Organized to Death (24 page)

Laura blinked. Straightened her back. “Tina, I refuse to discuss it with you.”

“I think I have a right to know.”

“Doesn’t matter what you think, does it?” Laura’s tone was sharp, her eyes blazing.

The doorbell rang, breaking the tension. “That must be the pizza,” Laura said and stood up. “Please go set the table.”

Feeling wooden, Tina walked to the dining room, put out plates, napkins, and knives and forks. Laura and Uncle Bob ate pizza as if they were at a five-star restaurant. Usually that amused Tina. Right now she didn’t think anything would ever amuse her again.

Several times while they ate, she almost pushed her mother about the Lunch Bunch. But she’d see her mother’s stubborn expression, glance at Uncle Bob who looked pale, and couldn’t bring herself to broach the subject again.

“I’ll take care of the dishes,” she said after they finished.

“Thank you, Tina,” Laura said. She and Uncle Bob went to the living room. Tina could hear the TV.

Sighing, she took the few dishes to the kitchen and cleaned up.

After she finished, she grabbed her coat from the hall closet and stuck her head into the living room. “I’m going for a walk,” she said.

Laura frowned. “Be careful.”

“I will,” Tina said and went outside into the cold night air. It was clear and the moon and stars lit up the sky. She breathed in deeply and started down the front walk.

A shadow emerged from the tree trunk, and Tina realized a man stood there. Grasping her pepper spray tightly in her pocket, she approached warily.

“Hello, Tina,” Ted said.

Tina took a deep breath. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or not. Ted still creeped her out. She said hello and he fell in step with her.

She remembered the first night they’d walked together. It had appeared to her he’d been waiting for her then, and she had that feeling again. She kept her hand in her pocket, firmly holding the spray.

“I looked around some more for those files,” Ted said. “Couldn’t find them.”

“Odd. Maybe Dr. Stevenson took them and has them at home. Maybe you could ask him about them?”

“Next time I see him. Sure. You find out anything else on your own?”

“No. Mother won’t talk about it. I asked one of the other mothers, and she said it’s up to each mother to tell each daughter, that they promised not to tell.”

“It could be something totally unrelated to Sally and Brenda, Tina.”

“I suppose so, but doubt it. Too much of a coincidence. And that insistence over the years about yearly exams.”

“Wish I could help,” Ted said. “I’ve come to care about you. Maybe you guessed.”

Tina felt as if her heart quit beating. It seemed her feet couldn’t carry her any further, and she stopped. Ted didn’t realize it at first and walked a couple more steps before he stopped, too, turned back and took her arm.

He bent his head down, and because she was looking up at him, his lips covered hers in one smooth motion. Tina couldn’t breathe, and after a moment or so, struggled against him, pushing his chest with her fists, one hand still holding the pepper spray.

He grabbed her wrists and stepped back. He saw she was holding something in her hand. “What’s this?” he asked, taking it from her easily. “Pepper spray? You were going to spray me?”

“No, of course not. I just always carry it in my pocket, had my hand on it, and when you … “She trailed off, confused, upset.

He gave it back to her. “I apologize. I guess I took you by surprise.” He wouldn’t look at her.

“Yes. Yes, you did.”

“I’d never hurt you. This won’t happen again, unless you want it to.” Ted turned and began to walk quickly back the way they’d come.

Tina followed more slowly. Soon, Ted was quite a ways ahead, and she let him go. She was confused. The kiss hadn’t been bad. But he unsettled her.

They didn’t speak again, and Tina dragged herself into the house in a state of confusion.

“I’m back,” she said when she entered the living room. “But I’m going over to the hospital to see how Nicky and Hank are doing.”

Laura looked up, then stared. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”

Laura stood and walked over to Tina. “Yes, there is. You look to be in a state of shock. And why are you holding your pepper spray?”

Tina had forgotten she had it in her hand.

Laura grabbed her shoulders. “What happened?” she cried. “Tell me.”

Uncle Bob stood up, alarmed.

“Nothing,” Tina insisted. “I just met Ted outside, and I didn’t know who he was at first, so I took out the pepper spray.”

“There’s more to it than that,” Laura said. “I can tell.”

Tina shrugged. “Maybe I’ll tell you if you tell me what the Lunch Bunch is really all about.”

Laura glared at Tina, then turned on her heel and walked up the front stairs without a backward glance.

“What a kerfuffle,” Uncle Bob said, shaking his head. “You really should withdraw like a good little soldier. You’re not going to extract anything from your mother.”

“You’re right, Uncle Bob, and I’m sorry if all this has upset you on your first night home from the hospital.”

“Not to worry, Kumquat. But I do think I’ll head to bed. Droopy eyelids are not at all becoming, are they?”

Tina smiled. “Ah, they look sexy on you, Uncle Bob.”

Uncle Bob hooted. Patted her arm. “Go see Hank. That should get the blood pumping.”

“No comment,” Tina said. “But I’m going. I’ll see you in the morning. Sleep well.”

“I intend to. And you have fun.”

“I’ll try.” Tina turned toward the door, smiling. Uncle Bob always made her feel better.

She drove to Anthony’s Seafood and picked up some clam fritters and French fries for Hank. At the hospital she found him sitting just where he said, right outside Nicky’s door. He stood up as she approached.

“Why aren’t you in the room with him?” she whispered. “You guys are friendly enough.” She handed him the bag from Anthony’s.

He took the bag, looked inside. “I’m guarding, not being a friend. If I’m inside, I can’t prevent anyone questionable from entering. Identification, miss?”

“Oh, I don’t want to show you my driver’s license. The picture is horrible. You wouldn’t recognize me. Anyway, I won’t disturb Nicky. I’ll just stand here and watch you eat.”

“You had dinner?”

“Pizza.”

He looked surprised.

“Yes, my mother ordered it.”

“Uncle Bob must be doing pretty good, then?” Hank sat down, opened the bag and took a bite of a fritter. He never used sauce.

“Yes. He seems tired, but his color is back and the doctor cleared him to go home, so I guess he’ll be okay. I hope so.”

Hank offered her a French fry. Tina shook her head. “I saw Mitzi today. She told me she goes to a spa to shape up every once in a while. But she wouldn’t tell me why the Lunch Bunch meets.”

Hank grinned. “She’s embarrassed about going to a spa. I’m surprised she told you.”

“I think she did it so I wouldn’t press her about the other secret. At least I now know there is one. Both she and my mother admitted it.”

Hank ate another fritter without comment.

Tina studied him. He seemed relaxed, but also alert. He glanced down the hall in both directions at regular intervals. Tonight he wore black jeans, white tee under a black wool blazer, and chukka boots. Black, of course. She admitted to herself he was sexy as hell. His sensuous lips moved seductively as he chewed a French fry.

He caught her watching him. “You all over your tiff?”

“Maybe.”

“Someday you’ll tell me why you left Virginia. I’ll bet you’ve never told Laura.”

She closed her eyes, swayed a bit. When she opened them, Hank was standing next to her. He grabbed her arm to steady her. Then he held her close.

She melted into him. It felt safe to be with him right now. She knew that feeling wouldn’t last. Most of the time she felt off-center when he was around.

Tina lifted her face toward him, but he didn’t lean down to kiss her. Instead, he let her go. But not before she felt the hardness between his legs against her hip.

“You’d better go now, Red,” he said gruffly. He sat down and picked up the bag from Anthony’s.

“Right,” Tina said. “I’ll see you around.”

She left without looking back. Sudden exhaustion washed over her. She just wanted to go home and go to sleep. Her arms felt weak as she climbed into her car and drove home.

But she lay awake for hours, thinking about the Lunch Bunch, thinking about Crystal, Brenda, and Rachel and Nicky, thinking about cancer. And thinking about Hank.

After a quick breakfast with Uncle Bob, Tina drove to Ted’s office. The waiting room was filling up, but Ted sat at his desk, reading a file.

Tina stood in the doorway. “I’m done with the kitchen. You want me to start purging files?”

“Yes. First I want you to set up one of the back rooms upstairs for the older files. You can decide which room would be the most suitable. I’ve ordered the same sort of cabinets we have down here so if we need to find the old files, it’ll be easy. We can just leave the old ones in the boxes until the new cabinets arrive.”

“Good. How far back do you want to keep them downstairs?”

“Ten years, I think. Let’s start there and see how much space we clear up. Again, Tina, I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to do this. It’s a big help.”

Tina shrugged and smiled. “As long as you pay me… .”

“Of course. How do you want to arrange that? When you finish, by the week?”

“Like other contracted employees, professional organizers take one half when they start, and the rest when done.” She named a figure.

Ted wrote out a check and handed it to her.

“I’ll get going.” Tina turned to leave.

Ted nodded and began reading again. Tina stopped to say hello to Sylvia and then went upstairs to pick a room.

It wasn’t nearly as spooky in the bright daylight. Sunlight streamed through the large windows in all the rooms and spilled out into the hallway, highlighting dust motes dancing in the air.

She decided one of the guest rooms would be best. Some furniture would have to be rearranged or disposed of, but she didn’t think Ted would object to that.

That decision made, she looked into the rooms at the front again. Nothing else was changed. No one had dusted. She wouldn’t either. Cleaning the kitchen had to be done while she organized, but she refused to clean up here. Ted could hire a cleaning company for that. She stepped out onto the back enclosed porch and thought about Dr. Stevenson’s family sitting here, reading. The old wooden file cabinet in the corner caught her eye. She checked it again. Still locked. What could be in there, she wondered, and the thought of missing files ran through her head.

She rushed downstairs, anxious to ask Ted if he had the key. At the bottom of the stairs, she almost ran into Brenda.

“You’re back?” Tina asked.

“Yes.” A shadow of sadness cloaked Brenda’s pale face.

“How are you?” Tina felt herself staring and looked away.

“I’m fine. Excuse me. I have to get to work.”

Brenda walked to the reception area and called a name. Tina stood rooted to the spot. She wanted to shake her and demand answers. But Brenda looked so fragile, so vulnerable, Tina knew she couldn’t push her.

She looked into Ted’s office, but he was gone. She heard his voice coming faintly from a treatment room. In with a patient. She’d have to wait to see about a key for the filing cabinet.

After she retrieved some boxes from her trunk, Tina went to the back of Sylvia’s office and attacked the revolving files. After an hour or so, a thought struck her. Maybe her mother’s file, and the other Lunch Bunch women’s files, were there. She looked for her mother’s first. Her mother had been a patient of Dr. Stevenson’s since she was a little girl. No file. Quickly, Tina checked for the other four. None were there. She started to ask Sylvia about it, but Sylvia wouldn’t know. She hadn’t been Dr. Stevenson’s receptionist. Betsy had. She glanced at her watch. Ten o’clock.

“Can I borrow the phone book?” Tina asked Sylvia.

“Sure.” Sylvia waved her hand at it.

Tina looked up Betsy’s number, then went upstairs to call her on her cell. She didn’t want to be overheard.

Betsy answered on the fourth ring.

“Mrs. Holden?” Tina asked, although she knew it was. Betsy Holden’s voice was unmistakable. It had a hollow sound, as if she were talking from a deep well.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“It’s Tina. Tina Shaw. I was a patient of Dr. Stevenson’s.”

“Yes. I remember you, Tina.”

“Good. I was wondering if I could come see you this noontime? I need to ask you something.”

“Of course you can. I’ll make lunch.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“My pleasure,” Betsy said. “I’ll see you at twelve. You know how to find the house?”

“Yes. I saw your address in the phone book. I know where it is.”

“Good. Good. I’ll see you then.”

“Thank you.”

They hung up.

Pulling files and lugging the boxes upstairs when full wasn’t Tina’s idea of a lot of fun, but she wanted to stick around the office in order to possibly learn more, so she trundled on.

A few minutes before noon, she went to the restroom and washed her hands, then took off for the few blocks’ drive to Betsy’s house. It was overcast, humid, and chilly. A foghorn sounded. Gloomy, Tina thought.

Betsy opened the door, smiling broadly. The only remarkable thing about her was her voice. It fit the weather, Tina thought, as she entered the comfortable home on Eustis Avenue. A small ranch house, it was filled with knickknacks, cushions, and seascape pictures on all the walls.

They didn’t hug or shake hands, just exchanged hellos. Betsy took Tina’s jacket and hung it in the hall closet, then led Tina past the living room and into the dining room. On the table were egg salad sandwiches cut into different shapes, potato chips, pickles and olives, and chunks of fruit—kiwi, orange slices and apples—with some grapes in the mix. The table was set with old, expensive china and sterling forks, knives, and spoons.

“What can I get you to drink?” Betsy asked. “Tea? Hot or cold? Or coffee?”