Page 10 of Oleander

Before they left the house, Skull showed up to see if the house needed additional safety precautions. He made the decision to return in a few days with two additional locks for the doors, ensuring that no one would get past their security system. Once that was done, they all headed toward their own vehicles.

But when a cloud of dust coming toward them showed a dark blue sedan, they stilled waiting for the intruder to show themselves. When the car stopped, a man in a rumpled suit stepped out.

“Who are you? Why are you at my mother-in-law’s home?” asked the man.

“Who are you?” asked Luke, knowing full well who he was.

“Stuart Trager. I was married to Dorothy’s daughter, Carol.”

“I see. When was the last time you saw Dorothy?” asked Eric taking a step closer to the man. He wisely took a step backward.

“Wh-what does that have to do with anything? I need to get to her personal items.”

“No, you don’t,” said Sira. “Dorothy Martin’s will was very explicit. All of her stocks would be split between three charities. Her home and an undisclosed amount of cash would be left to her dear friend.”

The man’s face paled and he shook his head.

“No. No, that’s not possible. I’m her only living relative,” he said quietly.

“You’re not a blood relative,” said Hex. “But none of that matters. Her will is to be executed as instructed. What I want to know, is how did you hear of her death when she only died a few hours ago? You were living in another state.”

“H-how did you know that? I mean, I was here on business and wanted to visit her. I heard from someone in town that she died.”

“Bullshit,” muttered Rod taking a step toward the man, his fists clenched. “No one knew that she’d died. No one. Where the fuck were you last night?”

He continued to back up toward his own vehicle and turned pale, then a flustered bright red.

“I’m getting my lawyer! You’re going to regret this,” he yelled as his car drove away.

“Well, that’s not fucking strange at all,” frowned Mike. He turned to Rod. “Take your time, son. We’re here if you need us.” Rod nodded at them all.

“The only thing I might need is for someone to prevent me from killing that man.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

On Eric’s request, Tailor showed up to inspect the fire in the backyard. Along with two of the men from the fire station, they all agreed that someone had attempted to start the fire in the oleander bushes, hoping it would spread to the house. Instead, it released the toxin.

“She may have put the fire out and got the oleander on her skin,” said Tailor. “I’m sorry, brother.”

“Either way, someone tried to kill her,” said Rod.

“They succeeded. It was their fault. She would have known not to touch the plants without gloves. I’m guessing she was flustered by the whole thing,” said Tailor.

“Hey, we just got word from the coroner,” said Hex. “The oleander on her skin would have killed her but she died before that. She was taking insulin for her diabetes and her blood sugar had dropped significantly.”

“That’s right,” frowned Rod. “I forgot about that. She had a system that went right to her phone and warned her when her blood sugars were too high or too low.”

“Yep,” nodded Hex. “Her sugar was fifty-one, then eleven minutes later was at thirty.”

“She must have been pretty loopy by then,” frowned Rod. He looked at Hex and Luke. “Is it possible for someone to hack into her phone readings? Could someone have known when she was going low?”

“Why do you ask?” frowned Tailor.

“Because if they knew she was going low, they could have started the fire, panicking her into taking care of the fire first, not herself.”

“But then get to the front porch?” frowned Hex. Rod shook his head in frustration.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe someone got her to the front porch.” Tailor looked around the burned oleander shrubs and frowned.