Final Act by Dianne Yetman (best free ebook reader .TXT) 📕

“My God, what happened to you, Nora?”

“There was an accident.  I’m not hurt but there are lots of people who are.”

“You’re in shock.  You need a drink.  Come on, let’s get inside.”

Nora allowed herself to be led as if she were a child.  She fumbled inside her purse for the house key but Eleanor had reached for the handle and opened the door.

“That’s strange”, Nora said.  “Catherine always leaves the doors locked.”

Eleanor led Nora through the front hallway into the living room.  Nora came to a full stop, she could hear Eleanor gasping for breath but she ignored it and tried to make sense of what she was seeing - the shredded furniture; the broken glass and the crumbled clothes on the chair.  She moved closer; it wasn’t clothes; it was a person.  It was Catherine. She felt herself losing consciousness and slipped towards the floor.   Eleanor managed to break her fall and lead her to the couch.  She pulled out her cell and called for an ambulance.  It was then she heard the knock on the front door.  Damn, who the hell is that and now for God’s sake.  She pulled open the door ready to send whoever it was away.

Alexis and Susan looked at Eleanor’s face.

“Are we too early”, Susan asked.

***

Early the next morning, Mrs. Rogers opened her front door, her cat scooted between her legs, ran on the path, crossed the road, heading towards the woods.  That cat is half wild.  It’s a wonder she comes back at all.  She made her way slowly to the mailbox, no letters, but the daily paper was there.

Back in her kitchen, she put the kettle on for another cup of tea, took the paper and sat in the cane rocking chair.  She only had one newspaper left to read and she would be caught up on the news.  If she found the time, she’d read that last one today for this evening, for the first time since she returned home from her daughters, she was going to Bingo at the Fire Hall and she wanted to maintain her reputation as the lady who knows everything.

***

Kate wasn’t able to meet with Gordon the next morning as he was finishing up paperwork before he left for an afternoon press gathering at the Commissioner’s office.   She spent the morning typing up her notes, giving the recorded conversations to the clerical pool to be transcribed, discussed interview techniques with Shirley before she left for her meeting with the officials at manufacturing plant.  It was a very hungry Kate who grabbed a late lunch.

Sitting at the deli’s counter, she thought about her conversation with Roger last night.  It didn’t go well. He didn’t buy her theory.  No damn way, he said, did Stone and Camira’s killer hire thugs to get rid of him.  Preposterous.  Shit, Kate, his fist shaking in the air, I’m the one on drugs not you.  There was no convincing him.  She left with mixed feelings, happy to see how much progress he had made and sad that he wouldn’t buy into the theory.

On her way back to the office, she met Gordon at the front entrance.

“I’ve got lots to brief you on when you can spare the time”, she said.

“How about now and let’s do it at the hospital?  I hear Roger’s recovering; I’d like to drop by.  You can brief me in the cafeteria over their lousy coffee.”

Roger wasn’t in his room, he had been discharged.  They had missed him by an hour.  The two detectives made their way to the canteen, Gordon filling his cup with coffee the colour of black tar, Kate grabbing a bottle of orange juice from the cold drinks machine.

She had just begun her briefing when she heard a familiar voice.

“Kate, I thought that was you.”

She looked up.  Susan and Alexis stood behind Gordon. Oh no, not now. 

“Are you here to visit Catherine too?”

“Catherine? Catherine who?”

“Why, Catherine Stone, of course.”

“Susan”, Alexis said, “she doesn’t know.”

“Oh my God, Kate, I’m sorry, I just assumed you knew.  Catherine’s in intensive care.  Her sister, Nora and Eleanor, found her.  It’s touch and go. We were invited for a meal and when we arrived, Eleanor opened the front door with as white a face as I ever saw then an ambulance pulled into the driveway. We waited outside for a long while, then the paramedics brought Catherine out on a stretcher.  Eleanor and Nora rushed past us to their car.  Nora looked to be in shock.  We followed them to the hospital in our own car.”

Kate and Gordon rose together and asked what floor Catherine was on.  Seconds later, they were heading for the elevators.  Susan and Alexis joined the canteen line-up.

“I wonder why a Detective Sergeant and Inspector would be sitting in a hospital cafeteria,” Alexis asked.

“Who knows, it could be anything.  Let’s get the coffee and rejoin Nora.  I don’t like leaving her alone.  Eleanor is too out of it to be of any help.”

Twenty minutes later, Susan and Alexis entered the small waiting room, coffee in hand.  They looked around for the two detectives but they were nowhere to be seen.  Nora had disappeared as well.

“Where’ Nora” Susan asked.

Eleanor, who was looking out the window into the late afternoon fall darkness, turned.

“The detectives asked her to join them in the conference room.”

Alexis and Susan settled themselves on the cold, plastic chairs and Eleanor joined them. Ten minutes later Kate, Gordon and Nora entered the room.

Nora, tears running down her face, spoke.  “She’s gone.  Catherine’s gone.  How am I going to tell her children?”

Susan and Alexis rushed over and encircled her in their arms; Eleanor turned and looked out the window, her legs visibly trembling.

Gordon and Kate left the bereaved women to themselves and quickly left the room.

Chapter 13

Withers parked his car at the far end of the parking lot and walked to the main entrance.  He had decided to drop in and pay Roger a quick visit before heading