The Girl Next Door (32 page)

“Did you hear me?” Nina cried. “That is not a nurse who just went in there. She’s
…” Nina hesitated to say it. But it was too late for hesitation. “She’s the one. The
one you want.”

“Get away from this door,” growled the cop.

“Are you going in there?” Nina demanded.

“I’m warning you, lady …”

“Then I am,” said Nina. He reached out to grab her, but she spun away from him and
lunged for the door. She found the doorknob and turned it, pushing the door in.

The cop drew his gun. “Stop right there.”

“Not a chance,” said Nina, and she burst into the room.

G
EMS
flashed as the hypodermic needle, poised in one bony, beringed hand, punctured the
IV tube that snaked down from the hanging bag and emptied through a needle into Andre’s
hand. Andre lay in the bed, his head tilted to one side, his eyes closed.

“Gemma, don’t!” Nina cried.

Gemma, dressed in a blue nurse’s smock and pants that ballooned around her skinny
frame, looked up and met Nina’s pleading gaze with an implacable stare. For a moment
she flinched. Then she looked at the officer brandishing a gun who had just overtaken
Nina.

“Officer,” she said calmly. “What is this woman doing here?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m getting her out of here.” He grabbed Nina roughly and twisted
her forearm behind her back. Jamming his gun back in the holster, he reached for the
handcuffs on his belt.

“That’s all right,” said Gemma pushing down the plunger on the syringe. “No harm done.
Just finishing up here.”

“Andre,” Nina screamed.

The man on the bed started, and his eyes opened slightly. “Nina,” he whispered.

“Could you get her out of here?” Gemma asked, frowning.

“Right away,” said the cop. He jerked Nina back by her shackled arms, but she strained
forward with all her might, the cords on her neck standing out. “Don’t you get it?
She’s trying to kill him. Andre …”

Andre was gazing at Nina from the bed with a puzzled, faraway look. “What?” he asked.

Nina was overcome with horror as she saw Gemma pull the syringe out of the tube.

“There we go,” Gemma said. “Just something to help you sleep.”

Andre lifted his right hand from the blanket as if to reach out to Nina.

Nina held his gaze and screamed at him over the curses of the officer as he attempted
to drag her away. “Andre, pull the IV out of your hand!” Nina cried. “Do it.
Pull it out! Now!
”

“Are you crazy?” the cop said.

For a moment, Andre looked confused, and then, in one fumbling movement, he reached
over to his left hand, ripped off the tape, and tore the IV needle from the back of
his hand. Blood spurted up and showered down on the thin white blanket.

“Jesus!” cried the cop. “He did it.”

Nina sagged in relief against the officer who was restraining her.

Gemma’s face drained of all color. She looked at Nina with hatred in her eyes. Then
she picked up the needle and tried to find a way to jam it back into Andre, who was
turning away, shielding himself from her jabs with panic in his eyes.

“Wait a minute,” said the cop. “Wait a minute. You. Nurse. Let me see that ID badge
again.” He let go of Nina and started toward the bed. Gemma stood frozen, staring
at his approach. “All right,” he said. “Hand over the ID.”

Gemma hesitated for a second, grabbed the IV needle, and jabbed it into his outstretched
palm.

Shocked, the officer cried out and yanked the needle from the fleshy part of his palm.
Gemma fled the room while Nina, handcuffed, was helpless to stop her. “Get her,” Nina
shrieked at the cop.

The cop looked up from his assaulted hand, the whites showing around his eyes. “I
can’t. I can’t leave him alone … I’ll call,” the cop said.

The officer picked up his two-way radio and began to yell into the static that there
was an assault on the witness and the suspect was loose in the hospital. As he began
to describe Gemma into the radio, Nina, still handcuffed, lurched toward the bed and
gazed helplessly at Andre. “Are you all right?”

He reached out for her and grabbed the edge of her jacket in a feeble grasp. “That
was the one,” he said. “The one at the motel. Calvin opened the door and said, ‘It’s
Bones.’ I thought it was some sick joke. Then she came in with a gun and started shooting.”

“I know,” said Nina.

“You know her,” Andre said.

Nina nodded miserably.

“She would have killed me just then,” he whispered.

“Doc, is this going to kill me?” the cop demanded, holding out his palm for Andre
to see.

Andre shook his head. “No. But you better have it looked at.”

The officer heaved a sigh of relief. “All right,” he said angrily, coming up behind
Nina and unlocking her fettered wrists. “You have to get out of here right now.”

“But …” Nina looked helplessly at Andre. The door to the
room opened and three more uniformed officers entered, their guns drawn.

“Here,” the cop yelled. “Clear the room. Everybody out but the witness. Get this woman
out of here. Now.”

A
NURSE’S
locker in the hospital basement was found broken open and rifled through. An orderly
admitted that he let a woman matching Gemma’s description into the nurses’ locker
room when she told him that she had forgotten her key. The hospital was searched,
floor by floor and room by room, but Gemma had escaped.

Nina and Patrick were escorted to the police station, where they met with detectives.
In response to their questions, Nina revealed all that she had discovered about her
father’s search for Calvin Mears. As Nina recounted what she had learned from Lieutenant
Hagen and her brother Jimmy, Patrick stared at her.

“Wait a minute,” he interrupted her. “Are you trying to imply that Gemma killed Calvin
because she was the one he saw leaving the house the night Mom was killed?”

The senior detective looked at Nina with interest. “Well?” he said.

“What else can I think?” Nina asked faintly.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” cried Patrick. “Duncan killed Mom. He was just
looking for someone else to blame.”

Nina turned on her brother angrily. “Patrick, when are you going to wake up? How can
you still insist on Dad’s guilt with what we now know about Gemma? Are you so determined
to hate him that you can’t admit you were wrong?”

“I don’t accept that,” Patrick insisted. “What reason would Gemma have to do that?
To kill Mom?”

“I don’t know,” Nina admitted.

“It can’t be,” Patrick said stubbornly. “I’ll grant you she’s a
liar. God help me, I’ve known that for a long time. I’ve lived with her for twelve
years. But, a killer …”

“Mr. Avery,” the senior detective interrupted him, “that’s not even a question. We
know that your wife is a killer.”

For two more hours, Nina and Patrick were grilled, until the police were satisfied
that they knew nothing about Gemma’s murderous activities. Patrick was informed that
the police had a warrant and were on their way to search his house. Patrick, who was
sitting with his head in his hands, looked up and said dully, “Make sure you send
somebody who speaks Spanish. The housekeeper doesn’t speak any English. She’ll be
freaked out.”

The detective thanked him politely and went out to make sure they had a Spanish speaker
on the search crew.

“Just like Elena,” said Nina. “Why didn’t she get someone who speaks English?”

Patrick stared blankly ahead. “So they couldn’t keep track of her lies.”

“Dad told me she was lying,” Nina said. “He understood what she was saying in Spanish
to Elena, and he told me Gemma lied about it.”

Patrick shook his head. “I wondered why she let Elena go.”

“Let her go? I thought … She told me Elena’s sister was in an accident in Panama and
she had to go back,” said Nina.

Patrick turned and looked grimly at his sister. “Do you get it now? It’s everything.
It’s a compulsion. It took me years to even realize …”

Nina returned his stare. “Do you think that’s why she killed Dad?”

Patrick’s gaze was anguished. “That’s what they think, isn’t it? That Gemma killed
him. And Mom.”

“Of course it is,” said Nina flatly.

The detective reentered the interview room. “All right, you can go. Two of our officers
will accompany you. The Hoffman police are cooperating with us and they will be watching
both
of your houses tonight because there is a possibility Mrs. Avery will try to return
home, seeking refuge. If she should show up, don’t try to reason with her. She is
most likely armed, she is desperate, and she should be considered extremely dangerous.”

Patrick’s shoulders began to shake and he seemed almost too weak to stand up. Nina
tried to comfort him and helped him to his feet, wondering all the while what he was
feeling for his wife, now that he knew she was a killer. Was there still love there?
Had there ever been? “Come on, Patrick,” she said gently. “We have to go. The boys
need you now.”

N
INA
thanked Officer Kepler, who had accompanied her to her aunt’s house. “I’m just going
to have a look around the outside,” he said.

“Please do,” said Nina, ushering him in and taking off her coat. “Can I get you something?
A cup of tea?”

“No thanks,” he said, but he smiled at her appreciatively. He switched on his flashlight
and started around the side of the house.

I’m going to have one, Nina thought. She went into the kitchen and put the kettle
on. She could see the beam of his flashlight through the windows, roving across the
backyard and around the garage in a jerky motion. Nina was glad to have him out there.
She doubted she would sleep tonight. Not until she knew that Gemma had been apprehended.
Patrick had promised to call the moment there was any news of Gemma’s arrest.

While she waited for the kettle to boil, Nina went down the hall, opened the door
to her great-aunt’s room, and looked in. Aunt Mary was propped up on her pillows,
dozing, the bedside light still on. She didn’t want her aunt to wake up, but she noticed
that her window was open a few inches, and Nina wanted to be
sure that the house was locked up tight. She tiptoed over to the window and began
to slide it shut as quietly as possible.

“Nina?”

Nina jumped and put a hand on her chest. She turned and looked at her aunt. “God,
you scared me,” she said. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I was dozing,” said Aunt Mary. “What are you doing?”

“Just closing the window,” said Nina. “I thought it seemed a little chilly in here.”
Nina did not want to tell her the real reason she was concerned about an open window.

“I like the fresh air,” Aunt Mary said in a groggy voice. “They keep that nursing
home sealed up so tight.”

“I know, I know,” said Nina, “but you don’t want to get a chill. You just got home.
I don’t want you going back to that place.” Nina lowered the window and reached for
the lock, which resisted her efforts to turn it. “Damn. I must have gotten this thing
stuck when I painted.”

“Oh, that lock is always stubborn,” said Aunt Mary. “Where have you been all day,
dear?”

Nina felt the lock give, and she turned it and then jiggled it. She decided a half-truth
was her best option. “I went to see Jim,” she said. “In the hospital.”

“Gemma’s in the hospital?” said her aunt. “But she was just here earlier.”

Rubbing her hands together, Nina turned back to her aunt. “Not Gem. Jim.”

“Oh, it sounded exactly like you said Gem,” said Aunt Mary. “What’s wrong with Jimmy?”

Nina’s arms prickled with gooseflesh.

“Nina? What’s wrong with Jimmy?”

“He had an accident,” said Nina, distracted.

“Will he be all right?” her aunt asked.

“I hope so,” said Nina.

“Nina,” Aunt Mary exclaimed. “Is that a light out there in the backyard?”

Nina turned and looked. It was Officer Kepler’s flashlight, still searching. “Oh,
probably just somebody looking for their cat. I’ll go take a look,” she said. “Can
I get you anything?”

“No,” said her aunt. “I’m fine. I’m gonna read my book.”

Gemma. It sounds exactly like Jimmy
. Nina went down the hall to the kitchen, thinking about what Jimmy had told her.
That their father had heard their mother whispering his name when Duncan found her
on the living room floor, dying.
Gem
, Nina thought. It would sound just like
Jim
on the lips of a dying woman.

She opened the kitchen door and peered out into the darkness. “Officer Kepler?” she
called out softly. “Is everything all right?”

The officer emerged from the darkness of the backyard onto the patio and switched
off his flashlight. “All clear,” he said. “Let me have a quick look inside.”

“Everything seems fine, but be my guest,” said Nina. “Let me just tell my aunt you’re
here.”

The officer went through the living room and climbed the stairs. Nina heard him opening
closet doors and sliding back the shower door in the bathroom. Nina went down the
hall to her aunt’s room. She opened the door and stuck her head in. “There’s a policeman
here. He’s just having a look around because there’s been a prowler reported in the
neighborhood.”

Aunt Mary lowered her book and looked up over the top of her reading glasses. “Oh
my goodness,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” said Nina, forcing herself to smile. “Everything’s okay.”

Nina pulled the door shut and went back down the hall, entering the kitchen just as
Officer Kepler was emerging from the basement.

“Everything seems to be fine,” he said. “I’m going to go now, but the Hoffman police
will be watching the house. You sleep well, now.”

“Thanks,” said Nina. “I appreciate it.” She walked him to the front door and waved
to him as he got into his squad car. Then she closed the door behind him and locked
it. The teakettle whistled, and she turned off the burner and poured herself a cup.
As she started to carry it into the living room, she noticed that Officer Kepler had
left the light on in the stairwell leading to the basement. She walked over to switch
it off. As she pulled open the doorway, she heard a thud. It sounded as if it came
from the basement.