LITMIR.BIZ

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worse...”

      “You poor thing,” Hayley said in a hushed tone.

      “I know it was her. And I know why she did it. She wanted to make me sick, or worse, so she could swoop in and take over at the Garbers’ Witches Ball with her own truck.”

      Ted grabbed his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. “I’m going to call the police and have her arrested.”

      “We should probably wait until the toxicology report comes back so we know for sure Trudy was poisoned,” Hayley suggested quietly.

      “I don’t want to wait!” Ted howled. “She tried killing my wife!”

      Trudy weakly tugged on her husband’s shirtsleeve. “No, Ted. Hayley is right. I don’t want to make any accusations until we know for certain...”

      Ted quickly became docile again at the sound of his wife’s soothing voice and put his phone back in his pocket. “Okay, sweetheart, whatever you want.”

      “You haven’t eaten anything all night, Ted,” Trudy said. “Why don’t you go down to the cafeteria and get yourself a sandwich or something?”

      “I’m not leaving your side,” Ted said emphatically.

      “I want you to go, Ted, please, you must be starving. Hayley will stay here with me until you come back.”

      Ted was only interested in pleasing his wife, and so he nodded to Hayley, and reluctantly walked out of the room.

      Hayley sat down in a chair next to the bed and smiled at Trudy. “You had us pretty scared there for a while.”

      Before Trudy had time to respond, Reverend Staples swept into the room, out of breath, looking alarmed. “Trudy, my dear, how are you?”

      Hayley noticed Trudy stiffen slightly. “Reverend Staples, what are you doing here?”

      “I was on the floor visiting one of my congregation, Vera Smallidge. She’s here having her gall bladder removed...”

      Vera Smallidge was a devout churchgoer and could always be counted on to drop a fifty-dollar bill in the collection plate every Sunday, so of course she had VIP status, with one benefit being a friendly visit from the good reverend whenever she was under the weather or suffered any kind of malady.

      “I was literally on my way out when Nurse Tilly told me you were here,” Reverend Staples said as he crossed the room to Trudy’s bedside.

      “I’ll leave you two alone...” Hayley said, starting to get up.

      Trudy shot her a pleading look, begging her with her eyes to stay put. “No, Hayley, you don’t have to go...” she whispered, almost desperately. “Please stay.”

      Hayley immediately picked up on the cue and sat back down, smiling at Reverend Staples, who didn’t seem at all happy she had chosen to remain there.

      Reverend Staples reached over with his bony, wrinkled hand and gently stroked Trudy’s hair. “Tilly told me you might have eaten something that made you ill?”

      Hayley studied the reverend’s face, which was so full of affection and devotion as he continued stroking Trudy’s hair like he would his own wife. It was odd and disconcerting and Hayley felt like she was intruding on a deeply personal moment, except for the fact that Trudy’s expression betrayed a sense of revulsion at the reverend’s touch. It was obvious he was making her exceedingly uncomfortable. She seemed to want to recoil and push his hand away, but she was weak and probably did not want to offend her husband’s superior, at least for the time being.

      Hayley was transfixed by Reverend Staples’s behavior, mostly because she had never seen him act this way around anyone, least of all his own wife, Edie. It was as if he had a boyish crush on Trudy, who was frankly less than half his age, and he seemed to have completely forgotten that Hayley was in the room to witness it.

      “What can I do to make you feel better?” Reverend Staples asked, hovering over Trudy, still stroking her hair and holding her hand. Trudy just stared up at him, either too weak or too apprehensive to rebuff his laser-like focus.

      It was downright creepy.

      Hayley was just about to intervene and rescue Trudy when Ted returned, carrying a paper sack of food. He was surprised to see the reverend at his wife’s bedside. “Oh, hello, Reverend. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

      “I was just leaving,” Reverend Staples said, a smile slapped quickly on his face to hide his disappointment that Trudy’s husband had soured their time together. “You know how to reach me if you need anything. I’m here for you...”

      He let the words linger before deciding it might be better to add, “Me and Edie, of course.”

      And then he stalked out of the room.

      Ted didn’t seem to pick up on the tension or icky behavior on the reverend’s part, but Hayley certainly did, and she found it utterly disturbing that Reverend Staples appeared to be so obsessed and obviously in love with his successor’s wife.

      Chapter 10

      After some reassurance from the short, bearded doctor they met earlier that Trudy would make a full recovery, Hayley finally headed home. It was already past ten at night, and she was hoping to get to bed right away.

      When she pulled into the driveway, she noticed all the lights upstairs were off, and when she entered the kitchen and was greeted by an excited Leroy jumping up and down with his tail wagging, she could hear someone in the living room watching an opinion show on a cable news channel. After grabbing a doggie treat from the cupboard and tossing it to Leroy, Hayley wandered down the hall to find Conner slouched in one of the recliners, relaxing in sweatpants and a T-shirt. He clutched a half-empty bottle of water in his free arm, the one not in a sling.

      He sat upright, startled, when Hayley suddenly appeared as if he had not heard her come into the house. “How is she?”

      “Doing better.” Hayley sighed. “They say she has to stay overnight for observation, but the doctor thinks he’ll be able to release her sometime tomorrow.”

      “What a scare,” Conner said, shaking his head.

      Hayley nodded, still not quite believing that someone—as in Cloris Fennow—would deliberately poison her chief food truck competitor.

      It just didn’t seem real.

      Cloris was many things, but a poisoner?

      “You heading up to bed?” Conner asked before taking a swig of his bottled water.

      “After I take Leroy out for a quick walk around the block.”

      Leroy’s ears perked up at the mention of his name.

      “Mind if I join you?” Conner asked.

      The question surprised Hayley. Not that she didn’t want him coming along, she just realized that she had never really been alone with Conner, or had any kind of meaningful conversation without Gemma present.

      “No, of course not. Glad to have the company,” Hayley said.

      Conner jumped out of the recliner and bounded into the kitchen to grab his sneakers, which he had left near the back door. Leroy was running around in circles now, unable to contain himself as it became clear there was a lot of activity happening that indicated they were going out. When Hayley grabbed his leash from the hook next to the laundry room, he nearly took flight he was so beside himself with excitement. It took Conner a few minutes to get his shoes on as he only had the use of one good arm. After struggling a bit, Hayley decided to help him out by kneeling down and tying his laces.

      A few minutes later, they were strolling down the sidewalk side by side, Leroy a few feet ahead, straining to break into a run but held back by his leash.

      Hayley glanced at Conner, who was keeping stride next to her, an intense look on his face, which was illuminated

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