Free Killer Moves: The 4th Jolene Jackson Mystery (Jolene Jackson Mysteries) by Paula Boyd

exactly that.
    Melody took the bags and went to get her car while I took Doris for a nice stroll down the hall toward the lobby. She was a little confused about what was going on, but since she trusted Melody explicitly—I know, what would that be like?—she went with me cheerfully. I kept asking her questions about anything and everything, and we had a nice chat that kept her distracted as well as acting natural.
    In the lobby, several people stood around, looking out the door as if waiting for someone to arrive. A van was parked out front under the portico, unloading a man in a wheelchair. Behind the front desk, a woman stared intently at a computer screen with the telephone to her ear. I guided Doris to the front doors, watching closely to see if anyone was paying any attention to us—they weren’t. 
    A silver Prius pulled up behind the van and Melody hopped out. She walked inside, smiling and sweet, looped her arm inside her mother’s and strolled out the front door. I waited around with the others, watching behind me and out the window until they were in the car and out of sight. Then, I made a beeline back down the hall to get my mother.
    The door to Lucille’s room was open. Stepping inside, I closed it behind me. “We’ve got to go, Mother. Right now.”
    Lucille sat up in her bed. “Is Doris okay?” she said, leaning forward “Where was she? What happened?”
    “She was in the room on the left by the main therapy area just as you said. The nurse had drawn blood, but that was all as far as I could tell.”
    “Oh, my Lord, let’s hope so. Now, you go down and help Melody get Doris out of here.”
    “They’re already gone and we’re right behind them.” I walked to the tall narrow closet at the foot of her bed and pulled out her favorite purple track suit. “Put this on. I’ll pack your things.”
    “No.”
    I locked my eyes on hers and glared, trying to adequately convey that we did not have time for one of her episodes. “Okay,” I said, stuffing the suit in a bag. “You can wear what you have on. I just want you out of here. Now.”
    “I’m not going.”
    “What did you say?”
    Lucille crossed her arms. “I think it’s best if I stay here.”
    “You have got to be kidding me! After all your badgering, demanding and threatening, now you don’t want to go? Well, guess what, missy , you are going!”
    “No, ma’am, I am not, and don’t you be talking to me like that,” she said, jutting her chin out. “I have thought about this, Jolene, and there is just no other way. If I don’t find out what’s going on here nobody ever will.”
    “Oh, no, not this time,” I said, firmly and determinedly. “You are not going to get in the middle of this. I’m calling Jerry and he’ll get the authorities over here to investigate.”
    “I knew you hadn’t told anybody! I knew you’d mess this up!”
    “Sssh! Keep it down!”
    “Don’t you shush me! I told you to alert the authorities, but no, you didn’t believe me and now look what’s happened. All you had to do was call and explain that I was already on the inside and could do whatever they needed done. I very well know how to be an undercover mole, for pity’s sake.” Lucille shook her head and gave me a stern tsk-tsking. “I swear, Jolene, after all we’ve been through and you still will not listen to me when I tell you what needs to be done. I have a sixth sense about these things, that’s what Melody calls it, and it’s high time you started paying attention.”
    Oh, for godsake. The only thing that woman had as sixth sense about was how to annoy the hell out of me in every way possible—just like now.
    I stood there, staring, playing out various abduction scenarios in my mind. The ones involving duct tape seemed the most promising, at least until I had to remove it and hear her again.
    But who was I kidding? I couldn’t force her to leave and we both knew it. Complicating matters was the fact that I needed to get my