A Purse to Die For (20 page)

"
Hilary didn
'
t give a rat
'
s ass—oops. No really, she thought it was a scream. It was Andrea who had a conniption. Apparently, she bought the dress in Palm Springs, so that
'
s how the Toronto store didn
'
t know about it. But there were the two of them, both in blond updos, both looking so alike…
"
She giggled again.

"
What
'
s an updo?
"
Rob asked.

Gina grabbed her hair with one hand and swept it up onto her head. When she let go, it fell naturally into a mass of chestnut curls halfway down her back.

"
So there they were, Hilary laughing and pointing, and Andrea screaming at her like a gutter wench. She took a couple swipes at her with her evening bag—Andrea, that is—swiping at Hilary, who ducked—and finally, Andrea marched out of the place, never to be seen again that night. Hilary stayed and acted like the belle of the ball.
"

Rob frowned.
"
So they didn
'
t like each other.
"

Gina nodded.
"
People said they were competitive, which is a nice way of putting it, from what I saw.
"

"
I know about competition,
"
Rob muttered.

Gina had the sense to keep quiet. She could see where this line of thought was headed and didn
'
t like it.

"
You know about his real work now.
"
It was a rhetorical comment. No need to ask whom Rob was talking about. Gina said nothing. Overhead, a seaplane droned by.

"
You okay with it?
"
Rob was pushing it. The disbelief in his voice was clear.

"
No, of course I
'
m not okay with it,
"
Gina replied.
"
How could I be okay with it? But it
'
s not my job or my life—it
'
s his. What can I do about it?
"
Her voice was bitter, and almost immediately she regretted using it.

"
Do about what?
"
A cool voice said at her side.

Rob was on his feet.
"
You
'
re back,
"
he growled.

Tony nodded, standing with his arms crossed.
"
And I have news.
"

Chapter 33

She established when she woke from another of her profound slumbers that day was dwindling by the lack of light on the other side of the industrial hospital window spanning the end wall of her room. The nurse said they were keeping her overnight for observation when all Becki figured she needed was sleep. She guessed there was less demand for hospital beds in Langdon Hills than in Toronto. In Toronto, she
'
d be booted out on the street already. But here she
'
d have nurses around each time she woke to threaten to reintroduce her to real food.

S
he didn
'
t see the need to ever eat again. But she wasn
'
t the sort of person to be a problem patient, so
,
appetite or no appetite, she was willing to follow Dr. Crosby
'
s orders. Two to four hours without any food or drink at all.
Done.

Then small amounts of weak, room temperature tea or ginger ale that had been opened for an hour to release the bubbles. Then if she could tolerate that without further upset, the addition of an apple or banana—puree was recommended—after which she could safely move on to other fruits and vegetables, excluding potatoes. As a last step, after six to twenty-four hours at each successive stage, she could choose meat.
Not!

Or grains. Or even dairy, if she felt daring.

She sipped some flat ginger ale from the plastic cup lingering on the metal table beside her hospital bed and remembered she wanted to phone Gina. Because she had something important to discuss with her. She picked up the receiver then reconsidered the order of her calls. After all, shouldn
'
t she phone her husband first? If the situation
was
reversed and
he
landed in a hospital bed far from home, wouldn
'
t she want to be the first person he called?

"
Hi, honey. How are you?
"
he asked as soon as he recognised her voice.

"
Extreme dieting,
"
she deadpanned. When she thought about the word that described the comic
'
s tone she was trying to take with Karl, it reminded her way too much of
bed panned
.

"
Really? Dieting? What for?
"

Isn
'
t he charming? That
'
s why
I
went ahead and married him all those years ago. Well, that and the
p
olice
c
hief uniform.

"
See,
"
she began,
"
what happened, Karl, is…I got food poisoning.
"

"
Poison?
"

Hearing
panic, she quickly clarified,
"
Food
poisoning. Had my stomach pumped and everything. And now the good doctor and his trusty nurse cohorts are planning to build my strength up again. Starting all over from the beginning. Like an infant. With mush.
"

"
Oh, honey.
"

"
Not to worry. So how are things on your end?
"

He ignored her question.
"
What was it you ate?
"

The line crackled.

"
Pardon?
"
he said.

"
Vegetarian
sausages.
"

"
All living creatures know they
'
re poison.
"

"
Karl!
"

"
Sorry. What I mean is, how awful.
"

He sounded like he really meant it this time.

"
Who else got sick?
"
he
ask
ed.

"
No one.
"

"
How
'
s that again?
"

"
What do you think, Karl?
"
This is embarrassing.

"
Oh, I see. Couldn
'
t entice anyone else to try your breakfast meat replacements. And so therefore they were spared.
"

"
That
'
s about it.
"

She must have started to sound more defeated than amused because Karl quickly changed his tactic.
"
Missing you. Counting the days. You
'
ve been gone nine full days now. Way too many to be away from your husband, who loves you.
"

Maybe she yawned.

"
You sure you
'
re okay?
"

"
Sorry. Running on empty. Literally.
"

"
Hungry,
"
he surmised.

"
Noooo!
"

Silence.

She regretted shouting at him.
"
As if I needed another reason to stay stuck in Langdon Hills.
"

Despite her pessimistic tone, something hopeful was twitching at the back of her brain and making her think that possibly, after doing just one more little thing, the whole frigging ordeal might come to an end. She just needed to pass it by Gina first.

"
First thing tomorrow
,
I
'
m coming out there to see you,
"
Karl said.

"
Don
'
t. I
'
m fine. Just fine. Hold down the fort for me at home. And I
'
ll be back before you know it.
"

"
Not soon enough.
"

"
If you come here, you
'
ll get dragged into this whole mess. It
'
s bad enough one of us has been ripped from ordinary life and forced to live in the middle of a…a thriller.
"

"
You? And ordinary life?
"

"
Compared to this.
"

"
You really don
'
t want me to come,
"
he stated.

"
No.
"

"
Hmmm.
"

"
Why,
hmmm
?
"

"
Remember, I said I
'
d look into Tony and that gun of his you saw? Tony
'
s a fed. Has been for some time. Undercover. Really, the only reason I was able to find out what I did about him is I
'
m in the biz too. So if he
'
s with you, you
'
re in good hands. But keep this to yourself. That
'
s a must.
"

"
Tony? A fed? Holy smoke! That
'
s good news. I guess. Unless he
'
s—whaddaya call it?—gone rogue.
"

"
Rogue?
"

"
You know, as in Sarah Palin
'
s book.
"

"
I should come, anyway.
"

"
No! Hey, Karl, it
'
s starting to snow here. First snow of the season. Is it snowing there?
"

After a half an hour of convincing him she was fine, she fell asleep again. When she awoke, it was completely dark outside.
Time flies when you
'
re unconscious.

She dialled Gina
'
s cell over an
d over. Gina didn
'
t pick up. E
ach time Becki tried, she was directed to voicemail. Why would Gina turn off her phone? The only thing Becki could do was leave a message.

"
Gina, it
'
s Becki. So…I
'
m the one who
'
s in hospital now. I know. Dumb. Something I ate. Anyway, I discovered something here. By fluke. My doctor, Dr. Crosby, is…was…Godmom
'
s doctor
too
. And he happened to let it slip that Godmom didn
'
t have cancer. You believe that? What
'
s it mean, do you think? Was Carla lying? Or was she somehow convinced Godmom had cancer? Weird, huh? So I want to talk to you about it. Call me. Room 27. They
'
re forcing me to stay here overnight. So call anytime. Don
'
t worry how late. Believe me, I
'
m getting plenty of sleep. And Gina…be careful. Something
'
s seriously not right about this. Okay…bye for now.
"

Great fluffy flakes were floating down from the sky on the other side of Nellie
'
s bedroom window. As Mom would say an infinite variety of perfect crystals. Snow meant tobogganing. And snowmen. And skating. And Christmas. But Christmas was still almost three months away.

She cuddled under the covers with Macho. His face, hands and feet were made of rubber or something, but the rest of him was soft just like her other stuffed animals—the ones who didn
'
t sleep with her—which were lined up at the end of the bed. Sometimes she felt sorry for them way over there, but Mom said she could only have one stuffed animal under the sheets at night, and since Macho was her favourite…Macho
'
s arms were around her
,
and she made sure the blankets were well under his chin
,
so he could still breathe. She tucked him in just like Mom tucked her in every night. Finally, when Macho started to snore really loud, she decided it was probably okay for her to fall asleep
too
.