All the Pretty Hearses Read Online Free PDF Page B

to me about his patients, except in vague generalities. The only time I hear specifics is if his practice has an impact on our private lives, like the time he couldn’t go to San Francisco because a patient was threatening to jump off a window ledge. You had to fill in for him, as I’m sure you recall.”
    “Oh, I couldn’t forget that,” Judith admitted, putting a dozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts into her cart. “Not so much about the patient, as about the body in the piano.”
    “Right.” Renie had picked up some baby back spareribs and a couple of Cornish game hens. “Bill wouldn’t have liked that part. I assume Joe is equally discreet.”
    “Yes.” Judith studied the four different kinds of shish kebab skewers. She chose six of the teriyaki beef variety, despite knowing Gertrude would complain about being served wooden sticks for dinner. “What did you think of the story in the paper about Joe’s surveillance subject getting whacked?”
    “I haven’t had time to read the paper the last two days,” Renie admitted. “You know I never watch TV news unless I’m with you and you’re going to be part of the latest homicide case. I’ve got too many projects that keep me from reading more than sports scores in the paper. I assume Joe’s been cleared of suspicion?”
    “You mean officially?” Judith shook her head. “I don’t think the bullet and weapon tests have come back yet. The police department is in a serious budget bind.”
    “The whole city’s in a budget crunch,” Renie remarked. “Yum . . . yearling oysters.” She picked up two jars. “They’re on sale. That doesn’t happen very often. You’d better get some.”
    “Oysters are one of the few fruits de mer I don’t like,” Judith reminded her cousin. “I can’t serve them to the guests because one of the Paines has a bad shellfish allergy.”
    Renie nodded. “Prudent. You know what happens to me with nuts and peanuts. Certain death with the latter, slower death with the former. But I thought Joe liked them.”
    “He does,” Judith said. “My father used to go oyster hunting on the peninsula and slurp them right out of the shell. Mother never cared for them, but she was a sport about it.” She shook her head. “I always wonder what she’d be like if my father hadn’t died so young.”
    Renie’s expression was wry. “Maybe not so different. Aunt Gert would just take out her venom on Uncle Donald instead of you.” She smiled. “I remember being with you and your folks on the peninsula in search of oysters. That was fun. As a midwesterner, it’s taken Bill years to eat different kinds of seafood. The only oysters he’ll eat is if we’re out to dinner and somebody orders an appetizer tray on the half shell with a side of vodka shooters.”
    “Ah, yes,” Judith said. “Dan used to do that, too. Except he’d eat them all himself and his idea of a shooter was a pint. It’s a wonder I didn’t shoot him.”
    “You should have,” Renie remarked. “Don’t you remember Cousin Sue always told you if you did kill Dan, she’d swear in court that she was with you the whole time? The rest of the family would’ve done the same.”
    Judith shook her head. “I didn’t have to kill him. He did that to himself between the food and the booze.”
    “You still didn’t get off cheap,” Renie murmured. “Nineteen years is a long prison sentence.”
    “And hard labor at that,” Judith said. “Holding down two jobs was no picnic with Dan rarely holding any.”
    When Judith and Renie reached the dairy section, they parted company. Realizing that it was already past the noon hour, Judith hurriedly polished off her list and checked out. Gertrude would be annoyed because lunch was late.
    By the time she got home and unloaded the groceries, she realized that Joe apparently had left. His winter jacket was gone from the peg in the back hallway. Judith knew he’d planned to study Bill’s information regarding the