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She stumbled across the mudroom to a narrow cabinet She reached up to the top shelf and took down a large bottle of whiskey She unscrewed the cap, took a gulp, and then, as the whiskey hit her systehtly and went back to the phone She picked it up “Hello?” she slurred “It’s PJ Wallis” And then the tsuna out Bile, black ash, and whiskey sprayed the floor

The shock of this purge suddenly made Pandy feel better The cla it up, wanting to take advantage of this brief rabbed the bottle of whiskey and wobbled up the back stairs

Froinated on some kind of mission Unfortunately, she now had no idea what that was

She wove down the hallway to her rooarulp of whiskey, she sat down on the edge of the tub Her hands were tre as she turned the tap to run the hot water

She got in, lying flat on her back in order to cover herself as quickly as possible

As the hot water began to trickle in, her htly

She sat up and took another sip of whiskey

“There’s a body burning up in the boathouse,” she said aloud in the kind of silly voice that would have h Hellenor If she really had burned up in the explosion, Hellenor wouldn’t be laughing She’d be sad But at least she would inherit everything Pandy owned, including the rights to Monica

Monica Pandy groaned She put her head in her hands And suddenly, she was stone-cold sober

Noas all going to coiven Jonny money Everyone would say it was because she was so desperate to hang on to hiave him whatever he wanted And then they’d whisper behind their backs that she’d deserved it She’d made more money than her husband, and certainly that merited some kind of punishment

She took another swig of whiskey, got out of the tub, and lurched for a towel Whatever happened, she’d just have to deal with it She dried herself off and then used a corner of the towel to wipe the steam from the mirror She stared at her reflection What she saw nearly caused her to go into shock again

She was basically bald Or would have to be, soon What remained of her charred hair was a patchwork of crinkled, blackened strands of uneven lengths that would clearly have to be shaved

For a brief moment, she could only shake her head in wonder at the viciousness of this particular run of bad luck It wasn’t enough that her book had been rejected and she would have to explain to the world why she couldn’t write Jonny his check She was going to have to do it as a bald woman

Suddenly, she was exhausted She dropped to her knees in a fatigue so deep, it threatened to overwhel, she remembered that she still had to deal with the fire department

They arrived, having been informed that Hellenor Wallis had reported that her sister, PJ Wallis, was burning in a fire Pandy took one look at the grim-faced volunteer firey to explain the