The Perils of Peaches (Scents of Murder Book 3) (15 page)

After I found an empty parking space in front of Bradley Medical, I unstrapped Hannah from her seat and took her in with me. I’d have to remember to bring her by to see Eunice and Barkha, too, after I didn’t work there anymore.

We entered the reception area and the air crackled. Eunice was saying something about how “we’ll all work together beautifully,” while Barkha stood by her office door, her fists clenched like she was ready to clobber someone.

Dr. Tushar Gupta and Franklin Bradley were facing her down.

“So,” Franklin said, as if that would defuse the situation, “Dr. Gupta will be joining us officially on July eighteenth.”

“I thought you’d left.” Everyone turned to face me.

“No,” said Barkha. “Dr. Gupta has accepted Mister Bradley’s offer for a general practitioner position here. This has happened rather quickly. Tushar, are you sure you’ve thought this through? Greenburg is nothing like Atlanta.”

“I have.” He took a step toward her. “If you can broaden your horizons, so can I.”

Forget the murder investigation for one second. I really needed to talk to Jerry. Until now, Jerry had had a wide window of opportunity that could very well slam shut on his fingers.

Hannah chose that moment to deliver a wonderfully paint-peeling baby squeal. Franklin shuddered, both Eunice and Barkha smiled, and the expression on Tushar’s face told me Hannah had broken the moment he was trying to create. That’s my genius daughter.

Barkha pushed past the men and rounded the reception desk area. “Hannah. Let me see her before my next patient.” She reached for her, and Hannah went to Barkha with gurgles. Someone came in behind us, hacking and coughing from a summer cold. Trudy, from the coffee shop.

“Hi ladies. It seems my code is back, worse than ever.” Trudy sneezed, and blew her nose. A wayward tissue fell to the carpet. She picked it up, her bracelets clinking on her wrists, then made a beeline for the reception desk and Eunice.

The men went into Dr. Bradley’s office, and closed the door behind them. I almost wanted to remind Tushar about what happened to the last man who’d used the desk and its chair.

“Oh, you poor thing.” Eunice touched Trudy’s elbow. “Follow me.” They went to the little nook where a scale and blood pressure machine waited.

I moved behind to the sacred area where Eunice controlled the goings-on of the medical group.

I pulled open the top drawer of Eunice’s desk. I needed to write a note on a sticky tag that Eunice needed to put these typed medical reports into the patient’s medical records. Pens abounded in the desk drawer, but something else made me pause.

A mammoth-size silver earring, identical to the one I’d found in Dr. Bradley’s bathroom, the one that Eunice denied owning. I picked it up and my heart beat faster. This earring wasn’t broken. The one I’d found in the bathroom had the back broken off. But Eunice had said she didn’t wear silver. More importantly, I’d given Jerry the broken earring I’d shown her the other day. It could not transport itself across town and into Eunice’s desk.

Eunice scurried up to the desk. “Thank you, thank you . . .” She paused when I held up the earring.

“Where’d this earring come from? It matches the one I found the other day, the broken one . . . in the closet in Dr. Bradley’s bathroom.”

I took a wriggling Hannah from Barkha’s arms.

“Andi, I have no idea how that earring got into my desk drawer. I don’t remember seeing it before now.” Eunice’s face paled.

Before Eunice could say anything more, Barkha said, “I need to scrub. Which room did you put Ms. Daniels in?”

“Room four,” Eunice replied.

Barkha stepped away.

“Eunice, I think someone was in that bathroom, waiting for Dr. Bradley. Can I see the list of his appointments for the day of the break-in?”

“Sure, but the police already asked about that.”

“Maybe someone’s covering her tracks. It would be easy as pie for anyone to round the corner of your desk, and stick the earring in there after she discovered she was missing one.” I didn’t want to believe Eunice had been in that bathroom, and while the idea was a long shot, it was plausible. People often asked to borrow a pen when they stood at the counter, and Eunice would get up and down from her desk often in the course of a day.

I scanned the names of patients who saw Dr. Bradley on the day of his murder. Elizabeth Higgins—Mia hadn’t mentioned her daughter being ill, but maybe she’d brought her for a checkup. I couldn’t recall, and there was no reason for visit listed on the schedule. But I wondered if Terrance might have brought his daughter.

Next was Roland Thacker. Yes, I remembered his appointment. A general physical exam. Nothing out of the ordinary. Trudy was there for her summer cold. Her sneezing attested to the fact, and the tissues she threatened to leave behind. No other names stuck out to me, and I wasn’t about to jot them down and nose through their medical records. No way would I start an investigation by snooping where I legally shouldn’t.

“Well, I don’t see anything truly out of the ordinary here.”

“I’ve thought about it every night myself.” Eunice grabbed a tissue from the box. “I can’t think of who would do something to him.”

“Can you think back to that day? Did anyone come in, angry, or make a threat of any kind?”

“I don’t remember. I really don’t. People didn’t always like his bedside manner, but that didn’t make them murderers. I mean, I know you didn’t particularly care for him.”

“He always seemed to rub me the wrong way,” I admitted.

“But the police aren’t questioning you.”

“You’re right, they’re not. At least not anymore.” I glanced toward Dr. Bradley’s office door. Soon, that would become Dr. Gupta’s office. “But that day, I remember you said Dr. Gupta and Dr. Bradley argued.”

“That I did.” Eunice sank onto her office chair. The front door opened, and in came another patient I didn’t recognize. Eunice checked him off on the list, then escorted him to the nook where she took vital signs.

Hannah had turned into a wriggling bundle in my arms, and as she wriggled, a scent attacked my nostrils.

“Eunice, I’ll be right back. I need to grab Hannah’s diaper bag.” We went out to the Jeep, and when we returned, Eunice was on the phone. Dr. Gupta and Franklin were in the reception area, chatting.

“So we’ll see you in about two weeks, then,” Franklin was saying.

“I look forward to it. Greenburg seems like quite a nice little town.” Dr. Gupta took his sunglasses from his shirt pocket. “I need to check out of my hotel.”

He turned on a heel, slid on his shades and gave me a nod as he passed. I nodded back and tried to scurry for the main bathroom where I could change Hannah’s diaper, but Franklin stopped me. I nearly ran into him.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

“Not really, unless you can change a diaper. And I’ve only stayed because I was dropping off some dictations, and Eunice needed a hand for a moment.” The coarse Bradley demeanor had to be genetic.

“You’ll be leaving as soon as you’re through?”

“Oh, definitely. I have somewhere else I need to be.” I gave him a smile, the same one I used to give Dr. Bradley when he said something that made me want to throttle the man. Not that I would, of course.

Before he could say anything more, I reached the bathroom and took Hannah inside. As I changed her diaper on the little table by the sink, I couldn’t help but feel that Franklin Bradley wanted me away, far away, from Bradley Medical. The man had secrets too. I was sure of it. Money, money, money was the motive I saw. Not much. Unless he’d left a trail of deceit that led straight to the doors of the medical office.

Chapter Thirteen

When Hannah and I arrived at Tennessee River Soaps a scant fifteen minutes later, I wished I’d had more time to talk to Eunice. She’d acted very strange about the earrings. Were they or weren’t they truly hers? But I didn’t have time to think about Eunice’s behavior any more than I did Franklin’s, because as soon as I set Hannah down to play within the confines of the plastic fenced play area on the sales floor, my trusty assistant Sadie arrived.

The young woman, on the brink of turning twenty-one, was full of her plans and dreams and crazy in love with a young musician. She was chasing her own dreams in Nashville, but had come home for the summer.

“Morning, Mrs. Clark!” She carried a plastic covered tray of what looked like sticky buns. “I brought this for Mommy’s Morning. I figured the ladies would like snacks.”

“Thanks.” She’d always been a thoughtful young woman, even when I’d been her Sunday school teacher and taught the high school class. When someone had murdered one of my customers—in the store, no less, trying to make it look like an accidental allergic reaction—Sadie had been one of my staunchest supporters.

Gloria was the first to show up early, subdued. Jenna had had a hard night. “I’m so tired.”

“What happened?” I asked as Gloria placed Jenna into the play area where she giggled at Hannah.

“I had to give Jenna three breathing treatments, and then we ended up in the ER. I’m surprised they didn’t admit her. And I tried to get some sleep once we got home around five, I really did.” She sniffed and dabbed at a tear. “I’m just tired of fighting, and Jenna’s whole life has been a fight since she came out of the womb.”

“I’m so sorry. You didn’t have to come today, if you’re so tired. Do you have anyone that can watch her while you rest?”

“My aunt, maybe. But she’s not in the best of health herself. My parents work all day, and so does Vic . . .” Gloria shook her head. “No, I can’t stay away. I can’t stay in the house all day. This is my one chance to get out besides grocery shopping.”

“You know, I wouldn’t mind watching her sometimes. I am usually home one morning a week to get laundry done. You could always bring her over then. She and Hannah can play.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Yes, I would. Thursday mornings I get the laundry done. If you want, you can drop her off after breakfast, and I can guarantee by lunchtime she’ll be ready to crash.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Tomorrow’s Thursday.” I smiled at Gloria. “And you can have the morning to yourself. Sleep, get your hair done, whatever.”

“Wow. I can’t believe it.” She blinked and reached for a tissue. “But then you’ll have two little ones to keep an eye on.”

“Hannah has a roomful of toys and it has wonderful carpeting. And she respects the baby gate. Although sometimes she stands at it and cries, wanting me to pick her up.”

“Thank you, thank you. Vic and I have been through so much. Everyone’s so excited when a baby is born, and even though she was born with special needs, people said they’d be there for us. But even our church . . . let’s just say people forget their promises and get busy.” She dipped her head. “And I feel guilty asking for help all the time . . .”

This line of discussion opened the door for me, so I walked right in. “I was wanting to talk to you about Dr. Bradley.”

Gloria’s posture went rigid. “I really don’t want to. Vic . . . he still gets upset sometimes about what happened. But Dr. Bradley always made me feel safe, even when I just knew during delivery that something went wrong. Really wrong.”

“Weren’t you angry at him? He was always able to push my hot button, and all I ever did was type for him.”

“I was. Vic and me both took it hard. His parents and mine both said we needed to sock it to him and make sure this never happened to any of his patients again.” She looked me straight in the eye. “Okay, I admit it. I wanted him to pay. That’s what I told the police too.”

“So the police did talk to you after Dr. Bradley died?”

Gloria nodded. “Both of us. But not long after we started the paperwork for the lawsuit, one Sunday after church, Vic and I talked. The sermon was about forgiveness. We realized that taking Dr. Bradley to court wouldn’t make Jenna better. All the money in the world wouldn’t do that. So we let it go, and withdrew the lawsuit.”

“That doesn’t make it easier, I’m sure. But God knows your heart.”

“Yes.” Gloria bit her lip. “Yes, He does.”

The bell over the door clanged, and Mia came in, lugging Lizzie. “Here we are!”

Everyone took a moment to ooh and aah over Lizzie before she joined the playgroup.

“Hope they don’t wear you out too much,” said Mia. “They’ll cure you of wantin’ babies for a good long time.”

Sadie held Jenna, who stared vacantly at nothing in particular, her arms and legs moving listlessly. “No, they sure won’t.” I glimpsed a sparkle on Sadie’s hand.

“What’s that? Sadie, let me see your hand.” I was on my feet and stepping over the play area’s plastic fence.

The other women crowded around too. “Girl, is that what I think it is?” Mia grabbed Sadie’s hand.

Sadie’s face split into a grin as she nodded. “I’m engaged!”

Squeals from the group, and I tried to smile. “But Sadie, what about college?”

“My fiancé and I have it all figured out. I’ve only got thirty credits left to finish my degree. I’m going to take a year or so off.”

“But you were at Vanderbilt, so close to finishing.” The others looked at me like I was a spoilsport.