Lori Avocato - Nip, Tuck, Dead

“Devin seemed as if he were in a hurry,” I lied, having no inkling as to what Devin seemed other than a jerk.

She hesitated. “Aunt Olivia likes to get her own way.”

Interesting.

“Ha. Don’t we all?” I chuckled.

This time Lydia stared into space. “I wouldn’t know.”

Damn. “Come on, Lyd. You must get your own way lots. I mean, you’re a teenager!”

She set her sandwich down with a thud. Geez. I hoped I hadn’t taken her appetite away. The kid was rather thin and needed to eat.

“Sorry if I said something wrong. You all right?”

“Fine. I’m fine. It’s just that…”

Once again she stared into space.

Once again I felt her pain and felt sorry for her.

Lydia continued, “It’s that I don’t get much of what I want. And I’m not talking material things, Pauline.”

I touched her hand. “I figured that.”

She smiled. “Ever since Devin married my aunt, things haven’t been the same around here.”

“Were they better before…before the marriage?”

She pulled her hand free and looked me in the eye. “I never really knew my parents.”

Then how could things have been any better?

I helped Lydia clean up and took my damn time to try to get more info out of her, although I didn’t want to see more hurt in her eyes. She did, however, say how Devin had spent so much of Olivia’s money-no great surprise there. On more than one occasion, Lydia had heard them arguing that money was tight.

However, a damn good reason for Olivia to try to recoup.

But how?

Was she somehow involved in the medical fraud?

Now that I had that tidbit to work with, I told Lydia that I really needed to get back to Goldie. We said goodbye and I turned to go out the door. I figured the buffalo mozzarella had a gazillion calories in it so I would jog back to work.

When I came around the corner of the mansion, a form lunged out of the bushes!

After stumbling backward, and before I knew it, I was on the ground. I tried to kick and scream, but suddenly the threatening voice had me mute-and he wasn’t even touching me.

“Shut the hell up, Nurse,” Devin said. “I’m not going to hurt you. Just a word of advice. Stay the hell away from Lydia.”

I shielded my eyes from the sunlight and said, “Those words of wisdom from you or someone else?” I pushed him away, got up, ignored the pain in my back and wiped gravel from my scrubs.

“What the hell difference does it make?” He stepped back as if he didn’t have the nerve to attack me again. Every so often he looked up at the mansion.

I tried to nonchalantly turn to see if Olivia were standing watch in some window like old Samuel was wont to do, but I didn’t want to seem obvious. Anything that I did could cause more problems-thus pain-for Lydia.

When I stepped to his side, I said, “It doesn’t matter. Leave me the hell alone, and if you ever threaten me again, I’ll go to the cops.” Unless dear Olivia owns them.

He grumbled something and started to walk away.

“Keep out of the sun, Devin. Your crow’s-feet are deepening.” With that I started my jog out of the driveway and thought I heard him screech.

“Hey, good to see you sitting up,” I said as I hurried into Goldie’s room.

From the chair by the window he forced a half smile and said, “Feels good to get out of that bed. I’m not doing too well, am I, Suga?”

I shook my head. “You are the perfect post-op patient, Gold. Stop beating yourself up. You are doing fantastic. These things take time.” I sat on the arm of his chair and told him about my lunch escapade.

“Wow. Sounds like lots of covering up going on. Too bad the kid is caught in the middle of something. No idea what?”

I shook my head. “Other than the insurance fraud, which they all could be involved with. I have to find out more and get more about Olivia-”

“Perhaps I can be of help?” Neal said, walking in the door.

Oops! I sprung up. “Oh, hey. We didn’t hear you come in.” The guy was like a stealth doctor.

He chuckled. “I like to surprise my women, Pauline.”

Your women? Goldie and I exchanged glances that said, “Interesting.” But I chuckled, very ladylike, and turned toward Goldie. “He’s doing great, Doc. Really great.” I winked at Goldie. And stupidly could imagine myself living at Forsyth Manor. I mean, a house with a name!

“I am,” Gold managed.

Neal examined him and with my assistance changed the outside bandage, promising that in a few days Goldie would get to see his accomplishments, although there would still be swelling and bruising involved.

Gold’s eyes lit up like a kid’s on Christmas Eve.

I felt ten years younger, knowing Goldie’s pain was not in vain.

Neal turned to me. “May I speak with you, Pauline?”

Goldie made a little sound. Kinda sounded like a cat, a scaredy cat.

Neal, the doll, touched Goldie’s arm. “Nothing about you. You fit into the textbook recovery scenario for your procedure. No. Nothing about you, sir. It’s personal.”

Goldie let out a sigh, and I walked Neal to the door.

“I’m free tomorrow night for our date,” he whispered.

Geez. So soon?

After today’s visit with Lydia I wanted to cancel. Just not in any mood for…“Tomorrow would be perfect,” I heard myself say and mentally shook my head.

Suddenly I missed…Jagger.

Back in my room, I flopped onto my bed and looked at the door, expecting a knock and a “Are you ready to eat?” But nothing.

Even Samuel seemed to be gone. I couldn’t feel his presence or any cold draft. Damn. Kinda missed the guy. This was lonely! For a few seconds I shut my eyes and reviewed my case, or what little info that I had. One thing for certain was that I had to make another trip to the office and snoop around the files.

I needed to find the “frequent flier” patients’ records. The files might just tell me whom the fraud was being committed for. Seemed logical to me that those patients would have been spending the most money at Highcliff, and they were almost a guarantee to spend more.

My stomach growled, but I didn’t want to go out to eat all by myself. I sat up and took out my cell phone, dialing Fabio’s office. When I looked at my watch, I curled my lips. “Damn. I’ll bet Adele has gone home already.” Just as I started to flip the cell closed, I heard a voice.

“Hello?”

“Adele?” Didn’t really sound like her though. Maybe I had the wrong number.

“Chéri? This is Lilla. You are Pauline?”

I leaned back on the bed not feeling so alone anymore. “Yeah, it’s me. Lilla?”

“Oui. My mother, she has gone home already. May I give her a message from you?”

“Well, truthfully I was just calling to see if Jagger was around. Do you know him?”

I could hear the hitch in her voice-a very Jagger-like reaction to the guy.

“Oui,” rolled off her lips, and suddenly, despite the fact that I liked Lilla, I felt a wee bit jealous. She was, in all honesty, a real looker.

“Umm. Then he’s not there?”

“No, Pauline. He has not returned from Newport as far as I know.”

“Well, I think he did. No sign of him. Huh?”

“None.”

I thanked her and selfishly was glad Jagger hadn’t shown up there, but couldn’t help but wonder, where the hell was he?

Hey, I was a red-blooded, healthy woman!

After eating two slices of a pizza I foolishly had delivered to my room, I offered the rest to the evening staff. Then I dressed in my black turtleneck with black jeans, took my camera that was disguised as a beeper and clipped it onto my belt, grabbed my thin black gloves and stuffed a flashlight into my pocket. I also carefully removed the pink locket that Jagger had given me as a gift from my makeup case. At first I’d thought the locket was jewelry, but it turned out to be pepper spray for protection. What a guy.