Free The Cakes of Wrath by Jacklyn Brady Page A

came to the door so she could talk to me in person. “You didn’t take it upstairs for your meeting with Miss Frankie, did you?”
    â€œI’m almost positive I didn’t,” I said, trying to retrace my steps in my memory. “I thought I put it here in my office. My purse is here and so is the bag with the non-prescription things I bought, but the prescriptions are gone. I’ve looked everywhere. How could they just vanish into thin air?”
    Edie leaned one hip against the door frame. “Maybe you did leave that bag here. Maybe somebody took it.”
    I looked up in surprise. “Nobody here would do something like that.”
    â€œI’m not saying it was one of
us
.” The last word was heavy with meaning, but I was so tired and sore it took me a minute to grasp what she was saying.
    â€œYou think Destiny took it?”
    Edie shrugged. “I found her sneaking around in your office. You tell me.”
    I thought about her dazed, unfocused eyes and slurred speech. I thought about her admission that she’d taken something for a “headache” and wondered if one of my pain pills could take effect that fast. I’d been raised to look for the best in people and always give the benefit of the doubt, and usually I tried. But under the circumstances, it was difficult to think the best of Destiny. “I think she has a serious problem,” I said. “But Moose said she was changed.”
    Edie glanced over the top of my desk, probably to see if she could see the pills. I could tell she didn’t expect to. “I have one word for you about that,” she said when she’d satisfied her curiosity. “Relapse.”
    I felt a buzz of curiosity. I try not to gossip, but this was different. Two whole bottles of my prescription pills had disappeared.
And
the woman probably responsible for taking them was running for a position of responsibility, one that could affect the livelihoods of everyone in the neighborhood. I felt a duty to find out what Edie meant. “I guess that means that Destiny’s had trouble with drugs before? I mean besides the arrest?”
    â€œDuh! Why do you think she missed the first three alliance meetings?”
    I took a guess. “Because she was high?” I couldn’t say that I was surprised after what I’d witnessed in the break room, but I
was
surprised that no one had said anything about her problem last night. If Edie knew, then surely other people did. “Is that what Edgar meant when he said she’d been ill?”
    â€œI’m sure it was. As far as I know, she doesn’t have any other health issues—except the ones she makes up to get the drugs she wants.” Edie lifted her chin and gave me a smug look. “Aquanettia told me a couple of months ago that Destiny was in rehab. Obviously, it didn’t work.”
    I thought about Moose and felt a pang of sympathy. “Do you think her husband knows that she’s using again?”
    Edie shook her head. “Maybe. Maybe not. From what I’ve heard, he’s been dealing with this for a while now. It’s hard to imagine that he doesn’t recognize the signs.”
    But he’d still asked me to let Destiny work here? That didn’t seem very neighborly.
    â€œI’m telling you, Rita, she’s bad news. And if she actually wins the election next month, we’re all in trouble.”
    â€œI don’t think that will happen,” I said. Inside I was arguing with myself about jumping to conclusions. I couldn’t deny that Destiny had seemed to be under the influence of something, but maybe there was another, more innocent explanation.
    We didn’t get a chance to discuss it further. The front door opened and someone sang out, “Yoohoo! Anyone here?”
    â€œSounds like Aquanettia,” Edie said, standing. “Are you ready for this, or do you want to sit it out?”
    â€œAnd leave you to