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“Did you administer that?”
“Yes, and I cleaned up her wounds. She left around midnight.”
That jived with what Amy Miller said. She’d come into the bar around one—after Jimmy put the adhesive on her cut to close it. But it was gone when they found her body. Which meant the killer got ahold of her after one in the morning, and the adhesive likely came off in a struggle prior to the cave. The ERT hadn’t found the little white strip in their search.
“She say who caused the wound?”
“No, but I suspected Whiskey.”
“Why?”
“Because she refused to tell me a name. Said she didn’t know.” His lips twisted and his eyebrow raised in a not-buying-it gesture.
“What did Nadine say when you asked who hurt her?” Violet asked.
“She didn’t know.”
It could have been Whiskey too. “And did you believe Nadine?”
“I’m not sure.”
Something needled her. “But you suspect it was him?”
Jimmy shoved his hands in his pockets. “Whiskey doesn’t let his girls go to the hospital. To keep things quiet, he calls someone to treat them privately. Generally speaking, when they’re hurt, he’s at the very least indirectly connected. Sometimes, I wonder. No one asks.”
“Wait, you said he calls. Who called you? Nadine or Whiskey?”
Jimmy’s face reddened, and he swore under his breath. “Neither. Whiskey’s usual guy was unavailable. He called a friend of mine—but he was sick that night and called me. He knows I can be trusted and wouldn’t want me confiding. Yet here I am...”
“Did Atta call you after her altercation, or this other person who works for Whiskey?”
“I promise it was her.”
“But a friend called you this time?”
Jimmy nodded.
“Name.”
“I can’t do that to him. He doesn’t take payment. He only wants to help them medically and...” His face looked pained and he huffed. “I’ve said way more than I should. I don’t want to get my friend dead.”
A friend who could doctor up someone. Violet would put her money on Chris Leigh. The exchange of glances between them as John led Chris away made more sense now. “What about the one Whiskey calls—who does take his money?”
“You didn’t get it from me.”
“Done. It came straight from the grapevine.”
Jimmy cleared his throat, his jaw working as he kicked at the ground.
Violet waited him out.
Finally, he met her gaze. “Dr. Crocker.”
The coroner.
Chapter Ten
Thursday, October 19
