Part 26 (2/2)
At the end of the week when they were nearly finished with the last house, Riley texted Shawna and asked that the three of them stop by the office when they returned to turn in the van. They found a full staff gathered-Nick, Makenna, Riley and her young a.s.sistant, Jeanette.
”Come in, please,” Riley said. ”Something terrible has happened and I wanted to tell you. You'll hear about it tonight if you watch the news. Mr. Andrews is dead. It appears Mrs. Andrews shot him. The police have taken her into custody.” Riley cleared her throat. ”Our crew let themselves in and found them.”
Emma actually swooned against Shawna. ”Dear G.o.d,” she whispered.
”Here, sit down,” Nick said.
”That man probably got what he had coming,” Shawna said. ”He was beating that woman.”
”Has anything like this ever happened before?” Emma asked.
”We've had a delicate situation or two over the years. One of our clients was found unconscious-he had a stroke and went to the hospital and from there into a special care home. Nothing like this. People don't just have dust and dirt,” Riley said. ”They have complex personal lives. Some of them have serious problems. And we're in their private s.p.a.ce. We have to be vigilant and blind-it's a very difficult balance. I'm sorry this happened.”
”The other crew,” Emma said. ”Are they okay?”
”Not at all,” Nick said. ”It was Cora, Maria and Connie-and they're shook up. They're going to take Monday and Tuesday off and if they need to see someone, like a counselor, we'll find someone.”
”Was it horrid?” Dellie asked.
”One bullet in the back of his head,” Nick said. ”He still had the TV remote in his hand. Looked like it might've happened much earlier or even the night before.”
”Ew, that ain't gonna play good for her,” Shawna said.
”Had he been beating her again?” Emma asked.
Everyone shrugged.
”I'm sure we'll get more information as time pa.s.ses. I just wanted to be sure to tell you personally since you know the couple and had some dealings with them and the police. Everyone okay?”
”Sure,” Dellie said. ”They have kids, you know. Grown kids in their twenties.”
”I know. Emma?”
”Yes. Fine.” She shuddered, remembering Richard. Remembering the cruelty of his suicide. The horrific sight. The smell of blood and gun powder. His open eyes and gallons of blood. The smell of death and all its atrocities. ”Fine,” she said again, standing.
”Then I think we're finished here. Nick, you'll let me see that memo before you send it out to our crews.”
”Definitely.”
”Thanks, everyone.”
Emma lingered as people slowly left, talking among themselves. When Riley was alone behind her desk, gathering up her purse and briefcase, she approached. ”Um, excuse me. When would be a good time to talk? There's something I should tell you.”
”Is it going to upset me?” Riley asked.
”Probably.”
Riley hesitated. ”Sit down. Let's get it over with.”
Emma told Riley about Bethany's house, Bethany so frail and pale, Emma leaving her phone number and Bethany calling it. ”You have got to be kidding me,” Riley said.
Emma shook her head. ”And I don't regret it. She sounds better since the holiday is past, but I have no idea how to help her. The family situation sounds so sad-her stepmother wearing her dead mother's clothes? My G.o.d, I don't know what to say or do. I just know that it won't help her if I cut her off, if I don't take her calls. Mostly I just listen. Are you going to fire me?”
”You've put me in a terrible position here,” she said. ”You know perfectly well I can't fire you. My family will only come down hard on me if I do that. My mother, who I have learned you've been seeing, my brother, who is your current champion...”
”Adam has been a good friend. He's the one who suggested your company, which, by the way, I happen to like.” She laughed and shook her head. ”I actually look forward to work. The girls I work with are fantastic. The clients range from difficult to weird to sweet. Some of them I would actually miss.”
”Employees with a high school education and citizens.h.i.+p usually stay with this company for an average of nine months. And I am stuck with you.”
”I should think it would give you great satisfaction,” Emma said. ”But tell me truly, Riley. Just for a second put aside whatever differences we've had and tell me-if you'd been in my position and saw that note, would you have done something? Anything? You have a fifteen-year-old daughter-what if she were that lonely? And had no one? Would you wish someone had answered her call, even if it was a lowly cleaning lady?”
”First of all, cleaning ladies are not lowly. Haven't you learned yet? We know more about our clients than they know about each other! Second, I don't know that I'd have done that!”
”Oh, you would, too,” Emma said. ”Just as you'd have called the police on Mr. Andrews.”
”I wouldn't have left my number,” Riley a.s.serted. Then her own phone chimed. She looked at it and pressed a b.u.t.ton, sending it to voice mail. ”I admit I would have watched. Waited. Tried to think of a solution. A counselor...”
”She has a counselor,” Emma said. ”A counselor who asks her if she's jealous of the new stepmother.”
”Dear G.o.d, what an imbecile! I knew of Mr. Christensen's marriage. When he filled out his contract, we always ask them to list the family members and pets in the household and I knew he had a teenager and was engaged to be married. But I didn't know he'd been widowed.”
Riley's phone rang again. Again she looked at it. ”She really wants me. I'm sorry,” she said before clicking on. ”Yes, Maddie?”
”Mom! We were in an accident! Someone hit us. We're taking Daddy to the hospital. Mom, he's hurt! He's hurt!”
”Slow down, Maddie,” Riley said. She completely forgot about Emma as she put the cell phone on speaker so she could gather her purse, keys, coat. ”Are you hurt?”
”No. Not really. But they couldn't get Daddy out right away and they wouldn't let me go in his ambulance because they needed the room to work on him. Oh, Mom, what if he dies?”
”He's not going to die,” Riley said. ”What hospital are you going to?”
Maddie asked someone. ”Petaluma.”
”Are you sure you're all right?”
”A couple of b.u.mps, that's all.”
”All right, I'm coming. I'm on my way.”
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