Alex Harris 00 - Poisoned

she might be just a tad upset about May, or the fact that Bradley is dead and one among them is a killer, but no.” John pursed his lips together and shook his head of neatly combed hair. “She put on a good front last night down at the station, but then family loyalty must never be compromised in public,” John finished sardonically.
    I finished organizing a stack of to-dos for tomorrow and looked up. “What’s her beef this time?”
    “She’s upset because J.T. is missing.”
    “J.T. is missing? Since when? I saw him on Friday.”
    “Well, maybe missing isn’t the right word, but no one has seen him for several days. He’s not at his apartment, which is quite nice, by the way, and he hasn’t been at June’s. I understand he’s been spending a lot of time over there. Practically living together, from what she says.”
    I remembered seeing J.T. pulling up to June’s the previous week. In all honesty, I had never felt like he fit in to the equation. To him, this land deal was probably just one of many. If it didn’t pan out, he would move on to greener pastures. But now with him gone, perhaps I should re-figure my equation. Another thought occurred to me—was J.T. a suspect on the run, or was he a victim done in by something lethal and lying in a ditch somewhere?
    “I talked with Larry and April,” John continued, “and though they have a reason to want Roberta dead, I can’t get anything out of them that would indicate they had it in for Bradley. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the killer just forgot Mrs. Brissart didn’t eat macaroons.”
    I filled him in on the conversation Sam and I had earlier about Kendra.
    John stifled a yawn. “It’s certainly worth looking into along with finding Mr. Smit. I still need to talk with Steven and his daughter, and Marsha and Stuart. I may try to reach Stuart tonight. I don’t suppose you have any coffee?”
    “There’s probably a bit in the pot. I’ll go check.” Sam got up and went into the small kitchen.
    “I wanted to spend some time together this weekend and talk.”
    “Talk?”
    “Yes. About us. About us living together.” I came around my desk and sat in the chair Sam had vacated. “John, I don’t like it when we’re not together. I never thought I would feel like this, but I do and I want us to be together. If you want us to live in your house, that’s okay and we can rent mine out. You do want to live together, don’t you?” I started to get up but felt John’s hand reach out to me.
    “I don’t care where we live. I just want to be together, too. Your house is the more practical one for the moment anyway. I’ll try to get some time this weekend. Maybe we can go for a walk in the country and kick up some leaves and maybe even roll around in them,” he said mischievously as his deep gray eyes bored into mine. He leaned closer to me for a kiss when Sam walked in.
    “Oops! I’ll just take this back to my own office and drink it myself.”
    John left shortly after in the hopes he could talk with a few more suspects.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

    “Gingivitis. Stops them dead in their little tracks every time.” Michael Daniels, my brother-in-law, regaled the table with what had transpired earlier in the day at one of this student talks.
    At the beginning of each school year, Michael and a group of other dentists in the area would go to the local grade schools and give talks about proper dental hygiene and the adverse effects one would develop if proper care was not taken.
    “When I mention periodontitis and the chance of their teeth falling right out of their heads, well, you can almost see them reaching for the dental floss every night. It’s enough to warm my heart.” Michael took a bite of his pastrami on rye.
    The whole Harris clan sat around a huge table at Kaplan’s, a deli restaurant that my parents loved coming to. Sam and I would take them to the airport for their late night flight to London after dinner. I looked down at my potato salad with the words inflammation, tartar, saliva, and trench mouth still ringing in my ears and pushed my plate away. I loved my brother-in-law dearly but once he started in on gum disease and dental plaque there was no stopping him. I admired the task he took on of educating the youth of Indian Cove and the surrounding cities to the dangers of un-fluoridated water, but did he have to talk about it over dinner, for pity’s sake. Only Sam and the kids were still eating.
    Meme rolled her eyes and pushed