Free Brute Strength by Susan Conant Page A

she meant Sammy and Ulla rather than Max and Rita or possibly Max and Avery.
    â€˜Absolutely,’ I said with the enthusiasm of relief. ‘Absolutely! Whenever you like.’

NINE
    O n Friday morning over breakfast, Steve said, ‘I don’t like the way Fiona’s just disappeared. It’s like she never existed. You did write to her parents, didn’t you?’
    â€˜Yes. Of course! And to Hatch. Leah did, too. And I sent the addresses to Gabrielle and my father, not that he’ll do anything, but Gabrielle will.’
    â€˜There’s no funeral around here? Memorial service?’
    â€˜I looked online. Her parents are having a memorial service, but that’s in California. There just has to be something at the hospital, Brigham and Women’s, but maybe it’s private. I couldn’t find it listed anywhere.’
    â€˜We could make a donation. Do that, would you? Sorry to dump it on you.’
    I refilled our coffee cups. ‘It’s OK. It’s better than OK. It’s a good idea. I’ll send something to the hospital in her memory.’
    â€˜You know, Holly, if it’d been one of our dogs . . .’
    â€˜Don’t say that! But you’re right. We’d be flooded with calls and cards and email. Maybe her parents are getting that kind of support, and we don’t know about it. I hope they are. And Hatch, too.’
    â€˜Not from his own family.’
    â€˜Steve, we don’t know that, either. This could be the face they show to the world. Some people believe in a brave front.’
    He turned his attention to what was left of his scrambled eggs and toast. Eventually, he said, ‘It bothers me that Fiona left from here. From our house.’
    â€˜Steve, I don’t like it, either. And I especially don’t like it that she had that accident so soon after she left. Nashua is . . . maybe it’s an hour away. Less? That’s practically no time! But I’ve been over it again and again in my mind, and Fiona had almost nothing to drink. She had one small glass of wine when she first got here, and after that, she had a big dinner. With no more wine. And what I found online said that alcohol was not involved. She did take an antihistamine, but she was a doctor. She had to have known what she was taking. And she wasn’t just any doctor. She was a young doctor finishing a residency at Brigham and Women’s. It’s one of the best hospitals in the country. In the world! She of all people would’ve known not to take something that would make her drowsy.’
    â€˜A moose, maybe. Or a deer.’
    Collisions with moose and deer are fairly common in northern New England. But Fiona had hit a tree. I said so. ‘Of course,’ I added, ‘she could’ve swerved to avoid wildlife. But that doesn’t account for why she’d left the highway. What I read on the web was that the accident took place on an exit ramp. Or maybe just off the ramp. I wondered whether she was afraid that she was falling asleep. Or maybe she felt sick.’
    â€˜It couldn’t have been the food. The rest of us were fine.’
    â€˜And if she’d felt dangerously ill, you’d think she’d have called for help. She must’ve had a cell phone.’
    â€˜For all we know, she did call.’
    â€˜The news report didn’t mention that.’
    â€˜If it’s not on Google, it didn’t happen?’
    I laughed. ‘Exactly. And it’s also possible that she was just looking for a ladies’ room. But I may know more later. Sammy has a play date with Ulla at three o’clock. I’m not going to ask for details, but Vanessa may say something.’ I thought for a moment and said, ‘Something such as, “Thanks for offering the lasagne that my unmannerly daughter was rude enough to refuse”.’
    Weirdly enough, as it turned out, at three o’clock that afternoon when