Page 59 of Hello, Summer
He let out a prolonged sigh. “Yeah. I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, start with Robinette’s campaign finance disclosure documents. If there’s something fishy with his financials, that’s the place to start.”
She smacked her own forehead. “Duh! Oh my God. Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“You would have, eventually. I’ll call you back when I know something.”
20
When her cell phone rang, Conley didn’t recognize the number, but since it was a local area code, she answered anyway.
“Conley? Hey. It’s Winnie.” The housekeeper’s voice sounded strained.
“What’s wrong?” Conley asked.
“I think you need to get out here,” Winnie said. “Your grandmother took a fall a little while ago. She’d been out working in the garden, and I hollered at her to come on in the house and get out of that heat, but when she came inside, she was acting kind of funny. Her words were blurry, and her face was white as a ghost. She walked in the kitchen and just fell out.”
“Oh my God. Is she conscious? Do you need to call an ambulance?”
“I wanted to,” Winnie said. “I got a cold dishcloth and put it on her face and helped her sit up, and she come back around after a minute or two, and the first words out of her mouth were, ‘Don’t you dare call 911.’”
“Where is she now?” Conley grabbed her backpack, shoved her computer and notebooks inside, and dug out her car keys.
“I cleaned her up and got her into her bed, but she was fighting me the whole way. Said she was fine, just got a little overheated and light-headed is all. I managed to make her eat something and drink some water, and she just now dozed off, so I thought I’d better call you.”
“You did the right thing. I’m on my way,” Conley said. “Keep an eye on her, okay?”
“I’m sitting in a chair right outside her room, and I check in on her every five minutes or two, just to make sure she’s breathing.”
“Did she hit her head again? Do you think she has a concussion? Maybe we should call her doctor.” Conley’s words came out in a jumble as she raced toward the front door. “I don’t remember his name. Wait. It’s on the prescription I picked up from Kelly’s today. I’ll call him.”
“Better not,” Winnie warned. “She will have your hide, and mine too. She made me swear not to tell you, but I figured when you get here, you could just act like you don’t know nothing.”
“Okay, we won’t call yet,” Conley said. “I’ll get there as fast as I can.”
She ran through red lights, blew through stop signs, with her foot hard on the accelerator as soon as she cleared the square.
This is my fault,she thought.I told Gray I’d watch over G’mama. I promised to take care of her. This is on me. And if she dies, it’s all on me.The loop played endlessly in her head, alternating with prayers to a God she thought she’d long ago discarded.
Granddaddy’s Wagoneer was parked with the rear bumper poking nearly a foot onto the street in front of the Dunes. She pulled the Subaru up next to it and took the stairs to the second floor two at a time, her footsteps slapping against the worn wooden treads.
Winnie was sitting on a kitchen chair parked outside the bunk room that Lorraine had claimed for her bedroom.
“Is she awake?” Conley was out of breath, her heart pounding in her chest.
“Who’s that?” her grandmother called.
Conley forced herself to act calm. She poked her head inside the bunk room door. G’mama was struggling to sit up.
“It’s just me,” Conley said. “How are you?” She stepped inside the room, and Winnie was just a step behind.
“Winnie called you and told you to come home, didn’t she?” Lorraine glared at her housekeeper, who glared right back.
Her grandmother’s voice was thready, almost wheezy.
“Hell yes, she called me,” Conley said, sinking down onto the bed. “Somebody around here has to show some common sense. She told me you fell. Passed out!”
“It was just a little sinking spell,” G’mama protested. “Nothing for everybody to get themselves all worked up about.”
There were large Band-Aids on her grandmother’s exposed forearms and another on her right cheek.
