" 'Attribute it to,' Ma. At."
"At? I don't know what to contribute it at? That doesn't sound right."
Jim bit his lip. "Well, at least we both agree on that."
"So!" she said, brushing imaginary crumbs off her hands and looking around the kitchen. Jim knew she was inspecting the countertops and the floors to see if Carol was still measuring up to the standards of spotlessness Ma had adhered to all of Jim's life. "How are things?"
"Fine, Ma. How about you and Dad?"
"Fine. Dad's at work."
"So's Carol. She's at work too."
"Were you writing when I came in?"
"Uh-huh."
It wasn't exactly the truth, but what the hell. Ma didn't consider freelance writing Real Work, anyway. When Jim rode the night desk part-time on the Monroe Express, that was Real Work, because he got paid for it. He might sit there for hours, doing nothing more than twiddling his thumbs as he waited for something newsworthy to happen in the Incorporated Village of Monroe, Long Island, but Ma considered that Real Work. Hunching over a typewriter and dragging sentences kicking and squealing from his brain to put on paper was something else.
Jim waited patiently. Finally she said it.
"Any news?"
"No, Ma. There's no 'news.' Why do you keep bugging me about that?"
"Because it's a mother's parenteral obligation—"
" 'Parental,' Ma. 'Parental.' "
"That's what I said, parenteral obligation to keep checking as to if and when she's going to become a grandmother."
"Believe me, Ma. When we know, you'll know. I promise."
"Okay." She smiled. "But remember, if Carol should drop by someday and say, 'Oh, by the way, I'm three months' pregnant,' I'll never forgive you."
"Sure you will." He kissed her forehead. "Now, if you don't mind, I've got to—"
The doorbell rang.
"Are you expecting company?" his mother said.
"No. Not even you."
Jim went to the front door and found the mailman standing on the front step holding a letter.
"Special delivery, Jim. Almost forgot it."
Jim's heart began to race as he signed the return receipt. "Thanks, Carl." Maybe they'd had a change of heart at Doubleday.
"Special delivery?" Ma was saying as Jim closed the door. "Who would—?"
His heart sank as he read the return address.
"It's from some law firm. In the city."
He tore it open and read the brief message. Twice. It still didn't make sense.
"Well?" Ma said, her fingers visibly twitching to get at the letter, her curiosity giving the word a second syllable: Way-elll.
"I don't get it," Jim said. He handed her the letter. "It says I'm supposed to be present at the reading of Dr. Hanley's will next week. I'm listed as one of his heirs."
This was crazy. Dr. Roderick Hanley was one of the richest men in Monroe. Or had been until he died in that air crash last Sunday. He'd been a local celebrity of sorts. Moved here to the Village of Monroe—then truly little more than a village— shortly after World War II and lived in one of the big mansions along the waterfront. A world-renowned geneticist who had made a fortune from analytical lab procedures he had developed and patented; a Nobel prizewinner for his work in genetics.
Jim knew all about Hanley because he had been assigned the guy's obit for the Monroe Express. The doc's death had been big news in Monroe. Jim's research had revealed that the Hanley estate was worth something like ten million dollars.
But Jim had never even met the man. Why would he name him in his will?
Unless…
In a dizzying flash of insight it all suddenly became very clear to Jim.
"God, Ma, you don't think—"
One look at her stricken face told him she had already come to the same conclusion.
"Aw, Ma, don't—"
"I have to go see your father… uh, Jonah," she said quickly, handing the letter back to him and turning away. She picked up her coat and slipped into it as she headed for the door.
"Hey, Ma, you know it doesn't matter. You know it won't change a thing."
She stopped at the door, her eyes glistening. She looked upset… and frightened.
"That's what you've always said. Now we'll find out for sure, won't we?"
"Ma—" He took a step toward her.
"I'll talk to you later, Jimmy."
And then she was out the door and hurrying down the walk toward her car. Jim stood at the storm door and watched her until his rapid breaths fogged up the glass. He hated to see her upset.
When she was gone, he turned away and read the letter again.
No doubt about it. He was an heir to the Hanley estate. Wonder bloomed in him. Dr. Roderick Hanley—genius. His hand shook as it held the letter. The money that might be coming his way meant nothing compared to what the letter didn't—couldn't—say.
He rushed to the phone to call Carol. She'd be as excited as he was. After all these years, after all the searching—he had to tell her now!
2
"When am I going home?"
Carol Stevens looked at the old man who had spoken: Calvin Dodd, seventy-two-year-old Caucasian male. Transient cerebral ischemia.
He looked a lot better than he had a week ago when he had been admitted through the emergency room. He had sported a seven-week growth of beard then, and had been dressed in a frayed, food-encrusted bathrobe that smelled of old urine. Now he lay in a clean bed and wore a starched hospital gown; he was clean-shaven—by the nurses—and smelled of Keri Lotion.
She didn't have the heart to tell him the truth.
"You'll be out of here as soon as we can get you out, Mr. Dodd, I promise you."
That didn't answer the old fellow's question, but at least it wasn't a lie.
"What's the holdup?"
"We're trying to find some help for you."
Just then Bobby from Food Service strolled in and picked up Mr. Dodd's breakfast tray. He gave Carol the up-and-down with his eyes and winked.
"Lookin' good!" he said with a smile. He was all of twenty and desperately trying to grow sideburns. He came on to anything in a skirt, even an "older woman," as he had once referred to her.
Carol laughed and jerked a thumb over her shoulder toward the door. "Beat it, Bobby."
"Like your hair," he said, and was gone.
Carol smoothed her long, sandy-blond hair. She had been wearing it in a gentle flip for a couple of years but had been letting it grow lately. She had the slim figure and oval face to carry off the long, straight look but wondered if it was worth the trouble. It was such a bother at times to keep it smooth and tangle-free.
Mr. Dodd was pulling at the nylon-mesh vest that enclosed his chest and was strapped to the bed frame. "If you really want to help me, you can get this thing offa me."
"Sorry, Mr. Dodd. The posey is your doctor's orders. He's afraid you'll get out of bed and fall again."
"I never fell! Who tol' you that crock?"
According to his chart, Mr. Dodd had crawled over his bed's siderails three times and tried to walk. Each time he had fallen after one or two steps. But Carol didn't correct him. In her brief time here at Monroe Community Hospital she had learned not to argue with patients, especially the older ones. In Mr. Dodd's case she was sure he truly did not remember falling.
"Anyway, I don't have the authority to discontinue your restraints."
"And where's my family?" he said, already on to another subject. "Haven't you been lettin' 'em up to see me?"
Carol's heart broke for the old man. "I… I'll check on that for you, okay?"
She turned and started for the door.
"You'd think at least one of my girls'd come an' see me more than once or twice in the whole time I been here."