The worst part was realizing that Grace and Nellie had not been random victims. The two old women had been intended targets. And Vicky was next.
Why? In God's name, why? Was it this house? Did Kusum have a Manson thing going where he wanted to kill everyone who lived here? Grace and Nellie already gone, but why Vicky next? Why not Eunice or Gia? It didn't make sense. Or maybe it did and his brain was too rattled right now to see the pattern.
Vicky came up the back steps and hurried through the kitchen carrying something that looked like a big plastic grape. She walked by with her chin out and her nose in the air, without even once glancing Jack's way.
She's mad at me.
To her mind she had ample reason to be upset with him. After all, he’d frightened her and everyone else in the house. But that could not be helped. He could not remember a shock like the one that had blasted through him when he recognized the odor on his hands.
Fear trickled down his chest wall and into his abdomen.
Not my Vicky.
He walked over to the sink and looked out the window as he washed the smell off his hands. The house around him, the playhouse out there, the yard, the whole neighborhood had become tainted, sinister.
But where to go? He couldn't let Gia and Vicky return to their own apartment. If Kusum knew of Vicky's passion for oranges, surely he knew her address. And Jack's place was definitely out. On impulse he called Isher Sports.
'Abe? I need help.'
'Nu? I should be surprised?'
'This is serious, Abe. It's Gia and her little girl. I've got to find them a safe place to stay. Somewhere not connected with me.'
The banter was suddenly gone from Abe's voice. 'Hotel no good?'
'As a last resort it'll do, but I'd feel better in a private place.”
'My daughter's apartment is empty until the end of the month. She's on sabbatical in Europe for the summer.'
'Where is it?'
'Queens. On the border of Astoria and Long Island City.”
Jack glanced out the kitchen window to the jumble of buildings directly across the East River. For the first time since cutting the orange open, he felt he had a chance of controlling the situation. The sick dread that weighed so relentlessly upon him lifted a little.
'Perfect! Where's the key?'
'In my pocket.'
'I'll be right over to get it.'
'I'll be here.'
Eunice came in as he hung up. 'You really have no right to send us all on our way,' she said sternly. 'But if I must go, at least let me clean up the kitchen.'
'I'll clean it up,' Jack said, blocking her way as she reached for the sponge in the sink. She turned and picked up the Hefty bag that contained the tainted orange. Jack gently pulled it from her grasp. 'I'll take care of that, too.'
'Promise?' she said, eyeing him with unconcealed suspicion. 'I wouldn't want the two ladies of the house coming back and finding a mess.'
'They won't find a mess here,' Jack told her, feeling sorry for this loyal little woman who had no idea that her employers were dead. 'I promise you.'
Gia came down the stairs as Jack ushered Eunice out the front door. She seemed to have composed herself since he’d chased her upstairs.
'I want to know what all this means,' she said after Eunice was gone. 'Vicky's upstairs. You tell me what's going on here before she comes down.'
Jack searched for something to say. He could not tell her the truth—she'd lose all confidence in his sanity. She might even call the nut patrol to take him down to pillow city in Bellevue. He began to improvise, mixing truth and fiction, hoping he made sense.
'I think Grace and Nellie were abducted.'
'That's ridiculous!' Gia said, but her voice did not carry much conviction.
'I wish it were.'
'But there was no sign of a break in or a struggle—'
'I don't know how it was done, but I'm sure the liquid I found in Grace's bathroom is a link.' He paused for effect. 'Some of it was in that orange Vicky brought in to me.'
Gia's hand clutched his arm. 'The one you threw away?'
Jack nodded. 'And I bet if we had the time we could find something of Nellie's that's laced with the stuff, something she ate.'
'I can't think of anything...' Her voice trailed off, then rose again. 'What about the chocolates?' Gia grabbed his arm and dragged him to the parlor. 'They're in here. They came last week.'
