by Finian Blake
Adam walked down from the knoll with Roger. Ralph met them on the way down with an excited look on his face.
“We could not find a decent Caribou. Could you settle for flying a Twin Otter 310? Ralph found one that is almost new. We settled on a three ten because the type is already approved by the CAA here in Britain.”
“Are you kidding me,” Rogers said in disbelief. “It is not nice to joke like this.”
“I cleared it with Ralph before we left,” Adam said appreciating the fact that he could surprise somebody. “It is parked at the end of the service road. If things go well with our venture it is yours.”
Roger and Ralph sprinted to the cart racing to the new aircraft for a close inspection and a test flight. Francesca gave Adam a few ideas for charter service guaranteeing cooperative agreements with both her company and Everywhere Air. When Adam finally arrived at the pub there were twenty people sipping drinks outside waiting for Terri to do the ribbon cutting. Terri came walking up to the pub arm and arm with Liz, Anna, and Sarah.
“So you drank from her cup.” Adam thought about his advice to other people.
“Always assume that you are being taped.” Adam had the feeling that he could swim in the estrogen. He found himself longing for the road again finding the settled life was very unsettling. Terri stepped up to the ribbon with Susan. They joined hands over a pair of scissors and snipped the ribbon. Terri let Susan lead the way into the pub.
Everyone walked in the pub behind Susan and Terri. The interior smelled of rich food because Alan personally supervised the menu. The fixtures looked like they were ancient pulls for ale. All had the original labels for the different brews on the pulls. The tables and seats were made of rough oak. The rich finish of the wood still smelled strong in the air. Terri had the 'Old Men' stock the bar and Gregory added his expertise. The pub could comfortably hold thirty people. The maximum capacity was fifty people or seventy when the patio was finished and there was a stage for a small band. Susan pulled some strings to get an official license. With the park and the picnic area, they could hold a concert for two hundred. For today Susan hired a small Irish band for the entertainment. Sarah was astounded by the life that she walked into. They condemned Western decadence in Russia. With her first experience of it Sarah was all in favor of the whole experience. Adam was sitting back in his observer’s position. This was a complete success for Terri. He pulled her aside to congratulate her.
“This is unbelievable,” Adam said. “You have really out done yourself. I hope that you have not over done it.”
“I might as well tell you before Susan does. I was in the hospital again. Liz pulled me out of the shower. I did not lose the baby but the doctor put me on bed rest.” Adam started to drag her out of the pub.
“You can’t do this. This is everything that I have been pushing for. I will absolutely behave after tonight!” Adam could not deny Terri her moment, since he admired her abilities.
“Alright you can have your night. After this you are on your best behavior.” The night went smoothly with the evening ending at eleven. Adam took Terri up to the house and put her to bed pulling her close to him as soon as they were in bed.
“You are my life. I love you.”
About two AM Adam awoke to a light in the shower. He walked in to see what was going on. Terri was standing in the shower with blood running down her legs. He hit the panic button in the bath. Security automatically called an ambulance when they saw that the emergency was in Terri’s cottage. A great deal of blood and the fetus was on the floor. When the ambulance showed up Adam was worried that she would bleed to death, since Terri was wracked with pain and there was nothing he could do to stop the bleeding. Susan and Lynn went straight to the hospital instead of going to the Knoll wanting to alert the hospital. There would be no delay in treatment. Liz was going crazy in the bathroom and Anna took charge having Suki take Liz into the sitting room. When the ambulance arrived they started an IV in both arms rushing her to the hospital. Adam, Anna, and Lynn followed in the Bentley driven by Frank. Frank stayed on the bumper of the ambulance to take advantage of the lights and siren.
After a quick examination, the doctor moved Terri into emergency surgery. The only thing that remained to be done was waiting for news about Terri when they completed surgery. Adam sat silently in a corner refusing any contact hating the fact that he could do nothing. Adam was used to life and death decisions making decisions quickly and at this time everybody else was making the decisions. Adam had to sit quietly while things progressed. Suki arrived with Liz and Anna immediately pulling Liz out of the waiting room.
“I know that it is a bad time, but what did you do with those pills that the doctor gave you in Monaco?” A look of horror came over Liz’s face. Did Anna think that she had anything to do with this? “Before the question comes from Adam you need to show him the pills.” Liz pulled the envelope out with a shaky hand. She turned it upside down and four pills rolled out.
“I thought the doctor gave you two?”
“He gave me two extra in case the first two did not work.”
“Wait here…” Anna left and came back with Adam.
“Sooner or later this is going to come out. Liz was originally going to abort when she thought that she was pregnant. We went to a doctor and he gave her some pills.” Liz could see a flash of anger in his eyes from across the room, since she hadn’t dumped the pills as she promised.
“After we talked, I decided against it. He gave me four pills.” Liz opened the envelope producing all four pills. Adam nodded his acknowledgement.
“Thank you for telling me. You need to get rid of those when we get back to the Inn.” Adam kissed her gently walking back in the waiting room without further comment. He had to admire Liz. It took a lot of courage to say this now because she knew the value that he put on promises. The doctor walked into the waiting room looking grim. An icy finger touched Adam’s heart.
The doctor spoke in muffled tones, “Terri is alive but she is very weak. We had to take her womb to stop the bleeding. There was nothing else that could be done. If she makes it through the next few hours she will survive, but Terri will never be able to have children.” Adam started to cry. He felt both relief and sorrow knowing that Terri would be devastated by the news. Everybody heard the news as the doctor told him.
Adam turned to the group, “I know that you want to stay, but I would like to be alone with her.”
Susan, Lynn and Liz were pregnant by him and Terri knew it. He did not want her to face them after her loss, so they left him to tend Terri. Adam pulled a chair next to her bed holding her hand. Two bags of blood hung from a pole next to her bed with an IV line in each arm. He let all of the lectures he was thinking of fall from his mind, just being thankful that she was alive. Adam silently prepared himself to give her the bad news. The doctor wanted to tell her but Adam insisted on doing the distasteful job. He never dumped the ugly things on anybody else. Terri started to be more coherent around first light. She could not move her hand. Adam was holding it and his forehead was on their hands. She reached over with her free hand and stroked his head. He looked up and kissed her hand.
“I love you.” Terri knew she lost the baby. “Go ahead and give me my lecture.” Her voice was weak.
“I thought that I lost you.” He stood up kissing her gently on the lips.
“What are the damages?” She had to know what happened.
“Are you sure that you want to know right now?” Terri’s voice was weak but firm.
“Yes right now…”
“You almost bled to death. The only way that they could stop the bleeding was to take your womb. You will live but there is no way that you will have any children.” Terri started to roll over. Adam held on as best he could without forcing her. There was no way that he could put it any easier. “I am glad that I still have you.” He stroked her face, “Terri you are my life. I would not know what to do without you.”
“You wanted the baby!�
�� Terri started to cry.
Adam nodded silently. He was not about to lie, “I want you even more.” They fell silent and let the hours pass, until the doctor finally showed up.
“Did you tell her?” Adam nodded wordlessly. The doctor examined Terri and read the chart.
“It looks like you are out of danger. We need to find out how you are doing mentally. How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” Terri stopped there.
“You have had a big loss, but your body will recover,” the doctor said. “What I am interested in is your mental state.” Susan and Lynn came in carrying a small suit case. They did not wait for the doctor to finish.
“You are going to be here for a while so we brought you some things for your stay.” Susan looked at the doctor. He pulled Adam out into the hall.
“We will not know about her mental state for a while. The only thing that we can do is watch her carefully.” He walked off unsure of that outcome. Susan stepped out into the hall for a word with Adam.
“I hope you are being gentle with her. I want you to keep your lectures to a minimum.”
“There are no lectures,” Adam said. “I cannot think of a thing to say that would change anything.”
“Good, I am not sure what to say to her either,” Susan said hesitantly. “I do have something to say to you.” Adam gave her a questioning look.
“You look like you were hit by a garbage truck. Frank is waiting outside to take you to the Inn. You need a shower and a few hours’ sleep. Lynn and I will stay with her until you return.” As she was talking Susan pushed Adam down the hall and out to the waiting Bentley. Frank put the car in gear and drove off as Adam fell in the open door.
“How is my daughter?” In his panic Adam forgot that everybody was invested in Terri. He gave Frank a full update on the way back to the Knoll. Adam stripped and hit the shower. The hot water relaxed him. He fell in bed and tried to get some sleep. Liz snuck in the bedroom slipping her shoes and her dress off. Liz backed to him and pulled his arms around her. She moved his hand over her abdomen.
“We can share this one.”
“Why did you get those pills?”
“I thought that you might feel trapped if you knew that I was pregnant. If the baby was Jeff’s, I would have taken them.”
“Where are they now?”
“They are still in my purse.”
“Get them…” She retrieved the small envelope from her purse, and Adam took her by the hand leading her to the toilet.
“If you love me you will flush them down the toilet now.” Liz extended her arm releasing the pills into the toilet. After she slipped the abortion pills to Terri, she replaced them with cold tablets. Liz missed this time. She would wait for another opportunity later. Liz ran her leg up between his legs and purred into his ear.
“I would do anything for you.” Adam dressed and raced back to the hospital.
Sarah came up to Liz’s studio for a tour to distract Liz. At one point in her career she was in charge of an aerial photography unit. Sara was extremely handy with a camera and a dark room. She was equally at ease with developing movie film as she was with still pictures. Sarah was particularly fond of Liz’s lighting and she was decidedly impressed with the dark room. When they went to the subbasement under the garage she could not believe the editing equipment. The light table was first class as well as all the developing equipment. They talked shop all the way back to Liz’s apartment. On the way back Sarah’s nose started to drip uncontrollably and after going through twenty five tissues Sarah asked for some cold tablets. Liz gave her a box with individually wrapped pills in it. Sarah asked to keep one of the cards of pills and took the partially used one replacing the box in the medicine chest.
“I need to go lay down.” Sarah went down to her cottage next to Anna’s. She stopped to visit Anna for a few minutes.
“Could you give me a glass of water? I need to take a pill.” Sarah fumbled with the plastic on the card and finally handed it to Anna. “I can’t do a thing with these fake nails on.” Anna froze when she saw the pills.
“Where did you get these pills?”
“Liz gave them to me. I have a cold and…”
“I have something much better for colds.” Anna produced a bottle of vodka and Sarah nodded. They had a few drinks of vodka and Sarah went to lie down.
Anna borrowed the rover racing to the hospital. Adam was in the process of relieving Susan and Lynn. Anna took Adam by the arm and showed him the sealed card with five missing tablets. Anna had removed one pill.
“Did those abortion pills look like these” Anna asked.
Adam was shocked. “Why would she show us these?”
Anna told him the truth that he did not want to recognize. “She gave the abortion pills to Terri and replaced them with these. She knew that I was with her when she got them from the doctor.” They found a doctor that Susan knew and asked him about abortion pills. He said that there was one that worked for sure, but most doctors stayed away from it because of the amount of bleeding that it caused after thirty days of pregnancy. He looked it up in the physician’s desk reference. There was a picture of the pill and it looked entirely different from what Liz presented to them. The doctor pulled Terri’s blood work calling down to the lab for the biopsy report. It had not been done yet. He ordered a check for the drug in question and ordered it to be next in line. When the tests came back there was four times the normal dose. There was also a presence of blood thinners.
Adam came into Terri’s room. She was still deathly pale.
“How are you doing?”
“I feel like shit.” Anna took over the chat.
“You and Liz have been very close the last few weeks. What have you two been up to?”
“Liz has been helping me with my drawings. She has been such an angel. Liz absolutely will not let me forget my vitamins. She gets my food for me and makes sure that I eat it. I would starve to death without her.”
Anna looked at Adam. They needed to find the blood thinners. Anna called Suki and asked her to have Liz help her with some errands.
Adam wanted to come up with solid proof of the attempt on Terri’s life. They stole the Physicians’ Desk Reference from the hospital. Their first stop was the kitchen shelf where Terri kept her vitamins and examined the pills. They did not match the picture in the desk reference. They next went to the blood thinner. The pills matched the picture in the reference. Adam wanted more proof he needed the source bottle. They checked Liz’s apartment with no luck. Anna observed that Liz kept everything in her purse. When Liz returned, Anna, asked her to help her pack a bag for Terri. Adam wanted to find the evidence himself so that there could be no accusation of a plant.
“Liz, help me pack a bag for Terri. She will be several days in the hospital. I want to get her out of that hospital gown.” As soon as they were out of the room Adam went to work finding nothing on the first run. He remembered where Liz stuck her hand when she produced the small envelope. He brought his hand to the same area feeling a small bottle that he could not get to and after feeling around Adam found a small tear in the lining of her purse. He worked the bottle out, and was shocked to find Dianne’s name on it. Adam poured the contents in his hand and they matched the pills in the vitamin bottle perfectly. He sat down at the kitchen table and started to cry. Anna walked in the kitchen with Liz to see Adam in tears.
“Is everything alright?” Anna needed to know.
“No, everything is far from being alright.” Anna could detect a look of hatred in Adam’s eyes. She knew that he loved Liz too.
“Liz, Terri wanted something out of her car. Would you help me find it?” She led the way to the garage. Anna put her purse on the workbench palming an awl lying on the bench.
“We are looking for a black coin purse. It may have slid down next to the seat.” Liz leaned in to search the seat, and as Liz backed out Anna rammed the awl just below the skull near the spine. She felt muscle give way with the thin probe slidin
g in with Anna wiggling the sharp end in the medulla. Liz went completely slack collapsing to the floor. Anna took a plastic bag and slipped it over her head to make sure that Liz was dead finding no sign of breath. Anna had not lost her touch. She called upstairs to Frank and Suki.
“I need some help loading up some trash. Could you help me?” Frank froze in his tracks as he walked in the garage. He saw Terri lying motionless on the floor. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was Liz.
“She tried to kill Terri. Liz fed her anti-coagulants and then gave her the abortion pills. She almost succeeded. Adam was absolutely shattered when he found anticoagulants in Liz’s purse. Give me a hand, Adam does not need to see this.”
Frank and Suki helped load Liz in the van taking her down to the Twin Otter. Anna told Roger what she planned to do and he agreed to leave in thirty minutes. Anna walked back in the kitchen finding that Adam had not moved from the spot. “What do you plan to do about Liz? I know that you do not kill women.”
“I am considering making an exception. She planned and executed this while pretending to be Terri’s friend which is the height of treachery. She shared a bed with us while actively trying to kill the woman that was befriending her and that is the ultimate treachery.”
“You mean like Sarah and her generals,” Anna said moving off the subject. “How would you do it?”
“It will be quick and without revenge. Being too emotional just gets in the way.” Adam looked around. “Where is Liz?” Anna pulled a bottle of scotch and two glasses out of one of the cabinets. She was silent while she poured two full glasses.
“She is looking for something.”
Adam didn’t understand, “What is she looking for?”
“The Pearly Gates,” a smirk crossed Anna’s face. “It was quick and without emotion. I will be leaving with Rodger to take out the trash. I believe that you were going to take care of Sarah’s problem.”
“It will be taken care of, and we will put Sarah in for a share. I have a feeling Mother Russia will confiscate the money in the accounts that are on the list.” Adam felt both sorrow and exhilaration at the news. He was not planning on asking anyone to do his dirty work. Adam was going to suck it up and take care of business. He would never forget Anna’s loyalty. Liz had not killed Terri but it was not due to the lack of effort plus she killed their unborn child.