Blackbird 06 - A Crazy Little Thing Called Death by Nancy Martin

Author:Nancy Martin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780451220820
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2010-01-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

I don’t remember anything about the rest of the night. Maybe Emma was around. And there was coffee, I think.

In the morning, Michael was in bed with me, sleeping with a Sudoku book on his chest, as if he’d stayed awake as long as possible. I tried to dig into my brain to recall some detail of the night, but all I found was darkness—a frightening blank. I pulled the covers closer and trembled. What had happened? What had I done? Said?

Then my stomach erupted, and I bolted out of bed and ran for the bathroom, whacking my head on the doorjamb and the edge of the toilet before upchucking whatever poison was in my stomach.

Michael came into the bathroom and mopped my forehead and held me there on the floor while I forced my mind to function.

“What happened to me?” I finally blurted out.

“Emma thinks you were doped,” Michael said. “The polo player slipped you a roofie.”

“I’d never fall for that!”

But I had. I pieced together the few snippets of memory that I could dredge up. The ballet event. Bloom. Aldo dancing.

“Michael?”

“Hm?”

“Did I do anything to embarrass Aldo?”

“He’ll get over it.”

I groaned and put my cheek against the cool tile floor. “Did I make a fool of myself?”

“You were pretty out of it.”

“What did I—did I do anything awful? Say anything?”

He patted my bottom. “Don’t worry. We took care of you.”

I spent the whole day sicker than I could ever remember. Emma came back late in the morning to take over looking after me, and Michael went off to do whatever he was doing. Libby came for her shift later in the afternoon.

“What was it like?” she asked, sitting cross-legged on the bed while I languished in agony under the blankets.

“A complete blank.” A terrifying blank.

While trying to unscramble my brain, I remembered the vial Potty had given me before I encountered Raphael at the party. “Lib, would you look in my handbag for me, please?”

She brought the bag to my bed, and when I opened it I found the vial of MaxiMan, but also the damned envelope I’d given back to Potty. I held it up to show her. “Look at this! Dammit, Potty gave me back all the money!”

Libby looked sympathetic. “Darling, you’re still delirious, aren’t you?”

“No, listen.” I explained to my sister how Potty had tried to bribe me once and didn’t appear to be taking no for an answer. I wasn’t sure Libby believed me, either.

She heated up some chicken soup for me, the first food I could choke down, and afterward I felt a little better. She gave me a get-well card that Lucy had drawn. It featured me in a huge bed with a thermometer in my mouth. My eyes appeared to be crossed, too. Which felt surprisingly accurate.

By evening, I was capable of making a phone call, so I telephoned Detective Bloom from my bed.

“Okay,” he said when I’d told him what I’d learned about Potty. “We already know the old codger has a yen for younger women.

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