Page 100 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
Kateri reached for the call button.
Before she could push it, the door burst open. Peggy hustled in and headed for her patient. She checked the machines, took Rainbow’s pulse, lifted her eyelid.
Rainbow opened both eyes. “Do you mind? I’m trying to sleep here.”
Peggy burst into tears.
Kateri gave her a hug and a box of tissues and headed toward the Virtue Falls Resort.
***
Margaret opened her bedroom closet and pointed. “There it is, dear.”
Kateri put down her walking stick, reached up to the top shelf and lifted the large, weighty, textured black box.
“You tall girls are so lucky.” Margaret had always been a tiny woman, and age had deprived her of inches and agility.
“Thank you for keeping the box.” Kateri weighed it in her hand. The raven was heavy. The album was, in her mind, heavier.
“I was glad to do it.” Margaret pushed her walker into her sitting room—her suite at the Virtue Falls Resort was both homey and luxurious—and over to her easy chair. She operated the mechanics that lifted the seat, then sank down onto it and lowered it once more. “Rainbow told me you’d come for the box.”
“I had to wait until she told me where it was.”
Margaret put her palms together. “Her recovery is the miracle I’ve been praying for.”
“Me, too.” Although Margaret used a rosary. Kateri went swimming.
“She’ll recover completely?”
Kateri searched her mind for the answer. “Yes. She’ll be changed, of course. Near death will do that to a person.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been near death.” Margaret cackled drily.
A little of the frog god’s vision still clung to Kateri, and she used it to examine the tiny, thin woman who unflinchingly stared one hundred years of age in the face. “Margaret, you’ve got one more grand adventure in you before the end.”
Margaret broke into a smile, and her wisp of an Irish accent strengthened. “Do I? That’s a good thing to hear. What are you going to do with the box?”
“I’m torn between giving it to my sister immediately and getting her the hell out of town, or keeping it to frustrate her.” Kateri thought of Lilith and having to deal with her constant criticism and said, “I’ll give it to her.”
“Not without looking to see what is in that box that she so desperately wants?”
“She says it’s the raven.”
“Is it?” Margaret lifted the receiver on her phone. “Shall I call down for tea, dear?”
“I can’t stay.” Kateri considered the bright-eyed old woman. “How do you know about my sister?”
“Did you think that the discovery you had a sister wouldn’t set the cat among the pigeons? Gossip and speculation, my dear. The lifeblood of any small town. And of course where else could she find a meal even close to the quality she deserves, except at Virtue Falls Resort.” Margaret’s mouth was puckered.
“Oh, no.” That sounded exactly like the kind of compliment Lilith would give. “She’s been here.”
“Charming woman,” Margaret said with patent insincerity. “Tea?”
“I really shouldn’t stay. Terrible things are happening.”
“Terrible things are always happening. All the more reason for a fortifying cup of tea.” Margaret coaxed, “Cook prepared cream scones today to go with our clotted cream and fresh blueberry preserves.”
Kateri was in uniform. She had her cell phone and her radio. Right now, Garik was working with Mike Sun to recover the owner of that fingerprint and her guys were patrolling the roads, making their presence known. “Tea sounds lovely.” She placed the box on the floor by the chair opposite Margaret and leaned her staff against it. “But I may have to leave at a moment’s notice.”
