for two tufts of hair sticking straight up, glasses, and
SUTURE SELF
55
about a fifty-inch waist. Cute in a way, but not my
type.” Renie spotted Corinne Appleby. “Nurse?” she
asked, trying to sound humble but not succeeding.
“What’s wrong?”
Corinne’s face was very pale under her freckles.
“There’s been a . . . problem. An emergency. Don’t
worry, everything’s under control.”
“It doesn’t seem like it to me,” Renie shot back.
“Come on, we have a right to know. Whatever it is, it
happened right next door.”
With trembling fingers, Corinne tucked a red curl
under her cap. “Sadly, Mr. Randall expired. Excuse
me, I must get back to the desk.”
If pain and posture had permitted, Judith would have
fallen out of the bed. Instead, she stared at Renie, who
had turned back into the room. “Bob Randall’s
Renie gave a helpless shrug. “As a dodo, I gather.”
Awkwardly, Judith fell against the pillows. “I should
have known.”
And then she wondered why she’d already guessed.
Renie’s job as sentry wasn’t easy, but she remained
propped up at the door, clutching the pole that held her
IV, and keeping Judith apprised of what was going on
in the next room.
“I can hear Margie sobbing,” Renie reported, “but at
least she’s not yelling her head off.”
“Can you ask somebody what happened to Bob
Randall?” Judith urged, feeling supremely frustrated. The room seemed to be closing in on her; the
windows were shrinking and the walls were shriveling. Judith felt as if she were in a cage instead of a
bed.
Renie glared at Judith. “If I draw any more attention
56
Mary Daheim
to myself, they’ll probably make me go back inside
and close the door.”
Her cousin had a point. Judith tried to relax. She
could hear the distorted sounds of the hospital loudspeaker, summoning certain parties to specific places.
“Okay,” Judith inquired, “who do you think is in Randall’s room besides Margie and Dr. Van Boeck and the
other guy?”
“A couple of nurses, maybe,” Renie said. “What’s
her name? Appleby? Oh, and Sister Jacqueline, but she
just came out and is headed”—Renie paused—“right
past me. She’s going to the nurses’ station.”
The doctor who had reminded Renie of Ronald Colman came back into the hallway. He caught Renie’s
eye and scowled.
“Would you mind stepping back into your own
room, please?” he said in a cold, cultured voice.
