Alex Harris 00 - Poisoned

chuckled, clearly entertained by the goings-on of her octogenarian flock. “He’s just rather depressed today. Wouldn’t eat his breakfast. Refused to see Lucy when she asked to see him this morning. Maybe you can straighten him out. Lucy just wanted to get his goat. Your grandfather paid a bit too much attention to Thelma Whitford at the stepping class this week.”
    I stopped short, causing Carolyn to trip. “My grandfather does an aerobic stepping class?”
    “Not quite. They sit in chairs and lift their feet onto blocks. Gets the juices flowing, if you know what I mean.” She leaned into me and gave me another wink. “He started to pinch her. First on the thigh, then, well, a bit higher.”
    “Jesus,” I moaned. “Why does he do this stuff? He was always so refined and now, well he’s a…a perverted lothario.”
    “Who knows,” Carolyn said with a shrug. “Last time he had that urinary tract infection and it made him disoriented, but now, he’s just having a bit of fun. He’s harmless.” Carolyn stopped in front of a door and knocked then gently pushed the door open. “Mr. Harris, we have a visitor for you. Your granddaughter. I’ll leave you two alone.” Carolyn walked out and closed the door.
    “Hi Grandpa, it’s me, Alex.” I took off my coat and laid it on the back of a chair.
    Grandpa Harris turned from his staring out the window and smiled at me. “This is a nice surprise. Your mother didn’t tell me you were coming today.”
    “They left for London last night and asked that I look in on you. And just in time by the looks of it. You need to eat your breakfast, Grandpa.”
    “Pooh,” James Harris grumbled. “So they’re off to London. Good. Finally moved out of that old house.”
    “They didn’t move. They went on a vacation with their seniors group. They’ll only be gone two weeks.” I leaned forward on my chair. “So what’s all this I hear about you and Lucy? Sounds like you had it coming.” I smiled across at the white-haired man who still had a twinkle in his eye.
    “Maybe,” he said turning his long nose up. “The movie was good, though. Mrs. Potter’s son was in it. He’ a wizard, that one.” Grandpa bent his index finger and motioned for me to lean closer. “That must mean that Carolyn is a witch!” He let out a hearty laugh and I bent over and kissed his forehead.
    “You old coot.”
    Back behind my desk a couple hours later, I got some good and bad news, with the good news arriving first.
    “That was Mr. Reiser on the phone just now. He reviewed the proposal over night and we got the job!” Sam said.
    “Well, that is good news.” I gave my sister the thumbs up sign. “And it’s all thanks to you and Millie. I didn’t have much of a hand in it at all.”
    As delighted as we felt, it was going to be a lot of work. We hadn’t given much attention to sales people in the past, never having had a need. Our specialty had always been in the area of administrative and secretarial support. Sam didn’t really see what the difference was going to be and I had to agree. We would just approach the recruitment in the same way that we always did.
    “Well, that’s a load off my mind. This should open up some new prospects for us. And one of our clients who went over to that other agency is back. I didn’t ask for any details, didn’t want to put her on the spot, but I’m glad she’s back.” Sam plopped herself in a chair and brushed feathers from her navy blue pants. “So how’s Grandpa? Millie said you went to see him this morning.”
    I gave her a noncommittal smile. “He’s fine.”
    “Yes, but was he dressed?” Sam smirked.
    “Completely. Thank God.”
    “Alex, you better take this call. Line one,” Millie said from the doorway.
    I picked up the phone and in less than a minute hung up and leaned back in my chair while total shock clouded my face.
    “Well?” Sam asked impatiently.
    “That was Chantal. Mr. Kaminski is dead.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

    To say that Chantal Bradbury was upset was like saying that Hurricane Andrew was a tropical breeze. The woman bordered on hysteria.
    “Chantal, calm down. The paramedics said he’s alive. They’re taking him to the hospital. We need to contact Mrs. Brissart and any relatives he has in the area,” I said from where I sat next to Chantal on the front porch of the Brissart home.
    When Chantal called, she told me it had happened again. What it was became immediately apparent the moment I