Page 46 of Death on Riddle Road

I made a sound of protest.

“—is to remind you that when I asked the hospice people working with Clara — though, really,shedid almost everything—”

Clara’s turn for a sound of protest.

“—they said, no, they couldn’t take the medication to dispose of it.That they had a strict accounting of what came in and what went out.”

Violet clicked her tongue as she picked up pie crust crumbs between the tines of her fork.“I understood they’d have a problem if there werefewerdrugs than there should have been, but how could it be a problem with disposing ofmoredrugs?”

She put the crumb-holding fork in her mouth.

Linda raised a shoulder, agreeing with her, but moving on.“Anyway, the pharmacy wouldn’t take them, the doctor’s office wouldn’t take them, even though I guess they do in other places, and I had to wait for one of those special prescription turn-in days.”

Another tongue click from Violet.“Worrying the whole time about that neighbor boy.”

“It all turned out fine in the end,” Linda said, “but it does go to show how careful the hospices are about the drugs they handle.”

Violet wasn’t letting go of her point.“Just because that hospice, in fact, that individual, was exceedingly cautious about those drugs, doesn’t mean all hospices—”

The server brought me the bill, as I’d quietly requested earlier.But it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Sheila, you are not picking up the check for all of us,” scolded Millie from the far end.

“Of course she is,” Fern said airily.

I’d been used to picking up checks as the author ofAbandon All.

Many people not involved with publishing think all published authors are rolling in money.That’s so far from the truth it would be laughable if it didn’t sting so sharply for most authors.

From Kit, I’d learned they were usually paid a small percentage of the cover price, while the publisher took the bulk.Publishers didn’t lavish money on their employees, either.But they did receive a regular, predictable paycheck, with benefits.Their authors didn’t have those luxuries.

Independent authors — also called self-published — get a larger portion of the purchase price (though frequently still less than half — don’t get Kit started on audiobook rates.) But corporations have a way of capturing money going to anyone other than themselves and indie authors get squeezed, too.

Why did I want to go into this business?

Oh, right, because thanks to Kit andAbandon All, I had financial security.I wouldn’t face needing another job to support myself, while a tiny but vociferous minority of readers proclaimed it their right to read for free the books authors spent hard months writing.Sometimes I felt guilty about that.

So I picked up checks.

I wondered if this group would react the same way if they knew my background or my bank account.

Looking at the faces of the women hugging me and Clara good-bye, I decided they’d still be this appreciative.

Except maybe Fern.

As they left, I thought about the lunch discussion.They were right about the hospice having drugs, even if it meant agreeing with Berrie.

But had that served as a proxy for the core disagreement over whether Derrick deserved to be convicted of Jaylynn’s murder?That disagreement cut too close to the bone of their friendship, while hospices’ handling of drugs was no threat.

Either way, Linda and Violet found a way to mediate their difference in the short walk out of the Tavern.As I watched through the window, I saw them pause at the back of a vehicle, laugh together, then exchange a strong hug.

“I had no idea,” Clara’s gaze had followed the same path as mine.

Her tone tied her words to the friction at the table, not the hug.

“I mean, I knew there were disagreements — sides — in the community, but not within that group,” she said.“It all happened before I met them through my mother-in-law.”

“They handled it, though.”