Angela gaped at Judith. “What a rotten, snoopy
question!”
“No, it isn’t,” Judith said reasonably. “Addicts have
to start somewhere, and usually because someone
coaxed or goaded them into it. You don’t just walk into
the supermarket and get cocaine on Aisle B.”
“Why do you care?” Angela’s voice was toneless.
“It’s abnormal.”
“I guess,” Judith said, “I’m one of those rare people
who
Angela heaved a deep, shuddering sigh. “Why not?
It doesn’t matter now. It was good old Bruno.”
Judith was surprised. “Bruno? Did he do drugs?”
“For years,” Angela said, “right up until he overdosed midway through the making of
“Is that why he was hospitalized?” Judith asked, remembering Vito’s medical notes including the letter
For cocaine, apparently.
“That’s right,” Angela said with a bitter note. “It
scared him, so he went into rehab. He’s been clean ever
since. Lucky him.”
“Not so lucky since he’s dead,” Judith remarked.
“You say he’d been an addict for years?”
“Yes.” Angela looked bitter. “Some people can
function forever on coke. Bruno thought so. I did, too.
Maybe I still do. As Bruno told me, coke can enhance
the creative process. He truly believed it did for him.”
Maybe, Judith thought, that explained
disaster. “It’s more like Russian roulette,” she asserted.
“Eventually, you’re going to reach the chamber that
takes you out.”
“Sure, sure. Easy for you to say.” Angela made a
face at her.
“So who got Bruno hooked?” Judith inquired.
Angela shook her head. “You’re not going to get me
to tell you about that.”
“But Bruno’s dead,” Judith said as she heard the
faint sound of the doorknob turning. A nurse no doubt,
coming to take the endless vital signs. “What difference does it make?”
“Because the person who got him started is still
alive,” Angela said. “And if you ask me, very dangerous. You don’t want to know.”
But Judith did want to know. Despite the odds, even
the risks, she had to know.
Yet she could get nothing more out of Angela. And
to be fair, the young woman seemed not only agitated,
but tired. Judith was heading out of the room when another click sounded at the door. She waited for the person in the corridor to come in.
