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“Questions can wait,” I said.
“Melly, call 9-1-1, if you please.” Hazel’s gaze didn’t leave me. “Ask your questions. I’ll do my best to answer. Then I can go lay down.”
“There’s no rush,” I said again. “Truly. Let’s make sure you’re okay before we do anything else.”
“Life’s too short to waste even a second. Questions,” Hazel growled.
I nodded to Melly who was holding up her phone, though she hadn’t yet dialed. She stepped out of the office and placed the call. I could hear her telling themHazel appeared okay, that Melly would try to convince her to be seen by a doctor, but for now, we didn’t need an ambulance. Thanks, and all that.
She stepped back into the office and dragged a chair over from near the wall, placing it beside Hazel’s. Sitting, she took Hazel’s hand. “Tell us what happened. You’ve got a nasty bruise on your forehead.”
“I have seizures,” Hazel said, her shoulders drooping. “I’ve had them since the head injury I got when I fell all those years ago. My doctor has been playing with my medication again. He says there are drugs I can take with less side effects than the ones that have worked well forever. But now I’m having seizures again, so I’ll have to call him and ask for another adjustment.” She placed her hand on Melly’s leg. “Please don’t tell your grandmother. She’ll be worried, and she has enough to deal with right now. I’m fine. I promise I won’t drive. I can take a cab to and from work until I’m seizure-free long enough to get permission from my doctor to sit behind the wheel again.”
“Does Grannie know about your seizures?” Melly asked.
“I don’t believe I’ve mentioned it to her. There has been no need. It’s part of my past, and other than the joy I take from teaching dance, I prefer to forget that I had so much potential long ago.” She sighed. “Potential that was lost when I fell. As for my seizures, they’ve been well controlled for years. Once I’m on the right meds again, it won’t matter.” She lifted her eyebrows my way. “What questions do you have?”
“I wanted to ask you about the church social and the Xylitol poisoning,” I said.
“That was the first time in my life I’ve had my stomach pumped, and let me tell you, it’s not pleasant having a tube shoved into your nose and down your throat to your stomach. At least it was quick.”
Melly squeezed her hand.
“Could you tell me exactly what happened from the moment you arrived?” I asked.
“Sure.” Hazel frowned. “I got there at the same time as Carla. Sue, Alfred, and Bob were already there.”
“I’ve questioned Bob,” I said with a frown. “He said he was the last to arrive.”
“My brain may be fuzzy after a seizure, but I’m otherwise sharp,” she said. “He was there when I walked in the door. He said I was silly wearing a jacket when it was seventy outside, but I get cold easily, and it’s not like it hurts anyone else if I wear it. Seeing that Rose wasn’t around, I asked about her, because I could see someone had already made her punch.” Her gaze fell on Melly. “You didn’t.”
“No. Grannie felt well enough to make it that night,” Melly said. “After she finished, she went to the bathroom.”
“That’s what Sue told me.” Hazel rubbed her face. “I put my crockpot with beef stew on the table and went to the bathroom, knocking on the door and asking if Rose needed help. She did, so I went inside. She’d left her walker outside the stall and asked me to bring it with her. I pointed out that there wasn’t much room and with thedoor open, anyone entering might see her sitting on the toilet. She said she didn’t care about anything like that.”
For a woman who was worried about how she was seen in the community, that was odd, but Rose was assertive. If she decided she wanted her walker in the stall with her, she wouldn’t care if anyone saw her.
“She didn’t use the handicap stall?” Melly asked.
Hazel’s nose twisted. “Someone plugged it up and it reeked in there. I’m sure the janitor has taken care of it by now.”
“I’m sure they have,” I said.
“After that,” Hazel said, “Rose shooed me out, saying she could handle hiking up her underwear and returning to the main room on her own. I went back to the others. They’d already gotten into the punch.”
“Not Bob,” I said.
“He doesn’t like it. He was still parked near the wall where someone had left him. He called out to me, asking for help getting over to the table. Said his scooter was having battery issues. If Ginny hadn’t stopped by and brought a new battery, he would’ve been stuck near the wall all evening. There’s no lift there like in his home.”
“Ginny stopped by?” Melly asked, her gaze meeting mine. “Wasn’t she sitting in the van in case he needed her?”
“I’m just telling you what I heard,” Hazel said. “He said he’d called her, and she was coming right away with a new battery.”
“She must’ve been sitting in the van, then,” Melly said.
Hazel shrugged. “I guess so. Ginny put the new battery in his scooter and left.”
“To wait in the van?” I asked.
