Biggie and the Devil Diet - By Nancy Bell Page 0,54

not right, Biggie."

"I agree." Biggie opened a bottle of hand lotion and poured a little in her palm. "Only she's not in the hospital"— she rubbed her hands together—"she's run away." Just then the doorbell rang. Biggie stood up. "That must be Red. Go get washed up as fast as you can. Supper's about ready."

Boy, can that ranger eat. I ate two big slabs of chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, gravy, and two biscuits. But he ate three and then piled on another helping of potatoes and beans for good measure.

"My, oh my, I like to see a man with an appetite," Biggie said, passing around the biscuits. "But don't forget to save room for pie. We'll have that in the parlor with our coffee."

Biggie had roses in her cheeks, and I noticed she'd powdered her nose and put on a little pink lipstick.

For some reason I was already full of pie, so I sat and watched Booger and Bingo while the others had their dessert. Bingo was taking a nap in front of the gas logs. He wouldn't have been sleeping so good if he'd known Booger was stalking him. Booger walked into the room, sniffed Bingo's tail, and went and crouched under the coffee table shaking his behind. The cat sprang. Bingo yelped as Booger's claws sank into his ears; and before you could blink, he took off after Booger, who streaked out of the room with his ears back.

Biggie shook her head. "J.R., go put those two outside."

I caught both animals and shoved them out the back door. When I got back the ranger had opened a file and he and Biggie were looking at the papers in it. "So, Biggie, as you can see by the ballistics report, the bullet that killed Rex and the one that grazed Jeremy Polk came from the gun Stacie had, not Rex's gun."

"How?" I asked. "I mean that gun never left the study."

"That's right." Biggie looked at the papers. "Laura had it in her hand. We all saw."

"And they never left the room," I said. "We were all outside the study door."

"What about fingerprints?" Biggie asked.

"Just what you'd expect," Ranger Upchurch said. "Stacie's and Laura's only. Rex's gun had his prints along with Abner's. Abner says he cleaned the gun for Rex just last week."

Biggie took a sip of coffee. "Did your people dust the breaker switch for prints?"

"Naturally." The ranger took another sheet of paper from the pile. "They lifted only one good print, and it was Abner Putnam's. Of course that switch is just big enough for one finger at a time. When he turned it back on, he could have obliterated any prints that might have been on there before."

Biggie nodded. "So what do you think, Red?"

"I think it's too damn bad Mrs. Barnwell is out of commission. She has some explaining to do. In the meantime, I've got to question the girl, Stacie. She may be the only one who can give us any answers— ever."

"Is Laura gonna die?" I asked.

"Maybe," Biggie said. "She's in bad shape. The doctor says her brain is swelling. If they can't stop it, she will either die or be left with brain damage. That could happen even if they do stop the swelling." She looked at the ranger. "So how many bullets were fired from the gun Stacie had?"

"Three. We dug one slug from the bookcase in the study. One was lodged in Rex's body, and the third…"

"The one you found, Biggie," I said.

"Right. That had to be the bullet that grazed Jeremy Polk."

"What's next?" Biggie asked.

"I was hoping you had an idea." The ranger frowned.

"I'd like to go back out tomorrow and have another look," Biggie said. "Want to come along?"

"Can't." He drained his coffee cup and watched while Biggie refilled it from the china pot on the table. "I have to be in court in Center Point. I'd sure appreciate it if you would take another look— maybe ask a few more questions. Somebody might be sitting on information they don't even know is important. Oops, excuse me." He pulled his pager from his pocket and examined the little screen. "Mind if I use your phone, Biggie?"

Biggie nodded. "Use the one in the hall."

We waited quietly until he came back, Biggie examining the papers on the coffee table and me staring at the blue-and-orange flames darting up from the fake logs in the fireplace. When the ranger came back, he had his hat in his hand.

"I need