Love Can Be Murder

road and I ran over her." She laughed. "Not only did I not slow down—I actually sped up. She was pregnant, you know. She told me it was Carl's baby, but she was a liar, too."
    Nell walked over and lifted Angora's hand, then dropped several capsule halves from her own gloved hand and closed Angora's fingers over the bits of plastic.
    Angora couldn't resist her—she had no control over her limbs. She watched as Nell guided her hand over the tray table and allowed the empty capsules that now had her fingerprints on them to fall out and roll next to the carton of milk.
    "But those are our little secrets, Angora. You can take them to your grave. Which should be very shortly considering the amount of painkiller I put in that milk."
    Angora's tongue seemed to overflow her mouth. She couldn't talk, but she could hear every word the sick woman was saying.
    "I thought they'd lock you up for sure. I set you up with a dim farmer who thinks he's F. Lee Bailey. He told me things because he thought I was trying to help you." She laughed. "I think the poor clod is in love with you."
    "Help...me," Angora whispered.
    "Oh, but I am. You see, you have the reputation of being unstable. Did you know there's schizophrenia in your family? It's hereditary. I know because my mother was schizophrenic." She laughed. "But I digress. You were depressed, Angora. You were just jilted at the altar, then all this business with Carl, then your surgery. You were so overcome with grief that you took your own life with pills you stole from my kitchen cabinet. I made a point of telling my sister when I went to Indy that someone had been pilfering my medicine." She sighed. "So you see, everyone will believe you simply gave up."
    Angora fought the urge to give in to sleep. This was the third time in as many days that she'd thought she was dying, and Dee always said that the third time was the charm. Where was that senior guardian angel? Oh, boy, she was a goner this time, taken down by jelly doughnuts.

Chapter Thirty-five

    ROXANN RAN DOWN the hall, looking for Angora's room number. The acrid smell of smoke was even stronger on this floor, although she didn't see smoke. Capistrano was behind her, followed by two security guards. She was short of breath from running the eight flights of stairs.
    "Here!" she shouted, moving the "room evacuated" door tag to try the handle. "It's locked." She peered through the narrow frosted window, but she couldn't make out anything.
    Capistrano threw his weight against the door, but it wouldn't budge. He pulled down the sleeve of his sweatshirt to cover his fist, then rammed it through the glass and looked in. "Angora's in there. Alone." He reached through the window and down to unlock the door from the inside.
    Roxann rushed into the room. Angora was deathly pale. Next to her sat an open bag of doughnuts and a small carton of milk, surrounded by a mound of broken capsules. "Call a doctor," she yelled to the guards. "Tell them she's been drugged, maybe poisoned."
    "Stay here," Capistrano said to Roxann. "I'm going to look for Oney."
    But Roxann was right behind him. He borrowed a two-way radio from one of the guards and stuffed it in his coat pocket. Then he fished a card out of his wallet and punched in a number on his cell phone while he moved down the hall, peering into adjacent rooms.
    "This is Detective Capistrano of the Biloxi PD. I have an emergency at Holy Cross Hospital. Possible murder attempt. The suspect is Dr. Nell Oney, Caucasian female, approximately fifty years of age, five feet five, one hundred ten pounds. Suspect may have left the building traveling on foot. Requesting periphery surveillance. Also, inform Detectives Warner and Jaffey."
    They found one of the sources of the smoke—a smoldering bin of used linens in a supply closet. The detective used the radio to alert the security guards and closed the door. There were probably similar fires throughout the building. They systematically checked rooms, then moved down one floor, but Roxann was afraid that Nell was long gone. On the seventh floor, however, a gravelly sound reached her ears—coughing. Apparently the smoke from the fires Nell had set was too much for her. Roxann nudged Capistrano and pointed to a women's lounge. He radioed the security guards and told them to notify the police. Then he drew his weapon, which brought tears to her eyes. He gestured for her to stay put, then crept to the door.
    "Dr. Oney," he called. "It's Detective