Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Chapter 21

When I woke up again, I saw Lisa and Ken sitting in the chairs next to my bed.

“Oh, Angela. I’m really glad you’re fine,” Lisa told me. “Ken and I had a date after work and we thought we’d stop by and see how you were doing.”

“Thanks, Lisa,” I told her. “And Ken. I appreciate you guys coming.”

“We won’t stay long,” Ken told me. “We got yelled at by a nurse saying that you needed rest, and there’s someone else waiting outside who wants to see you. I did bring you this though,” he told me, handing me over a small square package wrapped in wax paper. I didn’t get halfway through unwrapping it before the familiar smell wafted up to me, and I leaned back and inhaled.

“One of Betty’s veggie BLTs. Thank you, Ken.”

He smiled at me. “I might not appreciate them – or understand your vegetarianism – but I know you love them, so I snuck it in for you.”

“Thanks,” I said again, looking at him appreciatively. Ok, so maybe he wasn’t a total jerk.

“We’re going to get going,” Lisa said, standing up and kissing me on the cheek. “You take care of yourself, ok? I’m going to come over there tomorrow and make sure you girls have enough food.”

“It’s ok, Lisa, we’re almost thirty, we can make our own food.”

“I’ve seen your fridge, sweetie. I’m amazed you’re not skin and bones. Don’t argue, I am going to come over there, and I am going to make sure you don’t have to worry about anything for a while.”

I leaned back in the bed. “Ok, fine.”

“Good. Now you rest up. Take care of yourself.”

I said goodbye to Lisa and Ken, and waited to see who the person outside was. I expected to see Charlotte or Sophie back, but I was completely taken aback when instead, Antonia deLucca walked through the door.

“Hi,” I greeted her, looking a little bit confused. I wasn’t entire sure why she was here.

Antonia looked around, and then sat down gingerly on the chair next to my bed. She looked older somehow, like the last few weeks had aged her by ten years. She had always been quite sprightly for a woman of her age, but now she looked like, well, she looked her age.

“Hello, Angela,” she told me formally. I waited for her to continue, and after about a minute, she did. “I wanted to thank you for finding the person responsible for killing Andrea.”

I honestly had no idea what to say. “Thank you,” I finally started. “It was more of an accident than anything though. But, I thought you hated each other?”

Antonia shook her head.

“No. No, Andrea hated me. She hated me for what I did.”

“When you told her daughter her true origins?”

Antonia’s head snapped up. “How did you know about that?”

“I was sworn to secrecy by the person who told me, I’m sorry,” I replied. “But you don’t have to worry, the secret is safe with me.”

Antonia sighed. “What’s the point of secrets? I knew. I knew Janice had been kidnapped. And I argued with Andrea about whether or not to tell her. We argued about it for ages. She didn’t want the girl to know, and I thought she had to.”

“Was that why you were arrested in Las Vegas?” I asked. Antonia laughed, a cold, hard laugh.

“Why they should hire you down at the police station. You’re better than all those so-called detectives that barely look like they can shave yet. Yes, that was why. I got into an argument with Andrea after a few too many drinks on the strip. I tried to punch her, but her husband got in the way.”

“And yet you told Janice anyway.”

“I did. Eventually, I just couldn’t live with myself. I couldn’t live knowing that girl didn’t know her real family. I don’t know. Maybe I was wrong.” Antonia sighed. “Now Janice has no family. When I told her, she left Andrea and Robert. She just couldn’t handle it. I know she went to find her birth family, but it turned out her mother died of a heroin overdose when Janice was a teenager. So she moved to London, and she never came back. Sometimes I wonder if I didn’t ruin all those lives by telling her.”

“You were just trying to do the right thing,” I said softly. For the first time in my life, I actually felt bad for Antonia. It was obvious she harboured a lot of guilt.

“All the same. Although some good has come out of it, today was the will reading, and while everyone assumed that Andrea had left everything to her niece, it turned out Andrea was still a mother at heart, and left everything to her. I spoke to Janice this morning; she’s going to donate everything to the ASPCA.”

I smiled to myself. Sophie was going to be thrilled that Kelly Dottory wasn’t getting anything from that will. And I had to admit, I felt a bit of satisfaction knowing that as well.

“Oh,” I said. “That’s good.”

“It is good. I never liked that Kelly girl. Too big for her britches, that’s what she is. Anyway, I must be off. I just wanted to thank you.”

Antonia left the room quickly, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she wiped away a tear as she left. So that answered the question about why Antonia was arrested in Las Vegas. I couldn’t help but feel bad for the woman. She really did try and do what she thought was right.

I looked down at the half unwrapped BLT Ken had brought me. Suddenly, my stomach growled. I wasn’t sure how long I’d napped for, but I knew it couldn’t have been that long since my Chipotle. Still, I felt ravenously hungry. I unwrapped the sandwich and inhaled before taking a big, juicy bite of the world’s most perfect sandwich.

I had my mouth full of sandwich, barely able to close my mouth fully I’d taken such a big bite of the sandwich, when suddenly Jason Black walked in.

My eyes widened as I saw him, and I desperately started chewing. Why did he have to come in just then?

“Hoooovnnnnntyyeeerdanooookii?” I asked through the sandwich.

“I’m sorry,” Jason replied, a smile on his face. “I didn’t quite get that.” He sat down on the chair and waited while I finished chewing. It felt like I was taking an eternity. I knew I looked like a chipmunk. I was half tempted to just grab the sheet and pull it over my face so Jason didn’t see me like this.

Of course, while I looked like a gluttonous chipmunk in my sexy hospital gown, Jason was wearing slacks and a light blue polo shirt that was tight enough to make it obvious just how much time he must have spent at the gym. His hair had that just-got-out-of-bed look it always seemed to, and that casual attitude that was so infuriating just made him seem cooler.

Grrrrr.

Finally, I swallowed.

“Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?” I tried again.

“I was like, eighty percent sure that at some point you were going to choke trying to swallow that bite,” Jason replied. “If you had, then I would have saved your life. Again.”

“Yeah, speaking of that, where were you this time?” I asked. Jason laughed.

“I guess I can’t really call myself a journalist when a vet cracked open the case I was working, can I?”

“What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Being a journalist. I love this state. In New York there’s no way they’d just let me in to see you just by asking and saying I was a friend.”

“Oh, so you’re here to grill me about what happened, then?” I asked.

“Well, not exactly. I was wondering if when you get out of here you wanted to tell me all about it – or about anything else – over dinner.”

Wait, was Jason Black seriously asking me out to dinner? Like, as in, on a date? But he was so… infuriating.

“Yes,” I heard my mouth say. “Yeah, sure.”

What on earth was wrong with me? I’d just agreed to go on a date with Jason Black. Oh, boy.