Read Gin Jones - Helen Binney 01 - A Dose of Death for Free Online Page A

ground.
    Despite the shortness of the drop, the impact jarred her hip, and the sudden pain left her unable to move. The bit of her brain that wasn ‘t focused on breathing through the worst of the muscle spasms was praying that Melissa hadn’t heard her fall. Not only would it be embarrassing and frustrating, but if Helen was found like this, unable to breathe easily, let alone stand up, it would be persuasive evidence to convince her nieces that she couldn’t be trusted to live on her own.
    Eventually, though, the pain subsided and Helen was able to use her cane to maneuver herself back onto her feet. She made her way to the nearest neighbor ‘s house, one slow, painful step at a time. Her anger at Melissa kept her going whenever she felt like giving up.
    Helen knocked on the door of the nearest house, but no one was home. Helen worried that she might have to walk miles before she found someone at home, but at the second house, there was a stay-at-home mother. She was reluctant to open the door to a stranger, and insisted that Helen remain outside, but she did agree to let Helen use her phone to call Jack.
    She sat on the neighbor’s front porch until she saw the black luxury car approaching the driveway. She pushed herself to her feet, just in time for Jack to emerge from the Town Car and open the passenger door for her.
    “ What are you doing here?” he said. “You don’t look so good.”
    “ I need to go see that lawyer Tate again.”
    “ You’ve got a scratch on your face,” he said. “Did your nurse do that?”
    “ Not directly,” Helen said as she settled into the car’s plush seat. “Do you keep drinks in the car for passengers?”
    “ What did you have in mind?”
    Helen couldn ‘t actually drink anything alcoholic, because of the drugs she was taking, but she needed something bracing. “Anything except Diet Pepsi.”
    “ There’s orange juice in a cooler in the trunk.”
    “ That’ll have to do.”
    Jack went around to the back of the car. Helen heard the trunk open, and a moment later Jack handed her a large plastic bottle of orange juice, which he ‘d opened for her.
    “ Thanks.”
    “ Anything for you, Ms. Binney.”
    “ As long as I’ve paid up the two-hour minimum, anyway.”
    “ You wouldn’t stiff me,” Jack said. “Not like some people. Just last week, I drove these sales reps to an event with their clients in a limo, and I made sure the mini-bar was stocked and the limo was immaculate, and I got them to their sports event on time, despite all sorts of construction detours and traffic back-ups, and you know what they did? They contested the bill through their credit card company. I knew they were jerks when they only left me about a one percent tip. How rude is that? One percent. Of course, I’m never going to see even that much, since it was part of the credit card charge that they contested. I mean, they musta’ spent thousands on the tickets for the game, but they couldn’t spare chump change for a poor working stiff.”
    Helen had known too many people like the passengers Jack had encountered. In fact, her ex-husband was like that, except when she ‘d intervened. He’d spent fortunes on sporting events and restaurants and transportation, but when it came to recognizing the people who’d made those things enjoyable, he couldn’t be bothered. He wasn’t a bad person, not really. In theory, he cared about people, and that was why he’d become a politician, but on a day-to-day level, he’d been oblivious to the people he was hurting. “There are a lot of jerks in this world.”
    “ The worst thing is, there’s nothing I can do when passengers are jerks,” Jack said. “Not without getting fired or arrested.”
    “ I know what you mean,” Helen said. “My nurse is being a jerk, and getting rid of her is going to be complicated. It would be so much simpler if murder were legal.”
    “ Ain’t that the truth.” Jack’s sigh held the weight of the unfairness