Worse Than Being Alone (10 page)

Roni stared at the house where a large portable
trash container full of used shingles sat on the driveway. Bales of
unused new shingles had been placed on the roof, making Roni
believe this was the house Tommy had been working on when Lisa
Madigan had called.

The mystery novel Roni had been reading just didn’t
seem to catch fire, so Roni put it down and did some stretches,
hoping the activity would keep her awake. The smell of fresh cut
flowers lingered in the van despite the fact it was currently
empty. Temperatures in the 70s allowed Roni to leave a few windows
down slightly, which provided enough ventilation. The weather
forecast called for rain the next couple of days. Roni figured if
what Tommy’s son said was true, he should be coming to finish the
roof.

Roni was almost finished with her
stretches when she heard a door slam and looked out the window just
in time to see Tommy coming down his front walk carrying a big
toolbox and wearing a tool belt. My Eureka moment, Roni thought, as
she turned the radio off and checked the video camera that had been
mounted on a tripod in front of one of the tinted side windows of
the van.

Tommy crossed the street in front of the florist’s
van and headed right for the front door of his neighbor’s house. No
sooner had Tommy knocked than the door opened and a man with a
coffee mug came out and started talking to Tommy. The neighbor
walked over to the garage, pressed the keypad, and the heavy door
started up. The man disappeared into the confines of the garage.
Several minutes later, he reappeared carrying a ladder instead of
the coffee mug. Tommy helped him prop the ladder against the
garage.

The neighbor went back in the
garage one last time. When he reemerged, he was wearing a tool
belt. Both men ascended the ladder and began installing the new
shingles over black tar paper. Roni used a video camera to film
Tommy’s activities, which included twisting his back and neck as he
used a nail gun to install the new shingles. Roni would use the
footage of Tommy wearing the soft collar to therapy against the
video of him performing his usual job activities with no apparent
difficulty. Roni was about to call Lisa Madigan when her cell phone
chirped.

“
Hello,” Roni said.

“
Roni, it’s Dad,” he said, his
voice sounding weak. “I’m sick. I’m going over to the doctor at
Alton Memorial.”

“
What’s wrong, Dad?” Roni
asked.

“
I’ve been throwing up all
night.”

“
I thought your doctor was at St.
Luke’s,” Roni said, referring to a St. Louis Hospital.

“
I’m going to Marian’s doctor over
here in Alton now. Marian thought it was best.”

“
Since when does Marian decide
what doctor you see?” Roni asked, trying unsuccessfully to suppress
her sarcasm.

“
Now, Roni.”

“
Ok, Ok,” Roni said. “I’m right in
the middle of something I can’t just drop. I should be able to wrap
this up in an hour or so and then I’ll head over there. Call me
after you see the doctor.”

An hour later, Roni had obtained enough footage to
end Tommy’s claim and headed over to Alton Memorial, thinking about
her father’s sudden illness. Billy had called to tell her he was
being admitted, which upped the ante for Roni. Billy seemed very
vague about his symptoms. Something about some kind of home remedy
Marian had suggested he start taking on their honeymoon. Roni was
determined to get to the bottom of Billy’s sudden illness even if
that upset Marian.

The parking lot at Alton Memorial
boasted the usual crush of cars near the entrances with most of the
lot uninhabited. Roni parked as close as possible to the red
emergency sign and trudged through the swishing doors to the desk.
Informed that Billy had already been admitted, Roni took the
elevator to the third floor. She stopped by the desk and almost
lost it when the secretary told her Billy’s wife had left
instructions to limit his visitors.

Unwilling to confront Roni further, she went to find
the head nurse to deal with the problem. An attractive chunky woman
approached, but she lost her perky smile when she spotted Roni’s
harsh glare. Her pace decreased until she appeared to be moving in
slow motion.

“
I’m Mrs. Marsh,” she said as she
held out her hand. “I understand you want to see Mr.
Diamond.”

“
Yes, he’s my father,” Roni
explained.

“
Mrs. Diamond has requested we
limit visitors to immediate family.”

“
Well, except for Marian I’m about
as immediate as it gets,” Roni said. “Are you really going to try
to keep me from seeing him?”

“
Well, if you’re his daughter, I
guess you would be considered immediate family.”

“
Good,” Roni said. “Now that we
have that straight, what room is he in?”

“
He’s in room 312,” Mrs. Marsh
said as she held her ground and pointed down the hall, unwilling to
accompany Roni in case there was a confrontation.

Billy Diamond, pale and heaving into an emesis
basin, sat on the side of the bed, his scrawny white legs hanging
over the side. He motioned Roni into the room, trying to catch his
breath and stifle his gag reflex.

Roni believed a man totally unfamiliar with medicine
must have designed emesis basins. While they did fit nicely under
the chin the small size was totally inadequate. Apparently, the
idea was that the limited size would somehow make someone stop
vomiting when the basin was filled. Roni shook her head, went into
the bathroom area, and grabbed a washbasin from the cabinet.

“
When did you start vomiting?”
Roni asked as she handed him the basin.

In response, Billy leaned over and spewed vile green
liquid into the container. Roni used the old nursing trick of
breathing through her mouth to avoid smelling the foul stomach
contents. That was how she managed to stifle her gag reflex.

“
Ok, I think I’m done for now,”
Billy said as Roni took the basin and Billy decided to lie
down.

Roni looked at the green contents in the basin and
asked. “What have you been eating?”

“
Marian believes in homeopathic
medicine. We take a lot of herbal medicines.”

“
Maybe you should quit,” Roni
said.

“
Marian says it wasn’t that. I had
steak last night. She says my body was poisoned by
meat.”

“
Dad, what the hell is going on?”
Roni asked. “When did you start taking all this homeopathic
crap?”

“
Now, don’t be mad, Roni,” Billy
started as Marian glided into the room.

“
Billy, my love, I’m sorry I
couldn’t get here sooner,” she said as she hugged him, put her
heavily bejeweled hands on both sides of his face, and looked
intently into his eyes. “I’m here to take care of you now.
Everything’s going to be fine.”

Roni thought Billy looked pale and pathetic before
the little dynamo arrived, but he visibly shriveled up as she
ministered to him.

“
Roni, it’s good to see you
again,” she said as she glanced at Roni.

“
Roni,” Billy said weakly, a
pleading expression plastered on his face.

Unsure if Billy was sending her or Marian a message,
Roni just stared at both of them, waiting for one of them to make
the next move.

“
Well, I guess you’re wondering
what’s going on,” Marian said. “I’ve been into homeopathic medicine
for years. The doctor thinks one of them just didn’t agree with
Billy’s delicate stomach. Everything is going to be fine. It’s no
big deal. Billy won’t be taking that herb anymore.”

“
What herb was Billy taking?” Roni
demanded as Billy began heaving again.

Roni watched in fascination as Marian ran into the
bath area, wet a washcloth, and hustled back to the bedside so she
could wash Billy’s face. Marian talked non-stop and Roni felt as if
Marian might be a master at sucking the air out of a room. Billy
finally settled down and fell asleep several minutes later.

“
Why don’t we talk outside?”
Marian suggested as Roni followed her out into the hall.

“
Look, Roni, this is no big deal,”
Marian said. “Billy is going to be fine.”

“
I’ll feel a lot better if I talk
to Billy’s doctor,” Roni said as Marian frowned.

“
I don’t think that’s necessary,”
Marian said.

“
I don’t think that’s for you to
decide,” Roni said.

“
I don’t want to this to get ugly,
but Billy is my husband now. I decide what’s best for Billy. I
think you’d better back off. I can make life difficult for you if I
choose to. I don’t think you really want to make me your enemy,
Roni.”

“
Roni,” a plaintive voice called
from inside the room. Roni went back into the room, followed
closely by Marian.

“
I’m fine Roni,” Billy
said.

Roni stayed for several more minutes, finally
needing to escape for a while, unable to tolerate Marian’s hovering
and smothering routine. As she passed the desk, Roni spotted Betty
Marsh and caught her attention.

“
Look,” Roni said uncertainly. “I
need to know who my father’s doctor is. Frankly, I’m worried about
him taking all this herbal crap.”

“
You need to talk to Dr. Burnett,”
Betty said as she wrote a number on a card and handed it to Roni.
“When he was here this morning he said he had some concerns about
what herbal meds your dad has been taking. He said he talked to
Marian about it, but she just laughed and dismissed him with a wave
of her hand.”

“
Do you think my dad’s in danger?”
Roni asked.

“
I’m not sure I’d go that far.
Just call Dr. Burnett, OK. He can answer that question a lot better
than I can.”

A burning rage accompanied Roni to her car, where
she got behind the wheel, pulled out her cell phone, and dialed Dr.
Burnett’s number. After talking to Dr. Burnett for several minutes,
Roni pressed end and called Kitty.

“
Kitty, I’m mad as hell and I
don’t know what to do about it,” Roni said.

“
Whoa, slow down. Tell me what’s
going on.”

“
I know I told you not to say
anything about Marian,” Roni said. “I thought I should back off and
let him be happy. Now I’m worried I was wrong and it might come
back to bite me in the ass. Billy is sick as a dog. Marian is into
homeopathic medicine and has been giving him herbal medicine. He’s
at Alton Memorial.”

“
Wow, I didn’t see that one
coming. So, do you think she’s trying to poison Billy or
what?”

“
I don’t know,” Roni said. “I
talked to his doctor. He thinks Billy took some kind of herbal
concoction. He’s not a big fan of homeopathic medicine. He said
there’s no way to test for a lot of herbal medicines. He seemed to
think it was all fairly innocent.”

“
Obviously you don’t. How can I
help?”

“
Tell me what you really think
about Marian,” Roni said.

“
I think she’s an evil bitch. I’m
worried about Billy. I think he was just really lonely when he met
Marian. Sometimes people make bad choices when that happens. Is
there anything I can do?”

“
Just talk to me,” Roni said. “I
knew you weren’t a big Marian fan and only kept your mouth shut
because you’re my friend and I asked you to.”

“
It’s a big leap from not liking
her to thinking she’s actually trying to harm Billy.”

“
So, you think I’m overreacting?”
Roni asked.

“
I didn’t say that. I do think
it’s time to check Marian out.”

“
She actually warned me,” Roni
said. “She told me she could make my life miserable if I didn’t
back off.”

“
Wow, that was a mistake. Look, I
think it’s time to call in the David Weller card. He told us he had
an ex FBI agent on his payroll. He could do a much better
background check on her than we can. I think you should go for
it.”

“
Yeah, I think you’re right,” Roni
said. “I was able to get her date of birth and social security
number.”

“
How did you manage
that?”

“
I pretended I was interested in
getting to know her,” Roni said. “I asked her when and where she
was born in front of Billy. She wasn’t very happy about sharing,
but I guess she decided it might look suspicious if she didn’t tell
me. When I first got there, I spotted her purse on a chair by the
door. After a bit, I excused myself to use the bathroom and grabbed
her purse. I got her date of birth from her driver’s license and
her social from what looked like her original card.”

“
We’re turning into real
detectives.”

“
I was willing to give her the
benefit of the doubt,” Roni said. “Now I’m going to go over her
life with a microscope. If there’s something there I’ll find it.
I’ll do whatever it takes to protect Billy. I think you’re right
about David. I’ll go see him as soon as I can and kill two birds
with one stone. I’ll convince him to visit my quad and get his
investigator involved.”

Chapter Seventeen

David Weller, still a formidable figure despite
being confined to a specially built wheelchair, stared at the
courtyard of his pricey downtown St. Louis hotel. Fountains,
walkways, and planters brimming with a riot of different colored
flowers led to a central pond containing yellow and orange Koi.
Pleased with the view, he thought about what might have been.