Chapter Fifteen

I threw on my jeans and t-shirt, flew down the steps and went out the front door without stopping to speak to anyone. I didn’t need any more distractions.

I didn’t talk much when Miss Vivee and her crew piled into the car. I didn’t know if they’d want to talk murder and I didn’t want anyone influencing my conclusions when I did the autopsy. But murder wasn’t on their minds. Logan spent the time explaining to me, with me throwing in some “ohs,” and “okays,” to her discourse, about what she was looking for on her dig.

I glanced more than a couple of times down at her sparkling ring. Each time it made me sigh.

On the way back to the medical facility where I had Eugenia waiting for me, I thought about what Rhett had said. The part about me finding a job. Not about him flirting with me.

It did take a lot of effort to keep my mind off that, though…

Much to my Auntie Zanne’s chagrin, I turned down the medical examiner’s job after Doc Westin, the tri-county ME, died. It had been not long after I arrived back in Roble, making my auntie think it was a sign.

Although I didn’t take the job, I did have the opportunity to oversee the completion of the new medical examiner’s facility. It had been started long before I got there, and even with serving the populous of three counties, it was going to be, in my eyes, just adequate. So I stepped in and helped them choose all the state-of-the-art bells and whistles to furnish it with. Then, after it was completed, I fell in love with it.

I’d only done three autopsies there, utilizing my skills each time a murder occurred in Roble. But, why not take it on as a full-time job? Then when it was time to do my sleuthing (God forbid murdered bodies kept popping up), I wouldn’t feel so bad with my newly formed obsession.

I pulled up in the parking lot and saw that Catfish was already there. His beat-up truck parked right by the door, him standing outside of it waiting for me. I had called him on the way back from the airport, just to make sure Miss Eugenia had arrived okay and there hadn’t been any hiccups. A childhood friend he had turned into my right-hand man when I performed autopsies.

Auntie had told me that I didn’t have any friends. She must have forgotten about Catfish.

“Hey, you,” I said and smiled.

“Romie!” he said, a smile spreading on his face. He was always happy to see me.

“You didn’t have to come,” I said.

“I wanted to make sure you got in okay. It’s getting kind of late in the day.”

I looked up at the bright blue sky, sun shining in the sky. Catfish woke up with the chickens. Late for him was any time after ten a.m. “Looks like it’ll be a while before it gets dark,” I said.

“Can’t never be too sure,” he said.

I had to chuckle. If there was one thing that was predictable, it was the setting of the sun.

“Glad you’re here,” I said. “You gonna come in?” I pointed to the glass doors of the facility.

“Sure thing,” he said grinning.

I knew that Catfish had a thing for me, and I loved him more than I cared to admit but my feelings for him were more like for a brother than a lover. I’d never express that out loud. I wouldn’t have

He’d been my protector since the day I arrived in Roble—seeing after the pretentious black girl who spoke French. He even took up the language when we got to high school, but by then, I’d given up speaking it anywhere other than at home with Auntie Zanne.

“So sorry to hear about Miss Eugenia,” Catfish said as he followed me down the hallway to the office.

“Me too,” I said. “Miss Vivee said she was murdered.”

“Aww. No,” he said and shook his head. “How did she know? She was here?”

“You remember Miss Vivee?” I asked.

“Of course I do,” he said. “Weren’t a lot of people around here back then that had a black son-in-law.”

“Guess that’s right.” I nodded. “She came for the Boule.”

“She had a dog named Cat,” Catfish said still reminiscing.

“Still does, I’m told. I think she must name all her dogs Cat. No way one could live that long.”

“She lived that long,” Catfish said.

“Yep. Sure did.”

“Good. I liked her,” he said. “She knew more about plants than anybody I’d ever met. Even Babet. I remember once she just looked at me and knew exactly what was wrong with me. Gave me a plant to make some tea.”

“She did?”

“Yep, she did.”

“And was something wrong?”

“Yeah, it was. I had a rash.” He pointed to his arm. “Scared my little young self to the point of crying.”

“You cried?”

“Sure did.” He shook his head. “I never told anybody about that.”

“Miss Vivee fixed you?”

“Yep, whatever she gave me cured it right up.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell somebody about a rash? What’s the big deal?”

“I had just kissed Louise Higgins. You remember her?”

I laughed. “Yes. I remember her.”

“Yeah, and I thought I might have caught it from doing that.”

“A rash from kissing a girl? And on your arm? Why would it be there?”

“I don’t know. I was too scared to be rational. It was my first kiss. I did it then I got a rash.” He chuckled. “I didn’t know any better, I guess.”

I punched him in the chest. “I thought I was your first kiss.”

“You were my first peck,” he said backing up. “She was the first kiss.” He blushed like I was embarrassing him. He was the one who’d brought it up.

“Well, I hope you’ve learned you can’t get a rash from kissing.”

“Guess I have. Probably wouldn’t have ever thought that if it had of been you I kissed.” He gave a single nod of his head. “But I know if I do, I can just get some of that tea Miss Vivee brewed up for me.”

“I wouldn’t drink anything those women cooked up.”

“It’s just natural ingredients. Natural healing medicine,” he said. “I’d think you’d be for all of that.”

“I’m not in to healing too much,” I said. “All the patients I see are way past that.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “I guess they are,” he said.

We walked into the medical examiner’s office and I sat at the desk.

“You going to perform the autopsy now?” he asked.

“Yeah, I am,” I said, and fired up my computer. “But she might have been exposed to some kind of chemical that may still be present once I open her up.” I pointed at the screen. “I thought I’d better look up what kind of extra precautions I need to adhere to.”

“You want me to wait around and help?”

I smiled at him. “I’m good. Unless you want to stay.”

“I always want to be around you, Romie.” His grin grew wider and he tucked his head. “But I was thinking I’d go out to catch some crawfish in a bit. I thought maybe,” he wiggled his head back and forth, a blush coming on his face, “I could get a certain someone to come over and use it to make me some étouffée.”

“And who is that certain someone? Louise Higgins?”

“Haha!” He bent over with laughter, his eyes lit up, and he shook his head at me. “I’m still afraid of her kisses,” he said once his laughing subsided.

“Well, I might come over and cook, but there won’t be any kissing.”

“Alright then,” he said. “I’ll take that.”

“Okay, then,” I said. “It’s a date.”

He nodded. “I’ma take my leave then.”

“Alright,” I said. He walked toward the door. “Catfish,” I said before he could get away.

“Yeah?”

“Wait for me to come to catch the crawfish.”

“Yeah?”

“It’ll be fun,” I said.

“Sure will,” he said. “But what I’m supposed to do in the meantime? You’re gonna be here for a while.”

“Clean up that kitchen,” I said. “I know it’s too messy for me to cook in.”

That made him laugh almost as hard as me asking was he having Louise Higgins over.