Heaven Preserve Us by Cricket McRae

slap my hand, but missed. I stuck my tongue
out at her, and she grinned.
    "Allen again. I told him to stop calling and hanging up when
you answered because it was bugging you."
    Meghan turned toward me, still stirring her Alfredo sauce. She
shot a quick glance at her daughter, now eyeing me with real interest. "You didn't."
    "I did. And he asked when it might be more convenient for
him to call."
    "He didn't."
    "He did."
    "You have a stalker?" Erin asked. "Does he talk dirty?"
    I tried not to smile at the look this question engendered on
Meghan's face. "No. He's just lonely, I think."
    Erin rolled her eyes. "Figures. You can't even get a spooky
stalker."
    "Nice," I said. "Real nice."
    They laughed, and I joined in. But as we bustled around, I felt a
little hollow inside. Could Allen really be dangerous? Surely not, I
told myself.
    In fact, I told myself that several times.

    The doorbell rang just as the water for the pasta was beginning to
boil. I answered it and was delighted to find Tootie Hanover leaning on her silver-headed cane. An newer model sedan was pulling
away from the curb, and she half-turned to wave at the driver.
     
    "What a wonderful surprise!" I said. "Who brought you over?"
Usually either Meghan or I picked Tootie up from Caladia Acres
when she came over.
    "Andy Maher, actually. He's taking his mother out to dinner."
    I was glad to hear that. "Betsy bully him into giving you a ride?"
    "He's a nice man. I like him. And you have to understand Betsy
is not the least demanding mother a Chief of Police could have."
    "No kidding. Anyway, I'm glad he could drop you for a visit.
You're in time for dinner."
    "I should hope so. Meghan did invite me, after all."
    Oh. "I guess we've been talking about other things since I got
home. She forgot to mention it. I'm just glad you're here."
    I took her coat, hung it on the hall tree and led her into the fragrant kitchen. Everyone exchanged greetings. Tootie eased into one
of the wooden ladder-backed chairs at the table. She sat and listened
to Erin chatter on about the spelling bee and Jonathan for a bit,
back straight and head held high despite the arthritis pain she battled on a daily basis. The white coil of braid atop her head gleamed
in the overhead light. She still wore the long silk forest-green sweater
over black slacks, and the elegant effect was ruined only slightly by
the swath of white hair Brodie had deposited on her pant leg as he
trotted from cook to cook, casting yearning looks with those big
brown eyes so perfectly suited for begging. A smile warmed her face
as Erin wound down, and we all took our places at the dinner table.
    "How is your young man?" Tootie asked me.
    "He seems to be doing better." Barr, who was in his forties,
would have loved to hear her call him my young man.
    "Botulism is terrible. I knew twin brothers who died from it
when I was a young girl. Of course, a woman whose daughter they had-" she glanced at Erin "-hurt gave it to them on purpose, so
that's a little different. Do you know where it came from?"
     
    I stared at her. "You know someone who used botulism as a
murder weapon?"
    "Well, she was never caught." Tootie put a ladylike portion of
chicken in her mouth.
    "Then how exactly do you know about it?"
    She looked sideways at Erin, who studied her with an attentive
gaze, and swallowed. "It was my second cousin, actually. And they
wouldn't have been able to prove it, not then. But I heard her talking to my older sister, so I knew what happened."
    "Did they deserve it?" Erin asked.
    Again the sidelong look. "I don't think anyone deserves to have
someone else take their life. Not even the state. But in that case,
even I have to admit, there might have been a certain amount
of... justice in what happened. Of course, I didn't find out about it
until well after the fact. It gradually became common knowledge
in town, but it was still only a rumor as far as the law was concerned." She left Erin to