Motherhood Is Murder

5. Plan Thanksgiving dinner.

6. What happened to Helene?

7. Exercise!!!

Several days had passed since the funeral, and I spent the time alternately fretting between what had happened to Helene and trying to forget about it. This morning Jim was working in our home office and I was in charge of Laurie, who was being extremely needy. Every time I put her down for a nap, she cried. Now she was overtired and as fussy as could be. I wanted to work out, but it seemed impossible to detangle myself from her.

I decided to put her into the front-facing baby carrier and do squats. Multitasking made me feel good anyway. What better way to live? Be a great mom and get in shape at the same time! Wonderful!

The phone rang, interrupting my second set of squats. Hey, I could add a third thing?mothering, exercising, and talking on the phone. I was a multitasker extraordinaire.

I grabbed the cordless receiver and managed a breathless ?Hello.?

?Kate. This is Margaret.?

She sounded as breathless as I did.

?Hi, Margaret. How are you??

?I need to talk to you. I just spoke with Bruce, you know, Helene?s husband??

?Sure,? I said, powering through another set of squats.

?He said the medical examiner hasn?t released the final report yet, because they won?t have the findings from toxicology for several weeks. But they asked him if Helene was a user.?

?Uh-huh.? I stopped doing the squats, finding it impossible to concentrate on three things at once.

?A user, Kate. A drug addict!?

?Yeah . . .?

?She wasn?t. She didn?t use drugs. And they sent her blood, or well, whatever they sent to toxicology. Wouldn?t that mean that she died from an overdose or something??

?It?s hard to say. I don?t know the procedures at the ME?s office. Maybe they send everything to toxicology.?

?But they asked Bruce if she was a user.?

?Right.? I absently rubbed the top of Laurie?s head, which was peeking out of the baby carrier. ?What else did they tell him? Did she have head trauma, broken bones??

Margaret took a sharp intake of breath. ?Oh. There?s Alan?s car.? She let the breath out in a rush. ?Kate, I need to hire you. Can we meet??

?Uh . . . sure. Where and when??

?Tomorrow, ten A.M.??

?Okay. There?s a cute cafe near my house??

?Alan?s home. I gotta go.?

She hung up.

I put the phone down and resumed my squats. I hadn?t been able to give Margaret directions to the cafe. She?d rushed off the phone so fast. Strange.

But she wanted to hire me.

Jim entered the living room and observed me doing squats with Laurie in the carrier. ?What are you doing?? he asked.

?What does it look like??

?Looks like you?re going to hurt yourself.?

He was right. My lower back was feeling a little strained but pride makes you say funny things. ?No, I?m not. I?m fine. Laurie?s light.?

He placed his hands on my arms to stop me, then leaned over Laurie and kissed me. He unstrapped the carrier and took Laurie into his arms. ?Why didn?t you just give her to me??

?You were working. I didn?t want to disturb you.?

?No problem. You do your workout. I?m going to catch up on my sleep.?

?What??

Jim headed down the hallway with Laurie. ?I?m going to nap with her.?

Nap! At this time of day.

Wait a minute!I needed the nap. I was the one up at all hours of the night with her, but I felt wide awake now.

?Don?t you need to work?? I called after him.

?Yeah. But I?m out of ideas right now. I need to generate something. Better refuel. Ah! The beauty of working from home.? He disappeared from sight.