Rest in Pieces
yawned. “Sorry, I was up late last night researching Molly Miars. I found almost nothing. I think she’s the only person in the world who doesn’t have an online presence.”
    “I can’t tonight. Ben’s bringing dinner over.” I yawned too. Yawning really is contagious, even over the phone.
    “Somebody has a date.” Monica sing–songed.
    “Yeah, but he’s low carb, so I don’t see this going anywhere.” Which pretty much summed up my dating life. I go on a lot of first dates, but second dates? Ehhh, my chances of winning the lottery seem to be better.
    I pulled into my parking space at Lakeside Regional Hospital with seven whole minutes to spare.
    “Cougar alert. Ladies, we have a cougar alert.” Monica sipped something. “He’s hot. No denying that.”
    “He’s only two years younger than me.” The last time I’d dated someone younger than me, I felt like I was babysitting, only I wasn’t getting paid.
    Haley shuffled some papers. “What about tomorrow for the range? I’ll call D. and see if we can come around ten. It’s Saturday though, so he may not be around.”
    “Ten works for me. I can have my mom take all the kids to the park. I’ll even pack them a picnic lunch.” Monica liked to cook.
    We weren’t exactly polar opposites, but we definitely weren’t polar sames. I laughed at my own joke and there was a silence across the phone line. Look, if I didn’t laugh at my own jokes, who would? Trouble was, I tended to laugh at jokes that I hadn’t said out loud. It tended to confuse people.
    “After I talk with D., I’ll text you his address.” Haley sounded like she was making a note to self.
    “His address? I don’t understand. I thought we were going to the gun range?” I opened my door, grabbed my purse and headed out of the parking garage. While technically I was salaried and could take a longer lunch if I wanted, I liked to set a good example for the three whole employees I managed.
    “He has an indoor gun range at his house. It’s the only place to go shooting in Lakeside.” Haley said. “And his butler is a gunsmith.”
    “Of course.” Because everyone’s butler was a gunsmith. Of all the crazy–extravagant things I’d seen in Lakeside, this didn’t even rate in the top one hundred. Now, the full–on castle complete with moat turned lazy river at the corner of Lakeside and Rough Hollow, that made the top one hundred. I’ve discovered that one man’s moat was another man’s lazy river. “Who’s D.?”
    “Daman Rodriguez.” Haley was so casual.
    “Why does that name sound familiar?” I knew that name from somewhere. Maybe David had mentioned him.
    “So you hang out with gangbangers now?” Monica was dead serious.
    “What?” Gangbangers? The closest Lakeside had to gangbangers was the neighborhood watch—true they wore matching red windbreakers, but that hardly qualified as gang colors.
    “Just because he has tattoos, doesn’t mean he’s in a gang.” Haley’s voice turned dreamy. “He’s really pretty to look at.”
    “Damn, I didn’t know you had a bad boy fetish?” I heard the smile in Monica’s voice. “Guns and bad boys—Hal, you are a complex woman.”
    Lakeside had a bad boy? Evidently I ran in the wrong circles.
    I slid my electronic security badge through the scanner at the employee entrance. “Sorry ladies, I’ve got work to do.”
    “Tomorrow at ten. We expect details.” Monica made some kissing noises.
    “Bye.” I hung up.
    A bodiless head, a carb–less date and now I find Haley is into bad boys. The Enquirer was right; the world really was going to end on Christmas.
    Five minutes later I was seated at my desk and logging into our medical software program. I got up, closed the door to my office, and sat back down. I typed “Molly Miars” into the patient search window.
    Fifteen records with different dates of service popped up. The first one was seventeen years ago when Molly was ten and broke her arm. It seemed unlikely that

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