tablet and told the nurse she’d take it a little later. It
was too early to try to go to sleep.
SUTURE SELF
241
After Avery had left, Renie gave Judith a suspicious
look. “Every so often, I can tell when you’re lying.
What’s up, coz?”
“Nothing,” Judith replied. “Nothing concrete.”
Renie looked at her watch, which said that it was
eight-thirty. “Shouldn’t you let Carl and Arlene know
what’s happened to Joe?”
Judith shook her head. “It’s hard for me to pass the
news on. I’m actually glad I couldn’t reach Mike.”
“I’ll call the Rankerses,” Renie volunteered. “If they
haven’t seen it on TV, they’ll begin to wonder when
Joe doesn’t come home.” She picked up the phone and
dialed.
Just as Renie greeted Arlene, Judith’s phone rang.
She grabbed the receiver and almost dropped it in her
eagerness to hear if there was news of Joe.
“Mrs. Flynn?” said a familiar voice that Judith
couldn’t quite identify. “I just heard about your husband’s stabbing. Can you give me any details?”
“Who is this?” Judith inquired.
“Addison Kirby, your next-door neighbor. Excuse
my butting in, but you have to understand that it’s almost impossible for a reporter to lie here helpless and
not know what’s going on.”
“Oh.” Judith relaxed a little, then gave Addison the
bare bones of the incident.
“You say he was working for FOPP?” Addison said.
“As in Blanche Van Boeck’s do-good group?”
“That’s right,” Judith responded, trying to listen in
on Renie’s conversation with Arlene. “Do you think
Blanche is sincere?” Judith asked of Addison.
“Blanche is sincere about Blanche,” Addison said.
“Look, if some project polishes her image, she’ll take
it on. But I don’t think she gives a hoot about the
242
Mary Daheim
homeless or any other category—unless she can convince them to vote for her.”
“You may be right,” Judith said, again glancing at
her cousin.
“Honestly, we don’t know the details,” Renie was
saying on the phone. “Of course Judith’s upset. That’s
why she didn’t call you herself . . .”
“In the past few weeks, I heard some rumors around
city hall,” Addison said. “The first two homeless victims had just made some money. They bragged about
it, and that same night they were killed.”
“So call Herself if you want to,” Renie was saying to
Arlene. “Yes, she has a right to know, even if she is
