11. Willow

"Areyou sure this is a good idea?" I ask Rosie again. We are outside Evergreen waiting for one of Rosie"s colleagues to arrive. I"m nervous about her talking to people I work with. I don"t want it to come back to bite me on the ass.

"Chances are they won"t know anything. They were paid to deliver the message. They won"t have expected you to know it was them." Pause. "Dodge is here. Don"t worry, Willow. They won"t want the management of this place to know what they"ve done, and we"ll make sure they know there"ll be trouble if they don"t forget all about it." Rosie grins. "Then we"ll go to the arena and see the boys. They"ll be coming off the ice."

I raise my eyebrows. "Let me guess, they"ll be nice and sweaty."

Rosie chuckles and her colleague raises an eyebrow. "Am I missing something?"

"Nope," we reply. Rosie introduces Levi Dodge to me. The man is tall, broad-shouldered, with blond hair and green eyes. He has a scar across his neck that gives him a rugged look. He winks at me as I stare. I blush.

"Enough flirting." Rosie nudges her colleague. "I think it would be better if we talk to your colleagues while you go visit Nikoli"s grandmother."

"I agree." Dodge seconds.

"I suppose."

"I"ll tell you everything they say. I promise." Rosie slips her arm through one of mine.

"Wait!" Dodge says. "If we do this alone, we can"t be seen with Willow. Might fuck shit up."

Rosie winces and immediately drops my arm. "I"m an idiot." She shrugs. "That"s why I usually stay at the office."

Dodge grins. "We"d be lost without you, and you know it." To me he says, "You go in and stay with Martha Southern. Rosie will text you as soon as we leave. We"ll meet you back at the truck."

"Okay." I take a deep breath and walk into Evergreen. It"s quiet when I do. Only Joyce at the reception desk. I walk the halls, wondering why it"s so quiet. It"s never this quiet. The residents don"t know how to do anything quietly. Even watching television is a noisy event. I poke my head into the media room and a couple of residents are sitting there whispering to each other. I"m about to leave when I spot Martha. She spots me at the same time.

I walk toward her and notice that the whispering has stopped. I pause. Martha has other ideas. She raises her hand in the air and waves me over. She really gets my feet moving. "What are you all up to?" I ask with a frown as I look at the unlikely group of co-conspirators.

"Sit down, Willow." Martha grabs my wrist and pulls me close. "Sit in the corner so you can hide," she whispers.

"What?"

"Shh," they say as one.

I fall into the chair and feel annoyed. "Will someone please tell me what this is all about?" My eyes land on Martha.

"Harold David was found dead."

I sigh. That"s one of the downsides of working with the elderly. They die. "That"s really sad. I didn"t know him that well."

"You"re missing the point," Em Darcy hums. "Martha"s not explaining it well."

"Oh hogwash!" Martha hisses. "The police have been called." Martha leans in close. "They"re thinking foul play."

My eyes widen as I stare at Nikoli"s grandmother. "Why do they think that?"

Em Darcy grabs my wrist and pulls me toward her. "He was found on the floor with a head wound," she tells me with great pleasure. "Face down with the wound in the back of his head."

"He could have hit his head on the way down," I suggest, watching Em and Martha closely.

"There was no furniture near where he was found, dear girl." I smile and gently pat Eunice Turner's hand. The elderly woman is covered in blankets. She sits and smiles as usual. Half the time I forget she can actually talk; how quiet she can be. Then again, half the time it"s impossible to get a word in when Martha and Em are together.

"Wait a minute." I sit up. "If the police were called, where are they? I haven"t seen them?"

"They"re not here yet." Em rolls her eyes. "We just discovered what is going on."

"Oh!" I sit back in my chair, wondering what the hell is going on at Evergreen. I haven"t been here long. Just a few months. It"s been uneventful until recently. I frown as I remember seeing Sandra and Julie sneaking around Mr. David"s room. Then Laura and Isobel slipped the note under my door. I"m not sure Rosie and Dodge are going to get anything useful from my two co-workers. But what were Sandra and Julie up to? Neither of them would have killed the man. I mean, certainly not.

Rubbing my eyes, I happen to see Rosie and Dodge just as the police arrive. I don"t really pay attention to what"s going on. However, I get the message that no one is allowed to leave without giving our details to an officer. Rosie comes over to me while Dodge shakes hands with one of the detectives.

Rosie pulls up a chair next to me. "It was your cousin who passed the note and the photo," she whispers. "I pulled a photo of Sarah Carter from the Internet. They agreed it was her."

"So at least we know for sure." I rub over my right eye. "Even though I was sure it was them, I was hoping for another explanation." Pause. "Dodge seems right at home surrounded by cops."

Rosie grins, "He"s a former detective and before that an army man. My boss, Joshua Ellison, snapped the guy up." She shrugs. "He"s good at what he does. Very focused." Pushing her chair away, Rosie takes my arm. "Give your information to an officer, then we can go. Dodge will help with that."

I nod and turn to Martha. "Will you be okay if I leave?"

"Oh, honey, I"ll be fine. You go spend time with my handsome grandson." She offers me a secretive smile.

I chuckle and hug her. "If you need either of us, please call."

"I will, dear. Now go and enjoy the rest of your day off."