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CHIP SHOWED UP AT THE hospital, not long after she arrived. Katy’s words were garbled. “Alex is in my ear.”
“What? No, honey, Alex is at the deli. He doesn’t live in your ear. He lives in a cookie jar, remember?”
Alex shook his head. He asked if the coast was clear. Katy whispered yes after looking around. He slipped out of her ear and went to settle beside Chip. “I didn’t want to leave her.”
Chip shrugged. “I’ll be. Thanks for sticking by her side. I locked up the deli, and got here as soon as I could.”
“Katy is my family, too” he said. “She’s all I have.”
“You have me too, buddy.” Chip realized when push came to shove, Alex stood by her side, and Chip was forever grateful that the odd-spirit watched out for her.
Alex nodded. Something happened. Manly bonding. Something. Either way, it was kind of nice.
Katy’s head was clearing up, but pain settled in. “It hurts.”
“You’re going to have one heck of a headache,” he said. “The doctors can probably give you something, but nothing too strong. You need to stay awake for a while. They’re going to be monitoring the swelling of your brain and make sure nothing drastic happened.”
“Jessi told me,” Katy said. “She told me.”
He nodded. “She gave a full confession after I handcuffed her. I pulled her off you. She said she was sorry if it means anything. Sorry for lying to you. Sorry for hurting you.”
“She didn’t act alone,” she warned.
“Yep, we have people picking Tex up and bringing him back in. It sounds like things got complicated and too many pieces of the puzzle messed them up.”
“What I don’t understand is the part about the bowling alley. Jessi wasn’t there. How did she...?” she mumbled, her voice growing softer.
“Stay awake, sweetie,” Chip nudged. “Ah, that was pretty interesting. I’d have never thought of it. If you can stay awake, I’ll tell you the rest.”
Katy nodded. Her eyelids were so heavy. “Okay.”
“Katy?”
“I’m here,” she said, fluttering her eyes, trying to stay awake.
“So, she told you about the heart shaped treat. From what she told us, and of course, we need to get the story from his side, too, but he dropped the marshmallow into a cup. Instead of handing her a drink, it was a toxic heart shaped marshmallow.”
“At the bowling alley?” she asked.
“Yep.” He studied his wife’s face. He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you,” she muttered.
“From what Jess is telling us, he told Crystal he’d had a change of heart about splitting up. He’d look at the cup later. If she ate it, it meant that she still wanted to give things another chance with Tex. If not, she wasn’t interested. Of course, he knew she wanted things to continue, which was part of the problem in the first place. She threatened to tell his wife.”
“Oh, clever.” She turned her head and looked toward her husband. “You’re a good man. You know that, right?”
He squeezed his wife’s hand again. “You make it easy to love you.”
“So, Crystal ate it?”
“Apparently, so, which is how she ended up dying at the bowling alley. Jessi wasn’t there, so she wasn’t an obvious suspect. Tex had checked out the bowling alley restroom to look at the ability to get in and out one night, from what Jess says. I’m guessing he stashed the ladder in the brush, just in case he needed it later. He probably forgot about it. Sounds like he’d stalled until Jessi pushed his hand. And since he was nowhere near her when she died, the only thing people saw was Tex handing her was a drink. Liquid didn’t poison her. Jessi filled in a bunch of stuff. Once we get Tex, we’ll solidify the story, match up facts, statements, prints and the like.”
“I’m worried about Deidre,” Katy said. “She’s going to need emotional support. I can’t believe Jessi was capable of something so heinous.”
Alex chirped in. “You never truly know what someone is capable of.”
“That’s a true statement,” Chip said. “Like I had no idea Fritz was capable of doing the dishes. I learned that last night when I caught the old boy cleaning up.”
Katy laughed. “Oh, oh, headache.”
“Hang in there, baby.”
The doctor came back into the room. “We’re going to keep your wife overnight for observation.”
“She mentioned her head is bothering her, a headache. Can she have something for it?”
“I’ll send a nurse in to administer something.”
“Thanks,” he answered. He turned to Katy. “I’m not going anywhere, at most, maybe the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee. Alex, do you want anything?”
“I’m good. Just a moment with Katy, then I’ll leave you two.”
Chip nodded.
***
“I SWEAR I’LL SLAM TEX over the head with a giant salami if he comes back into the deli,” Alex said.
Katy chuckled. “Ouch, don’t make me laugh.”
“You’re a good egg, Katy. I know you’re going to worry, but Jessi is an adult. She made her own choices.”
“I’ve known her all her life.”
“Sometimes, even those we know best, we only know what they want us to know,” he said, harboring his own secrets.
“Keep an eye on the deli, for me. Enjoy your day off. Go dancing or something, and come back with some good gossip. You know you and Eve have the best gossip. Oh! Eve, does she know?”
“I’m on it. I’ll fill her in. I’m going to leave you and Chip alone. I’ll see you soon, Katamara.”
