Free The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde Page A

began to call their children back, ostensibly to check for mitten clips but in fact to reassure themselves that they were in control in the face of unknown evil.
    While parents and children were waiting for the school bus, Huck and Ernie were heading into a nearby coffee shop. Having been up all night, Huck was ready for a plate of eggs and hash browns; the coffee shop was known for its baked goods, so he ordered a blueberry muffin as well. Ernie, whose bad cholesterol had peaked out at 153 during his last checkup, opted for plain oatmeal, but when the waitress set down a volcanic sugar-crusted muffin, Ernie reached across and broke off a good-size chunk.
    “Do you mind?” Huck demanded.
    “Leigh never makes them this big,” Ernie said through a mouthful. “And she doesn’t put sugar on top, either. What did Piper say, exactly?”
    Huck relayed what Piper had said. “She’s handing it over to John,” he added.
    “Whoa. Piper McMahon giving up a high-profile autopsy? How’s that happen?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t want to know, either. I have other things to wonder about.”
    “Did Frank find a place to stay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Because the chief’s not too pleased we let him stay at the house last night,” Ernie said.
    “Well, the chief wasn’t there. He didn’t see Frank. We can be human once in a while.”
    Ernie braced his forearms along the edge of the table. “Okay, so what do we got? Besides a woman with a smashed-up head and a blood alcohol of point-oh-nine?”
    “Broken glass. Fingerprints. Possibly a few footprints, if we’re lucky. No sign of forced entry.”
    “And no weapon.”
    Huck felt a sneeze coming on. What was the deal with echinacea, anyway? On Carolyn’s advice he’d started taking it since the first itchy tingle in his throat two days ago, but the virus seemed unstoppable. “I’m still not entirely convinced she didn’t cause the injury herself,” he said. “She was drunk, remember.”
    “Point-oh-nine isn’t exactly smashed.”
    “It’s enough to make you slip. Take the whole thing why don’t you,” he said as Ernie broke off the remaining top of the muffin.
    “Want some oatmeal?”
    “No thanks.”
    “Good stuff.”
    “So quit eating my food,” said Huck.
    Just then his cell phone rang, and he turned away from Ernie to answer it.
    “Where have you been?” Carolyn exclaimed. “I tried calling until midnight!”
    “On a new case,” he said. “Look, can I call you later?”
    “All night?”
    “It’s a big one,” said Huck. “How’s your mother?”
    “Okay. What happened?”
    Huck briefly explained the circumstances. “I’m here with Ernie right now,” he said. “I’ll call you later.”
    “I love you,” she said.
    “I love you too,” he told her. He hung up. Ernie wore a smug look on his face.
    “So,” said Huck. “Where were we?”
    Ernie brushed crumbs onto the floor. “Okay,” he said, “maybe she fell. Doctor comes home after a long day at work, has a drink before her daily swim and slips on the floor and her glass goes flying across the room as she falls and bonks her head. Kind of stretching it, I’d say. And why would she be having a drink
before
working out? Isn’t it usually the other way around? I’m with Piper,” he said. “Somebody did this to her. Whoever it was, maybe they meant to, maybe they didn’t, but this isn’t a slip-and-fall.”
    Outside on the sidewalk a man in red Gore-Tex straddled his bike and tore off bits of croissant and fed them to his dog.
    “Fine,” said Huck, turning back. “Let’s start a list.”
    Ernie opened up his notebook. “Well, we start with the obvious,” he said. “There’s Frank. Domestic argument. Top of the list. After that there’s the Coalition. Motive is pretty obvious.”
    “Someone from the Home Tour,” Huck suggested. “Yes indeed,” he added when Ernie cast him a quizzical look. “Three years in a row, according to Frank.”
    Ernie shook his head. “This is a