“Some people say they just eat to live,” I countered.
Old Doc snorted. “Then they’re sick.”
“Pardon me?”
“It’s a fact, at least with animals. If something doesn’t like to eat, chances are it’s sick.”
“Pass the ham, please,” I said quickly, proving I was healthy as a horse.
Doc smiled approvingly. “Makes my heart glad to see a woman eat like that, Magdalena. It’s a sure sign of passion, you know.”
Somehow I doubted it. “Look, Doc, I have to ask you something.”
“Then ask away.” The old geezer was waving a spoon full of scalloped potatoes seductively in front of me. Of course, then it all made sense. Old Doc must have been sweet on Mama too, and Mama had made Roseanne Barr look like a barrette.
I ignored the proffered spuds. “It’s this, Doc. I suppose you’ve already heard about the woman who took a tumble out at the inn.”
He nodded.
“Well, Chief Myers says it might have been an accident, and it might have been foul play. But if it was an accident, Doc, I could be sued for everything I’ve got. I might even lose the inn!”
“Says who?”
“Well, Melvin Stoltzfus, for one.”
Doc snorted. “That boy couldn’t find his way south from the North Pole. It seems to me, Magdalena, that you’d really have a problem if the other scenario was true.”
“You mean that nobody would want to stay at a place where someone had been killed?"
“That might come later. But for now, I’d say your biggest worry should be that you just might have a killer staying at the inn.”
“You mean now?”
Doc’s look was all the answer I needed. Melvin, move over. Why hadn’t I seen the ramifications myself? “Why didn’t Chief Myers make that a bit clearer to me?” I asked, as soon as I could speak.
“What? And spoil a perfectly good fishing trip?” asked Doc. He didn’t sound like he was kidding.
I temporarily hoped that Tammy Myers not only stood too near Niagara Falls, but that she managed to pull the Chief in with her when she fell. I filled Doc in on a number of things.
Doc listened intently, but he seemed to be most interested in Jumbo Jim’s Fried Chicken and Seafood Palace. “How much is a bucket of extra crispy?” he asked, interrupting my narrative.
“Too much to go driving two hundred and fifty miles for,” I snapped.
“Easy, girl, easy,” said Doc. “I sense I’ve hit a nerve. How long did you talk to this guy?”
“I’ll let you know when I get my phone bill.”
“That long, huh?” Doc sounded like he just might be jealous.
“And he called me once, but I was out,” I said just to be nasty.
“How did he get your number?” Doc was definitely jealous.
“Beats me. Susannah took the message. Say, Doc, do you want to hear the rest of what’s been going on, or not?”
“Sure,” said Doc. “Anyway, Baltimore is a long ways away. You won’t be hearing from this guy again.”
I ignored Doc’s last comment and proceeded to tell him how I had found the fire escape door open, and that the trunk of Miss Brown’s car had been broken into. Of course, I pointed out, it was possible, even probable, that neither of those things had anything to do with Miss Brown’s becoming intimate with my impossibly steep stairs.
“Nonetheless, do you want me coming back to stay the night?” Doc asked kindly.
I declined the offer. What possible protection could an eighty-two-year-old Lothario provide? I thanked Doc for the bounteous supper and politely but firmly refused a good-night kiss.
Susannah snoozed all the way home and wasn’t any trouble at all. When I got back to the inn, Billy Dee was the only one still up, and I enlisted his help in carting Susannah off to bed. Then, as a reward, I made a pot of hot chocolate and invited Billy Dee to join me in the parlor.
“Just had me some tea, Miss Yoder. But I’d be glad to sit and shoot the breeze for a spell.”
I happily drank Billy Dee’s share of the reward. “So how did supper go?” I asked casually. I was dying to know. I also wanted to know who had done the dishes.
Billy chuckled. "You missed a night to remember, Miss Yoder.”
“Please... Magdalena.”
He nodded. “Yep, it was quite something. The Congressman and his missus, and that Delbert guy, they all liked my venison stew. Although the Congressman didn’t like the bay leaf. But them other folks! Whew! You’d’a thought I’d drug a skunk in, the way they all scooted down to the other end of the table.”
“How about the other dishes? Did you taste them?”