Sweet Poison by Ellen Hart

Author:Ellen Hart [Hart, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-312-37525-6
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2008-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Jane was loading another log into the copper fireplace in the back room of the pub when Cordelia breezed in, dressed all in black with the exception of a glittering silver lamé turban. It was going on nine. Jane had spent most of the afternoon and early evening trying to stanch the flow of grief by losing herself in work. She hadn’t succeeded.

“Not at the theater tonight?” asked Jane, clearing some dirty dishes off one of the bar tables and taking them over to a bus pan on a standing rack in the corner. She carried the bus pan behind the bar, opened one of the dumbwaiters, and sent it up to the kitchen.

“I stayed through the first act,” said Cordelia. “Mel’s at home, working on a story, so until eleven, when Mel said she’d take a break, I’m footloose and fancy-free.”

Jane turned to look at her. “What’s that under your arm?”

“Oh, you haven’t met Tallulah yet. Jane, meet Tallulah.”

Jane patted the little creature’s head, scratched under her chin. She seemed very friendly.

The dog was one of the cutest creatures Jane had sever seen. It was tiny, kind of scruffy, with a mixture of gray and tan hair, soft ears, a black button nose, and dark eyes. It seemed content, almost serene, tucked under Cordelia’s arm. “She’s half Yorkshire terrier and half toy poodle. You remember Mel’s cat died.”

“The one that looked like a white bat.”

“The Cornish rex, right. A friend of hers is moving to Spain and couldn’t take Tallulah with her, so Mel inherited her a few days ago. She’s the perfect apartment dweller, manages to get all kinds of exercise just running around Mel’s loft, getting lost under the sofa, leaping tiny objects with a single bound. But she whines when Mel is on the computer, so I’m taking her out for the evening.”

“How much does she weigh?”

“Seven pounds. She’s an adult, completely house-trained. Mel’s in love. Actually, so am I.”

“Except for the computer thing.”

“Well, right.”

Jane led the way to her office.

As soon as Cordelia walked across the threshold, Mouse jumped up and skirted around the couch, standing on his back legs with his paws on her stomach, his nose working to understand what fresh horror he was being subjected to. If Cordelia and Mel were included in Jane’s family, and of course that’s how Jane thought of them, there was a veritable flotilla of animals for Mouse to welcome into his pack.

“Better let them fight it out,” said Jane, sitting down behind her desk. Her eyes suddenly welled with tears, as they’d been doing every hour on the hour since Kenzie had walked out her front door.

When Cordelia set Tallulah down, the little critter emitted a sharp bark. Mouse started, backed up a couple of inches. In a spirit of intense but careful inquiry, they began sniffing each other, paying particular attention to each other’s nether regions.

“Get it over with,” cried Cordelia, flopping backward onto the sofa. “Sweet Jesus. You’d think they were proctologists.”

With the examination finally done, Tallulah hopped to the rug in front of the fire.

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