Susannah's Garden (Blossom Street #3)(84)

The hospital, a three-story brick building two blocks north of Colville City Park, was the tallest structure in the county and the pride of Colville. Carolyn had only been five or six at the time of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and she remembered every detail. The high school band had played and there’d been a tour of the facilities that included cookies and juice for the kids. That, in particular, had made an impression on her.

She parked and walked into the hospital foyer. The volunteer at the information desk directed her to the second floor, where Carolyn found Susannah in the small waiting room.

“How’s your mother?” she asked, joining her friend.

“She’s in surgery.” Susannah chewed on the end of her fingernail. “It’s a bad break—her bones are fragile and the doctor said he might end up doing an entire hip replacement.”

“Oh, no.” That kind of surgery wouldn’t be easy on a woman of Vivian’s age.

“Did he show up?” Susannah asked.

Carolyn shook her head.

Susannah shrugged. “I was afraid of that.”

“But you’d hoped?”

She shrugged again.

Carolyn knew her friend had mixed feelings regarding this meeting, so perhaps his not showing was just as well.

“You feel someone’s been in the house several times recently, isn’t that right?”

Susannah nodded. “And some things have been taken.” She pressed her lips together. “I don’t believe anymore that these were random thefts, although at least one was made to look that way. It had to be Jake.”

“Then perhaps he’s hiding in the area. He might’ve come to the house, hoping to see you, and then realized you weren’t staying there alone. He couldn’t compromise himself by letting Chrissie see him.”

“You’re right.” Susannah paused as she considered this possibility.

Everything was beginning to add up for Carolyn, and she guessed that the end of her friend’s search was near. Susannah was paying the private investigator to track Jake down, but all this time he’d been practically under their noses.

Carolyn sat down on one end of the sofa and reached for a magazine—a six-month-old issue of Reader’s Digest. It was hard to wait alone and although Susannah didn’t appear interested in conversation, Carolyn had no intention of leaving her.

“Mom!” They could hear Chrissie’s high-pitched voice from the elevator lobby.

So this was Susannah’s daughter.

“Chrissie!” Susannah dashed out of the room, and Carolyn watched as mother and daughter hugged.

“Is Grandma okay?” Chrissie demanded, tears in her eyes.

“You got my note?”

“Yes—how’s Grandma?” she asked again.

“Grandma’s in surgery, but it seems to be going well.” She glanced at her watch. “I don’t think it’ll be much longer.”

“Poor Grandma.”

Carolyn put aside the Reader’s Digest and stood. Now that Chrissie was here with her mother, she wasn’t really needed.

“How’d it happen?” Chrissie seemed to be badly shaken.

“I talked briefly to the nurse from Altamira. She stopped by the hospital and explained that Mom had been playing pool with one of the other residents.”

“Pool?” Carolyn repeated incredulously.

A quick smile curved Susannah’s mouth. “Mom was using her cane as a pool cue and lost her balance. She broke her hip, but Michelle, the nurse, seems to think she also hit her head on the edge of the pool table when she went down.”

“Oh, no.” Chrissie covered her mouth in horror.

“Whoever she was playing with was extremely upset and had to be sedated.”

Carolyn knew Susannah hoped her mother would adjust to life in the assisted-living complex. In the beginning Vivian had been full of complaints; lately Susannah hadn’t said much about her mother’s dissatisfaction. It seemed to Carolyn that if Vivian was socializing with the other residents, that was surely a good sign. Now this.

“I think I should go back home,” Carolyn said, preparing to leave.

“Oh—forgive my bad manners. Carolyn, this is my daughter, Chrissie. And Chrissie—this is one of my best friends in the whole world, Carolyn Bronson.” Chrissie murmured a polite hello, but Carolyn saw the speculative look on her face.

“I can’t thank you enough,” Susannah said fervently as Carolyn started to leave.

“What are friends for?” she teased.

They hugged goodbye and Carolyn left the hospital. It’d grown dark—not surprising since it was now ten o’clock. On the off-chance that Jake might have shown up after all, she drove past Calvary Cemetery, which was in the opposite direction of where she needed to go. Just as she’d expected, the cemetery gates remained closed and there wasn’t a car in sight.

Turning around, she drove back into town, reversing her route to get home. The evening was hot and humid. Carolyn preferred not to use her air-conditioning, so she kept the windows down. As always, she breathed in the scent of fresh-cut wood as she neared the mill, savoring it. Huge stacks of timber filled the yard, the sprinklers spraying them with water.

Carolyn wished she had a way of reaching Dave; she would’ve liked to talk to him, tell him what had happened. That wasn’t possible, though, and she told herself not to count on his presence. He’d be leaving town soon. Leaving her.