The Perils of Peaches (Scents of Murder Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

report on my computer before printing it. Enough for now. The hands of the clock crawled toward eleven.
    One of the things I’d agreed to when I decided to work for the Doctors Bradley and Mukherjee was confidentiality. I knew who had hemorrhoids, and who’d cheated on someone and had to go to the doctor as a consequence. The thought of Greenburg’s secrets being played out on sound files made me shiver sometimes.
    The ringing phone made me jump. I ran to answer it, so Hannah wouldn’t wake again. When she had a colicky night, her restless sleep made her prone to wake at just about anything, even the tag on Spot’s collar jingling as she headed down the hall on a midnight prowl.
    Bradley Medical displayed on the caller ID. I snatched up the phone.
    “Andi, it’s Barkha. Something’s happened at the office. Jerry is here, but I wanted to call you, too.” Her voice sounded infinitely weary.
    “What happened? Was there a break-in??”
    “Hiram was still here. I . . . I stopped by because I saw lights on. He was unconscious at his desk, the back door ajar.” She barely whispered the words.
    “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
    “You don’t have to . . .”
    “It’s not a problem.” Barkha hadn’t asked me to come, but I heard her unspoken request. “Hannah’s already down for the night.”
    Within my promised fifteen minutes, I arrived at the medical office parking lot, which now contained an ambulance, Jerry’s squad car, and several vehicles. I parked as out of the way as I could, and tried to sneak along the sidewalk.
    Jerry caught me before I reached the glass front door “You don’t need to be here.”
    “Barkha called me.”
    “You’re as relentless as that reporter from the Greenburg Dispatch.”
    “Ouch, Jer. That hurts.” I couldn’t help it if I was naturally curious. I’d helped my brother-in-law in the past with two, no three, murder investigations. Not that this was murder, of course.
    I watched as two EMTs wheeled the unconscious Dr. Bradley toward the waiting ambulance. They had what looked like a monitor and an oxygen mask strapped to him. Eunice hovered beside the gurney. She murmured and clutched Dr. Bradley’s hand, as if oblivious to the rest of us watching. The older woman was a kind soul, but I doubt Dr. Bradley would allow her to be so familiar with him if he were conscious.
    “I sure hope he’ll be okay.” Despite my personal feelings about his demeanor, I certainly didn’t want the man hurt like this.
    Jerry frowned. “Seems like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
    “I know you’ve got stuff to do. I’ll just go talk to Barkha.”
    “Oh, no you won’t. This is a crime scene, and sister-in-law or not, I’m not goin’ to let you hop across that crime scene line and mess up any evidence.”
    Barkha came outside and joined us, where I waited a respectful distance from the ambulance. “Andi, you’re here.” She gripped her stethoscope in one hand.
    “I’ll leave you two to talk. But, Bar—um, Dr. Mukherjee, don’t leave yet. I have more questions for you.” Jerry went to talk to the crime team inside doing their job.
    “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Barkha said aloud.
    “Why are you so worried? I mean, of course you’re concerned for Dr. Bradley.”
    The ambulance lights flickered off the building and parked vehicles, as well as the worry in Barkha’s eyes. “This whole break-in scenario doesn’t feel right to me. We don’t carry the kind of medications people would break in for. Well, not in any quantity that they could make a profit with on the street.”
    “Like narcotics?”
    Barkha nodded. “We carry a few sedatives to help calm patients. And a small quantity of morphine, oxycodone. Hiram doesn’t keep a large amount in the locker.”
    I glanced toward the bright lights of the office. “I see what you mean. Someone could have easily seen his vehicle at the back entrance of the building. Maybe even a light from an