about that, but they’re cryptic. Here.” She handed the
page to Judith.
very legible hand, presumably by Vito. “How do you
read penmanship like this?”
Renie shrugged. “It’s all those years I’ve spent reading CEOs’ scribbles. Of course most of those people
never got past the block-printing stage. They thought
cursive meant cussing.”
Renie nodded. “Probably.”
“
So’s
Then it says
“I couldn’t tell,” Renie said. “Maybe the
“Do you remember a drug called thalidomide?”
“Sure,” Renie replied. “Years ago, it was prescribed
as a sleeping pill for pregnant women in Europe. Unfortunately, it caused horrendous birth defects.”
“True,” Judith agreed, “but when we were in Good
Cheer Hospital, I overheard a doctor and a nurse talking about thalidomide. It sounded as if it was being
used for cancer patients.”
Renie looked blank. “I don’t remember that. Maybe
you heard it after I’d been released from the hospital.
You had to stay a few days longer.”
“How could I forget?” Judith said with a grimace,
then grew silent again. “High blood pressure could
have killed Bruno. But wouldn’t the ME be able to
tell?”
“You’d think so.”
Setting the sheet of paper down on the coffee table,
Judith heaved a big sigh. “If only we could be sure that
Bruno was murdered.”
Renie looked askance. “Aren’t you being kind of
bloodthirsty, coz?”
“No, I’m being realistic,” Judith retorted. “I can’t
bear to think that Joe and I may be at fault for Bruno’s
death. It’s not just the possibility of a lawsuit, it’s the
moral implications. If we’re to blame, I’ll feel the most
awful guilt for the rest of my life.”
Renie’s face hardened. “What about that stupid spider over the sink? Who put it there? Why? Was it just
a prank to scare Bruno? Did it scare him into passing
out in the sink?”
Judith stared at Renie. “How odd—I never thought
about that. I mean, first there was the real spider on the
back porch, then the spider in his bed—he didn’t pass
out, by the way— and the one over the sink. Why
