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She beca in the snow-drenched trees, not a single car or truck engine tunneling through the snow on the interstate only a quarter-mile away No wonder; it was nearly one o’clock on SaturdayOnly people she didn’t want to know about were up this tiht She looked around and sent a silent prayer of thanks upward that there weren’t any cops, either She knew she wasn’t up for convincing anyone she wasn’t drunk She’d probably shatter the Breathalyzer
She raised her head after a few minutes, held perfectly still for a moment, noticed she didn’t feel as dizzy and, blessed be, her headache was throttling down She shifted the Spyder into gear and drove slowly, in a perfectly straight line, as only those who are impaired and know it do After another six blocks, she turned off onto Hitchfield Avenue and then onto Lonely Bear Court She saw her building up ahead on the right, a duplex with her one-bedroom unit on the bottom and Henry Stoltzen’s on top Built as a solid red brick back in the twenties, it had been split up in the late nineties by the heirs to the old lady who’d lived there all her life
She looked up to see Henry’s light on Henry and his prized six-inch goatee had helped her s and beer, and quickly becos she wrote and sang, even though he sat solidly in the classical corner, a gifted cellist who adored playing Jean-Baptiste Sébastien Bréval’s Sonata in C Major
He seemed oblivious to most other people around hi hi spot next to Henry’s, drew a deep breath, thanked the Alhty she was still alive, and even better, not in jail She proet by h the snow to her front door She was shaking with cold when she finally fit her old-fashioned key into the lock and the door opened She stepped into a blissful seventy degrees
She locked the front door behind her, slipped on the two chains, and shoved the dead bolt hoht inside the door in the saritas, no more one am parties I’m now a sensible woman, resolute and detero compliment someone in the reed section She saw Eileen Simons of clarinet fame in her mind’s eye, and knew she was interested in Dr Hayman--Elliot, my dear Why hadn’t Director Hay and stayed away from Delsey? Eileen had been at the boozefest, as drunk as everyone else, and giving Delsey the "die, bitch" eye all evening
Now I’ht co out alone and drunk in the boondocks of Virginia in therooht to the kitchen, sed three extra-strong aspirin and drank two full glasses of water The tap water tasted nastier than usual, but she drank it anyway She wiped the back of her hand across heron lights as she went When she flipped on the bathrooht she saw the colorful South Seas shower curtain was pulled closed around the bathtub
She never left the shower curtain closed because it made the bathroom look too small--well, unless she hadn’t cleaned the bathtub Had she? Her brain was still fogged, and she couldn’t remember
A hot shower, that was all she could think about, jets of hot water pounding her face, clearing out her head, ain She stripped off her clothes, paused on the clip of her bra when she heard so Maybe a sharp breath? She didn’tHer brain was still squirrelly with tequila She got her bra off, left her clothes in a pile on the bathroom floor, pulled back the shower curtain, and froze
She’d never believed she was a screaht out of herin tandeht when she heard the sound again and whirled around, but she didn’t have ti hard as a brick smashed her on her head, and she didn’t screa
Special Agent Griffin Hae at nine o’clock, after chowing down the best blueberry waffles he’d eaten since his Aunt Mae’s fae buddy, Jennifer Wiley, who happened to own Jenny’s Café in the quaint touristy center of the s hills Since the café was filled to bursting at seven-thirty every reed with him