then, it took her another hour to become fully conscious.
It wasn’t her cousin who’d come to call. It was an
even more unlikely person to show up so early in the
day.
“Goodness!” Vivian Flynn exclaimed. “You’ve had
more excitement, I see. Those sirens woke me up. I
only managed to get dressed about five minutes ago,
and then I saw the limos in the cul-de-sac. What’s
going on now?”
“One of the guests had an accident,” Judith replied,
leading Herself into the kitchen. “A small fire upstairs.
She’ll be okay, I think. Would you care for coffee?”
The offer came with a tug of reluctance.
Vivian, however, waved a hand. “No, but thanks
anyway. As long as I’m dressed”—she ran a hand over
her ensemble, which consisted of a black wool suit
with slits in the skirt, a frilly white blouse, sling-back
stiletto heels, and a perky black beret adorned with
faux pearls—“I think I’ll pop over to Norway General
to see Stone Cold Sam.”
“I hear he’s doing well,” Judith said.
“He’s doing wonderfully,” Herself declared, then
giggled behind her hand. “But I feel sooo guilty!”
“About what?”
Vivian giggled again, then made a face. “About the
heart attack. I mean, it wasn’t as if we were doing anything really outrageous.”
Judith’s mouth was agape. “You mean . . . ? Stone
Cold Sam was . . . ah . . . with you when he had the
heart attack?”
Vivian’s false eyelashes fluttered. “With me. Yes.”
“Oh.” Judith gulped. “I see.”
“You’d better not!” Herself said, wagging a finger.
“Naughty of you to peek!” She giggled some more.
“That’s why I feel guilty. I went to see him last night,
and I was so upset I ended up on the wrong floor. I almost panicked when the room I thought was his turned
out to be empty. I was afraid he’d passed away. I practically ran all the way to the elevator. I thought he was
in 706, but it was 906. Silly me.”
An alarm bell went off in Judith’s brain. She stared
at Herself until the other woman stared back with a
puzzled expression.
“What’s wrong, Judith?” Vivian inquired. “You look
like you don’t feel well. I’ve noticed that you haven’t
really looked very good since your surgery. Did it age
you terribly?”
Judith was accustomed to Herself’s barbs, but on
this occasion, they were the least of her worries. “No,”
she said tersely. “I’m just tired. It’s been a difficult
