Done to Death

by Charles Atkins

  Melanie looked from Rachel to Ada. ‘With the two of you in make-up, maybe we should try and film the last scenes after all. I know it’s late, and weird. I’m just thinking …’

  ‘It’s fine,’ Ada said, feeling anything but fine. She wondered if this were how Rachel operated, put on a happy face and don’t let anyone see the turmoil beneath it. ‘Let’s just get this done.’

  And they did. They tallied the sales. Ada’s brow raised as she stared into the monitor. ‘The Final Reckoning at today’s estate sale … one hundred and five thousand four hundred and eighty-two dollars and fifty cents.’ A representative from the charity, who’d been on site the entire day, gushed about how many Third World pediatric surgeries and artificial limbs that would finance.

  Rachel, at times in tears, talked about her mother and her brother, and how this was exactly what Lenore would have wanted.

  It was well after dark when Melanie finally said, ‘It’s a wrap.’

  Ada took Rachel aside, away from the camera and prying eyes and ears, and asked, ‘Rachel, are you going to be OK?’

  The young woman looked Ada straight on. ‘I don’t know. I feel numb and beyond tired. And, knowing me, I can’t be trusted like this.’

  Ada shuddered.

  ‘So instead of asking what Lenore would do,’ Rachel continued, ‘I tried to think about what Richard would want.’

  ‘And?’ Ada prompted.

  ‘He’d want me to be safe, until I figured things out. So I called Ebert and I’m checking myself back into Silver Glen as soon as Clarence can drive me there. It can’t be just about me any more. I’ve got a child to take care of, and I am not going to let anything bad happen to him.’

  Ada felt a surge of relief. ‘That sounds like a good plan.’ And she spotted the groundskeeper/chauffeur with bag in hand.

  ‘I know I must seem like a total nut job to you,’ Rachel said, her fingers suddenly gripping Ada’s, her eyes moist with tears. ‘And I don’t know what all of this must seem like to you … but … I’d like us to be friends. I don’t have many …’

  Ada interrupted her: ‘Rachel, what the two of us have been through could make for the start of a friendship. You’ll call me from Silver Glen to let me know you got there OK, and when you’re ready for visitors, Lil and I will swing by. OK?’

  ‘Thank you,’ and with tears streaming she caught Ada in a frantic hug, kissed her on the cheek. ‘Bye.’ And she ran to Clarence, who wrapped her too-thin body in a black wool coat.

  Relieved, Ada stared as the two vanished into the night.

  She looked around and spotted Lil and Aaron, who’d taken Rose and Ashley home after Jeanine had been taken into custody. ‘Thank you for staying,’ she said. She mussed her grandson’s hair and fell into Lil’s embrace.

  ‘What happens now?’ Lil asked.

  ‘Which part?’ Ada said. ‘The show? Jeanine Stromstein?’

  Lil pulled back. ‘I guess with the show.’

  ‘According to Melanie and Rachel the show will definitely air. So what did you find out?’

  ‘I did a bit of information horse trading with Mattie, so I think we can safely say that Jeanine shot Lenore and then Richard. The motives were love and her husband’s career, which was about to tank. The tawdry details will follow. She’s refusing a lawyer and, according to Mattie, is going to go straight for a guilty plea.’

  ‘What about Barry?’ Aaron asked. ‘Did he know?’

  ‘Doesn’t look that way,’ Lil said, ‘or else he’s letting the wife take the fall, but …’

  ‘But what?’ Ada asked. She gave Lil a searching look. ‘You spoke to him, didn’t you?’

  ‘It’s possible,’ Lil admitted, her lips in a tight smile.

  ‘And?’ Ada pressed.

  ‘And … of course he was heartbroken.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Ada pondered. ‘I’m not certain he has that particular organ, but go on. Heartbroken and …?’

  ‘And thinking about his next big show.’

  Ada’s eyes widened. ‘OMG,’ she said, mimicking the endless abbreviations the Final Reckoning crew threw around. ‘He’s planning another reality show, isn’t he?’

  ‘How’d you know?’ Lil asked.

  ‘It’s going to be set in prison, isn’t it?’

  ‘Now you’re just scaring me.’

  ‘A women’s prison,’ Ada continued. ‘And it’s going to focus on women murderers. Am I right?’

  ‘Yes, you are,’ Lil said. ‘For bonus points, do you know what he’s going to call it?’

  ‘Give me a second,’ she said.

  ‘Women Who Kill?’ Aaron offered.

  ‘No.’ Lil said.

  ‘How about Babes Behind Bars?’ he said, on his second try.

  ‘Not even close,’ Lil said.

  ‘Wait,’ Ada said, ‘I think I have it, but please tell me I’m wrong.’

  ‘I haven’t heard it yet,’ Lil said.

  She looked at Lil and shook her head. She pictured Jeanine and Lenore, and reflected on how this whole Final Reckoning show was about packaging something sad and real as entertainment. ‘He’ll call it A Woman’s Touch.’

  ‘No,’ Lil said, ‘but it’s not fair. I left out one small bit of information.’

  Ada cocked her brow. ‘Out with it.’

  Lil shook her head. ‘Jeanine Stromstein is pregnant … with twins … Lenore’s twins.’

  ‘Oh no,’ Ada said. ‘So she’s the mystery surrogate. I suppose that makes even more sense.’ She shook her head. ‘And I know just what he’ll call it − Pregnant and in Prison.’

  Lil nodded. ‘Yes, we have a winner.’