The Piper

THIRTY-THREE




McTavish was losing the argument and he didn’t like it. ‘You ought to go to Charlotte’s house and be with Teddy. And if you don’t want to go there, then come home with me.’

‘This is my home, McTavish, there’s no reason I can’t be here.’

‘I don’t want to leave you here in this house.’

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t know. It’s got a weird feeling here right now. It’s like that sometimes, right after a death. Look, please talk to me about this, Livie. I’ve got your back, but tell me what’s going on.’

‘I’ve told you everything.’

‘Then why were your clothes so dry?’

‘They just didn’t get that wet, McTavish, don’t cop me to death.’

He folded his arms. ‘Okay, sweetheart, I’ll respect your privacy on this, but let’s go on record here as me knowing that’s bullshit. If you decide you want to talk let me know. You sure you don’t want to come to my place? I can cook us something. Open a bottle of wine. You look like you could use some TLC.’

Olivia did not allow herself to imagine it, safely tucked up with McTavish, drowning in a bottle of wine. ‘I need some time alone, McTavish. I just lost my best friend.’

‘If you change your mind.’

‘I’ll call.’

‘Even in the middle of the night?’

‘Even in the middle of the night.’

Olivia waited till she saw the headlights of his car disappear down the drive. She had no intention of staying the night, and did not want to be alone in the house, but at least she did not have to go back upstairs. She got Teddy’s backpack out of the closet, and the yellow sweater and put them next to the small overnight bag where she’d thrown in a few things for herself and Teddy for tonight.

She watched out the living room window. McTavish, all the paramedics and patrol cars, they were gone. She thought she would feel relieved when they left, but she didn’t. She just felt alone.

And then she realized she would have to go back upstairs one more time. She would get Eeyore out from under the stack of tee shirts, and then she could go. She would drop him off at a dumpster behind some shopping center – somewhere away from the house. Charlotte had called and said she’d cooked dinner and had a bed made up. She just needed to hang on a little longer, to make sure that Teddy would be safe.

Olivia headed up the stairs steadily, wondering if anyone had pulled the plug in the bathtub so the water could drain, unable to make herself go in and take a look. Eeyore was tucked in the drawer right where she had left him, soaking the tee shirts, and she put him in the garbage bag from the trash basket in her bedroom, and tied the top in a knot. She had just turned off the bedroom light when she heard the phone.

Not her phone, quiet in the pocket of her jeans. The ring tones were familiar and insistent – Amelia’s phone, the ringing coming from Chris’s bedroom where Amelia had spent the night. Olivia stood in the hall, trying to make up her mind about answering, when the ringing stopped. Better that way. She was just past the bathroom door when the ringing started up again. Olivia hesitated, then turned back.

Amelia’s Blackberry was on the dresser top, next to a half filled mug of coffee. Olivia picked it up, absorbing the details of the room. Amelia had made up the bed. Been drinking a cup of coffee. A half eaten bacon sandwich was on a plate next to the coffee. And downstairs, the kitchen was pristine. So Amelia had been having lunch. Why had she taken a bubble bath in the middle of the day?

‘Amelia’s phone,’ Olivia said.

A male voice. Worried. ‘My name is Jack Butler and I need to speak to Amelia Wainwright.’

‘I’m sorry, but Amelia isn’t available right now.’ How calm she sounded, Olivia thought. Not the slightest tremor in her voice.

‘Look, this is extremely urgent. My daughter, Marianne, is . . . was . . . is one of Amelia’s patients.’

‘Mr Butler, if you need a doctor, you need to call Amelia’s service.’

‘I don’t need a doctor, I need her. Look, I’m not just some patient, Amelia is a close family friend. I need to talk to her now.’

‘Mr Butler, forgive me, but are you calling with . . . with news?’

He took a breath, and was quiet a long moment. ‘I really have to talk to Amelia.’

‘And I already told you she’s not able to come to the phone.’

‘Look. Can you get her a message?’

‘I’m sorry, I can’t.’

‘Please. I get that she’s upset with Alexis. I don’t blame her. It was a damn fool thing to do, having Amelia barred from Marianne’s room. Amelia’s been so good to us, more than anybody can know. But something’s happened, and – look, Marianne had surgery this morning, and she didn’t make it through. Or at least that’s what we thought.’

‘I’m not following you on this.’

‘Her heart gave out on the operating table. They had just put her under the anesthetic, hadn’t even opened her up. I tried to call Amelia then, and I left a message, just so she’d know, okay? But then, a little while later, my wife and I are in with the hospital chaplain, kind of just taking it in, and one of the nurses busts in the door, and says that the morgue called up, and Marianne, she’s not dead.’

Olivia caught her breath. ‘Mr Butler, I’m sorry for your loss, but—’

‘That’s the point, it’s not my loss. Marianne is alive. Only Alexis, she’s hysterical, she says it’s not our daughter that came back, it’s some kind of demon, that it’s not right, that it’s all a sin, and she starts talking about something Amelia said about phone calls from the dead. And I just wanted . . . I just needed—’

‘Amelia,’ Olivia whispered. ‘What did you do?’

‘Ma’am, are you there?’

Olivia hung up the phone.