The Way of the Wicked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 2) by Ellery Adams Page B

she insisted on being included. Cooper began by telling Lali about her delivery to Mr. Crosby and her concern that his physical condition was related to the thefts, and possibly the deaths, that had occurred with other Door-2-Door clients over the past few months. Of course, she also had to confess that she had inadvertently eavesdropped on two of Lali’s conversations.
    “I’m not concerned that you overheard us talking about the thefts,” Lali said, letting Cooper off the hook gracefully. “I’m concerned about Mr. Crosby. You say that the last thing he remembers is being visited by one of our volunteers?” Lali’s dark eyes were liquid with worry.
    “He remembers working a crossword in the newspaper while waiting for his lunch to be delivered,” Cooper replied. “He doesn’t actually recall eating lunch, but an empty tray was in his garbage can.”
    “Maybe we should get a hold of that tray,” Savannah suggested. “If something was mixed in his food . . .”
    “I just can’t believe it!” Lali exclaimed. She then smoothed a wrinkle in her skirt, as though gathering strength to face the truth. “Okay. This is what’s going to happen. Anita and I will contact one of our nurse practitioner volunteers and the three of us will visit Mr. Crosby this afternoon. If the medical professional believes Mr. Crosby was drugged, my next step will be to contact the police. I’m sure they’ll know how to proceed.”
    Jake, who restlessly drummed his fingers on the conference table, suddenly shoved his wheeled chair backward. “This whole thing should be easy enough to deal with, ladies. Just find out who delivered Mr. Crosby’s food yesterday and you’ve got your man.”
    Lali shook her head. “We can’t accuse one of the volunteers without proof. Besides,” her voice grew heavy, “the volunteer sign-up sheet from yesterday is gone. Someone took it or threw it away.” She was clearly disturbed about the missing document. “The bottom line is that it never got filed, so short of asking everyone who volunteers here, I have no record of who drove where.” She sighed. “The Saturday crew is fairly regular, but the weekday volunteers change all the time.”
    “That’s the truth,” Anita said. “We’d be on the phone all day asking folks, and if someone was guilty, they wouldn’t tell us the truth anyhow.”
    “All I can do is review every detail with the police and allow them to conduct their investigation as they see fit. I’m sorry you’ve all been exposed to this.” She gestured at a handful of manila folders.
    Anita rose and placed a protective hand on Lali’s shoulder. “Thank you for coming to talk to us, but please don’t repeat details about the missing items or Mr. Crosby’s state of health to anyone. All of our clients will suffer if we lose volunteers or if funding dries up because of harmful gossip. We hope to see you again next weekend.”
    Her tone made it clear that the meeting was over, but as soon as the group stepped outside, Trish gestured for everyone to gather around her car.
    “We’re not going to spread rumors about what’s happening here, but I don’t think we should just drop the subject, either,” she said.
    “Let’s give the police the benefit of the doubt,” Savannah countered gently. “If there’s evidence of misconduct, they’ll find it.”
    “And if Lali still thinks the clients might be at risk, we could implement Plan B,” Nathan suggested.
    “What’s that?” Jake asked.
    “We could host a potluck,” Cooper said. “A casual party would allow us to get to know the volunteers working on Fridays and Saturdays better.”
    “Excellent idea! I’ll call around and see where we can rent a space for our social event,” Trish offered. “Just in case we need to throw this thing together at the last minute, I’m thinking one of the community centers would do nicely. After all”—she grimaced—“I don’t want a thief and potential murderer running