Miss Julia Paints the Town by Ann B. Ross

Author:Ann B. Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

“Mildred?” I said when Ida Lee got her to the telephone. “I’m glad to hear how well Ida Lee sounds. I hope there’re no lingering effects from her hospital stay.”

“No,” Mildred said with a long-suffering sigh. “The doctor said all she needs is rest and good nutrition, of all things. I told Ida Lee it would’ve been so much easier on me if she’d had an actual disease that could have been treated and cured. Instead, she has to have some nebulous condition that’ll take months to correct. But I missed seeing you today, Julia. The reason I called is to remind you that Horace is still missing and to tell you how hurt I am that everybody seems to have forgotten me.”

“You mean to tell me that Lieutenant Peavey and all those deputies he’s got out looking still haven’t come up with anything? Mildred, that is the strangest thing. No wonder you’re feeling neglected. Hasn’t he told you anything?”

“Well, yes, he came around early this morning and, I’ll tell you, Julia, that man needs some training in compassion and empathy. He just flat out told me that they now consider Horace a missing person, not a victim of a car wreck. And then,” she stopped to take a rasping breath, “he had the nerve to ask if I was sure I hadn’t heard from him. And the worst thing of all, he said they were calling off the search party because they believe Horace disappeared of his own volition.”

“Oh, my word.”

“Yes, and I had to go back to bed for the entire morning. But, you know, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Lieutenant Peavey isn’t right. If Horace was having financial problems, which he always was, and if I refused any more advances, which I did, then the poor man had no recourse but to disappear. Except he certainly didn’t give any thought to me when he did it. Here, I’ve been worried sick about him, spending these wretched days with my mind filled with all the terrible things that could’ve happened, only to learn that he just took off and left without any concern for what I would suffer. So, I decided that I’m not going to ruin my health by mourning a man who’s probably sunning himself on a South Sea island somewhere.”

A South Sea island? Those words rang a bell, but she didn’t give me time to pursue them.

“So,” Mildred went on, “I got up about noon, determined to take a new lease on life. And to make the point, I put on the new coral silk dress with matching sweater I ordered from Neiman Marcus. The sweater has gold embroidery on it.”

The thought of all that coral silk made me shudder because Mildred was a big-boned woman with a thyroid condition. I put the thought aside and said, “I’m so glad to hear it, Mildred. I’ve been worried about you, and I think you’re right to take care of yourself and look to your own well-being.

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