we get our mail here. This is the only home we know and love.”
I swallowed, taking in the ugly truth of her words. Kicking them out legally would be no easy feat. They’d cleverly established their rights.
“Besides, you need looking after,” Kate continued, her voice sugary. “Look what a state you’re in. You can’t even walk, there’s no way you’d be able to drive your car. You know how hard it is to use the clutch on your cranky old Land Rover’s stick shift, even on a good day. With your twisted ankle? Forget it. We do your shopping. We cook for you. You need us. Just chill. We’re not your enemy, you gotta—”
“Please just give me my bloody cell phone! Please, Kate!” I spat out.
“My guess is?” Kate went on. “Someone wants to talk to you, and only you and that’s why he or she kept calling. Know who it could be?” She sounded like a police officer in a TV show. I wondered if they’d been digging in the rain. The way Dan had looked at me when I was by the burial site was as if he could read my mind. They might have honed in on the spot, maybe even found what was buried.
“I think I’m going to be sick again.” I lurched to the bathroom, got down on my knees and held my head over the toilet. Nothing, just watery bile. And the throaty retch of knowing my face was so close to the loo, clean though it was. Suspiciously clean. It sparkled with a lemony sheen. Had Mrs. Reed come while I was out cold, plastered to the bed? She always did such a thorough job and often came when I was at work. Yet… didn’t she normally do the washing on a Friday? If so, why hadn’t she come to my rescue? Did she know I was locked up? Was she in on it too? No, that thought was ridiculous. More bile flowed from my bitter mouth.
I staggered back into the room. “I’ll give you money,” I cajoled. “Just tell me how much you want. But I need you to get your own place. This is not working out.”
She let out a giggle as if what I said was the most absurd idea in the world, but her eyes were hard as pebbles. “Don’t. Be. Silly. You’re not thinking straight. You can hardly walk. You need us right now.”
“Then take me to the hospital! I need a doctor to look at my ankle.”
“None of us are going anywhere right now. The weather’s too crazy.”
I heaved myself up and hobbled to my wardrobe. I was so puny I could hardly even open the cupboard door, hardly stand up. Visions of smashing the triplets over their heads with my reading lamp evaporated as my shaky hand fumbled with a coat hanger. I tried in vain to pull out a dress. I couldn’t even do that. Couldn’t even hold on to a piece of clothing, I was trembling so hard. The dress fell in a ripple to the floor. I stabbed the coat hanger in Kate’s direction. “Get out of my house! Don’t you get it? I don’t want you here anymore! Leave! Or—”
“Or what? You’ll call the cops? I hate to break it to you, but your phone has totally vanished. Like I said, the landline’s dead. And our cell phones aren’t working with this crazy weather. You can’t drive your car. In fact, none of us should drive anywhere at the moment. It’s too dangerous till things let up. Chill out, dude. Get some rest. And we ain’t goin’ nowhere. You needed to accept that fact, like yesterday.”
Jen ambled back into the room with a Dr Pepper. She snapped the ring and handed me the can. “Drink this, it’ll give you energy.”
I took the soda and glugged it down. “Where’s my laptop?” I demanded, letting out a burp.
“It won’t do you any good. Everything’s completely down ’cause of the lightning and thunder. No Internet. Our cell phones aren’t working either.”
My heart went free-fall, spiraling in despair. I was their prisoner. I collapsed back on the bed. “My ankle hurts like crazy,” I moaned. “I don’t even remember falling over.”
Jen gently took my leg and cupped my tender ankle in her hands. “This hurt?”
“Yes.”
“It’s swollen. And bruised. You’ll be okay, just give it time. You see how you can’t be left alone? What would you do without us?”