Shoot from the Lip

“What in hell is wrong with you?” I practically shouted. “You could have been killed today.”

“You have a gun. You can protect us. I have something very important to discuss with you.”

“Does this have to do with the person who hurt you? Because we can have that discussion at my house.” I could be as stubborn as she was.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Take me home or I will call a cab. I won’t be intimidated into leaving the house I’ve lived in for more than thirty years.”

The girl with the clipboard, who happened to be a nurse about my age, arrived with a cheery, “Ready to get out of here, Ms. Rose?”

That was when my aunt said yes and to call her a cab, because her niece didn’t want to be bothered with her.

I choked down my anger and said, “Have it your way. I’ll take you home. But not before I get someone to guard your house.”

“Don’t bother. That stupid, deceitful man won’t be back, if he knows what’s good for him.”

Uh-oh. The only deceitful person on her radar right now was Harrison Foster. Had he attacked Aunt Caroline?

The nurse, meanwhile, was going over the discharge instructions, but neither of us was listening.

“Have you called Kate?” Aunt Caroline asked.

This was worse than I imagined. How could I tell my sister that she was involved with-

“Have you called Katherine?” Aunt Caroline repeated.

“I wanted to wait until I had more information on your condition. Now I can tell her that even a blow to the head doesn’t knock you off course.”

“Very funny, Abigail. They wouldn’t let me use the phone or I would have called her myself. You must tell her to come to my house straightaway and not waste a minute.” She then turned to the nurse, who’d given up on trying to talk to either of us. “Now, young woman, where are my clothes?”

Once we were in my car, I tried Kate’s office and got the answering service. They were gone for lunch. I left a message for Kate to come over to Aunt Caroline’s if she could, that there had been a little mishap. I repeated the same message on Kate’s voice mail. Meanwhile, I had to somehow convince Aunt Caroline that I should be the one to tell Kate about Foster’s scam-but only after I made sure my aunt was protected.

“We’re not leaving this parking garage until I make certain you’re not attacked again.” But as soon as I called DeShay and got his voice mail, I remembered he would be in court today. There was White-but he might be following the notebook lead, and besides, I couldn’t see him agreeing to babysit an obstinate old woman. Jeff had more than enough on his hands, and that left only one person with the manpower I needed.

Aunt Caroline interrupted my thoughts. “Can’t you get that policewoman to sit outside the house?”

“You haven’t exactly been cooperative, and besides, the police are too busy to park outside your house for your convenience.”

When she didn’t snap back at me, I glanced at her. She had a thumb on her cheek and two fingers on her forehead.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“After they scanned and X-rayed me, they gave me Tylenol for this headache, but it’s coming back with a fury.”

I grabbed my purse and a bottled water from the backseat. I found the Advil and handed her two tablets and the water. I also pulled out Kravitz’s card. “One more call and I think we’re in business.”

“Do you have call waiting if Kate phones?”

“Yes, Aunt Caroline.” I was sure she’d much rather have the sympathetic niece with her now, instead of me.

“I need a favor,” I said when Kravitz answered.

“Which means you have something to offer in return, I take it?”

“Yes, but this favor has nothing to do with Emma’s case.”

“You expect me to believe that?” He was mocking, condescending, heck, pick your favorite unpleasant adjective.

I was tired of arguing with people. “I need one of your guys-Louie might work. My aunt was the victim of a burglary and assault today, and I’d like a deterring presence outside her house.”

“I like that. Deterring presence. What do you have for me in return?”

“When I see your man in place, I’ll call you back.” I gave him Aunt Caroline’s address and disconnected.

As I pulled out of the parking spot, I turned to her. “How’s the headache?”

“Splitting. If you’ve finished playing detective, could you please get me home? I’m sure your sister will be waiting for us.”

But we soon learned Kate hadn’t arrived yet. The print unit was just leaving, and Price and Rowe met us in the driveway. They again asked Aunt Caroline for a statement. She again refused. In her oh-so-effective dismissive tone, she said she had a headache and might feel up to reporting this crime later.

They both shrugged and Price said, “It’s your call.” Then they left.

Whoever Kravitz was sending hadn’t shown, so I took my gun from my glove compartment, then held Aunt Caroline’s elbow as I led her up the walkway. She didn’t protest. I noticed someone had been nice enough to board and duct-tape the broken window. Maybe Mr. Desmond or Rowe. Certainly not Officer Price, who was probably counting her blessings that Aunt Caroline wasn’t her relative.

“Please get me an ice pack, Abigail. A ginger ale, too. I have mixers under the wet bar…” She put a hand to her head and closed her eyes. “But, of course, you know that.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “I know where everything is.”

I helped her into the living room after we both removed our shoes. Why she opted for white carpet was beyond me. The living room was directly across the large marble foyer from the study.

Once Aunt Caroline was settled on her gold sofa, her feet propped on a matching ottoman, and I’d fetched her the ice and the ginger ale, she said, “Are you sure your phone is on? Kate should have at least called by now.”

“Relax. You should-” But then my cell did ring. “Not Kate,” I told her, then answered.

Kravitz said, “My man is outside. Your turn.”

“Hang on.” I looked at Aunt Caroline, who was holding the ice pack at the back of her neck. “I need a minute.”

Before I walked into the foyer, I glanced out the front window and saw a car parked across the street. Once I was out of Aunt Caroline’s earshot, I said, “I’m getting closer to the truth. There may be a notebook with valuable information stored with Emma’s household things. The police are looking for it, probably as we speak.”

“That’s all?”

“We may learn the name and address of Christine O’Meara’s killer from that notebook. I’d say that’s big news.”

“You may learn the name? You’re not sure?” he said. “And how did you find out about this notebook?”

“Can this wait? I just brought my aunt home from the hospital.”

“What does this assault on your family have to do with the case, Abby?”

“Absolutely nothing.” I was trying to keep my voice down, but Aunt Caroline must have heard me.

“Abigail, who are you talking to?” she called.

“I have to go, Paul. Thanks for the help.” I closed the phone. Back in the living room, I sat on the matching love seat across from my aunt. “Time for your story.” I wasn’t about to admit I’d learned everything about Harrison Foster. That would only make her horrible day worse. The one thing that made her happy was being in possession of disturbing information.

“I know you will be very perturbed with me, Abigail, but what I did was out of love. Please remember that.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“Your sister has made a horrible mistake, and I have the proof to help her understand how foolish she’s been.”

“Apparently you’ve been checking up on her new friend Clint.”

“I have. He’s married and has a child, and-”

“Like I said last night, she knows all that, Aunt Caroline.”

“Let me finish. His name, as I told you, is Harrison Foster, he does not work for a pharmaceutical company and he was the one who attacked me when I confronted him this morning.”

“That’s unbelievable,” I said. Damn. Foster was her attacker. Kate was a shrink, for crying out loud. Couldn’t she tell this guy was a major creep?

“I learned the hard way that he’s a very violent man. Your sister has gotten herself into serious trouble, Abigail.”

“Why did he attack you?”

“Because he could. You were supposed to be here, remember? But he was early and you were late. When I showed him the report my investigator had given me, he went into a rage. I fought him off as best I could, but he grabbed the report and ran when that old fart Desmond showed up.”

“That old fart might have saved your life, Aunt Caroline. What else did your investigator learn?”

“He’s getting a divorce and has his own apartment. The wife and girl live in the house-somewhere in the Memorial area. All the details are in the report, which he stole from me.”

I took a deep breath, becoming increasingly worried that Kate hadn’t called. Was she with this guy right now? Would he go nuts like he had earlier and hurt my sister? “Before he went off the deep end, did he offer any explanation for why he lied about who he really was?”

“I didn’t ask questions, Abigail. I knew everything there was to know. I simply told him he was a charlatan and that he needed to stay away from Kate. Don’t you see this is about her money? He planned on swindling as much as he could from her and then disappearing.”

“Oh, I understand.” I’d come to the same conclusion. Foster’s game was up, and I could only hope he’d decided to disappear as quickly as he’d entered Kate’s life. “What detective agency did you use, Aunt Caroline? I keep duplicates of anything I generate for a client, and I’m sure they do, too. I’d like to read everything they learned.” There could be more information than I had, more than Aunt Caroline remembered.

She gave me the name and said their card was on the bulletin board over her kitchen desk.

“Good,” I said. “We can have them e-mail that report to your computer and-”

“What computer?” Her expression reminded me of a lying child caught red-handed.

“The one I gave you. The one I set up for you in your family room.”

“The lack of a computer is rather a long story.” She avoided eye contact. “All you need to know is that I do not have one.”