Organized to Death (23 page)

Tina felt a pang of guilt but pushed it aside.

“How’d you find out?” Leslie asked.

“Hank called me. Said he couldn’t get ahold of Tina on her cell, wondered if I knew where she was. We’ve both been looking for her. I saw her car down the street and figured she might be here.” He flipped open his phone, hit a speed-dial number, and said, “I found her. She’s at Leslie’s. Yeah, she’s on her way.”

“Talk to you later, Leslie,” Tina said and walked out the door. Brandon didn’t try to grab her this time. When she settled into her car, she turned on her cell and checked voicemail. Five from Brandon, four from Hank, each one more terse than the last, finally each just saying “Call me.” And one from Rachel, two from her mother.

She pulled out of her parking space and called her mother. Family first.

“Where have you been?” were the first words out of Laura’s mouth.

Tina almost lied. Almost said she’d turned her cell off by accident. Instead, she said, her voice a bit bitter, she realized, “I was getting annoying phone calls from men, so I turned it off.”

“Men? What men?”

“Your favorite, Brandon, and your not so favorite, Hank.”

“They were annoying you?”

“Yes. How’s Uncle Bob?” She turned onto Broadway and headed toward the hospital.

“He’s all settled and doing fine. I called you about Rachel and Nicky.”

“I heard. Brandon found me.”

“Found you where?”

“At Leslie’s.”

“Why would you be at Leslie’s? Going to redecorate your room?”

“We’re friends, Mother. We had lunch together.”

“Really. You haven’t seen much of her since you came back from Virginia.”

Tina decided to let it pass. “I’m on my way to the hospital now. I’ll try to be home for dinner.”

“Yes, do. Uncle Bob will be expecting you.”

“Of course,” Tina said and hung up.

She pulled into the hospital lot, then dialed Rachel’s cell. She answered on the third ring.

“Rach, this is Tina. I’m on my way to see you, where are you?”

“Oh, Tina, I’m glad you called! Nicky’s in room four fifteen. They say he’ll be okay. They finally got the x-ray results back, and they don’t need to operate. Thank goodness.”

“Great,” Tina said as she climbed out of her car and walked to the front door. The hospital felt too familiar now, and she sighed as she entered the elevator.

Rachel stood by Nicky’s bed. When she saw Tina, she rushed to hug her.

Tina looked at Nicky over Rachel’s shoulder. Slight frown lines marred his forehead, and he took short, quick breaths, as if it hurt to breathe.

When Rachel let go, Tina said, “Nicky, we’ve got to stop meeting like this. What the hell happened?”

Nicky tried to smile but didn’t quite make it.

“It hurts him to talk,” Rachel said as she moved back to stand by his bed. “We were on our way out to Portsmouth to the nursery for some evergreens—Mom wants to make a memorial wreath for… for Crystal. Nicky noticed someone getting really close to our back end and said something to me. Before we could think more about it, the other car rammed us! Hard. My neck is sore from the whiplash.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “But poor Nicky couldn’t keep hold of the wheel, and we went off the road.”

“That’s horrible!” Tina sat down in a blue, plastic-covered minimalist lounge chair, considered pulling up the footrest and decided it wouldn’t be polite. “Did either of you see the driver?” The chair made her realize how tired she was.

“Just a glimpse. Wore a hat, sunglasses. Went over it with the police.” Nicky grimaced and shifted under the covers.

Rachel nodded. “I didn’t see him at all, of course. But I saw the car as it drove by. White car again.”

“I don’t understand,” Tina said. “First you’re shot, then run off the road. What could possibly be the reason?”

“We don’t know,” Rachel whispered. “Maybe the same reason Crystal was murdered. I think they’re aiming for me, don’t you? And Nicky is getting the brunt of it. Oh!” She put her head in her hands and began to sob.

Tina and Nicky exchanged a glance. Tina stood up and went to Rachel to hug her until she calmed down.

When she had, Tina asked, “The police don’t have any idea about what happened to Crystal?”

“If they do, they’re not sharing it with us,” Nicky said. He reached for his water glass, but couldn’t quite make it. Tina handed it to him.

“Come, sit down,” Tina said to Rachel and led her to the chair. “Do they think these attacks are related to Crystal?”

“Again,” Nicky said, “they won’t say.”

“Well, damn them. They should give you all the information they can. Have they said anything about protecting you two?”

Rachel grabbed a tissue from the nightstand and wiped her eyes. “They don’t have the manpower.”

“Have you thought of hiring someone?”

“A bodyguard?” Nicky laughed. “I’m not a rock star or a politician.”

“Nicky, it doesn’t matter what you are if your or Rachel’s life is in danger.”

Nicky frowned. “Since we don’t really know who they’re targeting, we’d have to either stay together or get two bodyguards. We can’t afford even one!”

Hank
, Tina thought. He’d be perfect. But would he do it?

“The police didn’t even post anyone outside his door,” Rachel said, almost choking on the words.

“Don’t you think they believed you that it was deliberate?”

“Maybe,” Nicky said. “After the gunshot wound, you’d think they would. And after Crystal.”

“I’m sorry,” Tina said, “but I need to go now. I have something to do. I’ll try to come back after dinner.”

“That’s okay.” Rachel threw her tissue in the trash. “I’m glad you came.”

“I’ll leave my cell phone on now. If you need me, call, okay?”

Rachel nodded. She didn’t seem to have the strength to get up, so Tina left quickly before she tried.

Back in her car, Tina called Hank. He answered on the second ring.

“Tina.”

“Hank. I know you know about Nicky. The police won’t put a guard on him or Rach. I was wondering if you’d do it. They don’t have the money to pay anyone.”

He didn’t say anything for what seemed a long time.

“You there?”

“Yes, doll. Thinking. I’d have to arrange stuff a bit. Actually, I think it’s a good idea.”

“Well, thank you. I’m glad you didn’t find it ridiculous.”

“Not going to let it go, huh? My, aren’t we sensitive.”

Tina bit her lower lip. He was right. She was making too much of it. Decided to ignore it. “When do you think you can start?”

“I’ll call you back in a while.”

Tina drove home. She was tired of the hospital and anxious to see Uncle Bob. And she wanted to confront her mother. She’d think about Hank later.

Betsy left Dr. Stevenson’s cottage in Portsmouth and drove toward home. It hadn’t been a good visit. He’d been in one of his combative moods. She knew the Alzheimer’s was getting worse and she worried about him. If they’d gotten married after his wife died, Betsy could be with him all the time now, taking care of him. But he hadn’t wanted that.

She took her now-routine tour past the homes of Crystal’s relatives and friends. At the Morris house, she saw Nicky and Rachel talking, maybe having an argument, beside their car. It appeared that Rachel wanted to drive, but Nicky wouldn’t let her. His right arm was bandaged tightly against his side, so he couldn’t move it. Not a good idea for him to drive.

Betsy smiled grimly as they climbed into the car. She might be able to kill two birds with one stone. No gun this time. She grabbed the sunglasses and hat on the passenger’s seat, put them on, and hunkered down.

They left Newport and headed out to Portsmouth. Nicky was going fifty-one miles an hour, over the speed limit, but not fast enough to get a ticket. Betsy picked her spot with a deep ditch on the side of the road where it curved. Checked her mirror. No one behind her. No one coming their way. As they approached the curve, she gritted her teeth, stomped on the gas, and rear-ended the other car. It headed for the ditch, and she had to fight her own wheel to stay on the road.

As she sped away, to her horror, the windshield began to crack. Would it fall out? She could barely breathe. Her heart pounded, her hands shook, and sweat popped out on her forehead. The crack running up the windshield stopped, and her thoughts turned to Rachel and Nicky. Were they dead? She needed them dead.

She was too old for this. How much more could her body take? And her car?

Well, she didn’t have any choice. If Crystal hadn’t pushed Doctor, none of this would be happening. She couldn’t let them ruin Doctor’s reputation. And hers. It was all they had left.

When she arrived home, she parked in the driveway and looked over the front of her car. Cracked windshield and busted right headlight, dented fender. Could have been worse. At least it was drivable. She moved the car into the garage and went inside to brew some tea.

It wasn’t until she put on the news and learned that Rachel hadn’t even been admitted and Nicky was only in for observation that she walked on unsteady legs to the cupboard and took down the bottle of brandy.

There was no going back, so she couldn’t give up now. There would be other opportunities. She would prevail. She raised her teacup in a toast to herself.

The thought crossed her mind that she might be crazy, but she dismissed it. If she thought it, then she wasn’t. Crazy people never thought they were insane.

But a small voice in her head said, “You’re no good. Never were, never will be.”

Betsy poured more brandy into her empty cup. The hell with the tea. She needed to blot out the voice, and only brandy could ever do that. It had been silent for so long. What had awakened it? She couldn’t quite remember.

Good.

Tina found Uncle Bob in the living room watching television with the captions on. Some TV judge who could apparently immediately tell who was lying glared at one of the people in front of her. Tina wondered briefly if they could import the judge to Newport to find out who killed Crystal.

After kissing Uncle Bob on the cheek, she sat down. “How do you feel?”

“Good, Kumquat. How’s everything with you?”

“Confusing.” Tina laughed.

“Life can be that way. Don’t get yourself in a dither.”

“I already have. You heard about Nicky and Rach?”

“Yes. Did you go see them at the hospital? He shouldn’t have been driving.”

“I know. And it was a silly reason—to get some evergreens for Mrs. Morris.”

“Always thought Nicky was a twit.”

“You have?” Tina asked, surprised.

“Doesn’t have really good judgment.”

“How do you know? I didn’t know you knew him that well.”

“He’s assistant head librarian now, but I’ve known him since he started working there. We talk a bit. Head in the clouds. Wants to be a writer, but I don’t think he writes much. Just talks about it. I was surprised when I found out that Rachel didn’t keep a neat house. It seemed to me that Nicky was the neat sort.”

“He is. He keeps his side of the bedroom and a room they call his office neat. I think he does the yard, too.”

Uncle Bob leaned down to pat Princess. Her tail rapped the floor rhythmically.

“But being neat doesn’t make someone a twit, Uncle Bob,” Tina said.

“Of course not. We’re all pretty neat in this house, and none of us are twits. But none of us would drive with a bum arm, would we? Would you stay married to a person who cluttered as much as Rachel does?”

Tina shuddered. “No, I couldn’t stand it.”

“Right. Nicky strikes me as a guy who goes with the flow. No gumption. Thus a twit.”

“I see,” Tina said, grinning.

Her cell rang, and Hank spoke before she said hello. “I’m sitting outside Nicky’s room right now. Why don’t you come keep me company? Guard duty can get lonely.”

“What? No pretty nurses to talk to?”

“No, just a harridan at the desk and a male nurse on evening duty. Only a couple of patients on the floor today.”

Tina glanced at her watch and couldn’t believe it was after four. “I’m pretty tired, so I think you’ll have to manage by yourself.” She realized she was still upset with him. “Is Rachel there?”

“No, she went to her mother’s. She looked beat and Nicky sent her home. Sure you won’t join me? What about after dinner? You could bring me dinner.”

“Hank! What if they’re really after Rachel and you’re guarding Nicky?”

“Don’t worry about it. A friend’s got Rachel covered.”

She should have known. “Oh.”

“So, you gonna bring me dinner?”

“Maybe later. I’m staying home now to eat with Uncle Bob and my mother. I have something to discuss with Mother.”

Laura entered the room just then, raised her eyebrows and went to put her hand on Uncle Bob’s shoulder.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Tina said to Hank and hung up. “What’s for dinner?” she asked her mother.

“I ordered pizza.”

“What?” Tina asked, distracted. “You never order pizza.”

“I rarely order pizza,” Laura corrected her. “But I did today. Doctors said Uncle Bob could eat whatever he wanted now. What’s going on with Nicky and Rachel?”

Tina explained. Both Uncle Bob and Laura looked shocked. They were even more surprised when she told them Hank was watching Nicky and a friend of his guarded Rachel.

“I don’t understand it,” Laura said. “Why would anyone murder Crystal and attack Nicky and Rachel?”

“Maybe that’s it,” Tina said. “Maybe they’re trying to attack both Nicky and Rach. We all thought it would be one or the other, probably Rachel, because of Crystal. And several of us think it has something to do with the Lunch Bunch.”

“What?” Laura said.

“You heard me. Sally and possibly Brenda with cancer, and Crystal murdered. Very strange.”

Laura sank into a chair. “You can’t think they’re connected.” Her voice was weak.

“Why not?” Tina sat down opposite her mother. Uncle Bob stirred in his chair and reached down to pet Princess. “Everything is so secretive. You have to tell me what the secret is about the Lunch Bunch.”

“No.” Laura shook her head. “It’s better if you don’t know.”

“Then you admit there is one.”