Free Gina Cresse - Devonie Lace 05 - A Deadly Change of Luck by Gina Cresse

says I’m taking you to lunch?”
    I could hear him laughing on the other end of the line.  “You did.  You know those pills you wanted me to check out?  Well guess what they were full of.  Calcium citrate, magnesium, zinc, ascorbic acid —you want me to go on?”
    “No way.   That can’t be,” I insisted.
    “Yes, way.   Little sister, you owe me lunch, and then some.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
    I don’t know what I was thinking.  Of course the murderer would have gotten rid of the evidence the first time he broke into the house.  He’d have removed any poisoned capsules that remained.  The goal was to make Lou’s death look natural.  The situation was looking pretty grim.  I had no poison.  There was no body to autopsy.  Sam thought my suspicions were unfounded.
    I trudged back to the kitchen to continue helping Jason.
    “Was that Sam?” he asked.
    “Yeah,” I grumbled.
    “So?  What did he find in the pills?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Nothing?   No poison?”
    “No poison.”
    “Hmm.   Guess that means you’ll give it up now?”
    I smirked at him.  He knows me better than that.  It takes more than a couple of setbacks to knock me off track.  I dropped my cell phone back in my purse.  “You ready to break for lunch?”
    Jason chuckled.  “That’s what I figured.  Too hard-headed for your own good.”
    I slung my purse over my shoulder.  “You want lunch or not?”
    “You buying?” he asked.
    “Only if I get to pick the place.”
    “Okay, but I don’t want any alfalfa sprouts or tofu.  I want real meat and real sugar.”
    I slipped my sunglasses on.  “How about white bread?”
    “Yes.  White bread and lots of mayonnaise.”
    I headed for the door.  “Come on, junk-food boy.  Let’s go clog some arteries.”
     
    I sat in the booth across from Jason, staring out the window at the parking lot.  He sucked on a chocolate shake and waved his fingers in front of my face.  Then he chanted, “Earth to Devonie.  Earth to Devonie.   Come in Devonie.”
    I snapped out of my trance.  “I was just trying to think.”
    “But nothing happened?”
    I ignored his joke.  “How am I going to prove Lou was murdered?  Sam won’t help.”
    Jason slurped the last of his milkshake.  “What about your suspects?  Maybe you can tail them?”
    “And then what?”
    He shrugged his shoulders.  “I don’t know.  I’m not a detective.”
    I stared out the window again.  “Maybe I should wait till someone claims the ticket, then try to figure out how he did it.”
    “You think Sam would help then?”
    I shook my head.  “No.  I’m sure I’ll be on my own.”
    The waitress placed the bill in front of Jason.  He slid it across the table to me.  “What’s left to do in the kitchen?” he asked.
    “I want to move that old refrigerator out so I can put down the new flooring.”
    “You want to put it in the garage?”
    “Yes, unless you want to try to sell it in your shop?”
    “Na h .   Too old.   But I’ll help you move it.”
     
    Jason brought in an appliance dolly from his truck while I tried to move the big refrigerator away from the wall.  I could barely budge it.
    “Here.  Let me help,” Jason offered, slipping the foot of the dolly under the huge refrigerator.
    We struggled to get a strap wrapped around the avocado-green fridge.  Finally, Jason was able to tip it back and move it out of the kitchen.  I hurried ahead to the door that led to the garage and helped lower it down the concrete steps.  We wrangled it into an out-of-the-way corner and left it there.  Jason took the dolly back to his truck, and I returned to the kitchen with a broom to catch the dust-bunnies that had taken up residence under the refrigerator.
    I jammed the broom into the corner, then stopped.  A rectangular object caught my eye.  I picked it up.  It was a plastic pill box —the kind that has the days of the week molded into the lid of each compartment.