It was Brie’s turn to speak carefully. “Won’t she die if you do that? Since the Judge is Callie’s legal guardian, is he prepared to make that kind of decision?”
“I don’t know.”
“What would be more expensive, moving to a nursing home or to stay in a four-bed room?”
“In the end it’s the same. They really aren’t doing anything medically for her. She came out of the pneumonia. I thought that was a good sign, but the doctors weren’t impressed. It’s been over three months, and there’s no change. I don’t know what to do.”
“Can you afford the care, Wyn?”
“For now.”
“But now that you know Callie was going to call off the wedding, you aren’t sure you want to pay out all this money. Hey, it’s understandable. I’d probably feel the same way if I was in your place.”
“I never said any such thing, Brie Canfield. Don’t put words in my mouth that you want to hear. You asked me, and I’m telling you the way it is.”
“What if we move her back to the manor house and get a health aide to come in days? Would that help?”
“That means taking her off life-support measures. I don’t think the Judge will agree to that. I know I can’t.”
“What if someone else made the decision?”
“Like who?”
“Bode. Pearl.”
Brie didn’t think it was possible for Wyn’s face to get any whiter, but it did.
“No, the Judge is the only one who can make the decision. I’m going to suggest she stay where she is for the time being. It’s not as though they need the room or anything. I’ll pay the bill. They . . . the doctor just spoke to me two days ago. I need time to think, to take it all in. They bend over backward for Pearl, did you know that?”
“I’m glad. This is very hard for her. She’s lost a lot of weight, but then so have you. You don’t look well, Wyn.”
“I find it difficult to eat and sleep.”
“Why is that? I’d think you’d be tired with your vigil and all,” Brie said coolly.
“I can’t turn it off. It’s all I think about. Why did this have to happen? Why to us? We’re good people.”
“What about the Seagreaves? That whole little family was wiped out in a single hour,” Brie said callously. “Do you think about them?”
“All the time.”
Liar, Brie thought. “I heard about the lawsuit. A hundred million dollars is a lot of money. Did Callie carry anything extra besides the ordinary insurance?”
“She had an umbrella policy tacked on to her auto insurance, but she carried the minimum on her auto policy. The umbrella was a million—three hundred thousand on each occurrence or something like that. Add that up and you’re down to ninety-eight million. I’ve been hesitating on deeding the manor back because the insurance company will snatch it. At some point it might be needed. If Callie comes out of this, I’d like to have it intact for her. I don’t mean that the way it sounds. The Seagreave family deserves all they can get, but Callie deserves something, too. Two million dollars is a lot of money. The families are all older people. They won’t be able to spend it all before they die,” Wyn said desperately.
“Wyn!”
“I know how it sounds. It serves you right, Brie. You asked me why I wasn’t eating or sleeping. Now you know why. Be glad you aren’t walking in my shoes,” Wyn said, his voice blistering.
She didn’t feel the least bit sorry for him. “I guess my next question should be, if you don’t mind me asking, how long are you prepared to pay Callie’s bills? It could be a very long time before she . . . you know.”
“I guess my answer would have to be, a little while longer. I’m comfortable, maybe more than comfortable, but I’m not rich in the true sense of being rich. Land rich might be a good way to explain it.”
“It was your decision, Wyn.” God, she hated this conversation, hated talking about money when Callie wasn’t “of this earth” as Pearl put it.
“They’ve relaxed the rules a lot here. Callie was moved into the back unit since she is no longer listed as critical. I’ve been afraid to ask how she’s listed. I guess if you don’t move, you’re just there. You can go in if you want.”
Tears stung Brie’s eyes when she leaned over Callie’s bed. She looked exactly the same, thinner though. The machines were the same, whirring and beeping from time to time. The bags looked to be the same. Nutrients, glucose, and something she couldn’t pronounce.
“I think you can hear me, Callie. At least I hope so. I have a few days off and decided I wanted to spend it with my family. You guys are my family. As far as I’m concerned, my only family. I have good news. I’m an official FBI agent. I’m going to be based in Atlanta and then I can come here weekends and help out.
“Sela’s here. We’ll be spending Thanksgiving together. Of course it won’t be the same without you and Bode. Maybe by Christmas we’ll all be sitting down to dinner and opening gifts together like we used to do.
“Callie, do you remember that scraggly tree Pearl let Bode chop down? We were ten or so, I think. It was one of those tall pines and didn’t have enough branches so Bode cut some extra ones and tied them on to the trunk. That was the most god-awful, ugly, yet beautiful tree I ever saw in my life. We spent hours decorating it with our homemade decorations. Bode held you on the chair so you could put the paper angel on the top with a safety pin. It was a big old diaper pin, as I recall. Pearl made us hot chocolate with those tiny marshmallows. Then she prepared us those delicious thick bacon sandwiches spread with butter and ketchup—Bode’s favorite. I remember you ate two. Then Sela’s mother came to fetch her and Sela said no, she wasn’t going home with her. Remember how we all ran to Pearl and hung on to her apron? Sela had guts, even then. I trenched in and wouldn’t go either. We all slept in your bed. That night Pearl said Bode could sleep on the blankets on the floor, so Santa Claus would know we were together. You got such grand presents. I know Pearl divided them up for all of us. In later years I often wondered if you minded. That was the best Christmas. This year could be even better than that one if you’d wake up.
“Bode still doesn’t know you’re here, Callie. I think we should tell him, but Pearl says no. I’m hoping, praying actually, that Bode either comes home for Christmas, calls, or writes. Somehow, I don’t think he will. If there was a way to dummy up a card or a call, I’d do it in a heartbeat. If it looks like it’s coming down to the wire, I might just fly out to Sante Fe and mail one myself. I know that sounds extreme. Maybe I won’t do that at all, maybe something else will come to me. It’s just that Christmas is so special to all of us. It’s that child part of us we never lose.
“Wait till you hear this. Arquette brought Pearl two frizzly chickens. I’ve racked my brain to remember what they mean, but can’t come up with the answer. I’m afraid to tell Pearl I can’t remember. She sets such store by her rituals and whatever else it is she does, I don’t want her to know I forgot. Maybe I’ll ask Arquette.
“Callie, wake up! Damn you, open your eyes! You have to come out of this. Pearl is losing weight. Wyn looks like a cadaver. Try, Callie, move your fingers, blink, do something. You better listen to me, Callie. Your best friend and my friend, too, is going to try and take your place with Pearl. Probably Wyn, too. You can’t let that happen. I can’t stop her. She’s fixing one of the rooms up for herself. She’s here for the long haul, Callie. I don’t even know if she realizes what it is she’s doing, but I realize it, and now I’ve told you. Damn you, Callie, wake up! I don’t understand. Even your eyeballs don’t move. Where are you, Callie Parker?” Brie demanded, her face tormented.
“You know what else? I know you weren’t driving that car. I know it! You’re being sued for a hundred million dollars. Your insurance is going to run out. Please, Callie, wake up.”
Her shoulders slumping, Brie left the room. She nodded to Wyn, who said he would only be a few minutes. His own shoulders drooped when he left the room ten minutes later.
“My whole day is shot to hell when I come early. Usually I come in the evening and allow Pearl the daytime. I have a supper meeting today that will run late, so I wanted to be sure I got here early.”
He’s whining again, Brie thought.
“Are you going to be here all day?” He sounded like he didn’t care one way or another.
“No, I’m leaving. Sela will want to come out. I didn’t rent a car this trip.”
“What’s on your agenda? Just hang out?”
“I thought I’d check out the accident scene again. Something about it bothers me. It’s the cop in me,” she said airily.
“Good luck,” Wyn said just as airily. “If there’s anything you want to ask me, just call. It’s as fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday. Unfortunately.”
“I think Bode is coming home for Christmas,” Brie lied. Why are you doing this, Brie Canfield? Why are you tormenting this man? Can’t you see he’s near the breaking point? That’s part of it. Some of the hard edges should have dulled by now. He didn’t go through the process; it goes in stages. I need to know why that is.
“Oh, by the way, I’m official now. I’m an FBI agent.”
“Congratulations!” Wyn said in a strangled voice.
“Thanks, Wyn,” Brie said breezily.
“If I don’t see you again before you. leave, have a safe trip,” Wyn muttered.
Brie nodded. She walked back to Callie’s unit, opened the door, and whispered, “I’m leaving now, Pearl. Sela will bring you back, okay? Wyn left, and said he wouldn’t be back today.”
“Yes’m, Miz Brie.”
When Brie returned to Parker Manor she found Sela grinning from ear to ear. “Just listen, Brie. Doesn’t it sound wonderful? Noise. The house is getting a few repairs. If only I was rich, I’d have the whole thing done over from top to bottom.”
“You’d do all that for Wyn Archer?” Brie said.
“No, silly. For Pearl, you, and me. Callie, too, if she comes out of her coma, and Bode because we’re family. Wyn will give it back. Listen, I won’t be here for dinner. Do you think you’ll need the car?”
“I can rent one. I guess I should have. Do me a favor, Sela, stop in town and ask them to bring one out. I don’t like being without a car. Are you going to bring Pearl back here? I told her you would. I can fetch her if it’s going to be a problem. Where are you going that you won’t be here for dinner?”
“No, no, I’ll bring her home. Wyn arranged a dinner meeting with the owner of this agency he thinks will hire me. I have to get a job as soon as I can. Wyn has a lot of clout around here. I can see you don’t approve. Why is that, Brie?” Sela’s tone was cool.
“I more or less think of him as the enemy. I’m not sure why that is, Sela. If it was anyone but Wyn Archer, I’d say go for it. That’s my opinion. You asked.”
“So I did. It was my mistake. Any preference as to the kind of car you want?”
“Anything is okay as long as it has four wheels. Ask them to bring it out as soon as they can. You look nice, Sela. Cranberry looks good on you. I wish I could wear a jumpsuit, but I’m too short.” It fits her like a second skin, Brie thought nastily.
Brie paced around the kitchen to the sound of Arquette’s hammerblows. She had nothing to do, nowhere to go until the rental car arrived. She knew Arquette would lend her his truck, but the frizzly chickens were still in the back, and she wasn’t about to move them.
Call Bode, call Bode, call Bode. Why not? She could say she called to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving. She’d done that other years, why not now? She wouldn’t say anything unless he asked. “And of course you know he’ll ask,” she whispered to herself. “You’ll be breaking your promise to Pearl if you tell him.”
Because she had nothing else to do, Brie called the main post office and asked how she could have mail sent to South Carolina from Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was simple, she was told. You addressed your letter, and put it inside an envelope with a note to the postmaster asking him to post the letter. She felt confident that she could scrawl Bode’s signature as well as Bode scrawled it. Since Pearl couldn’t read, it would be Sela she had to fool. “I can do it,” Brie muttered. If she wanted to she could even buy some silly presents, wrap them, box them up, and have the postmaster mail them, too. Of course there would have to be one for Callie.
Brie fixed herself a bologna-and-cheese sandwich and two for Arquette. She poured huge glasses of iced tea and invited Arquette out to the back porch.
Arquette was a tall, thin man. Stringy, actually. He had the kindest eyes, the sweetest smile she’d ever seen. He was good to Pearl. She made a mental note to buy something nice for Arquette and his family. Maybe money would be better, but Pearl’s friend was so very proud, he probably wouldn’t take it.
“If you could have anything, Arquette, what would you wish for?” Brie asked lightly. “I’d ask for a moonbeam.”
“Anything, Miz Brie?”
“Yep, anything.”
“Then I’d be wishing for a wash machine for Coletta. With lots and lots of soap. That woman purely loves to wash clothes. Everything that has the least little speck on it gets washed. I been lookin’ at some down at Mortenson’s, but they cost too much money. A fortune,” he said, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Sears, here I come, Brie thought happily. She’d just paid off her Visa card so she could charge up a storm if she wanted.
“What else, Arquette? Two wishes. My second wish would be for my very own star. What’s yours?”
“Maybe a clothes dryer. A e-leck-tric one. I swear Coletta would think she died and went to heaven. Do you think they have wash machines and dry machines in heaven?”
“I bet they do.” Brie laughed.
“Bet they have moonbeams and stars in heaven, too.” Arquette smiled.
“Pearl’s sick, isn’t she, Arquette?” Brie said suddenly.
“She be sick over Miz Callie. Seemed right perky to me. when you girls got here. I fetched her two frizzly chickens. She be missing Lazarus, too.”
“But is she sick? I swear I won’t tell, Arquette. If she is sick, then we have to do something for her.”
“Pearl don’t like it when you mess with her business. You best be lettin’ that alone, Miz Brie. Miz Sela say she be staying on. It will be good for Pearl. She was pinin’ for this here place. I did my best, coming out here, tellin’ her what I was doin’. She be real happy today. She home now.”
Brie smiled and bent over to hug Arquette. “You’re a good friend, Arquette.”
“I wish Bode be home,” Arquette said, getting up. “Thanks for the lunch, Miz Brie.”
“It was my pleasure. I wish Bode was here, too. Maybe he’ll come home for Christmas.”
“Maybe. Bode is a kind man. He done a lot for us. Done a lot for lots of people. Never talks about what he done. A good man.”
“I know, Arquette.”
An hour later, Brie’s car arrived. She signed the papers and stuck them in her purse.
She had a mission now. She headed out to the highway and the closest Sears store where she picked out a washer and dryer and four fifty-pound boxes of soap powder. She rattled off Arquette’s address, which she had copied down from his insurance card in the glove compartment of the truck. She asked to have the appliances delivered on Christmas Eve and to make sure there was a big red ribbon on both machines and the soap powder. The card was to say, Merry Christmas and signed Bode Jessup.
When Brie exited the store she felt like the cat who not only fell into the cream bowl, but drank it all, too.
From Sears she went to the Bi-Lo and filled the car with groceries. It took her an hour to put everything away.
It was almost dusk when she set out in the car again. She brought all her defensive driving skills into play when she traced the route Wyn and Callie had taken the night of the accident. As she approached the killer curve her heart started to pound in her chest. It sounded to her ears like Arquette’s hammerblows. She was crazy to
try and pull a stunt like this, but the conditions were exactly right. She was going at forty-five miles an hour, the same speed Wyn had said Callie was going. She felt in control as she approached the curve, her eyes on the car at the stop sign to her left. She almost squeezed her eyes shut at the last second before she crossed the curve dead center with Carroll Court. The vehicle at the stop sign was moving as he let loose with a long blast of his horn. She roared across the curve, her breathing ragged. She was shaking so badly she could hardly get her cigarette to her lips. It hung between her lips because she couldn’t steady the lighter.
What in the hell had she just proved, if anything? That the car at. the stop sign missed her by a hair. If she’d been hit broadside, that had to mean she was crossing the curve. If she was continuing on Route 17, she would have been hit in the rear of the driver’s side. At which point, either way, the car should have spun out of control and done what? Hit the angel oak? Which side? At what point was Callie propelled out of the car? When the Bronco hit the Cadillac, or on impact with the oak?
Brie climbed out of the car, the cigarette dangling between her lips. With her headlights on she could see the damage to the oak. She walked around a bit before she located the exact place Wyn said Callie had landed. Landed. What a terrible word. Did doors on fancy Cadillacs that were almost new just pop open on the driver’s side? Why didn’t the seat belt work on the passenger side? Wyn should have been the one who was thrown out. Callie should have remained in the car and maybe suffered some injuries.
She was back in the car. She fired up her cigarette from the car lighter. Her hands still trembled. She hadn’t really proved anything by the harebrained stunt she’d just pulled. She could have killed herself and maybe the people in the car that blew their horn at her. God!
Brie turned on the engine and drove down the gravel road till she found a place to turn around. Minutes later she was back on 17 and headed toward Parker Manor.
Yesterday Page 25