I.L. Wolf - Her Cousin, Much Removed

by I. L. Wolf

“Just like that?”

  “What else have I got going on?”

  “That’s a good question,” Venetia, said, “what else have you got going on?”

  “What else have you got going on?”

  “Are you back to Mason?” Venetia leaned closer.

  “Do you think I’m back to Mason?”

  “Can we stop this?”

  “Already did because I’m already gone,” Marlene said, hefting herself to her feet. “So you only want me to follow him?”

  “Let me know if he goes back to the office. Or a storage unit.”

  “Aye, aye,” she said.

  “Are you sure you’re OK doing this?”

  “I can’t imagine wanting to do anything else,” she said. “Nothing else at all.”

  She watched Marlene trundle off down the hall after Dane, and wondered if she’d made a huge mistake. Speaking of huge mistakes, it was time to go up and see Billie.

  ***

  Propped up against the pillows, white bandages around her head, Billie smiled wanly at Venetia as she came in. “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey.” Venetia settled herself into the wooden armchair next to the bed. “How are you feeling?”

  “A little like someone whacked me over the head. I think someone whacked me over the head.”

  “Are you OK?”

  “Relax. Just some humor. Which didn’t quite hit the mark, I guess. Unlike my head,” she tried again.

  “Maybe now’s not your funniest hour.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to Delenda’s service.”

  “Are you?”

  “I am, actually. I’m kind of surprised myself.”

  “Hmm,” Venetia said, trying to bite her tongue.

  “Hmm, what? Are you back on being suspicious again? Someone attacked me, Venetia. At your place, I might add.”

  “I know, I’m sorry about that.”

  “How’s my purse? Is it OK?”

  “I’d be more concerned about you right now, but that’s a pretty good indicator that you’re close to being yourself again.”

  “You didn’t answer the question.”

  “Your purse is fine. Billie, I have to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me.”

  “Ohh-kaaaay,” she said, picking up a nail file from the tray table by the bed. She started on her index finger.

  “What were you looking for on my desk yesterday?”

  She looked up, the file frozen in mid-shaping above her hand. “What?”

  “I saw you going through my desk. Why?”

  “I was?” she resumed her filing. “I don’t remember,” she said. “The whole afternoon’s pretty fuzzy.”

  “Is it?”

  She put the file down on the cover. “Of course it is. I was knocked unconscious,” she said. “Not the best way to cement your memories, if you know what I mean.”

  “Not sure that I do.”

  “Seriously, Vennie, you have been so weird lately. You act as if you don’t actually know me. And we’ve known each other forever.”

  “I thought I did.”

  “Come out with it,” Billie said. “Stop with those cloudy, veiled statements. You always do that.”

  “I don’t always do anything.”

  “You totally do. You get mad at me and you make these comments.”

  “What kind of comments?” Venetia said.

  “I don’t know, comments. And then you pretend like there’s nothing going on. It drives me crazy.”

  “How crazy?”

  “Is there something going on in here?” said a nurse, sticking her head in the room.

  “We’re fine,” Billie said. She looked from the nurse to Venetia and back again. “For now.”

  “Just let me know,” she said. She closed the door quietly behind her.

  “You didn’t answer,” said Venetia. “How crazy?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “That’s supposed to mean that I’m not sure exactly how much I can trust you, Billie.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” she said, the part of her forehead that was visible wrinkling underneath the bandage.

  “What happened?”

  “I told you, I was hit on the head.”

  “No, I mean what happened.”

  “I don’t know.” She moved on to another finger.

  “Were you on your way to meet someone?”

  She stopped. “What?”

  “I asked if you were on your way to meet someone.”

  “Why would you ask me that?”

  “Well, were you?”

  “Would it be any of your business if I were? I don’t know what is happening to you, but this whole Delenda thing is making you weird,” she said, the file dangling between her fingers.

  “This whole ‘Delenda thing?’ You mean the likely murder of my cousin?’

  “Come off it, Venetia, you weren’t even really related, probably, and you hated each other.”

  “I didn’t hate her.”

  She took up with the file again. The sound of it made Venetia’s teeth itch. “She certainly hated you.”

  “What?”

  “That shouldn’t come as much of surprise. I can’t even tell you the number of times I stuck up for you to her. Over and over again.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What do you think I mean? What’s with the third degree, anyway? I thought you were here to visit me, and you’re turning out to be no better than Dane.”

  “Dane was here?” said Venetia, knowing full-well that he was.

  “Yeah, Dane was here,” she said, nodding heavily. “Ouch.” She stopped moving and placed a hand on the side of her head.

  “Did you give yourself a nodding injury?”

  “I think so.”

  “You injured yourself nodding your head?”

  “Is that possible?” she said. They caught one another’s eye and burst into giggles. “Does that remind you of the time—”

  “I got the paper cut and didn’t think I needed to cover it,”

  “And,” Billie said, between giggles, “it got infected…”

  “So I told everyone I got cut training tigers?”

  They laughed for a moment together. “Do you think anyone will buy this was tigers?” Billie said.

  “In my building? Probably not.”

  “They didn’t buy it with you, either.”

  “It was a book about tigers,” said Venetia, her eyes sincere.

  “Probably still doesn’t count.”

  She scooted her chair closer to the bed. “Billie, I know you were going to meet someone. Why?”

  “I really don’t want to tell you.”

  “Why not?”

  “For the same reason that I kept how Delenda really felt about you bottled up for all these years. You’re my friend. I don’t want to see you hurt. Can we leave it at that?”

  “We can’t,” she said, her eyes clouded. “We really, really can’t. You could be in trouble, you know.”

  “Better me than you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Come on, Venetia, you don’t have to coddle me anymore. We both know who’s who in our friendship.”

  “What are you talking about?’

  “People expect me to screw up. They don’t expect you to.”

  “Screw up? How did I screw up?”

  “It’s OK, Vennie, I know.”

  “You know what?”

  “I know.”

  “You know what?”

  “I’m the one with the head injury here.”

  “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Venetia.

  “I know that that client of yours, the one who died, gave you some pretty important documents. And I also know that, somehow, Delenda was trying to get ahold of them.”

  “Delenda got hold of what documents?”

  “Vennie, I’m not as dumb as people th
ink.”

  “No one said you were dumb.”

  “If you knew I was going to meet someone, wouldn’t you have a pretty good idea who it was?”

  “Not necessarily. What about the reward?”

  “Reward?” Billie said.

  “If you were calling about the documents, wouldn’t you be calling about the reward?”

  “Now I’m upset.”

  “What? What did I do?”

  “Have you not been listening to me? Whatever that client gave you, the guy wanted it all right. And he wanted it from someone who wasn’t you.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “He wanted to take down your client’s ex-husband, sure, but his ad was more specific than that.”

  “Meaning?”

  “He wanted proof that would help to destroy you too, Vennie. He wanted definitive proof that you’d done something wrong, whether it was break confidentiality or leak information that led to that woman—”

  “Her name was Brenna.”

  “Whatever. That led to her death. He blamed you too, that much was really, really clear. And he wanted both of you pretty badly.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The documents alone? The reward was three million.”

  “Dollars?”

  Billie started to nod and Venetia stuck out a hand to stop her. “I think actually saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ are safer right now. Since we seem to be fresh out of tigers.”

  “Yes. Dollars. With you?” Billie said, fingertips against her head, “He said he’d double it.”

  Chapter 13

  “Did you say double three million dollars? As in six?” Venetia said.

  “Yes.”

  “To involve me?”

  “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

  “But why?”

  “We didn’t get to the why,” she said, pointing at her head, “but I’d guess he thinks you could have done something.”

  “Or thought.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Never mind.”

  “I don’t know if it’s you or the head injury, but you’re not making a lot of sense to me today.”

  “You should probably get some rest,” said Venetia, standing. She made it almost all of the way to the door before she stopped and turned around. “Hey, you said Dane was here. Why?”

  “Why wouldn’t he be here? We’ve known each other for ages. And in case you’ve forgotten, he’s kind of representing me. If I need representing.”

  “Just curious. Was he acting weird or anything?”

  “Vennie, I have told you about a thousand times I don’t know what really happened between you and him, and I don’t want to get in the middle of it, whatever it was.”

  “I’m not asking you to get in the middle of anything.”

  “He came to visit me. Friends do that when you’re in the hospital.”

  “Yes, but did he want something specific?” Venetia rested her shoulder against the doorframe.

  “See? Now you’re being weird again,” she said. “He was only here a few minutes, we talked about the service. Nothing major. Chitchat.” She tilted her head, and then closed her eyes slowly, her fingertips back at her temple.

  “Does it hurt?” said Venetia.

  “No. Wait, he did say something kind of odd.”

  “He did?”

  “Yes, he told me Higson would be calling me,” she said.

  “Higson? Boggs?”

  “How many Higsons do you know?”

  “Actually, none, because I don’t even really know him. I had no idea that Delenda was even married. Why is he going to call you?

  “I don’t know, he said something about papers Delenda was supposed to sign. Change of beneficiary or something.”

  “She really had an actual wedding to him?”

  “I wasn’t kidding when I said she hated you. She didn’t invite you, obviously. She did serve appetizers on your platter, though.” Billie tugged the blanket up a little higher.

  “She used my platter at a wedding I wasn’t even invited to?”

  “You wouldn’t have wanted to be there. It was really small.”

  “You were there?”

  “Well, yeah, of course. I was her assistant.”

  “But she yelled at you all the time.”

  “Well, I guess she didn’t quite hate me in the same way. As far as I knew.”

  Venetia sat down again in the chair. “So she really hated me?”

  “I’ve been trying to tell you that, and after all these years of not telling you, I’ve got to say it’s a little bit of a relief.”

  “Gee, thanks.” Venetia pulled her purse into her lap. “Didn’t invite me, but still used my platter. Now that’s classy.”

  “It was months ago, there’s no need to get all worked up.”

  “Who else was there?”

  “Oh, come on, Venetia, it’s not the time for hurt feelings.”

  “No, I’m curious, who else was there?”

  “Higson, of course. Dane, they really started to get close after you left the practice, that lawyer, Walter Bloaerd, who was there with Sissy—”

  “Sissy. As in my Aunt?”

  “How many do you know?”

  “She was there? She was introduced to Higson at the memorial service. They acted like they didn’t know each other.”

  “Well, she was probably trying to spare your feelings.”

  “When has Sissy ever tried to spare feelings, let alone mine?”

  “That is a point,” Billie said. “Let’s see, there were a few people you don’t know.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know, people you don’t know. So what’s the point in telling you? You won’t know them anyway. Seriously, I can’t believe you’re upset about this.”

  “Keep going. Who else?”

  “Oh, and that reporter from Local 9.” Venetia perked up.

  “Which one?”

  “Tipsy. Tipsy Nightingale.”

  “Tipsy? What was she doing there?”

  “She was Dane’s date.”

  “You don’t say,” Venetia said slowly. “You don’t say.”

  “You’re being weird again.”

  “I’m not trying to be weird.”

  “Either way, you are. And I’m tired.”

  “Got it,” she said. She walked over the bed, and gave Billie’s hand a squeeze. “You have been a good friend,” she said. “But it’s OK, you don’t have to protect me.”

  Billie’s smile was small. “You have no idea,” she said.

  The nurse knocked on the door frame. “Time for meds,” she said. She took in Billie’s pallor. “And probably some rest.”

  “I was about to leave,” said Venetia. She slung her purse over her shoulder and gave Billie a wave. “See you soon,” she said.

  She got all the way outside before she remembered she didn’t have a car, it was still where she left it when she’d caught the ride with Detective James. The traffic was at a midday lull, and there wasn’t a cab to be seen. She’d have to call one.

  Turning her phone back on, it looked like Marlene was on the case. She’d texted several times.

  “Buying flowers,” was the first one. “Stopped to get chocolates from a fancy store. They’re absurdly expensive. What’s wrong with normal chocolate?” Then: “Went to the ATM. Got money. This is fun.”

  Perhaps, Venetia thought, Marlene needs a hobby.

  And then the last text dissolved the smile from Venetia’s face. “I think he sees me. Going to have to st—”

  She dialed her. It rang and went to voicemail. She tried it again. Voicemail.

  She wondered if she should call Cadby. Or 911. And now this was her fault, too, first Billie, then Marlene. She tried to fight the rising panic, but she couldn’t help but feel it was serious. And what was Julian going to say? Marlene had been such a refreshing change from Sissy, he was finally happy for the first time since she’d known him.

 
; Overreacting. She had to be overreacting. She’d call Julian, no doubt they were together right then. She tried his number, and he picked up on the second ring.

  “Hey Venetia, was it as awful as I think it was?”

  “Not quite,” she said. “I was wondering if Marlene was around?”

  “Calling me to get to the good one, huh?”

  “No, Julian, you know I love to chat with you, but I saw Marlene earlier and we didn’t finish a conversation. I had another question to ask her.” Venetia hoped she sounded calm.

  “Are you OK?” he said.

  Apparently she didn’t.

  “Fine,” she said, “fine as I can be.” She felt her heart fluttering. For all she knew, Brooks wasn’t working alone, and this whole thing was getting pretty real pretty fast.

  “I’ll tell her you called when I see her,” he said, “but you should give her phone a try.”

  “Will do,” she said as the sound of the call waiting beep interrupted. She checked the number.

  Marlene.

  “Got to run, Julian.”

  “Will you be in tomorrow?”

  “Not sure, I’ve got things to tie up. Can I call you in the morning?”

  “No problem, it’s only—” he said.

  “Sorry, really have to run,” she said, and toggled over. “Marlene, why didn’t you answer?”

  “Marlene’s not really in a position to answer,” said a male voice. It was hushed, raspy and without enough tone to it to even tell if she knew the person. To guess if it was Dane. It had a metallic edge, like he was using an app to change the sound.

  “What are you talking about? Where is she? What have you done with her?”

  “Full of questions, aren’t we,” the voice said. “Being full of questions is a dangerous, dangerous thing.”

  “This isn’t funny. Dane, is that you?”

  “You’re right that this isn’t funny,” he said. “I’m sure Marlene won’t find it funny at all.”

  “You’re freaking me out.”

  “Good. That’s the point.”

  “I’m contacting the police.”

  A woman walked passed her, looked at her oddly. Venetia turned to the other way.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he said. “In fact, I’d strongly recommend exactly against that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you need to stop asking questions. You need to stop digging. Enjoy your new little life watering plants and forget all about pretending to be something you’re not.”