Marcia Talley - Sing It to Her Bones

“Why do I get this feeling you’re about to drag me into more trouble?”

“I just want to see what they’re up to in there. Maybe it’ll turn out to be nothing. Maybe they’re just eating pizza or something.”

“I don’t like it.”

Nevertheless, Connie went along with my plan, claiming that Paul would never forgive her if something happened to me on her watch.

We skirted the Dumpster that occupied two parking spaces at the far end of the parking lot. Beyond the Dumpster a squat hedge shielded several recycling cans from view. It was my intention to march into the office, bold as a brass band on a Sunday afternoon, but as we drew even with the hedge, we could hear voices raised in anger.

“That’s it, I tell you. I’m out of it.” Frank Chase’s voice carried even over the noise of an air conditioner running in the Ships Store behind us. I put a hand on Connie’s back and pushed, forcing her closer to the edge of the hedgerow, where we made ourselves small behind a flowering shrub. From there we had a nearly unobstructed view inside the marina office through the uncurtained window.

“I don’t think it’s about pizza,” I whispered to Connie.

Liz responded to something, waving her arms, but I couldn’t hear what she said.

“You can’t lay that responsibility on me, Liz. You’re the one who wouldn’t let me take her to the hospital.” Dr. Chase had been sitting in a chair but rose to face her. Mercifully the air conditioner chose that moment to cycle off.

“Fat lot of good that would have done after you shot her, Frankie.”

“ I shot her? That’s a crock. You were the one holding the gun, Liz, not me. Ranting on about Harvard and how would you ever live down the scandal!”

I grabbed Connie’s hand and squeezed. “Holy shit!” she said.

“Where’s Hal?” I whispered back.

I was feeling smug and somewhat relieved that he wasn’t there, so when he appeared, my heart sank to my toes. At first I thought he was going to intervene, like a referee, throw a bucket of cold water on the dueling cats, maybe, but he merely observed the escalating argument, standing quietly near his desk where a green-shaded lamp cast a circle of light over stacks of papers and catalogs piled there.

My knees began to ache from being locked in a crouch for so long, but I wouldn’t have moved from that spot for a million dollars. Hal finally spoke. “Come off it, you two. You’re both responsible.”

Liz’s head swivelled around. “You’re a good one to talk about responsibility. You gave her the money for the abortion, don’t forget.”

“At least she trusted me, Liz,” Hal said.

“And what was that worth? If you’d cared about her at all, you’d have seen to it that she didn’t fall into the hands of a quack.”

“A quack? How the hell was I supposed to know how she spent the money or where she went? She made it abundantly clear that she didn’t want me involved.” As he talked, Hal had been pacing in front of his desk, but suddenly he moved away, out of my view.

I stood up and moved to my left to get a better look. Connie grabbed my pants leg and jerked me down so hard that I thought my wig would fly off. “They’ll see you, you idiot!” Her voice was a husky whisper.

“No, they won’t,” I whispered back. “It’s nearly dark out here. That office is lit up brighter than Camden Yards when the Orioles are in town. But if it will make you happy…” I scrunched down next to Connie again.

“I can’t go on like this!” Dr. Chase sounded miserable.

“Do you think you’ll ever practice medicine again if this comes out? Besides, it’s not your decision, Frank. There are other people involved.”

“It’ll come out anyway. Hannah Ives has been asking a lot of questions. It’s only a matter of time before she goes to Rutherford and he puts two and two together. If I can’t convince you to tell the truth, I’ll just have to do it myself.”

Good gawd. What a fool. Didn’t he ever go to the movies? Watch television? Rule No. 3b. Never threaten to go to the cops, particularly if you’re planning to .

But Liz seemed not to have heard. “I thought you’d help her, you jerk. Instead, you said you’d take her to the hospital. Anybody could have taken her to the hospital, for Christ’s sake. You’re totally useless. You could have stopped the bleeding, but you didn’t even turn a hand.”

“I didn’t have the right equipment, Liz. Katie was hemorrhaging. She was in shock. She needed an ambulance and IVs, probably surgery, not aspirin and a Band-Aid from an inexperienced medical student. I did what I could to help her until you started waving that gun around.”

“Gun?” She said it dreamily, as if it were a new word and she had just heard it for the first time. In a deceptively quick move Liz was behind Hal’s desk. She wrenched open the top left-hand drawer and pulled out a small handgun, holding it as if she knew what she was doing. “A gun like this, Frankie?” She aimed the barrel at him and held the gun steady, a malicious smile spreading across her face. Hal hurried forward but once again did not intervene.

Liz patted the open drawer with her free hand. “Hal, Hal. What a creature of habit you are!”

“Don’t do it, Liz. This time there’s no way it can be passed off as an accident. This time it’ll be cold-blooded murder.”

“And it wasn’t murder before? I was just pointing the gun at this witless wonder here. I didn’t intend to shoot anybody. If he hadn’t jumped me, the gun would never have gone off. Katie would still be alive.” The gun under discussion was now pointed squarely at the doctor’s chest.

Dr. Chase began desperate bargaining. “It’s simple. We do what we should have done in the first place. Explain to the police that Katie’s death was accidental.”

“Ha!” Liz snorted. “You wish.” Her derisive laugh was too big for the room. It rolled through the open window and drifted over the water. She held the gun on both men now, swinging it back and forth in the space between them.

Suddenly Connie was no longer beside me. “I’m calling nine-one-one,” she whispered, and disappeared into the darkness behind the Dumpster. I willed her to hurry. I willed Liz to come to her senses. For several long minutes it seemed as if nobody moved inside the marina office. I prayed they would stay that way, but it was inevitable. Somebody would blink.

“This is bullshit!” Dr. Chase did an about-face and headed in my direction, toward the door. He wore the same clothes I had seen him wearing earlier that day, although he appeared to have shrunk within them so that his jacket hung loosely from his shoulders.

I was noticing how much the man had aged in the past twenty-four hours when his eyes suddenly widened in surprise and his glasses flew off. I heard a pop! Liz’s hand jerked upward, and I couldn’t see Frank Chase anymore.

“Shit!” I sprang up and dashed after Connie but bumbled into the recycling cans, knocking one sideways. The lid slid off, and I dived for it but missed. I watched helplessly as it clattered to the ground, shattering the night air like the cymbals at the end of the 1812 Overture . There was no chance Liz hadn’t heard. A rectangle of light blazed across the dock as someone threw open the office door. I struggled to my feet and scampered into the dark.

I found Connie on the other side of the Ships Store, just reaching for the phone. “They’ve shot Frank!”

Connie took a step toward the dock, then reversed direction. “The car!” she shouted. We raced for the parking lot, but as we rounded the corner of the building, I saw Liz thundering in our direction, waving the gun.

“The boat, Hannah. Head for the boat!” We turned around and ran like frightened rabbits toward the safety of Sea Song , with the dock bucking and heaving beneath our feet.