Harlan Coben - Play Dead

She also knew that today she would have to rise from this bed, that today she would have to leave the protection of Serita’s apartment and face the world for the first time since her David had…

He can’t be dead. He just can’t be. Please tell me it’s not true. Please tell me that this is just a stupid joke and when I get a hold of him I’m going to beat the shit out of him for scaring me like this. Please tell him enough is enough, that I know he’s okay, that I know his body was not shredded on coral and rocks.

‘Laura?’

Laura looked up at her long-time friend. Serita was a devastating beauty, one of the few women in the world who could compete with Laura in the looks category. She was nearly six feet tall, her body thin and very muscular with the most beautiful ebony skin. Serita (she never used a last name) had been the world’s top black model since she and Laura had first met six years ago on the modeling circuit. Serita had also become good friends with David over the last two years. In fact, David had liked her so much he had set her up with his closest friend on the Celtics, Earl Roberts, the seven-foot center.

‘Yes?’

‘Honey, you got to get out of bed now. Gloria called. She and your father are going to pick you up in an hour.’

Laura did not respond.

‘And Gloria wants to speak to you first.’

‘About what?’

Serita paused. ‘Your mother.’

Laura’s eyes grew angry. For the first time since David’s death, they showed some sort of life. ‘What about my mother?’

‘She wants to come to the memorial service.’

‘Fuck her.’

‘That’s your answer?’

‘That’s my answer.’

Serita shrugged. ‘I’m but the secretary. Now get your ass out of bed.’

Though Laura had spent the last three days in this bed, sleep never visited her, never gave her an opportunity to escape the nightmare that reality had become. And now she did not want to get out of the bed, did not want to get dressed, did not want to attend a public memorial service at Faneuil Hall.

I love you so much, David. You know I can never love anyone else. Please come back to me. Please come back and hold me gently and tell me all over again how much you love me and how wonderful our life together is going to be. Tell me again about the things we’re going to share, about the children we’re going to raise.

‘They’re expecting massive traffic delays,’ Serita continued. ‘I think everyone in Boston is going to be jammed into Quincy Market for this. I sure hope Earl doesn’t screw up his speech.’

Try as she might, Laura felt the tears sliding down her face again.

‘Come on, Laura.’ Serita gently pulled the covers off her friend and helped her sit up. ‘You have to be there.’

‘I know.’ She wiped her face with her sleeve. ‘I’m glad Earl is going to do a eulogy. And I’m glad you two are together.’

‘We’re not together,’ Serita stressed, ‘only fucking.’

Laura forced out a chuckle. ‘Wonderful.’

Serita was the best friend Laura had with the exception of her sister Gloria, if you wanted to count a sister as a friend, and Laura had befriended very few models during her magazine-cover days. This was not because of the ridiculous stereotype that models are dumb. They’re not. Actually, they’re a rather crafty and intelligent group. But sometimes their self-image got in the way of uncovering the real them. Plus, with Laura being unquestionably the world’s number-one model, many of the other women were somewhat jealous of her. And jealousy was an emotion Laura doubted Serita had ever experienced.

Today, the city of Boston was dedicating a bronze statue to David to be placed in Faneuil Hall, near Clip Arnstein’s own likeness. Clip was the Celtics’ seventy-year-old president, a man who David had both loved and respected. He, along with the mayor of Boston, Senator Ted Kennedy (a man David had never cared much for), Earl, and Timmy Daniels, another Celtics teammate, were going to eulogize her husband.

The work on the statue had been started months ago but for a whole different purpose. Originally, it was to be placed in a small playground at a school for handicapped children in honor of David’s work. Now, it had been speedily completed and moved to Faneuil Hall to stand in memory of his premature death. Laura sighed. She could not help but think that David would have preferred to keep the statue in the small playground.

After the dedication, there would be a private burial. Burial. Funeral. Laura shook her head as Serita led her into the bathroom. She heard Serita turn on the water.

‘Go on. Get in there.’

Laura stepped into the shower, the water cascading over her naked body.

Don’t make me go to some service, Serita. There’s no reason really. You see, David is not dead. It’s all a lie. David is just fine. I know he is. He promised he would never leave me. He promised that we would be together forever. And David never broke a promise. You know that. So you see, he can’t be dead. He can’t be dead. He can’t be…

Her body slowly slid down the shower’s tile wall until she lay huddled in the corner of the stall. Then she placed her hands over her face and cried.

The surgeon looked at the clock on the far wall.

4:45 a.m.

He took a deep breath and continued stitching. A few minutes later, the wounds were all closed.

Six hours of surgery.

The surgeon walked out of the makeshift surgery room, untied his mask and let it fall onto his chest. He approached his friend and business associate. The surgeon noticed that his friend was much more nervous this time than usual.

But that was understandable.

‘How did it go?’ the man asked the surgeon.

‘No complications.’

The man seemed very relieved. ‘I owe you one, Hank.’ ‘Wait until you get my bill.’

The man chuckled nervously at the joke. ‘What now?’

‘The usual. Don’t let him do anything for at least two weeks. I’ll check in on him then.’

‘Okay.’

‘I’ll leave a nurse with him.’

‘But – ’

‘She’s done this type of thing before. She can be trusted.’

‘This is a little different, don’t you think?’

The surgeon had to agree. This was most definitely different. ‘I assure you she can be trusted. She’s been with me for years. Besides, he has to have a nurse.’

The man thought for a moment. ‘I guess you’re right. Is there anything else?’

A million questions swirled through the surgeon’s head but he had been in this business long enough to know that the answers to such questions could be dangerous. Even fatal.

He shook his head. ‘I’ll see you in two weeks.’

Judy Simmons, Laura’s aunt, was packing for the trip to Boston when the phone rang.

David is dead, Judy. Pretend all you want but you’re to blame…

She closed her eyes, struggling to shove the cruel voice away, but the accusations continued to echo across her mind.

You could have stopped it, Judy, but now it’s too late. David is dead and it’s your fault…

She refused to listen anymore. Judy had recently turned forty-nine, lived alone, had always lived alone, had never wanted to live alone. It wasn’t her fault. It was just that when it came to men she had the luck of Wiley Coyote chasing the Road Runner. To be more precise, her relationships with the opposite sex ended up being disasters of Hindenberg-like proportions. Though she wasn’t any great beauty like her sister Mary, she was attractive enough by most standards. Her face was pretty, if somewhat plain, and she had a very nice figure. Her most noticeable feature was her auburn hair, which she wore at shoulder length. Men had always liked her. The problem was that for some reason she always attracted the wrong kind of men.