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“Maybe.” Kit tossed the peeled potato in the pot and grabbed another. “The nursing assistant, Devon Jones, was on the list of nurses with access, but she has an airtight alibi for the night of the most recent death.” Which relieved Kit. She hadn’t wanted Devon to be a murderer. Or a thief. “The head nurse, Janice Lenski, has been at Shady Oaks for years.” But so had Kent Crawford. “Amy Norwood is another nursing assistant. I haven’t met her yet, but I’m going to look for her tonight when I go back to Shady Oaks. Kaley Cross was normally in the nursing ward but was assigned to Benny’s floor the night he’d died because the duty roster got all confused when the cop’s body was discovered Monday morning.”
“So she wasn’t well acquainted with the men who died,” Harlan commented.
“I don’t know. It’s a relatively small place as continuing care facilities go, maybe three hundred residents total. That includes the independent residents, those in assisted living, those under full-time nursing care, and those in the memory ward. So I don’t know. I’ll figure out who had access and motive.”
Unfortunately, the only people with clear motive—Archie Adler and Faye Evans—didn’t have access during the times that Frankie and Benny had died.
“Of course you will,” Harlan said, turning the wood in his hands. “You always figure it out.”
Kit looked up from the potatoes and pointed to the block of wood with her peeler. “What’s it going to be?”
“It’s for Tiffany. I found a photo of a dragonfly chandelier online, made by Tiffany. I’m hoping I can achieve the look I want without any color.”
“It’ll be beautiful. You always make things beautiful.”
“I hope so. I haven’t decided what Emma’s should be yet.”
“Connor’s giving the teacher-and-kids figurine to CeCe tonight. He was so touched that you thought of them.”
Harlan just smiled and returned to his carving. “Who’s the fourth nurse?”
“A traveling nurse. Name’s Roxanne Beaton. She’s been there less than three months.”
Harlan looked up. “What would she have against a retired cop and a nice old man? She would have barely known them.”
“A four-million-dollar coin collection,” Kit said dryly. “It was stolen from the nice old man’s apartment a few days before he died.”
“Peel,” Betsy commanded. “And four million does change things, doesn’t it?”
Kit obediently returned to her task. “It does. I think the retired cop suspected something or someone was interested in his friend’s coins, and it cost him his life. This whole case is just muddled in my mind. Every time I turn around, something else happens to change my focus.”
“I’d say you focus on the first victim again,” Harlan said. “Seems like he’s key.”
Frankie Flynn was the key. He had been killed for a reason—it had to have something to do with the stolen collection. Benny hadn’t died until three days later, so clearly the thief hadn’t meant him harm initially.
What Frankie had known—or suspected—was the key. She’d go back to Frankie and his interactions with the staff.
“You’re right, Pop. As usual.”
“All part of the service, Kitty-Cat,” Harlan said mildly.
Kit laughed, resumed peeling, and was putting the last peeled potato in the pot when Akiko and the three fosters stormed the kitchen, laughing like loons.
“Kit!” Rita held up a bag of mangled fish meat. “I filleted it myself!”
“So did we,” Tiffany declared as she and Emma showed off their bags of fish. “We are legit fisherwomen now.”
Akiko made a so-so motion with her hand and Kit bit back a smile.
Rita made a face. “Our fillets might not be as pretty as Akiko’s, but they’ll still taste good. Right, Mom?”
Betsy took the bags of fish from the three girls, kissing each of them on top of the head. She had to go up on her tiptoes to kiss Tiffany, since she was taller than the others. “It will be fabulous when I fry it up. You just wait.”
Akiko presented her fish, a beautifully filleted halibut. “I can sauté this, Mom.”
Betsy waved them away. “Nonsense. You girls go clean up. I’ve got this. Kit, please set the table for ten.”
Kit’s brows lifted, then her eyes narrowed when the three teenagers giggled. “What’s going on?” Kit demanded.
