Page 139 of Hello, Summer
“A deer? Jesus! That’s it? A deer killed him?”
“Not technically. The medical examiner thinks he was dead before he hit the deer. From what I understand, Symmes had toxic levels of fentanyl and alcohol in his system. He was either dead or in a coma when the car struck the deer.”
Skelly nodded. “Makes sense, I guess. He had a fentanyl patch, so maybe one or more of his other meds had some kind of interaction.”
“So he did have a fentanyl patch,” Conley said, seizing on the pharmacist’s slipup.
Skelly swore softly under his breath. “You tricked me.”
“I didn’t,” Conley said, glancing from her sister to her grandmother. “Did y’all hear me trick Skelly?”
“Not me,” Grayson said, laughing. “You gave up that information on a strictly voluntary basis.”
“It’s not funny,” he said. “You can’t quote me as saying anything about Symmes’s prescriptions. I could lose my license. I could lose the store.”
“I won’t,” Conley said hastily. “You only confirmed, off the record, what I already knew. I swear, Skelly, I didn’t mean to try to trick you.”
He downed the last of his beer and reached for his jacket. “Miss Lorraine, can I give you a ride out to the beach? I’m afraid I need to get back to the store now.”
“That would be wonderful,” G’mama said. “I hate to bother you, but I know the girls are on deadline, and I’m not exactly sure where Winnie’s gotten off to today.”
“No bother at all,” he said, standing to pull out her chair.
“I’ll walk you out to the car,” Conley said.
“While you do that, I’ll just go powder my nose,” G’mama said tactfully. “And I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”
“You have to know I wouldn’t do anything to intentionally harm you or your family business,” Conley said as Skelly strode away from the bar. “Skelly! Are you listening to me?”
He didn’t turn around. “I heard you, all right.”
She grabbed at the hem of his jacket. “Hey! Slow down.”
He stopped in his tracks. His face was expressionless. “I said, ‘I heard you.’”
“But you don’t really believe me?”
“I don’t know what to believe. You’re so damn determined to break the next big story, I’m not sure what you would or wouldn’t do to get a scoop.”
“I wouldn’t betray a confidence. I wouldn’t deliberately hurt my oldest friend in the world. Somebody I care deeply about,” she said, staring up at him.
They’d reached the club lobby, and suddenly, members were streaming in through the front door, still dressed in their funeral clothes, all marching determinedly toward the bar after three harrowing, booze-free hours in church.
“Okay,” he said, shrugging. “I believe you.”
Her cell phone rang and when she glanced she saw that her old friend, the unknown caller was back. She let it ring.
“Don’t you need to answer that?” Skelly asked, gesturing at her pocketbook.
“Just a crank call,” she said.
“All set,” G’mama said as she walked up to them.
Skelly half bowed from the waist. “Your carriage awaits.”
“Maybe I’ll call you when I’m off deadline,” Conley said just as Skelly and Lorraine pushed out the doors and into the parking lot.
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