Read Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 07 - Vague Images for Free Online Page A

social hour here around ten o’clock.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “You said that.”  He was back to his abrupt self.
    I felt almost panicked . If Ocean Alley’s small downtown lost its grocery store, it would be bad for Harvest for All, and there would be little reason for anyone except tourists to come downtown. Unless you counted people going to the courthouse, but most of them had their minds on traffic tickets or divorce proceedings. “I’ll, um, think of something to help.” 
    He had a bemused expression as he handed me the plastic grocery bag with my medicine. “Planning to move Harvest for All here?  Save you some travel time.”
    The food pantry that First Prez houses is about three blocks away, and Mr. Markle gives us a steep discount if we have an urgent need for baby food or something that can’t wait . I ignored his jibe. Mr. Markle sometimes makes it hard to like him. “Not this week. Give me time to think.”
    As I crutched away, he said, “Don’t take too long.”
    I kept my head down, trying not to step in a hole in the patched parking lot. A light honk startled me, and I looked into a car with Harriet, the nursing assistant from the ER, smiling from the driver’s seat. I stepped back a foot or two, and she motioned that I should cross in front of her. She pulled into a parking space next to my car.
    She was laughing as she got out of her car. “Are you trying to come back to the ER?”
    Ah. More hospital news . “Hey Harriet. Thanks.”
    She walked around a small pothole and passed even closer to me as she walked into the store.
    “Harriet. Have you got a sec?”
    She glanced at a watch on her wrist . “A couple. What’s up?”
    “I wondered if you had heard any more about the death of the woman from the hospital?”
    She gave me an intense look. “What are you up to?”
    I was mildly annoyed. People seem to assume I’m up to something if I ask questions. I’m not. I just like answers better than questions . Mostly I asked her because I knew that Sergeant Morehouse wouldn’t tell me anything he didn’t tell reporters. I was the one who came face-to-face, well almost face-to-face, with Tanya Weiss. Okay, the former Tanya Weiss.
    “Nothing. It was just…upsetting to find her like that.”
    She grew somber. “Of course it was.”  She paused. “No one has really heard anything about her death. Lots of speculation. I guess that’s normal.”
    That’s what I want, speculation . “Oh, sure. I heard her job was to cut the budget. Guess that wasn’t too popular.”
    “It was more the way she went about it . She acted like all the decisions were hers, and she wasn’t a health care professional. All she was supposed to do was give ideas to the Board of Directors, but I heard she was on real friendly terms with some of the Board members.” 
    I was leaning against my car, probably getting my capri pants dirty . “You mean you knew the cuts already?”
    “No, but I heard it was all going to be announced soon . She came to the ER a couple of times to be briefed on our activities .”  Harriet’s tone was derisive. “I think that was her favorite phrase.”
    “Hmm. Gee, I hope your job’s safe.”
    She kept her elbow at her side, raised her fore finger, and drew a couple of circles in the air with it. “I like working there, but the thing about being a nursing assistant?  Everybody wants to hire you. Especially the nursing homes. Pay’s better at the hospital, so I hope I get to stay.”
    She asked about Aunt Madge, as do most people in town, and then walked into the store.
    I hadn’t learned much, but Harriet had confirmed that Tanya Weiss would not win any popularity contests at the hospital. Then something else dinged in my brain. Could Tanya Weiss’ so-called friendly terms with a Board of Directors’ member have gotten unfriendly?
     

 
    CHAPTER FOUR

     
    I WAS DOING my sixth Goggle search for words such as Thomas Edward Finch, Finch and witness protection, and new