In Sickness and in Death (9 page)

He thought.
I have no need of it.

The convertible slowed and turned into a driveway and approached a huge gray stone house through an archway of ancient oak trees. The aura of a country estate was incongruous with the fact that it was located in the heart of a teeming city, but was enhanced by the manicured lawn and the gardens that seemed to disappear into the distance.

Alan stopped the car before the massive front doors and went around to hold the door for Adrienne. A uniformed attendant suddenly appeared and Alan tossed him the keys to the Corvette before the two passed through the welcoming portals. Brian watched the gleam in Adrienne’s eyes as she surveyed the spacious entry. Light twinkled through crystal cascades onto the matching brass umbrella stands that flanked each side of the doorway. Next to each was an antique oaken bench. An ancient, highly polished, armoire dominated the remaining space.

“Good evening, James,” Alan said as a servant stepped into the hallway. “Mom and Dad in the living room?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Alan,” the man said with a stiff bow.

Brian followed the couple. Mrs. Robinson gave the impression of a reigning queen as she delivered some last-minute instructions to the bartender. The living room was bathed in soft music from a hidden stereo system. Light from a crystal chandelier glistened on the parquet floor. A grouping of leather couches, arranged around a sunken fountain, made an inviting conversation center. Most of the other furniture was antique, Brian decided, and all of it was extremely expensive. The elder Dr. Robinson entered through an interior door just as Alan and Adrienne approached his wife. Brian watched Adrienne take in all of her surroundings even as she appeared to be giving her full attention to the introductions Alan was making to his parents. The doorbell interrupted their small talk.

“Oh,” Mrs. Robinson said. “Our guests are beginning to arrive. Help yourself to the buffet, my dear.” She waved a hand toward a loaded sideboard and hurried toward the entrance hall.

“Would you two like a drink?” Doctor Robinson asked.

Alan leaned down. “Adrienne?”

“Yes, please. A vodka martini if possible.” She raised a questioning eyebrow to the Doctor.

“Of course, my dear. We have a pretty wide selection.”

“I’ll get the drinks,” Alan said. “Dad?”

“No, thanks, son. Not right now. I’ll have something a little later.”

“I think I’ll check out the buffet,” Adrienne said.

Brian thought of his mom and instantly appeared at her side. She was sitting in a darkened house, a cup of tea cooling before her. Staring out of the window, she was the picture of melancholy. This house presented a striking contrast to the one he’d just left. He wished there was something he could do to ease his mother’s mind. If only he could let her know that his well-being was beyond her worrying about him. He hovered next to her and tried to send her comforting thoughts.

After quite some time, he could see no difference in her mental state. With a sigh, he whisked back to the party.

Adrienne was dancing with Alan and obviously enjoying herself. Several other young men could hardly keep their attention off her, much to the dismay of their companions. Adrienne was aware of the reaction she was getting and exploited it, with the exaggerated swaying of her hips and coy glances at her other admirers over Alan’s shoulder or when he wasn’t looking.

Brian felt crestfallen. There didn’t seem to be any way at all that he could get through to her. On this night a dream message would be totally hopeless.

Discouraged, Brian returned to the spirit world in search of his father. He found him exiting a grove of trees.

“What’s this place?” he asked, nodding toward the glen.

“That’s the Hall of Wisdom.”

“Hall of Wisdom? What’s that?”

“It’s a place where we study with more highly developed spirits to discover what the next step of our progression should be. We learn a lot about ourselves here. You’ll probably study here when you get all of this Adrienne business taken care of.”

Brian sighed. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get it resolved. It seems like no matter what I do, I just can’t seem to get through to her.”

“Well, we all have free will, remember. The only thing you can do is
try
to make her see that she’s done something very wrong. What have you tried?”

“I tried sending her thoughts, but that didn’t seem to get anywhere at all. I’ve tried dreams. I’ve been meditating a lot in an effort to increase my powers of concentration.”

“What kind of dreams did you send?”

Brian related the images he had conjured and sent to Adrienne. “The first one seemed to worry her a little, but after that . . .” He shrugged.

“She may not understand that everyone deserves the same consideration that we want for ourselves. You may have to try a different tactic.”

“I wish I knew what.”

Sometime later, Alan Robinson drove the Corvette into the parking garage of the condominium and turned off the ignition. He came around to the passenger’s door, opened it and extended a hand to help Adrienne exit. When he handed her the keys she kept hold of his hand and smiled up at him.

“Why don’t you come up for a drink?”

“I really should be getting on home,” he answered doubtfully.

“Oh, come on. Tomorrow’s Sunday, surely you can stay out a
little
late once in a while.”

A bit reluctantly, Alan followed her to the elevator.

A couple of hours later he slipped out of the condo bedroom, easing the door closed behind him. He let himself out of the apartment and took the elevator to the underground garage. Feeling more than a bit guilty, he hurried across the floor to where his own car was waiting.

How had it happened, he wondered as he drove to his own apartment near the hospital. Who had seduced whom? He hadn’t intended for his friendship with Adrienne to go this far. Friendly drinks with another hospital employee or even an occasional dinner or a party was all right, but he didn’t want to get involved in an intimate relationship. But it was too late now. What had been done was done. He couldn’t take it back. But he would have to cool it a bit. He would have to do all he could to prevent them from being completely alone at anyplace or anytime.

The next day as Brian sat meditating on what he should do for Adrienne, he heard his mother’s voice scream out his name. Instantly, he was by her side as she spoke on the phone.

“There must be some mistake,” she was saying. “My Brian can’t be
deceased
, for God’s sake. He’s only a young man and if there had been an accident, I would have heard.”

“Is his middle name ‘Lee’?” The policeman on the other end of the line asked.

“Yes, but . . .”

“And his date of birth was June 13, 1972?”

“Yes.” Brian watched what little color there had been in his mother’s face drain away.

“But there has to be a mistake.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m looking at the death certificate right here. I just got a copy from the County Records Office.”

“But what happened? Where is his body?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I don’t have that information.”

Brian tried to comfort his mother as she hung up the phone, sank into a chair, buried her face in her hands and wept.

“I’m so sorry that you had to find out this way, Mom. If only I could have gotten through to you before my body was cremated. It would do no good to go looking into it now. You are better off not knowing what actually happened.” He tried to send her the warming glow of his love. “Please, don’t cry. I’ll be here whenever you need me.”

Receiving no indication that his attempts to comfort his mother were doing any good, Brian went in search of the more developed entities of whom his father had spoken. Maybe they could help him with the Adrienne situation.

It was a few weeks later when Brian again searched out Adrienne and found her lounging on the deck of a cruise ship. In the deck chair next to her was a good-looking man who certainly wasn’t Dr. Alan Robinson. Apparently the good doctor had been unable to take time away from his practice. Brian thought the guy now with Adrienne looked familiar and tried to place his face.

Somewhere he had seen him before, but he didn’t believe it was around the hospital where Adrienne worked. Finally, it occurred to him. The man on the deck was one of Adrienne’s distant admirers from the Robinson’s party. She had apparently lost no time in establishing a relationship – or perhaps more than one – with the well-to-do guests that had attended. Apparently, she was not intending to depend on only
one
man this time, especially after the way it had worked out between them.

Brian noted that there was nothing that Adrienne was wearing that he had ever seen before. All of her clothing was completely new. Was all of it gifts from her newfound male friends? Or had she received the insurance settlement? How could he find out?

While he was puzzling with the question, Adrienne rose from her chair and stretched sexily.

“I think I’ll check out that little boutique we saw yesterday,” she told her companion.

“We’re having dinner at the Captain’s table this evening, aren’t we?”

“That’s right.”

“Good. I’ll meet you at the dining room for lunch, okay?”

The man nodded and Adrienne hurried across the deck with Brian trailing close behind.

In the shopping area, she bypassed all of the souvenir shops with barely a glance, heading directly for the boutiques and dress shops. Brian followed her into the one that appeared to be the most luxurious.

Adrienne moved slowly between the racks, picking up one or two items from one section and then moving on to another. When she came to the formal gowns, her progress slowed and she carefully scrutinized each article, holding some up and looking at them critically. She selected three, draped them over her arm and moved toward the dressing rooms.

Brian hung about the shop watching the other customers who came in. Some women went directly to a specific area, picked out an item or two and then moved to a dressing room. Some came in, wandered through the racks, checked a few price tags and promptly left the store. It was obvious that the prices were higher than they wanted to pay. After a while he began to wonder what was taking Adrienne so long. He popped into the dressing room where she was just trying on one of the gowns. It was a sage green silk crepe with a draped neckline that flowed from spaghetti straps. She turned this way and that before the mirror and Brian noted that her entire back was exposed to the waist. Adrienne twirled and the bottom of the skirt furled out provocatively. She smiled at her mirrored image.

Brian thought of the price tags that so many of the other prospective customers had rejected and he saw the price on the dress Adrienne modeled.
Eight hundred and sixty-
nine dollars is a lot of money to spend for one dress
, he thought.
That would pay a big
chunk of the monthly rent on the condo. Had she already collected on his insurance?

Brian returned to the shop and hung out near the cashier’s station. Surely, Adrienne wouldn’t be much longer.

Just then Adrienne came out of the dressing rooms and crossed to the cashier. She laid the green dress, a light blue shorts outfit and a white bikini on the counter and the cashier began to ring them up. Adrienne handed her a credit card. Brian saw that the credit card was in the name of William Jennings.

“Could I please see some identification?” the cashier asked. Adrienne pulled a wallet out of her purse and extracted her driver’s license. The cashier’s gaze traveled from Adrienne’s face to the picture on the license; then she frowned.

“Are you sure this is your credit card?”

Adrienne blushed prettily. “Actually, it’s my husband’s. We just got married, you see, and I didn’t have time to get my new license before we left.” She smiled confidently.

“This cruise is our honeymoon. We’re staying in Cabin 10D.”

The cashier made a note of the cabin number and returned her smile. “Well, congratulations, Mrs. Jennings. I’m sure this will be okay.” She proceeded to finalize the sale and Adrienne left the shop with her purchases.

Brian couldn’t believe that Adrienne had actually married this man.
Had Mr. William
Jennings given Adrienne his card to use
, Brian wondered,
or had she pilfered it from his
billfold? Surely she wouldn’t dare to do that
, he decided. At least that was an indication that she had not yet received the insurance settlement. He’d have to keep a closer eye on her activities, but nothing would happen with the insurance as long as they were still on this cruise ship.

Over the next several days, Brian pursued his own development while periodically checking to make sure that Adrienne was still on the ship. When the couple disembarked, he increased the frequency of his visits to several times a day. One evening, he visited the condo and traveled through the rooms. Everything was still pretty much the same. All of the furniture that Adrienne had wanted to buy was still in place. Brian was a bit surprised that it had not been repossessed. How was Adrienne paying for all of that stuff? She didn’t make enough to meet all of those payments. As he stood in the middle of the living room pondering the financial question, he heard a key turn the lock of the front door.

Adrienne dropped her purse on an end table and flopped onto the couch with a handful of mail. She began flipping through the envelopes, suddenly grabbing one and letting the others drop to the floor. Hurriedly she tore it open and pulled out a piece of paper. Brian saw that it was the insurance check.

“Yes!” she breathed triumphantly.

Brian shook his head sadly. Maybe he could use the money to get his message across to her. He retired to the spirit world to meditate on what image he would send. After sitting motionless for a while, relaxed and free of thought, Brian suddenly had a scene flash into his mind. It was from a movie he had seen years before. In the film a young woman was sitting on a bed with bundles of money in her hands; she flung the money into the air and lay back, laughing, as the bills rained down over her. Brian’s meditative state vanished in a flash. He could use that scene as a basis for the dream he would try to communicate.