if she did have a stroke, they could have taken care of her right then and there. Drivingawayfrom the hospital wasn’t exactly the time.

“I think you’d better tell me what he was up to.”

On the other hand, I was only five minutes from the ER so I decided to risk—

“Reverend Hessel went to prison for drugs.”

“And you didn’t want to tell me that?”

“No. I didn’t.”

“You thought I’d have another stroke.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You’ve done drugs, though.”

“Well, yeah.”

“And your mother certainly has.”

“Yes.”

“So, there you go. I’m fine.”

Of course, if I was right and he was into PNP then that was another thing entirely. A thing I wouldn’t tell her. And I might be wrong. I probablywaswrong.

I sighed as I turned into the driveway. I was going to have to do this. Since someone had tried to poison, us or me, whatever, I had to find out who killed Hessel. Just so my Nana Cole and I didn’t wake up dead.

Damn.