get back? She could be in Peru by now, which under other circumstances wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but this whole things-I-hadn’t-sent people thing was really creeping me out. I left a message: While she might hate my answering machine, she found her own invaluable.
“Hi, Ma, it’s me. Look, I didn’t send you any chocolates, and it’s very important that you call me and tell me where they came from, what kind they are, whether you ate any. I’m sure it’s fine, but just in case…well, I’m thinking that someone is playing practical jokes on me and I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. You know, maybe they fixed them with Exlax or something. If you haven’t eaten any, well, don’t. And call me if you get anything else that says it’s from me. Call me right away anyway, okay? Talk to you soon.” I put the phone down, only to realize that my hands were shaking. The rest of me was shaking, too.
Okay, if this is Tony, he wants me to see him, he wants me to know that he’s got an eye on the people in my life. That he’s got an eye on me. Everything so far, well, it’s been pretty benign. Flowers, chocolates, steaks. Sounds like courtship presents. Maybe that’s how his mind works. He’d been flirtatious with me, but I’d always just assumed that it was a ruse, a way of feeling me out, so to speak. Find out what kind of person I am. So maybe, in his weird take on things, this is a kind of gesture. Gifts to me, to my family…well, it could be worse. Hell, who am I kidding? It will get worse. But if he’s spiraling in, I’ve got the time now to start thinking about this, follow the leads, track him down before this gets really bad.
I was home for the next call, the next morning. It was from my sister, Bucky.
Someone had tried to burn down the Pollock Farms veterinary clinic.
Chapter 5
I WASN’T THERE,” SHE SAID. “I JUST GOT THE CALL from the old man. Excuse me, our senior partner.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“One of the older dogs died, probably from smoke. But I don’t think the racket did them any good.”
I took a deep breath. “I mean, none of your colleagues were there?”
“No, a car passed by and the driver saw the smoke. Thank God for cell phones.”
I waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t, I started to get scared. “I just need an hour to get my stuff together,” I said. “I’ll be down by noon.”
Some of the sharpness returned to her voice. “No, no. Don’t bother. I just wanted to tell you.”
I hated when she got like this. “Wanted to tell me. Bucky, someone tried to torch your office. I know that place means more to you than—”
“Yeah, well, what are you going to do? I’m not hurt, we were lucky that no more of the animals were hurt badly, and the fire was reported before it got too far. What can you do?”
I didn’t say: I can comfort you, I can help you get through this. That would have had exactly the wrong effect.
I didn’t say it, but she picked up on that anyhow. “Look, don’t bother. Joel’s down here being a big enough girl for all three of us. I just wanted to tell you, because I know you like to hear about what’s going on with me. That’s all.”
The fact that Bucky’d called me was proof enough that she was rattled. I was glad that her sensible boyfriend Joel had moved in with her last year, and that was the only reason that I let her get away with her lame excuse. Or calling him “a big girl,” just because Joel was capable of dealing with emotions, and tried to address hers.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m glad you told me. And…I hope…you’ll tell me if anything else happens.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
I told her what had been going on with the phone calls, and my suspicions about Tony Markham. “I think they might be related.”
“I think you might be high,” my sister said. “Emma, for fuck’s sake—a little evidence, please? Above and beyond the circumstantial?”
“What more do you want? You don’t think that this suggests that Tony might be back?”
“Sure it suggests it. Who wouldn’t think that?” Sarcasm is my sister’s oeuvre. “But let’s pull up a moment. The guy is supposed to be dead.”
“I saw him,” I