Free The Immaculate Deception by Sherry Silver Page B

through Canada, down through New York, Pennsylvania and home for almost a week. Maybe we can hook up then?
     
    See you in September,
    Ashley
     
    I clicked the reply button and began typing.
     
    SUBJECT: Re: Are you okay?
     
    Hi Ashley,
     
    Other than I feel like I was pummeled by an airbag, impaled on a deer, thrown through the windshield and pitched down a hill, I’m just dandy.
     
    The antler didn’t do any damage to major blood vessels or nerves but it nicked a muscle. They repaired it and stitched me up. My lovely supervisor Cynthia probably found out about it because the hospital called for verification of insurance coverage. They kicked me out after four days anyway.
     
    Ashley, my father died yesterday. Or was it the day before? I’m all fuzzy. Let’s see. According to the little date and time icon on my computer, today is Wednesday, August 2 already. He died Monday afternoon. July 31. August Eve. He had a heart attack. There was a long delay before help arrived. Well, no, they sent a fire truck and those guys did CPR and used the shock thingy on him. But by the time the ambulance arrived, they pronounced him dead.
     
    My brother is ranting that my mother murdered him. He had her admitted to a mental hospital. Four days before Daddy’s cardiac arrest. So how the heck did she get an opportunity to do him in? As if my eighty-three-year-old mother could have escaped from the hospital. Perry (my brother) is the one with the mental deficit.
     
    Oh it’s been awful. My sister set Daddy’s coffin up in the basement, one of those eight-sided Dracula boxes! But he’s not inside. There was a fake Irish wake and his friends were just horrible. I borrowed Momma’s car and came home. I was stuck on the Wilson Bridge all night. Has that ever happened to you?
     
    Hope you’re having a great time on the road again. It was sweet of you to worry. Of course I’m not mad at you for coming upstairs. I only wish I’d been here to finally meet you face-to-face. Thanks for letting me know about Cynthia’s visit. Yes, she is mean.
     
    Write when you get an internet connection.
     
    Hey, how’s your love life?
     
    Oh thanks for bringing in the mail and watering my flowers.
     
    Donna
     
    I clicked send , took a shower, dried off and went to bed naked. My throbbing head and the sun pouring in through the skylights interfered with slumber time. I stumbled to the bathroom and swallowed one more aspirin and two tiny pink and white Benadryl capsules. Washed them down with water though, the last thing I needed was more caffeine to keep me awake. I wasn’t taking Benadryl because of an allergic reaction and I wasn’t tormented with sinus congestion. But I knew there was a side effect to Benadryl that caused drowsiness and it usually knocked me out. Momma had taught me about it. There were many nights when she couldn’t turn her mind off and she relied on Benadryl. Now I was doing it. I crawled back under the covers. Of course, the phone rang. I checked the caller ID Payne, Perry . I growled and answered. “Hello?”
    “ Oh-Donna, Saint C’s just called. They’re booting Chloe out if someone doesn’t come and sign a financial contract. The cashier’s office is open until four. Can you make it in time?”
    I snarled my face into a ferocious sneer. Too bad we didn’t have video phones. “No way!”
    “ But you’ve gotta go down and pay. Just give them a credit card or something. We can’t have her loose on the streets.”
    “ Oh so you admit that she didn’t escape and kill Daddy then. Momma is not a deranged murderess and she does not belong locked up at the cuckoo’s nest! And why do you always think that I’m a billionaire? You’re the big important judge. I just do peon cog-in-the-wheel work, because I have no education, because there was no money for my college, because you needed it. And sweet pretty Tammy.”
    My brother fired right back at me. “If someone dies or is injured because they let a mental