Page 15 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
Merida shook her head; she had no intention of allowing anyone to handle her bags.
“As you like. You have to haul the bags up the stairs, though. The dumbwaiter is broken and I’ve got to finish prepping tomorrow’s breakfast rolls. We’re having pecan sticky buns and a yogurt parfait with fresh strawberries.” Phoebe headed toward the back of the house, then turned. “If this season is as prosperous as it’s starting out to be, come this winter I’ll install an elevator.”
Merida smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.
Phoebe hurried back and enveloped her in a hug. “I knew as soon as we met you would be as positive a personality as I am!”
As Phoebe hustled toward the kitchen, Merida wondered if merely by being silent she had been elevated to a positive personality. And whether Phoebe would ever notice she didn’t speak.
She parked as instructed, then in two trips she lugged her luggage in through the kitchen, past Phoebe, and into her new home.
Phoebe followed and ceremoniously turned over the keys. “I almost forgot! Merida, dear, every night at five I serve wine and port in the large downstairs living room, and the guests take that time to get to know each other. It’s so lovely and convivial! On Tuesday night I fix an international buffet, and I promise I am an excellent cook. Make sure you plan to be there!” With a smile and a wave, she left Merida to unpack.
Merida shuddered inwardly. She didn’t want to—couldn’t stand to—go into a room of strangers and be mute, have people avoid her gaze, or stare, or try to make awkward conversation with her. No, she would not attend Phoebe’s convivial evening.
Shutting the dining room doors, she locked it, then stood and hugged herself.
For the first time in many years, she was alone; she didn’t have to smile, to pretend interest in stories she had heard a hundred times, to wait on a cantankerous old man and make his needs and wants her primary responsibility. Her only responsibility was to herself. She headed for the stairway, laboriously carrying the bags into the master bedroom.
Following instructions, she attached the computer-sized safe to the wall beside the giant antique dresser and behind the large flowered easy chair—she would pay Phoebe for the damages when she left—and inside placed her two laptops and her extra iPad. She set the code, locked it and unlocked it, locked it again, and dusted her fingers in satisfaction. She lugged her suitcase into the dim, spacious closet. A bare bulb with a bead pull-chain switch hung from the ceiling. She reached up and gave it a tug—and touched the sticky thread of a spiderweb. Something landed on her head and scuttled across her ear. She jumped, screamed silently, bent down and thrashed at her hair. The spider—large, shiny, black, horrible—fell onto the faded carpet. She stomped at it in a panic.
The segmented body crunched.
She flinched. She shuddered. She stared at the smear of the corpse. Got a tissue and wiped it up. Let her breath out. No servants. No help. She had taken care of the matter herself.
This incident was not an omen.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kateri opened the door to Rainbow’s dim hospital room and peered inside.
Rainbow rested on the bed, immobile, blank-faced, not there. A tube ran down her throat. An IV dripped fluid into her arm. The side rails were raised; for what reason, Kateri did not know. It wasn’t as if Rainbow would suddenly wake, move, try to leave the bed.
An elderly woman sat close, doing a crossword puzzle under a reading light. From the back, she looked vaguely familiar. But who…?
Kateri slipped into the room.
The woman turned her gray head.
Crap. It was Mrs. Branyon, who said with her usual lack of charm, “Oh. It’s you. I was due for a break anyway.” Grasping the arms of the chair, she leveraged herself to her feet. Leaning over Rainbow’s still form, she said loudly, “Honey, that Indian woman is here to see you, the one you took the bullet for. I know you like her, so I’ll leave you two alone. I’m going to get some dinner—the food here is okay, better than at the nursing home, but nothing like the grub at the Oceanview Café. Since you got shot and gave up the job, even that food is not much good. Dax is too busy crying in his soup. I’ll be back, don’t you worry. You’ll be okay for a few minutes.” Without wasting a glance at Kateri, she creaked past to the door. She opened it and said, “Young lady, don’t you open those blinds. She doesn’t need the sun shining in her eyes. By the way, you look like hell yourself. You got the sheriff’s job. Do us all a favor and try not to die before you take the oath of office.” On that caring note, she left.
Kateri hurried to Rainbow’s bedside. “Do you know who you had sitting with you? Mrs. Branyon! Holy cow, what did you do to deserve that? Something bad in a former life?” Kateri tucked in the blankets, and picking up Rainbow’s hand, tsked. “Your fingers are frozen. Let me get you a warm blanket. And”—she lowered her voice—“I don’t care whatshesays, I’m going to open the blinds. The sun is shining outside and I know how much you love the light.” Kateri did as she said; let in the late-afternoon sun, got a blanket out of the warmer. She brought back the blanket, doubled it, placed it over Rainbow’s body from her neck to her toes. “I remember how cold I was when I was in the coma. Seemed like I was in the opposite of hell, but it sure wasn’t heaven.”
Rainbow didn’t indicate by a flicker of an eyelash that she knew Kateri was here.
“I thought I’d better bring you up to date. You know your parents are in Nepal doing social work and learning the local techniques and patterns of weaving. We’ve got people looking for them, but no one’s found them yet. They sure know how to wander away, don’t they?”
No response. Of course.
“I just got out of emergency myself. Your local law enforcement spent a useless day chasing after the Terrances. We did find out only one Terrance is left. John Senior dumped John Junior’s body on the road as a distraction. It worked. Moen and I were in the lead, saw the body hit the ground, slammed headfirst into a tree trying to avoid it, got hit from behind, and I ended up getting hauled to the hospital by none other than Stag Denali.” It seemed like Rainbow would say something now. Something raunchy, something funny, something earthy.
But no, she didn’t move. Her heart monitor beeped quietly, slowly, steadily.
Kateri continued, “I know, I know. You approve. I approve, too, or rather my loins do. Unfortunately, my brain’s kind of worried about the guy. If you’ll recall, he was walking past the Oceanview Café when the shooting occurred. He dove for the ground a split second before we heard anything. And he came through it unscathed. We’ve been digging bullets and buckshot out of every tree and every building in the square, while he laid right on the sidewalk in full sight and didn’t get a scratch. Which is lucky… unless he planned the shooting. I mean, he waltzes into town, romances me in a big way, announces he wants to build a casino on the rez that’s going to cause no end of trouble for law enforcement, and when I say I oppose it and I unexpectedly win the election, I’m gunned down?” Kateri put her hand on her ribs. “As dear Mrs. Branyon pointed out, you’re the one who actually got gunned down. In my place. Like I didn’t already know that.” Kateri found her throat was getting tight. She swallowed. Waited. Swallowed again. “But the point remains, did Stag help the Terrances plan that drive-by? Not that a drive-by is tough to work out, but for them to escape for four days…” Kateri realized she was staring at Rainbow, expecting an answer. Rainbow was so interested in people, she had such insight into people’s minds and hearts, Kateri depended on her, listened to her…
She wanted to hear Rainbow again. Hear her voice.
“Right now they’re doing an autopsy on John Junior. Apparently he was shot during the drive-by. We’ve lost John Senior in the mountains. But Bergen and the guys did find his campsite—or one of them—and his car. He escaped in an off-road vehicle, the bastard.” Sliding her hand under the blanket, Kateri took Rainbow’s cool, still fingers. She leaned close and whispered, “We will get him. I swear to you, we will get him.” She leaned back quickly before her tears could fall on Rainbow’s face.
