Nutcase

by Hughes, Charlotte

  I sat on the floor beside the large dog pillow I’d bought her. “Look, I told you from the beginning we couldn’t keep the puppies,” I said, “and it’s not like they don’t have good homes. I was very selective.”

  Mike sighed.

  I sighed.

  Maybe I’d rushed things by giving away the last puppy, I thought, but the experience had been exhausting. It had taken Mona’s housekeeper and me both to keep up with the mopping and disinfecting.

  Mike closed her eyes, and I headed for the kitchen. I ate my burger and fries, but I couldn’t stop worrying. Finally, I reached for the wall phone and called the only person I knew who could advise me. Dr. Jeff Henry was Mike’s veterinarian, and one of my closest friends, even though we’d only met a few months ago. He’d been there for me and Mike the night her smallest puppy had died.

  He answered after a couple of rings. “It’s me,” I said.

  “Hi, Me. What’s up?”

  He had a smile in his voice, but he sounded tired. “Mike’s depressed.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “Plus, she hates me for breaking up her family.”

  “She doesn’t hate you.”

  “Let’s just say I’m not her favorite person right now.”

  “Is she eating?”

  “Not much,” I said. “She mostly sleeps.”

  “Is she taking in liquid?”

  “A little. I’m worried about her, Jeff.”

  “She’s probably worn out, Kate. Giving birth and caring for pups is no easy task. Sounds like a job for Super Vet. Why don’t you drop her off at my office on the way to work tomorrow so I can have a look? It’ll give you a good excuse to see me.”

  I smiled. I especially liked Jeff because our relationship was simple and uncomplicated, unlike the others in my life. Before Jay and I had decided to work on our marital issues, I’d had a very small crush on Jeff. Not only was he good-looking, he was one of the nicest people I knew. And I’d been lonely.

  Then I’d discovered, quite by accident, that he was gay. He didn’t know I knew, although I’d expected him to have confided in me by now. I’d certainly spilled my guts to him. My greatest concern was that he feared it would affect our relationship. I wanted him to give me the chance to prove my loyalty.

  Okay, so, maybe our relationship was a little more complicated than I thought.

  “How come you sound so tired?” I asked.

  “The last few weeks have been incredibly busy.”

  “That’s a good thing, right?”

  “Except when pet owners call me in the middle of the night because their cat hurled a fur ball,” he said.

  “I know the feeling,” I told him. “I sometimes get calls from patients in the middle of the night. You wouldn’t believe how many people get depressed at two a.m.”

  “How are things going otherwise?” he asked.

  I hesitated. “I should probably tell you I’ve been evicted from my office,” I said, “due to the nitroglycerin incident. I’ve been trying to fight it for two months, but the long and the short of it is I have to be out by the end of the day on Friday.”

  “That’s terrible! Is there anything I can do?”

  “Yeah, you can go to bed early tonight and try to catch up on your sleep.”

  “Yes, Mother.”

  I hung up a few minutes later and changed into jeans and a blouse. The phone rang. Jay spoke from the other end. “I’m two blocks from your house,” he said. “Mind if I drop by?”

  The sound of his voice made the tiny hairs on the back of my neck prickle, but I was surprised to hear from him after what he’d said that morning; and even more so since he’d felt the need to ask permission before he came over. “Sure,” I said.

  I heard him pull into my driveway. I hung up the phone and hurried to the front door. I watched him climb from his SUV and make his way toward me, a sexy smile on his face. It should have been against the law for a man to look that good in jeans. He paused at the door and dropped a quick kiss on my mouth. “You got a beer for a tired fireman?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  We went into the kitchen, and I headed to the refrigerator. I pulled out his favorite beer and handed it to him.

  “You’re not going to have one with me?”

  “No, I just had dinner, and I’m full.”

  “I’m sorry about this morning, Katie,” he said.

  “The first session is usually uncomfortable,” I told him.

  He opened his beer and took a sip. “Where’s Mike?”

  “In her bed,” I said. “She’s still moping around. I’m going to drop her off at the vet on my way to the office tomorrow. He suspects she’s just run down after the puppies.”

  “I’d better look in on her.” Jay set his beer on the counter, walked into the laundry room, and turned on the light. Mike’s tail thumped at the sight of him. “Hello, girl,” he said, leaning over to pet her. Mike rolled on her back and Jay scratched her belly.

  He spent a few minutes talking to her before turning off the light. We walked into the living room. Instead of sitting on the sofa and pulling me onto his lap, he sank into an overstuffed chair and leaned his head back.

  “How was your day?” he asked.

  “Mona has decided to become a nurse.”

  He looked amused. “For some reason I have a hard time imagining that.”

  “How about you? Anything exciting going on?” I felt as though we were simply trying to make polite conversation.

  “Same old, same old. I ran errands, paid bills, washed clothes.”

  Jay worked twenty-four hours on and forty-eight hours off. He spent the first day catching up on his sleep; on the second day he took care of personal business, including me.

  “Actually, I had to go in for a meeting. The guys grilled burgers out back, but you know what it’s like trying to eat around there. You take one bite, and the bells go off. Half the time it’s some kid yanking an alarm, showing off in front of his buddies.”

  I thought the legal system needed to crack down on people, mostly kids, who got a kick out of pulling alarm boxes. A false alarm wasted precious time in the event of a real fire; lives were sometimes lost.

  “Since I wasn’t on duty, I got to finish my burger.”

  “What was the meeting about?”

  He hesitated. “We’ve had a few fires that look like they were set by the same person.”

  I decided not to tell him I already knew. “That doesn’t sound good,” I said.

  “Yeah. Most likely some guy getting his rocks off.”

  He took a sip of his beer. I wanted to know more, but Jay would only think I was grilling him and things would get tense. I had a feeling there was going to be enough tension in the air after I told him about my eviction.

  “Guess what?” I said, doing an excellent job of avoiding the subject. “I had to admit a patient to the psychiatric ward today. Guess who I ran into?”

  “Your mother and aunt?”

  “Very funny. Carter Atkins,” I said. “He’s an orderly, you know. Do you think he’s odd?”

  “I think he wrote the book on odd.”

  “Well, he obviously loves being a volunteer fireman, because he plans to study for the exam.”

  Jay gave me a funny look. “Carter isn’t a volunteer fireman. He just hangs out at the station and gets on everybody’s nerves. The guys put up with him because he helps with the chores.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “He’s not likely to pass the exam. He has already flunked it several times. He’s not that sharp, you know?”

  I felt a wave of disappointment for Carter. “He said your new female probie was hot.”

  “Did I forget to mention Carter is also a blabber-mouth?”

  “I hear she’s, um, busty.”

  “Yeah, well, that doesn’t hold much weight if you can’t get along with people.”

  “Oh?”

  “Mandy—that’s her name—expects preferential tre
atment.” He drained his beer and set the can on the coffee table. “I trained under her father, who was captain when I joined the department ten years ago. He got hurt in a fire while trying to drag an unconscious teenager to safety. He ended up a big hero but had to take early retirement because of his injuries. He moved his family to West Virginia because he loved the mountains.”

  “Is that why she was hired?” I asked. “Because of her father?”

  “Let’s just say it worked in her favor.”

  “Is she any good?”

  “She’s not bad,” he said. “She wanted to follow in her old man’s footsteps. You know how that goes. She just needs to climb down from her high horse.” He smiled. “We also got a new guy in from Texas who really knows his stuff. Ronnie Sumner,” he added. “He’s funny as hell. Actually, he’s from Atlanta. He moved to Texas because his wife’s family was there. When they divorced he decided to move back. He specifically asked to work with our engine company because he said he likes being where the action is.”

  The engine company Jay was with was one of the busiest in Atlanta. “Well, you guys do get plenty of action,” I said.

  Jay gazed at me quietly for a moment. “I could use a little action right now.”

  His sudden interest surprised me, and I wondered if he’d needed time to unwind before getting romantic on me. He joined me on the sofa, pulled me into his arms, and gave me a long, slow kiss. The center of my stomach turned soft. He slipped one hand beneath my bottom and began a slow massage. I went hot all over.

  “If you play your cards right I might stay the night.”

  I convinced myself this wasn’t a good time to tell him about my eviction notice and Thad’s offer to share his office. I had avoidance behavior down to a fine art.

  chapter 4

  I was only vaguely aware of Jay climbing from the bed the next morning at what felt like an ungodly hour. I tried to open my eyes, but my lids wouldn’t cooperate. “Do you want me to get up and make you breakfast?” I asked.

  He chuckled and kissed me full on the mouth. “When did you learn to cook?” he asked.

  I pried my eyes open. “I could make you instant oatmeal.”

  “I’ll grab something on the way. Go back to sleep.”

  I closed my eyes. At seven, the alarm clock shook me awake. I fumbled for it and turned it off, then lay in bed and thought about the previous night; hot kisses, skin on skin, the joy of having Jay fill me. I’d lain awake long after he had fallen asleep, feeling guilty that I had not told him about the eviction.

  I was still fretting over it when I arrived at Jeff’s office with Mike. I noted the lines of fatigue on his face. “You don’t look so good,” I said.

  “I haven’t had much sleep,” he confessed. “An overweight dachshund hurt his back jumping off the bed in the middle of the night. I could hear the little fellow yelping in the background, so I had no choice but to come in. I barely made it home before I got another call; a poodle that had been in labor for a while and wasn’t getting anywhere. I had to come back and do a C-section.”

  “Are they okay?” I asked.

  “They’re in the back sleeping soundly, and I’m not.” He gave a weary smile.

  “Don’t you think it’s about time you looked for a partner?”

  “Not a bad idea,” he said. He glanced down at Mike. “Why don’t you plan on picking up your little princess at the end of the day?” he said. “We’ll give her the royal treatment.”

  I arrived at my office twenty minutes later and came to a dead stop inside the reception room. Mona’s housekeeper, Mrs. Perez, was sitting in one of the chairs, a wad of tissue in one hand, a rosary in the other. It was obvious she’d been crying.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “The worst possible thing has happened,” she said.

  Our conversation was cut short when Mona appeared with a cup of coffee. She was wearing a starched white nurse’s uniform and white soft-soled shoes.

  She glanced at me. “Bad news,” she said, handing the trembling woman her coffee. “Mrs. Perez’s grandson, Ricky, was picked up by the police as he was leaving for school this morning.”

  “Oh no!” I said. I’d only met sixteen-year-old Ricky a couple of times, but Mrs. Perez had told me he was an honor student who dreamed of becoming a doctor. “What happened?” I asked.

  “The police are idiots,” Mrs. Perez said, choking back a sob. “They’ve locked my grandson up like an animal.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  Mona looked at me. “The cops accused him of beating a priest with a baseball bat.”

  “It’s a big fat lie!” Mrs. Perez said. “My grandson would never lay a hand on Father Demarco. Ricky idolizes him.”

  I knew that Ricky and his family, as well as Mrs. Perez, were strict Catholics. “Did this Father Demarco actually say that Ricky beat him up?”

  Mona shook her head. “He was unconscious when the EMTs arrived. He had to undergo emergency brain surgery, so he’s not talking. A nun who lives on the property found him. She claimed she saw Ricky running from the back of the church as she was dressing.”

  Mrs. Perez pressed her lips together in irritation. “That nun is old and half blind.”

  “It’s clearly a case of mistaken identity,” Mona said.

  “It’s not fair,” Mrs. Perez said. “Ricky grew up in that church, and he does volunteer work. He taught Father Demarco how to use a computer.”

  “Where is Ricky now?” I asked.

  “He’s in the detention center,” Mona said. “I called my attorney. He’s on the way over.”

  “My daughter, Mary-Margaret, is there waiting for the attorney to arrive,” Mrs. Perez said. “She told me not to come.”

  “She didn’t want you to become even more upset,” Mona said. “Lewis will take care of everything.”

  Lewis Barnes was Mona’s lawyer, and the best in town. He was also expensive. Since Mrs. Perez’s daughter was a single mother who barely made ends meet, I had to assume Mona was covering the costs. “Mr. Barnes is highly capable and has a lot of connections,” I said to Mrs. Perez. “I’m sure he’ll have Ricky out in no time.”

  “I should be with my daughter,” Mrs. Perez said, weeping into her tissue. “She’s always had to do everything on her own.”

  Mona had told me that Mary-Margaret had been wild and irresponsible as a teenager, bearing two children out of wedlock before she was twenty years old, and disgracing her family in the process. Finally, Mary-Margaret turned her life around. She was hard-working and had been taking college courses for years in hopes of earning a degree. She and her mother rented a duplex. Living next door, Mrs. Perez was able to help out with her grandchildren when necessary.

  “The police need to open their eyes and see what’s happening to our neighborhood,” Mrs. Perez said. “A gang called the Thirty-Eight Specials has all but taken over. Two weeks ago they beat Ricky within an inch of his life.”

  “Oh no!” I said.

  She nodded. “He was just walking down the sidewalk minding his own business when a bunch of them jumped him. There were witnesses, but nobody, including Ricky, would tell the police anything because they’re scared to talk.”

  “You’re going to move out of that neighborhood,” Mona said firmly.

  Mrs. Perez looked sad. “It used to be a nice place to live. Everybody was close and looked out for each other.” She began weeping again. “My grandson is probably scared to death. He has never been in trouble. Who knows what they’ll do to him?” she added. “He can’t afford to let his grades slip, because he is counting on scholarship money.”

  “Maybe you can talk to Ricky,” Mona said to me. “He’s going to need help getting through this.”

  Mrs. Perez turned pleading eyes to me.

  “Of course I’ll talk to him,” I said; my heart grew heavy at the sight of her distress.

  The phone rang and Mona picked it up. “It’s Lewis Barnes,” she said. She listened carefully and m
ade notes. Finally, she hung up. “Ricky is being arraigned at two o’clock today,” she said. “Lewis promised to have him home in time for dinner.”

  Mrs. Perez clasped her tissues to her heart. “Oh, thank God!”

  “I could see him first thing tomorrow morning,” I said. Mrs. Perez nodded.

  “It’s not over,” Mona said after a moment, her tone gentle. “The nun is sticking to her story.”

  Mona sent Mrs. Perez home in a cab. I waited until we were alone before I confronted her about her wardrobe. “Okay, I give up. Why are you dressed as a nurse?”

  Mona bopped herself on the forehead with the ball of her hand. “I completely forgot I was wearing it,” she said, “what with all the commotion. What do you think?” She turned around so I could get a full view. She even wore white hose.

  “Back to my question,” I said.

  “Well, I was lying in bed last night thinking about nursing school when I remembered the Halloween party Mr. Moneybags and I attended three years ago. We dressed as a doctor and nurse. Mr. Moneybags went as a gynecologist.” She smiled at the memory. “You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to find the dang thing. I searched the attic for two solid hours!”

  “You still haven’t answered my question,” I said. “Why are you dressed as a nurse?”

  Mona shrugged. “I thought it would be fun. This way I can see what it feels like being a nurse without actually being one.”

  “Oh.” I’m sure there was some part of Mona that thought it made sense. “You’re not actually going to perform any, um, nursing duties, right?” I said.

  “Of course not.” She sighed. “Do you have any idea of the sacrifices I’ll have to make in order to become a nurse? Nurses don’t wear fingernail polish.”

  “I’m glad you’ve thought it through.”

  The phone rang and Mona answered it. She offered it to me. “It’s Thad.”

  I took the phone. “Edith Wright called,” he said. “Marie is being a real pain in the ass. Edith is threatening to drop-kick her from the window of the psychiatric ward if we don’t do something,” he added.

  “Oh great,” I muttered. I could feel my stress meter overflowing, and I’d been at my office less than an hour.