The Fallen Angels Book Club by R. Franklin James Page A

and ate pretty well. She worked in the garden with me and we played Scrabble together.”
    â€œWhat happened a few months ago?”
    â€œJoseph was hired. The center is actually down two nurses, but they’re having a hard time finding people who want to work for low pay. Anyway, he replaced Marjorie. You remember her, the really tall nurse? Anyway, at first he seemed okay. Must have been on probation. Gradually, he’s become curt and even snarly.”
    â€œA personality defect doesn’t mean he isn’t doing his job.”
    â€œI know that.” Marla was clearly irritated. “Lily is supposed to receive pills three times a day. Marjorie made it a game at meal times. She had to take at least five of them. I know because I get my cholesterol pill at the same time.”
    She grabbed my wrist. “Now they don’t give her as many, and she only gets them twice a day.”
    I gently pulled my arm back and put it around her shoulders. “Her doctor probably just ordered a change in her prescription. It doesn’t mean anything.”
    Marla jerked back. “No, sweetie, Lily’s not the same. She’s changed. Besides, she hasn’t seen her doctor since before Joseph came.”
    It was clear I wasn’t responding the way Marla wanted. On the other hand, while Joseph might not win any congeniality awards, he didn’t strike me as incompetent.
    â€œIs it the handling of the medication that has you concerned?”
    â€œYes, but there’s more.” Her face flushed and her voice trembled. Marla took my hand in hers. “I need to tell you the most important thing. Rosemary Hebert passed away about a week after Joseph started. She died in her sleep.”
    â€œYes?” I squeezed Marla’s hand.
    â€œShe used to take those little yellow pills for her cataracts. I think Joseph is giving Lily Rosemary’s prescription.”
    â€œWhy would he do that? What does he have to gain?”
    She leaned in even farther. “Her white pills cost a lot more than the yellow ones. I think he’s selling Lily’s medication.”
    â€œHave you spoken to the director?”
    â€œYes. Other than looking at me as if I were senile, she said she’d look into it, but nothing has changed. Sweetie, Lily is getting worse.”
    If it had been anyone else, I would have tried to rationalize the situation as a simple medication change. I knew Marla wasn’t one to raise an unwarranted alarm. I glanced at the garden clock.
    â€œMarla, give me a couple of days. Let me see what I can find out. The privacy rules regarding medical file information are strict. I doubt I’ll be able to learn much.” I stood to leave. “However, I have to say that Lily seems about the same to me. Maybe a little grumpier, but about the same.”
    Marla heard what she wanted. Her face cleared and she gave a small nod of acceptance. “I know you have a lot on your plate right now. I wouldn’t ask for your help if I didn’t think this was important.”
    I took both her hands in mine and said goodbye.
    I lectured myself all the way home for getting involved. But how could I ignore Marla’s plea?

CHAPTER TEN
    T he hands on the clock hardly seemed to move as our morning staff meeting dragged on. Ed got into his billable hours speech and I predicted we had at least another twenty minutes to go. My mind went back to my meeting with Jeffrey and my dinner conversation with Abby. Maybe I was the one who needed to be more open and trusting.
    Ed droned on, “I’ve decided to mix up our teams. Some of you struggle with bringing in new clients, and others have seen a marked reduction in billable hours.” An outstanding civil litigator, Ed was a trial court legend. He often memorized closing arguments that ran for an hour or more. Today, however, he noticeably refused to glance up from his page of bulleted notes.
    I didn’t want to look at Mark,