chapter 83

word count: 1494

brushing past mrs. dunn,, without further ado,, trudy made a beeline straight for buzzes bedroom.. she was soaked,, and had no intention of letting buzz see her in this condition.. 

“excuse me, miss, er, mrs, whatever your name is, “ started mrs. dunn. “when i said you could come in i meant you could step inside,, take a seat and wait for mr. miller.. i did not give you permission to rampage through the house!!”

“i don’t need your permission.. buzz said i could have a shower and help myself to jeannies clothes.” trudy said obstinately in reply.. 

“i will have to demand you take a seat at the kitchen table and wait for mr. miller..  i was not instructed to allow you access to anything in the house that does not belong to you,, and as far as i know,, nothing here belongs to you.. now come back out here and take a seat!!!” mrs. dunn demanded in her most authoritative voice.

“fuck off!” trudy responded as she closed and locked the bedroom door behind her.. ‘who the hell does she think she is telling me what i can and cannot do??’ she thought to herself as she helped herself to a generous slug off her paisley flask.

with that, trudy entered the walk in closet,, and chose a pair of black slacks and a polka dotted chiffon blouse,, with cute puffy sleeves.. she found a pair of black patent leather heels that would do nicely,, and then proceeded to ransack jeannie’s underwear drawer for some hose and a suitable camisole,, as none of jeannie’s teeny weenie brassieres would contain even  half of her voluptuous breast.. 

she proceeded to the bath,, where she ran a good hot stream of water before entering the shower.. humming, ‘how do you like me now’ by toby keith,, she luxuriated in the hot steamy hot water until  it began to run cool.. 

meanwhile,, mrs. dunn had placed a call to buzz miller.. 

“there’s a woman here,,  a woman who failed to identify herself by name,, saying only that she was a friend of yours.. i took pity on her and let her in out of the rain,, and now she has gone and locked herself in your bedroom,, and i can hear her taking a shower!!! this is most unacceptable mr. miller!!”

“huh!!” buzz let out an audible sigh of dismay.. “it’s trudy, trudy hunt.. don’t let her get under your skin.. in fact stay away from he as much as you can,, she can be rather abrasive,, but believe it or not she means well..” buzz tried to comfort mrs. dunn by relieving her of the guilt of having let trudy in the house to begin with.. 

“i’ll be home as soon as i can,, and take care of her.. in the meantime,, just stay out of her way,, would be my suggestion,, she can be a little tornado if she feels backed into a corner.”

“mr. miller,, i have been assigned to take care of this home,, of you,, and of little adam.. i cannot condone this woman’s behavior,, nor do i plan to stand by and allow her to walk all over me.. if you wish her to be here,, i must insist you return home immediately and take charge of her!!” mrs. dunn concluded in a very serious tone.. 

“alright,, i am at the station house.. i have to meet with a couple of officers and answer some questions about adam’s most recent behaviors,, i cannot tell you how long i will be,, but i will assure you i will be there as soon as i can break away..”

“questions about adam?? what on earth!!! the poor boy has been through enough.. he's not with you?? where is adam while yopu are at the precinct house answering questions?? what on earth is going on here??” demanded mrs. dunn..

“it’s a long story, mrs. dunn,, much longer than i care to get into over the phone,, as i said,, i will be there just as soon as i can.. just leave trudy be till i get there,, and then i will explain it as best i can.. i promise..” buzz stated hoping it would put the matter to rest until he got out of here and was able to make it back home.. 

“none of this is acceptable, mr. miller.. none of it.. if you intend for me to be able to perform my intended duties…”

“mrs. dunn,, i have to go.. the sooner i get this over with the sooner i can get home and hopefully make some sense out of all of this..” with that buzz tapped the screen on his cell and disconnected the call..  

“detective miller?” a uniform, unfamiliar to buzz was calling out his name.

“right here!”

“we are ready for you now.. if you will just follow me.”

buzz followed the unidentified uniform to an interrogation room.. this was to be his first of many times that buzz found himself on the wrong side of the interrogation table..

***

as john, lisa and elliot approached adam's hospital room, they were more than just a little bit surprised to see an armed police guard just outside the door.. 

“good afternoon officer,,” john greeted him in a most amicable fashion.. “may i introduce myself…”

“i’m sorry sir,, adam miller is under protective custody,, and is not receiving visitors.” the officer admonished him in a tone that left little room for question.

“what’s going on?” john queried, “this is my son elliot,, adams best friend, he just wanted to…”

“when i said no visitors,, i meant no visitors..” the officer informed him.. 

“but i wanna see adam,, he needs me!!” elliot piped up,, seemingly not at all put off by the presence of  the officer.. 

“i am afraid that will have to wait until our investigation is completed, young man.” the officer addressed elliot directly.. 

“but you don’t understand!!” elliot continued,, looking back and forth between john and lisa for some kind of backup.. 

“you heard the officer elliot.. adam is not allowed any visitors right now..” john tried to console him..

“why don’t we take a seat in the waiting room.. maybe lisa could call her dad and see if we could get some special permission in this case. lisa?”

“sure, “ replied lisa. “let me give daddy a call and see what is going on.”

john lead the way as lisa and elliot followed him to the waiting room.. 

lisa placed a call to hank.

“daddy, lisa.. john and i have elliot here at the hospital.. he wants to see adam,, and there is some uniform at the door informing us that adam is under protective custody?? what gives??”

her face went very solemn as she listened carefully to hanks reply.

“ok.. .. yeah,, ok.. i don’t know what to think,, but i will handle it on this end.. “ lisa spoke in whispered tones.. 

“sure.. ok.. i love you too, dad.” she said before she clicked off the call and turned to john.. 

“i need to speak to you.. in private.” she said, as she gave a sorrowful look at elliot. 

“this will only take a minute el.. “ she tried to assure him as she led john off into the hallway by the hand. 

“what the hell is going on?” john asked her as soon as they were what they deemed safely out of earshot.. 

“oh my god,,” lisa started, “you’re not going to believe this.. i don’t even believe it.. “

“what??” john asked..

“it seems as though adam is the only one in the household that did not test positive for oleander poisoning.. you know,, the poison that killed jeannie?? and well,, i guess,, based on that,, he is being treated as a person of interest,, in other words,, they suspect him of poisoning not only his mom,, but his dad,, and the housekeeper too!!”

“no way!!” exclaimed john. “they have to be mistaken!! sure he is a bit disgruntled,, but this?? poisoning his whole family?? no way.. i know adam well enough to know he is not capable of such a thing.. “

“i’m in shock.. “ stated lisa.. “i just don’t know what to think…”

john wrapped his arm around lisa,, and the two stood there embracing as elliot silently returned to his chair on the far side of the waiting room.. he had heard the entire conversation.. 

it was all beginning to fall into place.. adam,, the oleander bush by the bus stop,, adams little dead dog, tiny.. elliot knew how much adam hated his dad.. but how could he have done this to his mother?? did he even know that was how she had died?? 

elliot thought not.. but he also thought the news would be best coming from him..

he had to get into see adam.. somehow.. someway.. he had to warn him.. 

the question at this point was just,, how??