Nothing had changed when I walked back into the Evergreen room. Everyone was talking quietly. Sarah was still sitting on her mother’s lap. Danny and Jonathan were still standing shoulder to shoulder talking to another relative. Evelyn was still in the closed coffin. Everything appeared the same but I knew it was different now. Evelyn had been murdered. At least that’s what the police thought. Danny must have thought so too and that’s why he went to the police.
I looked around for the police officers and saw them standing near the head of the coffin waiting to speak to Danny and Jonathan. My headache was full blown now and it felt like my head was about to explode. The Detective and Constable Lofaro approached Danny and his brother.
Jay came up beside me and said quietly, "Where did you disappear to?"
"I went out for a cigarette," I said. I looked at him, blinked hard a few times, and tried to smile, but my face hurt. My temples were pounding now and my back was cold where the sweat had dried. I thought my ears were ringing but realized it was the dull Muzak in the background.
"Are you feeling all right?" he asked me.
I nodded weakly and thought I was going to throw up. Signs of a major migraine coming on.
"Can you take me home?" I whispered. I knew from experience that if I didn’t lie down soon, in a dark room, I’d embarrass everyone around me when I threw up.
"Sure," Jay said. "Just let me tell Ev's family that you're not feeling well and we're leaving."
I waited outside and when Jay came out he put his arm around my shoulder. I shrugged him off because I couldn’t stand anything touching me when I felt this way.
"Sorry," I said. "I’ll explain later." I kept my head level and hurried down the walkway to the parking lot. Every step pounded up through my legs to my head as I walked. Definitely a migraine. My body became incredibly sensitive to everything when I felt like this.
I gingerly sat in the passenger seat of Jay’s car and gently laid my head back on the headrest. Jay got in the other side and started the car. Before he put the car in gear he reached around me to do up my seatbelt.
"Are you sick Kathleen?" he asked me.
I nodded and a sharp pain shot up the back of my neck to the top of my head. I gasped with pain.
I closed my eyes and asked Jay if I could borrow his sunglasses. The light was seeping through my closed eyelids.
"Just take me home. It’s just a migraine. I have to lie down."
I felt every start and stop on the way home and I thanked the lord that Jay had a decent car with good shocks.
When we finally arrived at my apartment, Jay helped me undress all the while asking me what he could do for me but I couldn’t answer. I knew if I opened my mouth it wouldn’t be pretty. The pillows felt good under my head and the cotton sheets were cool under me. I kicked off the duvet because I couldn’t stand the weight of it on my body but then I started to shiver. Jay disappeared and returned with a glass of water and a bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol.
I couldn’t shake my head no, so I whispered, "Tylenol Three’s. In the medicine cabinet. Prescription." I didn’t get many migraines, usually a couple of times a year, and about two years ago I’d gone to the doctor who’d prescribed the stronger painkillers. I didn’t like taking them because they upset my stomach but they usually did the trick with the pain in my head.
I took two and closed my eyes. It was dark outside when I woke up and discovered Jay sitting in my mother’s old rocking chair beside the bed. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was eight-thirty.
To test the pain level, I opened and closed my eyes a few times. My head was still sensitive but the Tylenol 3’s had done their work.
"Hey," I croaked out. "You the night nurse?" I smiled at him.
He smiled back at me. "Yup. I’ve got the midnight shift. At your service. How’re you feeling?" he asked.
Bless his pointed little head. He was genuinely concerned.
"I’ll be fine. It was just a migraine. Lie down beside me?" I asked him. He complied and gathered me in his arms. He stroked my hair and put his hand on my forehead.
"No temperature. You’ll be fine," he proclaimed.
"Thank you Nurse Ratchet."
"Do you get migraines often?"
"Couple of times a year," I told him. "Brought on by stress. The funeral home was a little much for me today." I paused. "The police were there, you know."
"I know. I saw them on the six o’clock news. Harold called. And so did Vanessa. This has been a busy place."
"You saw who on the six o’clock news?" I asked him.
"The Detective who was at the funeral home. I saw him there but didn’t know who he was until I saw him on the news."
"Then you know?" I asked. "That Evelyn was murdered?"
"Yeah. They said on the news they were investigating the death of Evelyn Morris as a possible homicide. They interviewed Danny. How did you find out?"
"Constable Lofaro told me they were investigating it as a homicide. All of the food at the reception the other night was laced with peanut oil. Everything." I told him.
"Jesus," Jay whispered. "Then it definitely was no accident. Who the hell would do something like that?"
"Why did Harold and Vanessa call?" I changed the subject.
"Vanessa called because she didn’t see you at Hillson’s. I told her you were in bed with a migraine. She was surprised that I answered the phone and I told her I had driven you home. Harold on the other hand, didn’t ask why I was answering your phone."
"Harold wouldn’t ask if the Queen of England answered my phone. He never asks personal questions. What did he want?"
"Wanted to know what time you’d be in the office tomorrow after the funeral. He asked if I’d tell you to check your voice mail. He’d leave you a message."
"Fuck voice mail. I don’t check it after hours," I declared.
"Are you going to tell Vanessa about us?" Jay asked me.
"Of course. I want to tell everyone and I’d love to get up on the top of the CN Tower and broadcast it to the world."
"Broadcast it to the world? I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I’m an outcast at TechniGroup right now."
"I know it’s only been a couple of days, but this feels right Jay. For me anyway."
"And you know how I feel. I told you last night. I love you." He said that so easily. I wanted to say it back but the last time I responded quickly to someone when they told me they loved me, I ended up married to him.
So I hedged a little bit and told him, "I feel the same."
The news that Evelyn’s death was being investigated as a homicide was a big item on the ten o’clock news.
A reporter was interviewing Danny in front of his home. He looked scared and sounded mad.
"I was convinced it was no accident," he was saying to the reporter. "I had to go to the police and beg them to get involved." The reporter removed the microphone from in front of Danny’s face and looked straight at the camera. Danny’s image faded away.
"This news comes quickly on the heels of a press release issued by TechniGroup earlier in the week which detailed the resignation of Richard Cox, the company’s chief financial officer," the reporter told Toronto. "Mr. Morris informs us," she continued, "that Mr. Cox was his mother’s boss." She finished her story with a brief description of the company’s business.
Great. I couldn’t wait to see what the stock opened at in the morning.
We were sitting in the dark and I was sipping a very hot Cup of Soup. One of the many gourmet delights I kept hidden in my kitchen cupboard.
I asked Jay if he had heard what the stock had closed at today.
"No change," he said.
"Well, that’s comforting for now. Tomorrow’ll be interesting. With that reporter reminding everyone about Rick Cox and now the news about the police getting involved, it’ll be like October 1987 all over ag
ain." I thought about the possibility of Oakes jumping out of an office window and remembered that they were all sealed tight. "I wonder how much of a hit the stock’ll take," I said.
"As if I care," I answered myself. "If one of those sons of bitches is responsible, I hope the stock goes to a negative. Can that happen?" I wondered out loud.
Jay laughed. "Not that I know of," he said.
"Why’s Didrickson so hot about what time you’ll be in tomorrow?" Jay asked after he muted the sound on the television.
I thought about the news that Harold had told me about the possible buy-out. I was sworn to secrecy and wasn’t supposed the share the information with anyone. I looked over at Jay and he was staring at me, waiting for an answer.
"Confidentially? What I tell you goes no further?"
Jay nodded.
"Pinkie swear?" I asked him. He held out his baby finger and linked it with mine. This was an old ritual all the neighbourhood kids had. It was a stronger promise than swearing in blood.
"We’re being looked at. Someone out there is interested in buying TechniGroup. Didrickson’s got me getting material together for due diligence. I imagine he’s heard from the other side now on what documents and material they’re going to want to look at. He needs me there to be his personal photocopy slave."
"Interesting," he mumbled. Interesting? This was big news.
"Hey," I prodded. "Interesting? No other comment? Come on. Let’s speculate. Who do you think it might be? The Germans again?"
"I don’t know," he replied distractedly.
"Hey. Earth to Jay. Over here." I poked him on the shoulder. He looked at me.
"What? Sorry. What’d you say?" he asked me.
"Who do you think it might be?" I repeated. "The Germans?"
"I don’t know," Jay said. "But I do know this. Whoever it is, will get a nice price for the company. If the stock keeps dropping they’ll get the place for a quarter of what it’s worth."
I thought about that for a moment.
"Maybe someone wants the stock price to keep dropping and that’s why everything has been happening. Maybe that’s why Rick got fired and Evelyn was murdered," he said.