Late Edition by Fern Michaels

Author:Fern Michaels [Michaels, Fern]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2011-07-20T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Bernice picked the perfect day to stay home. After Saturday night’s creep show, Toots didn’t want her there. She didn’t want to be responsible for causing her to have a heart attack.

They’d actually had to use smelling salts to bring Ida out of whatever sort of trance she’d been in. She swore she had no memory of writing, no memory of passing out. Toots wasn’t sure if she believed her or not. What she was sure of was that there was nothing funny about it anymore. It was all too real.

Toots finished making the first pot of coffee, then stepped outside for a smoke. She and Sophie hadn’t been smoking nearly as much as they normally did, which was probably a good thing. Even though she liked to smoke, she knew it wasn’t healthy. At sixty-five, almost sixty-six, Toots figured quitting at this stage of the game would be nothing more than slow torture.

“What are you doing up so early?” Sophie asked.

Toots almost jumped out of her skin. “Damn you! Don’t you ever sneak up on me like that again. And for your information, I get up at five every day, sometimes earlier. I’m smoking.”

“Well don’t be stingy,” Sophie said.

Toots removed a cigarette from the package and lit it with the tip of her own. She passed the cigarette to Sophie.

For once, they were quiet, each lost in her own thoughts. The previous night still lingered in the early morning air. It was as if Thomas were still lurking around, just waiting for their next move.

They sat that way for a few minutes longer; then Toots stood and stretched. “I’m going inside. The coffee is ready.”

Sophie followed her back to the kitchen. “Pour me a cup, too. Add extra sugar. I need a spurt of energy.”

Toots dumped the contents of the sugar bowl into Sophie’s cup, thinking it would serve her right for sneaking up on her. She carried both cups to the table. “You think Ida will be okay?” Toots asked. “She really gave me a scare last night.”

“Me too. I think that physically, she’s fine. I don’t know if this will have a residual effect on her mental status. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to send her back into the land of germs.”

“I really believe Ida is truly over that now. What do you make of the writing?” There. She’d said what had been bothering her all night. It wasn’t the fact that a spirit had entered her house; she could live with that. It was the fact that Thomas’s ghost, or whatever the heck it was, had said, “My daughter. My daughter. My daughter.”

Sophie took a deep breath. “I think Thomas went to the grave with a lot of secrets. I feel sorry for Ida, but don’t you dare tell her I said that, or I will kick your saggy butt.”

“You won’t have to keep that promise,” Ida said as she entered the kitchen. Normally, she wasn’t an early riser, so both Sophie and Toots were surprised to see her up already.

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