Grave Concern (24 page)

“Or uh, a can of crabmeat, that's good too. Even spinach, if you got some. I'd say she's hungry.”

No one moved.

“May I?” said Neville, indicating the fridge.

Still stunned by the turn of events, Kate nodded, wide-eyed.

Neville approached the fridge.

Kate found her tongue. “L- look in the freezer,” she said. “I think there's some shrimp or prawns I bought at Christmas. Will that work?”

“Sure,” Neville said, fishing through frozen peas and orange juice. “Got it! Here, I'll just run 'em under hot water for a sec, that all right?”

Kate nodded again. “Thanks.”

Leonard, safe in the table nook, managed a smile. “That's going to be one expensive pet.”

“Nah, not at all,” said Hille Hatter's ex. He wandered over and peered in the sink. “You can feed 'em just about anything. Look, I'd say this one's not even full-grown. Jeeeez! Things must be bad, if they're sending the young ones up here like this. You got one of those Brita filter things? They're not fussy about chlorine.”

Kate fetched the pitcher of filtered water she used for tea.

Neville poured it all in the sink and refilled the chamber. “She's a feisty one, all right. But the fight won't last forever. You should get her into a salt-water aquarium ASAP. That is, if you're not going to have her for lunch.”

“Now, about Hille,” Neville said. “She live here, or — ?”

At this awkward juncture, Kate looked desperately at Leonard, who returned a look of unconcealed surprise.

Kate considered Luck: conception and reality. Between the two, there was quite a difference. More than its better-mannered siblings — say, Love or Loyalty — Luck flaunted its black-sheep status by choosing the moment when it was most needed to up and leave. And right now, Luck had abandoned Kate in a very dark place.

Now, as per its fickle nature, with no prompting and less reason, Luck spun on its heel and came back. How did Kate know this? Straight from her front door and through to the kitchen walked Mary.

“Hi, gang!” she said, to the passel of shocked faces hanging there. She turned to Kate and Leonard, “I see you two are finally up. Sorry I didn't knock. Thought you might still be in bed.”

You two
. Kate didn't know whether to hug Mary or run her through with the kitchen scissors. She was tempted to remind Mary that her job in this town was to give babies, not rumours, their start in life.

“Mary,” she said pointedly, “this is Neville Freeland, a
friend of Hille's
, up from the city. Hille gave him this address, but
she's not here
. You wouldn't happen to have seen her, uh,
at work?
”

“Mary, good to meet you.” Neville held out his hand, which Mary limply took.

Mary's head swivelled to Neville then Kate and Neville again, in a valiant attempt to follow the bouncing ball. “Uh, no,” she said, “can't say as I've seen Hille.” Mary's eyes shot daggers at Kate, who kept nodding encouragement. “But … I was pretty busy …” Kate's nodding grew downright maniacal. “… I s'pose she might have come in while I was on another case.”

“Come in where?” asked Neville.

“Oh,” Kate jumped in, “to the hospital Emergency. Mary's a doctor.” Kate silently pleaded with Mary for help.

“Uh, yeah,” Mary said. “As a matter of fact, I think a case came in while I was busy in the OR. Uh, middle-aged woman. Plenty of bleeding. Possible involvement of alcohol. That's all I know, dear.”

“Oh, my God,” said Neville. “Was it Hille? Is she all right?”

“I think it was pretty serious,” Mary continued to Kate's obvious approval. “If she's not where she's s'posed to be, like Kate said, maybe you should go and check it out.”

Drat
, thought Kate. As Hille's erstwhile friend and roommate, this meant she was part of this thing. She'd have to go to the hospital too, to keep up appearances. “You go on ahead,” she said to Neville, already buttoning his coat, “we'll be right behind.”

“
Silly goose
,” said Mary in her doctor voice, the most benign epithet Kate had experienced from her friend. “He won't know where the hospital is.”

“Right!” said Kate. “We'll go ahead, then. Neville, you follow us.”

Leonard reluctantly drove, and Kate explained the sticky situation of the money and the boob job to him and Mary as they drove. Then she and Mary got on their separate phones. Mary contacted the doctor on call to explain the unfolding situation, while Kate, for Leonard's benefit, went on speakerphone to Hille.

“Hille, where the hell are you? Neville's just shown up at my door! What the hell were you think — ”

But at the word Neville, Hille had already broken down. Now she wept uncontrollably on her end, and Leonard's car filled with rasping sobs.

“Oh my God, Kate! What am I gonna do? He wants them back. Oooooh, Kate, what am I gonna do?”

“He wants what back?”

“The implants. Last time, he said if I don't have the money, he's taking them back. The
implants
.”

“Whaaat? He's going to rip them out of your chest, or what?”

“I don't know, Kate. Helllp!”

Mary, off her phone now, grabbed Kate's. “Listen, Hille, there's a few of us over here going to a lot of trouble for you. You better get down to the hospital, pronto, like five minutes ago, and make like you've just tried to kill yourself. Ask loudly for Dr. Lyon, and he'll do the rest. Go! now!”

Mary turned to Leonard. “Leonard, take the scenic route, okay? We have to give Hille time to get there before us.”

Kate flumped back in her seat. “Wind's from the east and it smells like manure,” she said.

“Say what?” Mary said.

“Something my mother used to say. An expression. When the shit was about to hit the fan.”

“Didn't she grow up on the Prairies?” Mary said.

“Sure did,” said Kate.

When they arrived at Emergency a good twenty minutes later than was called for, Mary bustled out of Leonard's car and over to Neville's. She motioned Neville to roll down his window and leaned in with a serious look. “You just go in with the others,” she said. “I'll go see what's up.”

In Emergency, Kate turned to the shaky Neville. “It's a good thing you showed up when you did, Neville, or we might not have noticed anything wrong. There was a bit of a wingding at the house last night, and we're all a little the worse for wear. I should have paid more attention. Poor Hille.”

Neville's level of agitation increased. He unbuttoned his coat and buttoned it again. He reached in his pocket for his phone, and began poking its keys. Kate could see he was putting on a little farce of his own, hiding the fact that, in this particular matter, there was no one to call.

Kate threw caution to the winds. “So, what brings you here to our little town?” she said. “Just a friendly visit, or …”

Neville sighed, pecked twice at his phone, making it beep, then snapped it shut with authority. “Frankly, I've come to a time in my life when I want to wrest back control. You know how it is. Too much work for too many years and too little to show for it.”

And now he wanted the implants.
“Ah,” said Kate. “Do I sniff a plan?”

“In a manner of speaking. And, to answer your original question. What brings me here, is, well, I'm considering my options. And hoping for at least
some
help from Hille. All the research in the world can't match hands-on experience, when it comes to this kind of thing.”

“Thing?”

“Decision. As in how to proceed.”

Proceed.

Mary appeared in a white doctor's coat, a stethoscope stuffed in the breast pocket.

“Sorry it took so long,” she said. “There was some difficulty about the transfusion. But that's all taken care of. Hille's quite comfortable now, dear. I've persuaded Dr. Lyon to let visitors in, no more than two at a time,” she said, glancing meaningfully at Leonard.

“You two go ahead in,” said Leonard, looking relieved. “I'll just stay here and read my magazine.” Shooting Kate a dark look, he mumbled, “Uh, give Hille my best.”

Hille lay propped on the hospital bed, wrists bound in multiple metres of gauze, blood visibly seeping through. Dr. Lyon, his medi-mask pulled down like a paper beard, stood by the bed with a look of severe concern. He motioned the visitors forward.

“Hiya,” said Neville gently.

“Hi,” said Hille weakly. “They told me you were coming.”

“How could I not, when I heard?”

Hille said nothing.

“So how are you?” Neville said.

“All right,” said Hille and burst into tears.

“Listen, I had no idea things were so bad for you here,” Neville said, and made a move toward her.

Hille shied away, pulling up the covers.

“Hille, sweetie! What's this about?”

Hille moved her head in an ambiguous way and lowered her eyes.

Glancing around at the many witnesses, Neville, ever the lawyer, chose his words carefully. “If this has anything to do with …”

Hille bit her lip.

“It'll be a big change, I know, Hille.” Neville looked pleased with himself. “And I don't want to disturb your new life here. But I'd be grateful if you'd oblige me in what is really just a simple request.”

Hille grew more agitated.

“I confess it was clumsy, leaving a message at the last minute like that. But you wouldn't answer my emails. I really was just looking for a bit of co-operation.”

Hille raised a knee under the covers and pushed herself further back on the bed.

“Nevvy, I — uh, just can't. Not right now. Just give me a few more weeks.”

Neville looked perplexed. “Why? I can't wait any longer, Hille. It's now or never.”

Hille clapped her bandaged arms tightly across her chest, soaking her blue hospital gown in blood.

Neville's face began to rearrange itself. “Oh my God, Hille. I just remembered … No. You didn't — you didn't think I was serious, about, uh, our little deal.”

Arms wound strait-jacket fashion around herself, Hille again looked modestly down, by way of saying yes.

“No, baby, I was just pulling your chain. Really, honeybun! You know how we used to joke around.”

Hille lay back on her pillow, sighed the sigh of ages and released her prodigious breasts …

“Did you even
read
my emails?”

Hille slowly shook her head.

“Listen to my phone message?”

Hille repeated the slow shake of her head. Her voice came softly as a young girl's. “I was too scared,” she said.

Neville groaned and sat heavily down on Hille's bed, as though exhausted. “All I wanted was for you to show me around.”

“Show you around?” Hille said.

“Yeah. Here. Your hometown. I am
so
ready close up shop in the city. I need to get out, Hille. Move to a smaller place, you know, ‘semi-retire.' Just do wills, real estate, that kind of thing. So, I thought, here you were in Pine Rapids, maybe you could give me the lowdown.”

“On Pine Rapids?”

“Yeah. From what I've seen — and may I say there's more
town
to this town than meets the eye — it seems like it could grow on a person.”

“Kind of like fungus,” Kate threw in cheerfully.

Neville ignored the interruption. “But enough about me. What about you, Hilley? What on earth's going on with this?” He nodded at Hille's mummified arms.

Hille sat up and ruffled Neville's hair. “Well, Nevvy,” she said. “There's something you should know.”

“Sure, hon, anything, whatever. You can tell me.”

“I don't actually
live with
Kate.”

“Yeah, babe. I understand. You're roommates. It's all good, whatever.”