“Anyone want tea or coffee?” James asked after the first hour had passed with no news. “There’s a machine down the hall. I think they have hot chocolate, too.”
Harriet gave him a weary smile.
“No, but thanks for offering.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder and dozed. Another hour later, Dr. Hatcher came into the waiting room. He saw Harriet and came over, scraping his blue hair cover off in a practiced move.
She and James stood up, and she held her breath.
“Your friend is going to be fine.”
Harriet slumped back against James, and he put his hands on her arms to steady her. She appreciated that he was there when she needed support but didn’t treat her like some hothouse flower who couldn’t take care of herself.
“She’s upstairs in recovery. She has a nasty knife wound on her arm that had to be surgically repaired; and her collarbone is broken, probably in the fall down the shaft. When she comes out of recovery, they’ll strap up her arm and shoulder to keep that immobilized and for support. She was dehydrated on top of all that, so we’ll be pushing fluids for a while also.”
“When can we see her?” Harriet asked.
He looked at his watch.
“You’re looking at two or three hours, minimum, but probably more. If I were you, I’d go to the hotel, grab a couple of hours rest and come back. Your friend will be given painkillers that will likely knock her out, so she won’t know if you’re here or not.”
“How’s Sydney Johnson?” Harriet asked, trying to look concerned. It had occurred to her that unless the woman was unconscious, she could still pose a threat to Lauren.
Hatcher paused for a moment before speaking.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but the armed guard outside her room suggests this wasn’t an accident.”
Harriet held up her hand.
“Is that paper Ms. Johnson signed the other night when I came here with her still in effect? The one that said you can talk to me?”
“Technically, I guess it is. But, it’s pretty clear your relationship has changed since then.”
“But I’m still on her list, right?”
He smiled and shook his head.
“I guess you are.”
“We don’t really know what happened tonight, but I do know that Sydney still doesn’t have much family.” She’d heard Grier call Sydney’s aunt at the hotel, but as of yet neither she nor the cousins had appeared. “Who knows when her relatives will show up? So, for now, we’re all she has.
“I’m not suggesting I should make any life or death decisions for her. I just want to know her condition.” Harriet was so furious at Sydney for attacking Lauren she hadn’t really let it sink in that Sydney was the one who had attacked her, too. And, truth be told, she was angry at herself for letting the woman dupe her so thoroughly that she’d sat in this same emergency room, worrying while Sydney had her self-inflicted wounds treated.”
Hatcher sighed.
“Ms. Johnson was the more seriously injured of the two. She appears to have been severely beaten and then broke her leg in two places in the fall down the shaft. I’m not sure how an air-filter mask saturated in ether came to be in the shaft, but your friend Lauren managed to sedate Ms. Johnson with it. It was a blessing, really, given how badly her leg was broken.”
“Lauren’s thoughtful like that,” Harriet told him, struggling hard not to smile. She looked over at Mavis and Connie to see if they had anything to add, but Mavis, who was also having trouble with her expression, gave a small shake of her head. “I guess we’ll take your advice and go back to the hotel.”
“Leave you cell number at the desk, and if anything changes, we’ll call you, but I don’t think that will happen.”
He looked around the waiting room, but no Johnsons had appeared. Without saying another word, he turned and went back through the double doors into the ER.
✁---✁---✁
Harriet woke with a start. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was. James reached over and took her hand.
“Hey,”
She sat up and looked around.
“I was sleeping so hard I didn’t know where I was for a minute.”
“Falling asleep fully dressed and lying sideways across the bed probably didn’t help much.”
She smiled at him.
“I guess we were tired.”
“You had a pretty stressful time here even before we stayed up all night worrying about Lauren. You’ve got to be pretty exhausted right about now.” He got up and took the coffeemaker carafe to the bathroom sink. “I remember coming back here, and sitting down together on the side of the bed, and that was it until I woke up just before you did.”
“I remember kissing you goodnight before I planned to put on my jammies.” She looked down at her clothes. “I guess I didn’t make it that far.”
He poured the carafe of water into the tank.
“Coffee will be ready in a minute or two. That’ll help.”
“What time is it?”
He glanced at his watch.
“Eight a.m.”
Harriet stood up and shrugged out of her cardigan.
“We’ve got to get back to the hospital.”
James came over and put his arms around her.
“Take a deep breath.”
She did and relaxed, leaning into him.
“Lauren is in good hands, and I’m sure they’re giving her pain meds that will keep her too drowsy to care if we’re there or not.”
“Still. I want to be there.”
He rubbed his hands in circles on her back.
“You will be. After you have a cup of coffee and a nice hot shower. You’ll feel much better and be in better shape to support your friend.”
She looked into his face and smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. He tilted his head down and kissed her. She kissed him back and pressed her body into his. He cupped her bottom in his hands and groaned.
“You’re killing me here.”
She grinned as she stepped back and grabbed a handful of his teeshirt, pulling him back to her for one last playful kiss before shoving him backwards onto the bed.
“And I’m not sorry about that,” she said. She spun on her heel and went to the coffee pot, poured two cups and brought them back to where James lay, propped on his elbows.
“We are going to have to talk, you know,” he said, his voice suddenly serious.
She sank onto the bed beside him and sighed.
“Are you anxious to divorce me?”
His beautiful eyes held hers.
“Are you anxious to be divorced?”
It was a question neither one of them was willing to answer.
Harriet sipped her coffee.
“I’m going to take my shower now,” she said, but didn’t get up.
“I’m after you,” he said. He took her cup and set it with his on the nightstand before pulling her into his arms.
✁---✁---✁
Lauren was sitting up in bed and sipping a milkshake through a straw when Harriet and James finally found the room she’d been taken to.
“How are you feeling?” Harriet asked.
“Is Sydney in chains?”
Harriet scooted the guest chair closer to the bed and sat down.
“She was under police guard when we last saw her.”
James stood behind her.
“The doctor said she was in worse shape than you are, so I don’t think she’s going anywhere anytime soon,” he advised.
Lauren sipped her drink.
“I have to be honest, I thought I was a goner.”
James smiled at her.
“We were a little worried about that, ourselves. But Harriet wouldn’t give up. She made the police come back to that market until we found you.”
Lauren looked at Harriet, all trace of humor gone from her face.
“I was counting on that. I knew Harriet wouldn’t stop looking until you at least found my cold, dead body.”
Harriet smirked.
“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
Lauren laughed.
“Maybe just a little, but honestly, I had a few dark thoughts while I was wedged in the bottom of that shaft, my arm bleeding and having to sit on that cow.” She held up her milkshake. “I yelled so loud I damaged something in my throat.”
Mavis and Connie arrived, trailed by a nurse.
“The doctor would like to limit your visitors, but these two ladies said it was urgent they see you.”
“Tell the doctor it’s critical to my recovery that I see all four of these people at once.”
The nurse rolled her eyes.
“Five minutes, then two of you have to leave.”
Mavis put her hand over her heart as if reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
“I promise we’ll be out in five minutes.”
The nurse glanced at her watch and turned to leave.
“I’m going to hold you to it,” she said over her shoulder as she went out the door.
Mavis dropped her hand.
“Okay, quick. We want the whole story before Nurse Ratched gets back.”
Harriet got up and let Mavis sit next to the bed, and James pulled a second chair from across the room for Connie. Connie patted Lauren’s good arm.
“Only tell us if you feel up to it.”
Mavis glared at her.
“We’re wasting time.”
“All right, already,” Lauren said and took one more sip of her milkshake before setting it on the tray table in front of her. She winced when the motion pulled on her collarbone.
“As you know, I was going over the searches I’d already done on my tablet, trying to figure out what we were missing. I kept going back to the pictures of the two little blond girls. There seemed to be a sister we didn’t know about. Eventually, I discovered the other little girl was named Jennilee Johnson, and that she was born before Jennifer, so not a twin. Then I tried to figure out where Sydney fit in the picture.
“I dug deeper and discovered that Sydney was the odd sister out. Both Jens had birthdates and Social Security numbers. Sydney didn’t seem to exist until I figured out that ‘Sydney’ was, in fact, Jennilee’s middle name. She started going by it while she was away at boarding school.
“I was hanging out in front of the market waiting for Harriet to get there when the door to the construction area opened, and Sydney called out to me. At that point, I’d only figured out who was who, not the whole impersonation thing.”
She grimaced as she adjusted the shoulder strap on her arm brace.
“Anyway, Sydney called out, I went to the door, and things blew up in my face. You may recall the picture we saw of her in her college martial arts picture. She has a purple belt in karate. That means she’s a pretty serious fighter.”
Harriet began to grin as she realized where Lauren’s story was going. Lauren looked at her and grinned back.
“Yes, Sydney made the mistake of thinking no one but her does martial arts.” She looked at James. “What she didn’t know, but these three do, is that I have a black belt in kung fu. Anyway, she came at me, and as I was fighting her off, I realized two things—she had a dust mask soaked in something that smelled like ether, and she was wielding a really nasty knife.
“I figured out real quick she was going to try to do something bad to me, and it made me mad. She already had a second inner door in the construction area open…” She paused. “Keep in mind this all happened in probably less than a minute, and she was dragging me toward that second door the whole time.
“Anyway, I just about had her under control when she stabbed me in the arm. I staggered back and grabbed her wrist with my other hand to isolate the knife. Meanwhile, she used the change in momentum to throw us both backward, attempting to smash me into the wall and butt me with the back of her head. We fell into the teak wall that the plywood must have been protecting.
“As you now know, we tripped the lock that opened the hidden panel door to what was probably a place escaping slaves hid or more likely given we’re in Galveston, a place that pirates or their booty or both were hidden. It probably had a rope ladder back in the day. We twisted as we went through the opening, and Sydney went in hot with me landing on top of her.”
“Diós mio,” Connie said. “I’m so glad you survived.”
Lauren sighed and then squirmed, as if she couldn’t get comfortable.
“Do you need me to call the nurse?” Harriet asked.
“Not yet,” she said and picked up her chocolate shake. “Only after we were down there and she was probably going into shock, did she start blathering on about her master plan,” she continued after a sip. “Of course, she was the injured party. Mama didn’t like her as much as Jenn. Mama wasn’t fair, and a bunch of other stuff I couldn’t make sense of. Apparently, Daddy liked Syd or Jennilee or whoever she is. He thought she could do no wrong. But then he died, and Mama made the marriage arrangements that would end up giving a lot of the money Syd was planning on spending to her future niece or nephew.
“She played the long game—dyed her hair, started wearing progressively larger fat suits, pretended to be physically unfit.” She looked over at Harriet. “And apparently, when she stormed in and hit you, it was based on which chair you were in at which table. She’d rehearsed in the empty room before we arrived. She knew how far into the room and which table to approach in order to not let anyone get a clear look at her face. If it’s any consolation, she felt bad when you turned out to be such a nice person.”
Mavis pulled a wrinkled tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her nose.
“We should have suspected her when she showed us her quilt piece.”
Harriet raised an eyebrow.
“And why is that?”
“Think about it. What was Jennifer’s favorite color?”
Harriet thought for a moment.
“She seemed to wear pink a lot.”
Mavis nodded.
“She wore pink, her wedding colors were pink, everything about her was pink.”
“Ahh,” Harriet said when she figured it out. “The double wedding ring quilt Sydney was making for her should have been pink, not gray and green.”
“Bingo,” Mavis said. “Syd did the double wedding ring quilt blocks in her own colors.”
“Time’s up,” said the nurse as she bustled back into the room. “Lauren needs to take her pain meds, and then she’ll be napping.” She started taking Lauren’s vitals. “I’m not trying to be mean here, but she really does need to rest. She’s been through quite an ordeal. Her throat is raw from hollering for help, and she lost a lot of blood from her knife wound.”
“When would be a good time to come back?” Connie asked.
“If you could give her two or three hours at least, that would be good.”
Mavis stood up and gently patted Lauren’s good arm.
“We’ll be back after lunch,” she said and turned to go.
Robin was waiting in the hall when they came out.
“How is she?”
“Pretty beat up,” Mavis replied. “Nothing she won’t get over, but she’s a bit of a mess right now.”
“I came by earlier, but she was gone for a scan so I went by the police department to see what was going on. Specifically reminding them that now that we know it was Sydney who broke Harriet’s eye, we would be willing to press charges against her for that assault.”
“What did they say?” Harriet asked her.
“They’re going to keep that in reserve in case they need it. With Jenn’s murder, her mother’s attack and the attack on Lauren, they have no shortage of charges against her.”
James took Harriet’s hand.
“Anyone want to go out to breakfast?”
Connie smiled.
“That sounds wonderful.”
“I’ve heard The Sunflower Bakery and Cafe is pretty good,” he told them. “Several of my cooking class buddies have been and said it’s terrific.”
Harriet squeezed his hand.
“Good enough for me.”
“Where is it?” Robin asked.
“Fourteenth Street.”
“I’ve got my rental car, and we can all fit if the three in the back seat don’t mind being a little cozy.”
Mavis put her purse strap over her shoulder.
“Sounds good.”
✁---✁---✁
James folded his napkin and set it on the table beside his empty plate.
“Well, that was good.”
Harriet smiled, something she seemed to do a lot when James was around.
“High praise coming from a chef.”
Robin picked up her cup of tea and took a sip.
“It’s hard to believe Sydney not only thought up such a diabolical plan but almost pulled it off.”
Mavis took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Lucky for Lauren she had Harriet insisting she had to be at that market.”
Connie ate her last bite of toast and wiped her hands on her napkin.
“I’m going to need a vacation to recover from my vacation.”
They were waiting for their check when Bruce came in and was directed to a table across the room. He saw them and changed course, pulling up a chair and sitting down.
“How’s your friend doing?” he asked Harriet.
“She’s still in the hospital, but I think she’ll be okay.”
Mavis set her cup down on the table.
“I’m curious. Whatever happened with the maid who was stealing jewelry?”
“Another reason Harriet will have a free room at our hotel any time she comes to town,” Bruce said with a smile. “It turns out the whole Co-meaux clan was involved in a scheme that involved switching out gems in jewelry that people bought on one of the cruise ships and replacing them with glass. One of the kids worked on the ship, so they knew what was purchased. Several of the family work at the hotel, so they had access to reservation lists. Odette could access the rooms to swap the real for the fake jewelry. They’d probably still be stealing jewelry if Harriet hadn’t caught Odette in the act.”
Harriet blushed.
“It was pure chance.”
“She was very nervous about being forced by the family to steal. Her older sister had gotten married and quit working at the hotel, so Odette had to take her place. She wasn’t very good at it, and as fate would have it, when we were questioning her she tried to bargain with the fact that Sydney had caught her in the act days earlier and forced her to give her a master key. Syd was going in and out of everyone’s rooms at will, including her mother’s, which is how she was able to attack her.”
“Wow,” Harriet said.
Bruce stood up.
“I better eat and get back to the hotel. As you can imagine, we’re pretty busy with all this. I’m serious about the hotel giving you a free room. They are very grateful.”
“Thanks,” Harriet said. She was sure at some point in the future it would seem like a good deal. Right now, she wanted to collect her friends and get on a plane going far away from here. She kept that thought to herself, though, and just smiled at Bruce as he turned to leave.
“Speaking of hotel rooms, we need to go back to ours and call the airport to re-book our flights and the front desk to see if we can stay at least one more night.”
Mavis didn’t waste another minute acting on that plan.
“Let’s get at it then.”