Snow Blind-J Collins 4 (5 page)

Two minutes passed before I made my move. I gathered my stuff and tossed it on a chair kitty-corner to Luella’s. Immediately I noisily scattered the offerings on the coffee table beside her. She sensed me staring and looked up from
People
magazine.

My smile was strained. Meryl Streep had nothing on my acting chops. “Pardon me, when you’re done with that issue, can I have it? I’ve been here long enough to read all the rest of these.”

“Sure. What are you here for?” she asked suspiciously, as if I carried the West Nile virus.

“I’m waiting for my aunt. She’s been in there forever.”

Luella’s expression relaxed. “The wait seems longer every time we’re here, too.”

I flopped in the chair and sighed. “Aunt Rose never wants me to go in the doctor’s room with her either; she’s a little ornery that way.”

“Believe me; I know how that goes.”

“You here with your husband?”

Her guarded look returned. “Why would you ask that?”

“Oh. I saw you sitting with that handsome older man and I assumed . . .” I aimed my eyes at the purple floral carpet in mock embarrassment. “Never mind.”

38

“It’s a natural mistake.”

I figured I’d blown it by overplaying my hand.

It surprised me when she asked, “Is your aunt here because she’s ill?”

“Aunt Rose has complained of a stomach/headache thing for a couple of days. Probably nothing serious, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Especially since she’s taking so many prescriptions. I’m afraid to give her any over-the-counter medications.”

“What is she on?”

Think
. “Um, Aricept for early stage Alzheimer’s, methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis, and Zestril for high blood pressure.” Who said suffering through those pharmaceutical ads on TV didn’t pay off?

Luella confided, “The gentleman I’m with? He takes Aricept and I don’t see how it’s helped him one bit.”

It boggled my mind how easily older people just chatted about various health ailments—theirs and others—with total strangers.

“Is he here getting his meds changed?”

“To a combination of Aricept and Namenda. I hope it works. He’s gotten so confused and forgetful in the last few weeks anything would be an improvement at this point.”

“Sounds like you’re a big help to him.”

She brightened. “It’s not like he has anyone else to rely on or to help him with day-to-day issues. The poor, sweet dear is all alone.”

Big chomp mark on my fat tongue kept me from 39

retorting,
Except for his worried granddaughter.

“Your aunt is lucky she has you. I work with the elderly every day. It’s heartbreaking to see how many of them end up alone.”

She’d thrown the door of opportunity wide open; I barged right through. “Are you a nurse?”

“No. Just a volunteer.”

Right. A volunteer who got paid.

“That’s really generous to take care of people and not get anything in return.”

“Part of my Lakota heritage is to honor our elders.

But helping these folks who’ve sacrificed to make this country great is reward enough. Besides, they deserve better than to be shoved aside out of sight and forgotten like an old pair of worn-out shoes.”

Cue Old Glory and Lee Greenwood’s
God Bless the
U.S.A.
“Do you work for a specific volunteer program?”

Luella paused, as if to hedge the question. “Prime Time Friends. Currently we’re only associated with Prairie Gardens Assisted Living Facility.”

My jaw dropped. “You’re kidding. My brother and I were just there checking out the facility for Aunt Rose.” When Luella’s spine stiffened again, I confided,

“Dee gave us the nickel tour. Frankly, we didn’t get to see all that much, or talk to any residents, which is important to me. And Dee certainly didn’t tell us there was a volunteer program like Prime Time Friends where Rose could get such personalized attention from generous souls as yourself.”

40

A little praise and she relaxed. “Dee is a wonder-ful administrator. It’s a pity she can’t spend more time with prospective clients to show all the benefits offered by Prairie Gardens. There are probably a few other aspects she didn’t have time to discuss with you, either.”

I nodded, hoping I’d prodded her in the right direction. “Such a difficult decision, knowing which facility will be the right one, especially when we suspect it’ll be the last place she’ll live. We’re all the family she has left, and neither my brother nor I live close by.”

“Where do you live?”

“Gillette. He lives in Denver.”

I could almost hear the gears spinning in Luella’s head.

“Tell you what, why don’t you let me give you a more complete tour?”

“You’d do that? Really?”

“I’d love to. I wouldn’t want you to make such an important decision only knowing half of what makes the Prairie Gardens family a good choice.”

I smiled even when I couldn’t make it reach my eyes. “I-I don’t know what to say.”

“Simple. Just say yes. I’ll have to check my schedule.” Luella rummaged in her purse.

I expected she’d pull out a BlackBerry. Wrong.

A day planner, the cover plastered with all shapes and sizes of teakettles.

Hard to believe the devil indulged in drinking tea.

“Let’s see . . . I’m free at eight o’clock tomorrow 41

morning. Would that work for you?”

“That’d be perfect.”

Kevin would shit bricks when I told him how far I’d taken this charade. Still, his mattress monkey needed to ante up more bananas before I’d keep the appointment. She’d run her retainer dry.

The back of my neck tingled. I noticed Luella staring at me strangely. Was my gloating premature?

“Something wrong?”

“Yes. I just realized I don’t know your name.”

Whew. “Oh. It’s Kate. Kate Sawyer.”

“I’m Luella Spotted Tail, Kate. It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Same here.”

Luella passed me a business card with the appointment time jotted on the back. “You can reach me at those numbers in case something comes up and you need to cancel. My home number is on there, too.”

“Thanks. Speaking of, where should I meet you?

At the receptionist’s area?”

“Why don’t you come to the east door instead? It leads to the common rooms. That way we won’t have to worry about explaining this to Dee. Wouldn’t want to step on her professional toes. She’s touchy about this sort of thing.”

Yeah, right. Her concern was for
Dee
. “No problem.” I frowned at the clock. “Wow. I didn’t know it was that late. I think I might head down to the lab. Last time we were here the doctor sent Aunt Rose 42

downstairs for tests and no one told me. With as long as I’ve been waiting it’s probably happened again.”

“Good luck. I’ll see you tomorrow, Kate.”

My giddy sense of relief overtook my common sense; halfway across the parking lot I realized I hadn’t put my coat on.

Kevin picked me up. Shivering, I wrestled with my outerwear as I clambered into his Jeep.

“What the hell happened? I’ve been calling you for an hour. Why didn’t you answer your cell?”

Damn. I forgot I’d turned it off in a fit of pique with Martinez. “I was busy getting this.” I waved the business card in his face.

“What? An appointment with a psychiatrist?”

“Ha fucking ha. No. I have an appointment with Luella tomorrow. She’s giving me a more personal tour of Prairie Gardens than the one you got from Dee.”

“How the hell did you manage that?”

I relished his look of awe. “Trade secret, my jealous friend.”

“Seriously, Jules. How?”

Okay, I might’ve embellished the details in the retelling, but still, Kevin was suitably impressed.

“You think you can get into Vernon’s apartment?”

“Sure as hell gonna try.” I didn’t bother tiptoeing around the elephant in the front seat. “Do you want me to talk to Amery about making another payment on her initial retainer?”

“Julie—”

43

“Don’t even think about arguing this point. She’s a client. We’re professionals. If additional man-hours are justified and she wants us to continue with this case, she will have to pony up the cash, Kevin. Period.”

His jaw tightened but he didn’t dispute a word.

“And don’t bring up Martinez. He paid us a pile to look into the Black Dog case
before
he and I became involved on a personal level, so it’s not the same.”

A Rapid City Western Meats truck passed us on the left. It caused hunger pangs even as the cold silence sat in my empty stomach like a block of ice.

I sighed. “Let me handle this for you, okay? It’ll be easier for me to ask her for money after I’ve filled her in on what I learned. Besides, I’m not sleeping with her, so I won’t get mesmerized by the sight of her bodacious ta-tas.”

Kevin didn’t smile . . . at first. Then he smirked.

“They are pretty bodacious.”

And he clammed up again.

So I whipped out my oyster knife to pry him open a bit. “Besides being partners, we’re still friends, Kev.

You don’t talk about this kinda stuff with me anymore, but if you wanted to talk . . . well, I wouldn’t be a total dick about it. I’d listen and try not to be a smart-ass.”

“I know.”

“Good. Just thought I’d put that out there.”

“Thanks.”

The tires threw gray slush on top of the piles of dirt-colored snow heaped along the street. The 44

morning forecast called for more white stuff and arctic temperatures.

As we waited at the red stoplight on the corner of Mt. Rushmore Road and Saint Joseph Street, Kevin said, “Amery wasn’t the first woman I’ve slept with since Lilly died. You don’t need to worry if I’m feeling guilty about it, because I don’t. I’ve moved on.”

I didn’t ask him when he’d made that decision. I knew. After I’d been shot and almost died late last fall. After he realized my thing with Tony Martinez wasn’t just another sexual fling. So while it stung that he’d denied sharing those important changes in his life with me, I understood his reasoning because I no longer shared those intimate things with him.

He parked in his usual spot next to my truck. “Been a long morning and we didn’t eat. You hungry?”

“Yeah. Pizza sounds good.”

“Why don’t you call it in and I’ll call Amery and update her.”

I buttoned my coat under my chin, preparing to brave the tundra. “Should I order enough pizza for Amery?”

Pause. “For her and Kim. Once Kim gets a whiff of meat and cheese, she’ll be up for her midafternoon snack.”

My bud Kim had bypassed the barfy stage of her pregnancy and settled into the eat-everything-in-sight stage. Since she’d sworn off alcohol, I did my level best to corrupt her with food.

I closed my office door and typed up everything 45

from my conversations with Reva and Luella to keep the details fresh. I’d crushed out my third cigarette when Kevin knocked. “Food’s here.”

“Be right there.”

Amery had cocked a hip on the conference table like a
Fortune 500
CEO decked out in a form-fitting black and gray pin-striped business suit with a satiny white blouse unbuttoned to reveal her generous cleav-age. The spiked heel black patent leather boots hitting below her knee were straight out of a dominatrix’s closet. Her lustrous blond hair brushed her shoulders, the cut and color resembling Marsha Brady’s: smooth, silky, and impossibly shiny.

I couldn’t help but compare her to a business shark in such severe work clothes. Yet, the flustered smile she offered was sweetly appealing and I saw why Kevin was smitten.

Didn’t mean I liked it. He was too goddamn old for her; she was too goddamn young to appreciate him.

I didn’t voice my concerns; I merely smiled back at her. “Amery. Thanks for coming on such short notice.

Even through the snow and cold.”

“No problem. I don’t mind the cold or the snow after living in Minnesota. It’s been a slow day anyway.”

Amery schlepped bus tours and airline tickets as a travel agent. Why weren’t people clamoring to get the hell out of this cold snap and book a cruise to the Bahamas? Even Martinez and I had discussed a tropi-cal getaway.

46

“Kevin said you’d had some success today?”

I filled her in while we polished off the pizza. I tried to concentrate on recounting my adventures and not on the hungry stare Kevin gave our client rather than the food.

After I finished speaking, I watched her process the information as she picked at a discarded crust with fingernails bitten to the quick.

“I knew something was going on, although part of me wishes I’d been wrong.”

Kevin placed his hand over hers and squeezed.

“Do you want us to continue looking into this matter?”

She raised her gaze to mine at my overly formal tone.

I expected glimmery tears in her baby blues, not steely determination.

“Yes. How much more will it cost? Not that it matters, because Grandpa is all the family I have left.”

“Another five hundred. If it takes us less time, we’ll refund you the difference.”

“Sounds fair.” Amery slipped her hand from Kevin’s to reach for her leather satchel.

I caught a glimpse of her checkbook cover before she flipped it open. For Christsake. The plastic was plastered with happy, fluffy, roly-poly puppies. Puppies! I dreaded seeing whatever cute critters decorated her actual checks.

She wrote the amount in the register, ripped the check out with painstaking precision, and handed it 47

to me.

The face of her pastel pink checks were dotted with a variety of stilettos. “Would you like a receipt?”

Kevin said, “I’ll give her one. I have to write her a new contract anyway.”

Hey. Office drone shit was my responsibility, not his. Then again, the gaga eyes they were leveling at each other made me want to hurl.

“No need for you to stick around, Jules. It’s a standard form. There’s nothing else going on today, either.”

An escape. “Cool. I’ll just pop down and say hello to Kim before I leave.”