Authors: Heather Webber

Tags: #Fiction, #Contemporary Women, #Mystery & Detective, #General

Digging Up Trouble (3 page)

BOOK: Digging Up Trouble

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"Oh!" Her hands fluttered again. "Right. He's, um, going, um, fishing. First light."

My eyebrows jumped up to my hairline. "Fishing."

She nodded enthusiastically. "He loves it." Grabbing her purse, she said, "I've got to go, Nina. See you tomorrow."

I stood and walked her to the front door, all the while trying to make sense of what had just happened.

Frenzied chiming filled the air as she thrust open the door, practically ran to her Escalade.

I turned to Tam.

"You have that look," she said.

"What look?"

"Like you're trying to figure out impossible calculus equations."

Calculus. Ugh. I'd flunked that my senior year of high school and had only scraped by my freshman year of college. And only then because I'd had a crush on my math tutor and wanted to please him.

"I get the weirdest feeling with her." The Escalade fishtailed out of the TBS parking lot.

"Like?" Tam asked.

"It's just that some of the things she's said don't jell. I don't know. Maybe I'm being paranoid."

"You are a paranoid kind of person."

"Thanks."

Smiling sweetly, she said, "No problem."

Shaking my head, I walked back into my office. The phone rang and my hopeful gaze jumped to the clock. Bobby usually called on his lunch break, at eleven-fifteen.

It was only ten-thirty.

Bobby MacKenna was Riley's vice principal during the school year. During the summer he helped out with his family's business—house painting. We'd been "dating" for almost six weeks now.

One of these days he was going to want to sleep with me.

Okay, okay. I needed to reword that. One of these days he was going to get sick of waiting for me to let him sleep with me.

I just hadn't been ready. How on earth could I let another man share my bed when I still had feelings for Kevin?

Homicide detective Kevin Quinn. Who in ten days would be my ex-husband.

Granted, I didn't quite know what those feelings were, but they were there. And until I figured them out, it wouldn't be fair to Bobby to pursue anything deeper, and it wouldn't be fair to me.

Then I thought about losing him, and my heart ached.

Jeez. A girl couldn't win.

"Nina?"

I turned and found Tam in the doorway, twisting her hands over her extended belly.

"What's the matter?" I asked. "The baby? Now?"

"No, no. I'm fine," she said, looking anything but.

My heart sank to my toes. "Then what?"

"There's been an accident. With Riley."

Three

White-knuckled, Tam clenched the steering wheel. "He's fine. Just fine. Everything's fine."

She drove because I was still shaking. My hands, my legs . . . Even my teeth chattered.

Riley.

Oh dear God. Please.

"Tell me again what Mr. Cabrera said?"

"Some sort of car accident, Nina. Riley was on his skateboard. He'll be fine. Just fine."

"Was he wearing his helmet?" I couldn't count the number of times I had to remind him to wear that helmet. He hated it. Called it "not cool."

Better not cool than dead, I'd told him.

Oh Lord, oh Lord.

Tam swerved out of the high-speed lane, into the center lane, and back into the left lane on I-275 eastbound. Horns honked in our wake. "I don't know." She pressed harder on the gas pedal.

"Oh no," she said.

"What?"

Then I heard it. The too familiar wh
oop-whoop
of a police

car. I spun to look out the back window. Sure enough, a silver cruiser was right behind us.

Tam slowed and pulled off onto the berm. "Let me take care of this," she said, fluffing her curls.

Oh dear God.

With all the praying I was doing today, I definitely needed to visit St. Valentine's soon. Maybe I ought to make an appointment to see Father Keesler. I would need a while.

Tam's window slid down and she looked out at the officer peering in.

"Where's the fire?" he asked.

Original, I couldn't help but think sarcastically, but luckily kept my big mouth shut.

"Not fire, officer, water."

"Water?" he questioned.

"Mine broke! The baby's coming!" She motioned to her rather large belly. "I feel like I need to push!"

Tam was brilliant! I have excellent taste in employees. Then I remembered Jean-Claude. Okay, somewhat excellent taste.

"Yes," I said, "we really need to get to the hospital, officer."

He nodded to me. "Why aren't you driving?"

Why wasn't I?

"Oh," Tam said, "she's in no condition to drive."

"You been drinking, ma'am?"

Ma'am
. Hmmph. "Me? No!"

"Painkillers," Tam whispered. "Back problems."

"Oh."

"Oooooh," Tam cried, holding her stomach.

"I'm going to call EMS," the officer said.

"No, no. I hate ambulances. I can make it . . . if we hurry."

The back of her head was to me, but I could imagine her blinking her beautiful blue eyes at him.

"Ma'am, I can't let you do that."

I lurched forward as Tam stepped on the gas. My jaw dropped open as I looked at her.

She smiled wide, a twinkle in her eye.

"You're insane!" I cried.

"Where's your sense of fun?" she asked, still grinning.

"Not here, that's for sure!" I peered around my headrest, looking out the back window. The officer had jumped in his car and was closing in fast.
Oh God.

Sirens filled the air as he pulled in front of us, leading the way.

Tam said, "See?" and stepped on the gas.

"I didn't know you were such a good liar." I'd stopped shaking, but my heart was now beating in my throat.

"We all have our talents."

We made it to the hospital in less than five minutes. Tam parked the car under the emergency room portico and Officer Nice Guy helped her inside.

"Go, go," she told me, waving me off as a gurney appeared out of nowhere. The officer must have called ahead.

I ran up to the desk on wobbly legs. "Riley Quinn," I said.

The woman barely looked up. "And you are?"

"His mother," I lied. I didn't know if they'd let me in otherwise.

Behind the counter, she rolled her eyes. "Biggest family I ever saw. Go through those double doors, take a left at the green doors, a right through the red doors, then follow the blue line until you get to the nurses' station. Someone there will help you."

Green, red, blue,
I repeated, trying to remember what she'd said as I pushed through the double doors.

My nose scrunched at the hated hospital smell. Not my favorite scent, that blend of antiseptic and illness.

A handrail lined one wall and a rainbow of colors decorated the floor. Looked like a class of preschoolers had had their way with a box of crayons.

I came to a set of yellow doors.

Yellow?

Red, green, blue. Green, red, blue? Blue, green, red?

No yellow at all! Oh no!

"Riley," I whispered loudly as I passed open doorways. What was it about hospitals and nursing homes? Why couldn't I pass a room without looking in? So far all I'd seen were two empty beds and a storage closet.

"Riley?" I whispered louder.

"Shhh!" someone said from within one of the rooms. "Trying to watch
Price Is Right!
"

"Sorry!"

I came to a set of green doors and decided to try my luck. I pushed through them. They led to another hallway that looked like it had a nurses' station at the end of it.

Quickly, I walked toward it, still unable to keep from peeping in the rooms I passed. I walked past an open door, looking in out of the corner of my eye, and stopped so fast I turned my ankle.

"Ow, ow, ow!" I hopped around like a rabid bunny. Not that I'd ever seen a rabid bunny, but I figured that's what I looked like.

I was rambling. Never a good sign.

"Nina Ceceri, is that you?"

Like nails on chalkboard, that voice, German accent and all. I thought about pretending to not hear her.

"I know you heard me," she snapped.

She sounded awfully healthy for someone lying in an E.R. hospital bed.

I backed up, stood in the doorway. "Mrs. Krauss, I really can't stay. I'm looking for Riley."

She sat upright, the oxygen tube in her nose straining. "Riley? Something's happened to the boy?"

The genuine fear in Brickhouse Krauss's eyes softened my hatred of her. "I don't know. I got a call that he'd been brought here."

She scrambled out of bed, tugging her johnnie around her to cover places I never ever wanted to see.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said. "You're obviously not well."

A white eyebrow arched angrily. "Ach."

Ohh-kay.

With the oxygen tube abandoned and IV pole firmly in hand, Mrs. Krauss shuffled out the door, her paper-thin gown flapping.

"Did you check the nurses' station?" she asked me.

"No."

"Never were a good problem solver, were you, Nina Ceceri?"

Mrs. Krauss, aka Brickhouse Krauss, had been my English Lit teacher once upon a time. She was evil, pure and simple, but it seemed as though I was the only one who saw her that way. More recently she had an on-off relationship with my neighbor, Mr. Cabrera. Currently they were off, even though they really loved each other.

It was Mrs. Krauss's fear of dying that kept breaking them up. See, all Mr. Cabrera's lady friends had the unfortunate habit of kicking the bucket while dating him. Brickhouse freely admitted she broke up with him every few weeks to even the odds.

"Why are you here?" I asked her.

Her short white hair stuck out in wayward tufts. "I'm not dying, if that's what you're hoping."

"What? Me? Hoping? Never."

Again with the eyebrow as she narrowed her ice blue eyes on me. I shivered.

"So?"

"Pneumonia," she said. "Mild case."

The wheels on the IV pole squeaked as we walked down the hallway. "Isn't it funny that you get sick when you're
not
dating Mr. Cabrera? Didn't you get strep the last time you broke up with him? It's kind of ironic."

"What do you know about irony, Nina Ceceri?" she snapped.

"I paid
some
attention in your class."

"Hah!"

Thankfully, we'd reached the nurses' station, the center of four hallways that created an X. In an odd way, I was glad I'd run into Brickhouse. I had calmed down considerably. "Riley Quinn?" I asked the nurse on duty.

She checked a chart, said, "Room 5, down the hall on the right." She motioned straight ahead. "Follow the blue line."

As if it was that easy.

Brickhouse started in that direction, but I held back. "Tamara Oliver?" I asked.

Again with the chart flipping. "She's still being evaluated. Check back in a few minutes."

I said thanks and rushed to catch up to Brickhouse. As we neared Room 5, I could hear all sorts of commotion coming from within.

The first person I saw when I peeked in was Kevin. All the tears I'd been holding back welled in my eyes.

"Donatelli!" Mrs. Krauss said, clutching the front of her gown.

Everyone in the room turned to look at us in the doorway. My gaze skipped from Mr. Cabrera, who wore a pea-greencolored, short-sleeve button-down with a polar bear pattern, to an older woman with champagne-colored hair who I didn't recognize, to my cousin Ana, all big brown eyes, and finally to Kevin.

Kevin's gaze slammed into mine, and one of those dammed tears fell. "Where's Riley?" I asked, though it didn't sound like my voice at all, all choked and strained.

"Ursula!" I absently heard Mr. Cabrera say. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?"

In an instant Kevin was on his feet, headed toward me. I didn't even mind when he pulled me into a hug. "He's fine, Nina."

I could almost hear Tam's
I told you so.

"Ach," Brickhouse said to Mr. Cabrera. "Like you care. Who's she?"

I heard the jealousy in her voice as Kevin's hand cupped the back of my head, his fingers gently kneading. He said, "A little accident."

I rested my forehead against his chest.

"A neighbor," Mr. Cabrera said. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his face turn three shades of purple. A neighbor, my foot. I didn't recognize the woman.

"I'm glad you're here," Kevin said.

How could he have betrayed me? How could he have walked away from seven pretty darn good years of marriage? For Ginger Ho. Er, Barlow. Ginger Barlow, his police partner.

I hated her.

And I remembered that I was supposed to hate him too.

I pulled back, out of his hug. Okay, it wasn't as fast as it could have been, but at least I did it.

Mind over matter and all that.

Oh no. There I went sounding like my mother again.

"Your mother's on her way," Ana said as if reading my mind. She came over, took my hand, held it tight. "Mr. Cabrera called her, and she called me. I was closer."

Half of Freedom probably knew about the accident by now, thanks to Mr. Cabrera's loose lips.

"Is Riley really okay?" I asked her, not wanting to look at Kevin. I had the uneasy feeling he knew I still loved him. That maybe, if he waged an all-out please-take-me-back war, I would. Take him back.

Would I?

Then what about Bobby?
my inner voice asked.

I told it to please shut up.

That's me. Nina Colette Polite Ceceri Quinn.

"He's fine. He might have a broken wrist. He's in X-ray now."

"What happened?" I asked.

BOOK: Digging Up Trouble

5.49Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

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