Fatality with Forster by Katherine Bolger Hyde

Author:Katherine Bolger Hyde [Katherine Bolger Hyde]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2021-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

The next day, Emily, Luke, and Roger returned to the John Radcliffe to visit Allison again. She was calmer – in fact, calm to the point of apathy, which concerned Emily. Perhaps this was one of the stages of grief she didn’t know about. Or perhaps it was the effect of medication or of the concussion itself.

‘How’s everything at home?’ Allison asked Roger, without seeming much to care. ‘The dragon as fiery as ever?’

Roger opened his mouth without speaking, putting Emily in mind of that codfish again. He looked at her with a mixture of entreaty and confusion. She gave him an encouraging nod.

‘Mother is devastated,’ he said. ‘She keeps to her own apartment. We’ve scarcely seen her since … it happened.’

Allison’s eyes widened. ‘She’s that upset because I got hurt? I would have thought she’d be dancing in the streets. Figuratively speaking, of course.’

Emily took a deep breath. Apparently, it was worse than she’d thought – Allison had either forgotten or refused to accept that James was dead.

‘Or maybe she’s upset that I didn’t die,’ Allison said lightly. ‘Well, tough beans, Granny dear. We Bookers aren’t that easy to kill. I’ll be back, and James and I will make that estate pay for itself yet. We’ll make sure little James Junior inherits a going concern he can be proud of.’ She finished with a satisfied smile.

Roger and Emily exchanged horrified glances, then watched as Allison’s smile faded and the blood drained from her face. ‘James …’ she whispered. ‘Oh, James … our little son …’ Her eyes welled and she turned her face to the wall.

‘She’s clearly remembered about the baby,’ Emily whispered to Roger. ‘But does she realize about James? I can’t tell.’

Roger shook his head. ‘I don’t know. But I think she has as much reality as she can handle for now.’

Emily nodded. Allison seemed to be drifting back to sleep, most likely medication-induced, so they gently released her hands and slipped out.

In the hall, Emily and Roger encountered Dr Mirama, and Luke joined them to hear what she had to say. ‘Doctor,’ Emily asked her, ‘Allison doesn’t seem to be completely in touch with reality. When we first came in, she didn’t even remember her husband and baby were killed. Is that something we should be concerned about at this point?’

Dr Mirama shook her head. ‘It’s quite normal with the type of concussion she had. She’ll be foggy for some time. Memories and reality will come and go. And, of course, the medication doesn’t help. Once her pain subsides to the point that we can discontinue that, she should begin to return to normal.’

‘Were you able to get in touch with her parents?’

‘Unfortunately, no. They’re traveling somewhere in Asia, out of mobile range, and their house-sitter hasn’t been able to get in touch with them yet. She said they’re expected back at the end of the month.’

Luke and Emily exchanged glances. So much for their carefree honeymoon – with the best intentions in the world, Roger

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.