Death by Lotto by Abigail Keam Page A

hadn’t come along.”
    “I appreciate you being here for my aunt. I know you must be tired, waiting for hours. I can take it from here.”
    “Yes, I am tired. Any idea who those men were?”
    “None a’tall. My aunt doesn’t have anything really valuable.”
    “It just seems like an awful lot of work for two men to mount a home invasion when the house has been empty for days.”
    “Maybe she surprised them.”
    “Then why were they wearing masks?”
    Jubal shifted his weight. “You’ve talked to Ethel?”
    “Just for a few seconds before they moved her to ICU.”
    “What else did she say?”
    “We had the devil of a time trying to find you.”
    “I was at a bar and had turned off my cell phone.”
    “I see.” Studying his boots and pants, I declared, “You must have been working outside this morning.”
    Jubal glanced at his muddy work boots and stained pants. “I was pulling out dead shrubbery around my house this morning. Ethel say anything else?”
    “Like I said, just a few words to me.”
    “What about that guy who found her?”
    “Charles? I don’t think so. He told me she was having trouble breathing and couldn’t speak at the time.”
    “Too bad she couldn’t tell him more.”
    “Yes, too bad.” I noticed Jubal’s shirt had large sweat stains under his armpits. “Well, I’m going home. May I drop you off?” I asked.
    “I think I’m gonna hang around and talk to the cops.”
    “They’ve already taken a report and left.”
    “Really? They have any clues?”
    “If they did, they didn’t confide in me.”
    “I think I’ll stick around anyway. Ethel might need me.”
    “Will you please call Lady Elsmere if there is a change? She is worried sick and would be obliged for any news.”
    “Sure.”
    Somehow I didn’t believe Jubal, but I left anyway. I was beat. It was late afternoon and I had been at the hospital for hours since Charles had called.
    He was terribly upset at finding Ethel in her predicament and requested that I come. Charles was happy when I relieved him, so he could go home to Lady Elsmere, who was already drowning her concerns in mint juleps after hearing the news of her childhood friend. Only Charles could deal with June when she got this way.
    But I didn’t go straight home. I had a copy of Neff’s report, which contained Jubal’s address. Swinging by his house, I got out and walked its perimeter, looking for any evidence that Jubal had been working with shrubbery.
    None.
    I wouldn’t have thought so. But a man could get his boots muddy and pants ruined by running through a pasture and then woods. There was no doubt in my mind that Jubal had been one of the men who had attacked Ethel.
    But who was the other man? I doubt it would have been Jubal’s loan shark. There was a hierarchy in threatening people relating to loan sharks. The loan shark would have directly threatened Jubal, not his aunt. So who was the other man?
    Getting back in my car, I headed home. My left leg was beginning to throb and the sound was going out in my hearing aid again. I needed to replace its battery. Plus I was starving. Luckily for me, Eunice had been using my office to plan an upcoming reception at the Butterfly. I called and asked her to put something in the oven for me.
    Getting home to the Butterfly in record time, I unlocked the door, punched in the security code for the alarm and then loved on Baby, who met me at the door. If Baby was happy, then I knew no one was in the house that he didn’t like. My heart rate decreased automatically. Baby was my best security alarm.
    “Josiah, is that you?” called Eunice from the office.
    “Yes, Eunice. It’s me.”
    “Did you put the alarm back on?”
    “Doing it now.”
    “Dinner is in the oven. Should be done.”
    “Thanks. I just didn’t have it in me to cook tonight,” I announced.
    “Salad in fridge.”
    “Okay. Got it.” I pulled a small hot brown out of the oven and placed it on the polished limestone counter, letting