Courting Death - Carol Stephenson [33]
I removed the cap and handed it over to Sam. “Good job with the race. I hope you raised a lot of money.”
I turned and walked away. Trying to maneuver through the crowd only upped my tension. Long minutes passed before I could get to my rental. By this time of the day, traffic packed I-95 so I did breathing exercises as I inched my way home. Finally I pulled into the drive. As I got out, two black pickup trucks parked on the street.
Stifling a sigh, I went to meet Kate and Gabe as they emerged from the first one. My friend gave me a quick hug. “Carling’s getting takeout. We figured we could all use a good lunch.”
Sam exited from the second truck and I looked from him to Gabe. “What’s with the matching pickups? Did you go buy them together?”
The two men gave each other a fist bump and simply grinned at me. Sam checked his watch. “Hey, let’s get a move on. The game’s about to start.”
I didn’t have to ask what game. Sam lived and breathed for the University of Florida Gators.
While I appreciated the gesture my friends were making, I didn’t know how bad a state my mother was in. “Look, Mom may be in one of her fugues, and there’s no telling what she’ll do or say…”
Kate circled her arm around my shoulders. “Then we’ll just have to cheer her up.”
Caving to the inevitable, I nodded and let her lead me into the house. “Chin up, Red,” said Sam as he put his hat back on my head and trailed a finger along my cheek. The guys then peeled off into the TV room.
Kate and I found my mother muttering to herself and pacing in an agitated manner back and forth in the living room. Sophie was as close to wringing her hands as I’d ever seen. Kate let her arm drop and I crossed the room to my mother.
“Hi, Mom. What’s up?” Forcing a smile like nothing was wrong, I reached out to give her a hug.
“Stay away from me.” She shrank away. Fear pinched her face. “They’re coming to steal my flesh and bones.”
I let my hands drop and fisted them by my side. “What are you talking about?”
“I recognized you on the screen.” She pointed with a trembling finger toward the other room where now the muffled noises of a game sounded. “You’re a body snatcher.” Tears began to ooze from her eyes.
Hell. She must have caught my most recent news interview and somewhere in her muddled mind, I’d become one of the monsters. A vise tightened around my chest. How to reason with her when she was in this state?
“Hi, Annette.” Kate approached us.
My mother gave her a frantic wide-eye glare. “Who are you? One of those body snatchers I saw on TV?”
“Of course not.” Kate spoke in a soothing voice. “I’m your biggest fan, remember?”
She pointed to a framed photograph taken of Mom at a party with several famous actors. “You were going to show me your album from your last play today?”
The strain on Mom’s face began to ease only to be replaced by a vague expression. “I was?”
Kate picked up another framed photo from the cocktail table, one of Mom and me when I was young at one of her opening nights. I’d always viewed that picture with a tinge of heartbreak. My parents had just separated and both Mom and I had plastered on determined smiles during our “it’s us girls against the world” stage. “You were going to show me all the wonderful photos of you and your beautiful daughter, Nicole, when she was little.”
Clouds shifted in my mother’s eyes and she looked at me with uncertainty. “Nicole, when did you get home?”
Mom never referred to her spells or withdrawals. She liked to pretend everything was normal so I only gave her a brief hug. “Just now. I brought over the gang for lunch.”
“How lovely, guests.” She gave my friend a wan smile. “Kate, how good to see you. What were you saying?”
“That you were going to show me the album from your Broadway years.”
“Oh yes, let me go get it.” She drifted from the living room toward her bedroom.
I released a long, slow sigh. “Thanks, Kate.” I looked at Sophie. “And thank you for watching her. I can take it from here.”
“Miss Nicole, there