Invisible Ellen (23 page)

Susan snorted with laugher. “Close enough,” she said. “You don't have to—”

“I know, but I want to,” Temerity said. “And I want that dry-cleaning bill.”

“You know what?” Susan said. “I think I'll throw these clothes away when I get home. I hate this outfit anyway.”

“Yeah,” Temerity said, pretending to scrutinize the ensemble. “It makes you look like a lawyer.”

“Horrors!” Susan said with a smile. “But, speaking of”—she looked at her watch—“I've got to get going. Listen, here's my card. I'd love to come to a concert; I could use a diversion. And you are absolutely right. I don't want to ask dickhead for anything right now. I don't even want to talk to him. I still can't believe you took the time to listen to me blubber.”

“Why? Let me ask you something,” Temerity said soberly. “If someone were hit by a car right in front of you, would you step over them and keep walking? Or would you stop to help them?”

“I'd stop,” Susan said, sounding a little surprised at her answer.

“Well, girl,” she said, “from what you just told me, you were hit by a train. I'm only too glad to dust you off.”

Susan stopped wiping and turned to face Temerity. “You're a very special person. Thank you for reminding me that they're out there. I needed that.”

“Just try to stay off the tracks,” Temerity said.

Susan promised to come to the concert, straightened her sadly wrinkled and moist blouse, and said good-bye.

Ellen retreated a few feet down the hall and watched Susan leave, then she went back to the restroom. She opened the door. “What did you think?”

Temerity sniffed, held her head up high and said, “I think she's next.”

“For what?” Ellen asked.

“On our list.”

“We don't have a list.”

“We do now. Let's go see J.B.” Temerity unfolded her stick and they started out.

They'd only gone a few feet down the hall when a voice called out from behind them.

It said, “Did you ever find a rug you liked?”

Ellen walked a few feet on, hoping that if they ignored Janelle she'd think she was mistaken. But Temerity had stopped and Ellen turned to see her facing the regal woman.

“Sorry?” Temerity asked.

“You're the one who came in the store and asked about the rug, then the next day I got a note telling me about Sam's baby. Now I bring Samantha in for a checkup, and here you are, talking to Susan Newland, no less.”

“Oh, you must be Janelle,” Temerity said without apology. “Sorry, I'm not very good with faces.”

“You want to tell me what's going on? Are you in cahoots with Ms. Newland?”

“Never met her before today. We just happened to, uh, run into each other.”

“I see. And you are here why?”

“Well.” Temerity held her stick up straight and propped both hands on it, settling in. “To tell you the truth, we came to see Cindy's neighbor, J.B. He got shot, as I'm sure you know. And then we saw Susan in the lobby, recognized her from when she came to talk to Cindy and wondered what was going on, so we snooped. And then, when I heard how upset Susan was, I thought she could use someone to talk to.”

At the word “we,” Janelle's eyes scanned the hallway. Ellen turned away. “How do you know Cindy?” she asked.

“Oh, I don't,” Temerity said. “But my friend is her neighbor, and your letter got delivered to her by mistake. She opened it without
checking the name, and once she'd seen it, well, we thought it deserved a little help, so we slipped it under her door. Plus, Cindy—we called her Heidi then, 'cause we didn't know her name—seemed like she could use a little assistance deciding what to do, what with going into labor suddenly and all, so we sent you the note.”

Janelle looked as though a brace of squirrels had moved an exercise wheel into her skull and they would not stop running. She shook her head. “I'm sorry, I don't understand. What are you, some kind of masked citizen's brigade?”

Temerity smiled wryly. “More blindfolded than masked, but whatever,” she said. “Listen, we didn't mean to make any trouble. Finding out about Cindy and you was accidental, but it seemed like a good idea for Cindy to find out about you too—once we'd met you anyway—and for you to know about the baby. So we butted in. I apologize if that caused you any kind of distress.”

“Actually,” Janelle said, clearly processing the information and finding that it checked out, “I'm glad you did.” She did not, however, look completely convinced. “But whatever possessed you to get so involved?”

Ellen turned back, moving directly behind Temerity, who said, “That's a fair question. I guess it's all about timing. Someone helped me when I was in serious trouble a few days ago, someone I didn't even know. Then, right after that, well, your letter showed up and it seemed like a good idea to pass on the favor, even though you didn't know me. Besides, I always find that focusing on helping other people makes my problems much more insignificant, don't you?”

Perspective bubble activated, Janelle opened her mouth to speak, then seemed to think the better of what she was going to say and
shut it again. She stood thoughtfully for a few moments. “What about Susan Newland.” It was a statement.

“She's in a bad way, don't you think?” Temerity asked. “But other than just listening to her vent a bit and inviting her to hear a concert this weekend, I'm not real sure what more I can do. She strikes me as a resilient little warrior, though.”

Janelle smiled, a big smile that showed two rows of perfect white teeth. “Yes, that she does.”

“How's the baby?” Temerity asked, and started closing the distance between them.

“She's perfect.” Janelle's smile lit up the corridor. When Temerity stopped in front of her she said, “Thank you. I don't know what Cindy would have decided in the long run, but I'm really grateful that you ‘butted in,' as you put it, and we can know and take care of Sam's child.” She paused, looking over her shoulder through the glass wall into the waiting room, where her husband was gesturing that they'd been called in. Next to him, Cindy was cooing to the baby. “And the girl who Sam loved too,” she added quietly. “I can see why he did. She's very sweet.”

“She really needed you,” Temerity said just as softly. “She misses him too.”

A spasm of sorrow passed over Janelle's face at the mention of her brother's death. “I've got to go; they're taking us in,” Janelle said. “Stop by and see me sometime. I'll get you that handicapped discount.” She started away with her syncopated gait and then stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “You're telling the truth now, right?”

“Actually, I lied,” Temerity said, hanging her head. She mumbled, “I already have a rug.”

Janelle laughed and went to join her family.

Temerity let out a long, slow whistle. “Whew,” she said. “I'm really glad she took that well. I'm not sure what I would have done if she'd jumped me.”

Ellen just laughed. She knew what she would have done if someone went after her friend. Check that. She knew what she had done, and it was hard to believe that she was the same person who, just a week before, had sat and meekly watched the world go by.

J
.B. had visitors when they reached his room. From the hallway, through the open door, they could hear male voices inside, and both of them recognized the detective and the doctor in addition to the patient.

“Yeah, I know,” the detective was saying. “And I get it. These guys are scary. But the longer he goes away, the safer you'll be.”

J.B. hummed a bit dubiously. Then he said, “I'm really sorry to hear about Connie. She wasn't the friendliest gal, but she never hurt anybody and she kept an eye on things. Guess that was a mistake this time, huh?”

“Something like that,” the detective growled.

“What happened to her little dog?” J.B. sounded genuinely concerned.

“Animal control took him. He'll go to the shelter, maybe he'll find a new home.”

There was a long sigh. “What a shame. He was a faithful little guy.”

Ellen thought,
Yes, more than you know
.

“A crusty old guy like him won't get adopted, and he won't last long. Sounds like me. We both just want to get out of Dodge before
somebody turns out our lights. If I can get some money together, then I'll go stay with my son.”

“How about this,” the detective said. “You come in and ID the guy, if you can. He won't see you. We can take a statement from you, and you can move on into your new life. If you do need to go to court, which I seriously doubt, we'll give you protection while you're back in town.”

“Well . . .”

“You think about it,” the detective said. “I'll be back to discharge you on Sunday. If you decide you can do it, we can schedule the lineup for then. Just promise me you'll give it some thought.”

“Yes, sir,” J.B. said. “I'll do that.”

“Get some rest,” the doctor told him. “I'm dropping you back from the morphine to codeine, let me know if the pain gets bad.”

“It's bad,” J.B. said without pausing to consider it.

“Of course it is,” the doctor said automatically. “I'll send the nurse in with one more morphine dose, but that's it.”

Ellen and Temerity decided this might be a good time to fetch more soup. That would give J.B.'s other visitors time to clear out.

“What about the rest of the Germenes gang?” Temerity whispered as they began to retrace their steps to the cafeteria. “I mean, they don't have them all in jail, do they?”

Ellen didn't answer, but she was thinking about what had happened to Curtain Connie. And there was no question that J.B. could identify his attacker if he chose to, and the other gang members knew it.

The cafeteria was mostly deserted in the late afternoon, and Ellen picked a different soup, a clear one that would be easier to clean up, just in case. They were starting to leave when Ellen heard a raking cough she'd heard before. It was such an unpleasant and unwelcome
sound that it made her muscles seize up tightly, causing the lid to pop up off the soup she was holding in both hands. She stopped abruptly, pulling Temerity up next to her.

Temerity half whispered, “I know. You'd think somebody with that cough would refrain from visiting a hospital. I mean, they've got enough germs here without that guy shoveling them around like steer manure on a winter lawn.”

Having nothing to contribute conversationally about lawns, of which she knew nothing, or steer manure, about which she was glad she knew even less, Ellen turned slowly toward the sickly sound. To her astonishment, but not her surprise, there was Georgi in the far corner. Draped over his shoulders was the trashy Loretta, glaring across the table at a rigid and obviously frightened Irena.

“Let's sit down,” Ellen said. Before Temerity could object, she led her to a table along the back wall, only a couple tables away from the improbable trio. As she pulled out the plastic chair for Temerity, she whispered to her, “That's Irena and her, uh, fake husband and his fiancée.”

Temerity's eyebrows went up in surprise. “No way,” she breathed, almost silently. “I thought you said he left the country.”

“That's what she thought, but . . .” Ellen wanted to hear what was going on, so she said only, “There's more to the story, I'll explain in a minute.”

At first Ellen thought that eavesdropping would be pointless because Irena was saying something in Russian. But Georgi brought a massive hand down on the tabletop, making Loretta's drink cup and Irena jump.

“You are in America. Speak English,” he ordered. “You want to stay here. I am trying to help you.”

Ellen had put Temerity's back to the group and taken the chair
across from her so that she had a view of the menacing couple and Irena's trembling face.

Irena dropped her eyes to her lap and made a visible effort to rouse herself but landed back in the same protective crouch. “Georgi, please, is your boy.”

“You will care for my son until I come back,” Georgi said quietly, but the threat in his voice was unmistakable. “I have business for a few months. Big business. When I am finished, we will come for Ivan. Then my family will live in a big house on a lake with a boat.” He leaned back in his chair and patted Loretta's hand.

“Georgi, I have no money, I cannot keep . . .” Irena began.

The big man leaned forward and hissed menacingly through his teeth. Irena cowed back, raising her hands to her face as though conditioned by the sound to expect an assault. He coughed, the phlegm churning deep in his lungs, thick and rough. Temerity pulled a face and mouthed,
Pass me the Lysol
. “I will give you money for my son on Sunday. There will be enough for Ivan to have a good home and a decent babysitter when you are working,” Georgi proclaimed. Irena seemed frozen, but she managed a curt nod.

“Good. You will stay here and wait to hear from me. If anything happens to Ivan, you will answer to me.” He paused to let the image of whatever brutality he was referring to sink in. Irena blanched and shuddered. “Understand?” he rumbled.

Irena nodded again, one quick jerk. He stood. Loretta was dragged up with him, looking down her nose at the woman her fiancé had just dismissed so cruelly. Ellen watched her, thinking,
I wouldn't be so smug. You're next
.

“You are strong. You will be all right. Take care of my son,” Georgi said, and stalked away. Still clutching the huge man's arm, Loretta turned to look over her shoulder at Irena and made a childish face.

Irena waited for them to go, then leapt up as though the chair were suddenly electrified, shoving the seat back so forcibly with the movement that it fell over and clattered on the floor, then ran from the cafeteria.

Temerity was sitting with her mouth open. For a few seconds, she didn't speak, and then she asked, “What fresh hell is this?”

So Ellen told her. About overhearing Georgi's conversation with the Boss in the parking lot, about the way the Boss had arranged to get the other manager out of the way so they could rob the Costco. About the rumors that Georgi had killed his last wife and the fact that once he had his citizenship papers, Loretta too was almost certainly a goner.

“My, my, what a tangled life you live,” Temerity commented, sounding awed.

Ellen thought about it. “I used to just hear stuff I knew was wrong and write it down. I mean, it's hard not to hear things when people don't know you're there, but it never occurred to me to do something about it. Until . . . well, until . . . I met you.”

Temerity put her head back and laughed. “So I'm the spider who caught you in that sticky web.”

“Yeah,” Ellen said. “Kind of.”

“Well, let's get weaving!” So they talked it out. Discussing whether or not Irena would be safe even if she did everything Georgi asked. The vote on that was a double no. They speculated on what the kid's life would be like with the world's most despicable parents. The prognosis was bleak. They puzzled out that Georgi and the Boss had obviously met through Irena; the Crows had said so. They speculated on what the “big noise” that Georgi had promised would be. Nothing good. And then they naturally shifted into discussing
what, if anything, they could do about it. They talked until the soup got cold and the cafeteria began to fill up for dinner.

So they went back for a third container of soup, then took it upstairs to find J.B. snugly cushioned in the blissful ignorance of state-sanctioned narcotics. So Ellen wrote a note dictated by Temerity: “Came by, will try again.” As an afterthought, Ellen added two sentences of her own and placed the folded paper on top of the soup.

When they got home, Justice was standing in the kitchen and the smell of something in the oven grew more enticing as they crossed the big room.

“Hey, bro,” Temerity called out. “Ellen is staying with us for a few days.”

“Cool,” Justice said. “I'll get out the life vests and the inflatable rafts.”

“Are we expecting a flood?” Temerity asked.

“I think it would be unwise to rule out anything when you two get together, including—no,
especially
—natural disasters.”

She ignored him. “Smells good, meat loaf?”

“Turkey meat loaf. You want to make a salad or set the table?”

Temerity picked the table, volunteering Ellen for the salad. Ellen tried to confess complete salad ignorance, but Justice walked her through it. It wasn't that hard, just washing and chopping. He encouraged her to try the vegetables on their own. The sweet snap of the crunchy, juicy pepper had Ellen rethinking her prejudice against vegetables once again. She felt she had some catching up to do.

While they ate, Temerity told her brother about Georgi, the Boss, the plot, and poor Irena.

When she finished the sad story, he just sighed and shook his head. “Is it too late to choose the flood?” he asked. “One shooting
wasn't enough for you? I think you should stay out of this one. In fact, as your attorney, I strongly advise not getting involved.”

“You're not an attorney.”

“I'm the closest thing you've got to sane advice. Dropping a note off to help out a scared pregnant girl is one thing, insinuating yourself in the middle of an armed assault is another.”

Temerity just waved a hand. “Done that. Right, Ellen?”

But Ellen was with Justice on this one. She wasn't eager to get involved in anything to do with either Georgi or the Boss, if she could avoid it. “Do you think you should just tell somebody—you know, authorities—about the plan?” she asked Temerity, deliberately leaving herself out of the suggestion.

Justice frowned. “Unfortunately, there are two problems with that idea. First, you don't really have anything to tell that's not speculation. Nothing illegal has happened yet, which brings us to the second thing. The only way to tell the police, or the store, is for you, Ellen, to come forward and tell the right people what you've heard.”

Before Ellen had finished shaking her head no, Justice went on. “And the sad fact is, at this point, it's all hearsay. He could call you a liar and sue you for libel. It's his word against yours and once he finds out that someone's on to him, it is highly unlikely this theft would happen, but you would officially be on record as spreading false rumors that were damaging to his good reputation.”

“But he doesn't have one,” Ellen said.

“I hear you, but strictly speaking, gossip and undocumented harassment accusations of his female employees don't count as evidence against him. I repeat, I really don't think you should get involved in this.”

Temerity was drumming her fingers on the tabletop, her mouth screwed up sideways while she thought. Suddenly she smacked a fist
on the table, clipping the tines of her fork and sending it spinning up in the air. Justice reached out, snatched it from the air and set it back on her plate.

“We have to catch them in the act!” she announced.

Justice groaned. “Okay, that would fall under the category of getting involved,” he said. “Which, in case you missed it, I strongly advised not doing.”

“Well, we can't just stand by and let them get away with this!” Temerity insisted. “If you could have heard that Georgi guy talking . . .” She shook a little in anger. “Somebody needs to put him in jail.”

Justice settled down a bit. “And I'm sure somebody will, eventually, but it's probably best if it isn't you two, for multiple reasons.”

“What about Irena?” Ellen asked quietly. “He might hurt her, and the baby will grow up to be like him.”

Though he looked like he wanted to argue, Justice grimaced and nodded his agreement. “Hard to argue that. Okay. Let's look at our options. Ellen, could you take one of the security guys aside and let him know what might happen, so they could be alerted?”

Before he'd finished, Ellen was already shaking her head furiously. “I can't talk to anyone there. I don't want to. Plus, the security guy on for that job is, like, seventy, and he's related to the Boss. He might just tell him what I said.”