Last Night

by Meryl Sawyer

  "Her daughter should have—"

  "Lillian never told Fran that she needed those pills." Dr. Winston shrugged, his eyes on the ambulance as it pulled away. "I can't image why Lillian didn't mention it."

  "She wanted to die," Dana whispered, more to herself than the doctor. "She wanted to pass away here, among the things she loved, in the home she and her husband had built—where she'd been happy. She was terrified of dying, lonely and forgotten, in some horrible nursing home."

  And she didn't trust me to help her. Her sense of guilt went beyond words, beyond tears. She'd failed dear Lillian, failed her miserably.

  Long after the ambulance had driven off, Dana stood at the curb, her eyes fastened on the curve in the road where the taillights had disappeared. She hardly heard the police cars pull away or Dr. Winston say good-bye. All she could think about was Lillian.

  A dear friend. Almost her mother.

  She trudged up the steps to her home, her heart unbearably heavy. As she passed through the living room the flashing light on her answering machine caught her eye. Rob, she thought, then realized it was just after midnight. He'd promised to call when he changed planes in Los Angeles, but he wouldn't be there until morning. She punched the buttons and heard Vanessa's voice.

  "Garth has arranged a meeting with the Coltranes and their attorney for tomorrow at four." There was a strange upbeat quality to her sister's voice. "Garth wants to settle this before it gets to court. Can you be at his office about half an hour early? There's something I have to explain to you before Garth and I fight the Coltranes."

  Garth and I? Well, well, it sounded as if they were becoming very friendly. At least Vanessa was prepared to fight Big Daddy. After the mokes had stolen the tapes Dana hadn't been certain Vanessa would risk it.

  But what about me? Dana wondered. Where did she fit into her sister's life? She'd been conscious of a growing rift that she seemed powerless to overcome. She'd thought that Vanessa's leaving the Coltranes would bring them closer. Now she wasn't so sure. What had come between them?

  "My career came between us," she said as she dropped into bed. A sigh that seemed to well up from the bottom of her soul filled the room. She'd made the same mistake with Lillian, she realized with growing alarm. She hadn't spent enough time with the people who counted.

  Tears soaked the pillow as she mourned for Lillian until she finally fell asleep, carried into the unconscious world of her dreams by sheer exhaustion. For two nights now she'd had almost no sleep. She only dozed, awakened by images of the past and haunted by the present.

  A noise brought her out of yet another disturbing dream. She sat up in bed and listened. There it was again. Thump-thump-thump-thump. It sounded like —but it couldn't be—the night marchers. Now in the darkest hours just before dawn Lillian's prophetic warning echoed in her ears. The night marchers are coming for you next.

  "You're going 'round the bend, Dana," she whispered to herself. "Next you'll be seeing ghosts." She swung out of bed and silently padded down the hall toward the noise. In the yard shadows danced, made even deeper by the full moon. She squinted into the darkness and the noise stopped. Outside on her lanai a small shadow darted toward the kitchen door. Thump-thump-thump.

  Not the night marchers, but a cat. It wasn't just any cat, she saw as a shaft of moonlight hit orange fur. Lillian's cat, Molly. She opened the lanai door and called, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."

  Molly bounded over and rubbed her long fur against Dana's legs. She meowed twice, a deep, throaty sound that brought unexpected tears to Dana's eyes. She picked up the cat, thinking that Molly had never once come to her door until now.

  The cat's collar with a small bell to warn birds was missing. Lillian would never have taken it off. Fran must have removed the collar and its identifying tags. She wasn't even going to take her mother's cat to the Humane Society, Dana thought, disgusted. She'd turned Molly loose to fend for herself.

  "Would she do that to you?" she asked the kitty. "Let's find out."

  Guided by the moonlight, she left the house and walked the short distance across the backyard to Lillian's door, the cat tucked in her arms. The house was dark except for the blue-white light of the television in the den. Dana bent low and tested the lower half of the door. The pet door was bolted shut.

  "Never mind," she whispered to Molly. "Lillian wanted me to have you."

  She tiptoed down the path that she'd so often taken between their homes, knowing that this would be her last trip. Her beloved friend was gone.

  I'll be with the menehunes, watching over you. Lillian's parting words were nothing more than a murmur in the rustling palms.

  "Lillian told you where to come, didn't she?" Dana stroked Molly's soft fur. She smelled of jasmine from playing in the bushes. Deep in the cat's throat a low rumble of a purr began, accelerating with each stroke of Dana's hand. She knew she was being maudlin and even slightly irrational. Still, she couldn't seem to help herself.

  The weight of the loss, knowing she'd never see Lillian again, swept through her. She'd never be able to share anything with her again. Pain reverberated through her, a keening cry from the depths of her soul. Death was terrifyingly final. There'd be no more star-filled tropic nights for Lillian, no more walks on the beach, no more working in the garden, no more petting Molly's silky fur. No more anything.

  "I'm expecting a call from Rob Tagett," Dana told her secretary the next morning. "Put him through immediately. If I'm in court, have the clerk get me."

  "Sure," Anita responded with all the enthusiasm of a person receiving the last rites.

  Dana took a closer look at the woman and wondered if Anita hated her enough to blackmail her. Anita was arranging the intracourt documents. She was slower than a slug; the state would never have to worry about a stress claim.

  Like many Hawaiian women, Anita had a penchant for gold bracelets. They covered her arm from wrist to elbow and tinkled as she moved, reminding Dana of Christmas bells. As usual, gold was the only color she wore. Her dress was as black as her eyes, which were now studying Dana suspiciously.

  "Oh, I almost forgot. Judge Binkley wants to see you."

  Dana walked into her office, her jaw clenched to keep from cursing, and tossed her briefcase on the desk. Anita conveniently "forgot" more than she remembered in a blatant attempt to sabotage Dana. As soon as she had a spare minute to fill out the myriad forms, she would report Anita again. This would be the third time that she'd written her up. With luck she could get rid of her this time.

  Dana gazed at the Wyland print of dolphins playing with a whale, her eyes immediately going to the hidden world beneath the surface of the ocean. Just like people. There's so much concealed beneath the surface. It wasn't a comforting thought. Who was trying to ruin her life? It was obvious Anita despised her, but she couldn't possibly know about Dana's past.

  She was still mulling over the situation as she walked down the hall for her meeting with Judge Binkley.

  "Dana," called Gwen from her office.

  Her friend wore an ivory Escada suit that was a perfect foil for her thick black hair and dark eyes. She smiled the warm smile she always had for Dana, and Dana smiled back.

  "Have you heard anything?" Gwen asked.

  She realized Gwen was talking about the superior court appointment. "Not a word. I'm on my way to the Black Lagoon. Binkley wants to see me."

  "He's going to tell you that you're doing the arraignment calendar."

  "The judicial pits. Yuck!" Dana said and Gwen laughed. All the judges hated working the arraignment calendar, which scheduled upcoming trials. "I've been on arraignments three times this year already. It can't be my turn again."

  "Binkley's just trying to harass you. He knows you're up for that appointment." Gwen studied Dana for a moment, her dark eyes suddenly somber. "Don't blow it, Dana. Don't get mixed up with Rob Tagett."

  Dana didn't know how to tell her friend that she was already involved—more than involved—with Rob. Gwen had dated him once a
nd thought she knew him, but she didn't know the real Rob. No one did—no one but Dana. That thought brought an unexpected surge of affection.

  "My brother's worried about your tooth." Gwen changed subjects, seemingly embarrassed by her own frankness. "He can fit you in this afternoon."

  "I can't today. My sister needs me when she meets with the Coltranes and their lawyer." Dana didn't want to hurt Gwen's feelings, but she had no intention of letting her brother work on her again. "Maybe I'll call him later," Dana hedged, walking away with a wave of her hand. "Right now, I'm off to the Black Lagoon."

  The urge to scream told her she had reached Judge Binkley's chambers. She entered and gave her name to his secretary. Photographs lined the walls, a rogues' gallery of Who's Who in Hawaii. Obviously, Judge Binkley aspired to a higher position, but he'd been stalled at this level for years.

  Sixtyish, tanned, with a bald head sprouting tufts of gray hair, Davis Binkley was the presiding judge of the municipal court—in effect, her boss. A big-time cage shaker and totally impressed with himself, his cronies were the men on the court. She and Gwen were the outsiders.

  Dana walked into his chambers and Binkley looked up at her, but didn't smile or invite her to sit down. "You're on the arraignment calendar."

  "Again?" she protested, even though experience had taught her that it wouldn't do any good.

  "You scheduled several trials too close last time and they had to be rescheduled. Attorneys protested. It caused a lot of problems."

  Dana battled to control her temper. There was no perfect schedule. Some trials went over, causing delays in other trials. She didn't make any more mistakes than any of the other judges when they worked the arraignment calendar.

  He looked her in the eye and smiled. Actually he appeared to be gloating, and a knot of apprehension formed in her chest. "You know I don't listen to rumors, but I've been hearing things." He paused, obviously wanting to play the moment to the hilt, and she thought he'd heard about Rob. "What you do with your personal life is one thing, but this—this could be a problem."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Fran Martin's lawyer called. She's upset about her mother's will."

  "Lillian's will?" Dana gasped. "The poor woman only died last night. What did Fran do? Wake the lawyer?"

  "Maybe. She phoned him first thing this morning and claimed that you used undue influence on her late mother."

  "That's ridiculous. We were friends. That's all." She couldn't keep the anger out of her voice. Lillian deserved a better daughter than this.

  "Fran Martin insists that you persuaded her mother to leave her out of the will."

  "We never discussed a will. Not once."

  "Good," he said, his tone clearly implying he didn't believe her. "I have to investigate allegations of misconduct. You understand."

  She understood, all right. Fran Martin's charges couldn't have come at a worse time. It would ruin her chances of getting that appointment—if the blackmailer didn't.

  "You've got to admit, Dana, that it looks suspicious when a daughter is disinherited and a neighbor gets everything."

  "Me?" She heard her own quick intake of breath. "Lillian left me everything?"

  "Yes. It's suspicious. Mighty suspicious."

  25

  Dana was still shaken when she arrived at Garth's office hours later. What else could go wrong? It was bad enough that Lillian had died, but now her daughter wasn't going to let her rest in peace. She wished Rob was here with her and not on what was probably a wild-goose chase. He'd know what to do about Fran's threats.

  What was she thinking? Rob had his own problems; he certainly didn't need hers. During his layover in L.A. he was meeting his son at the airport. From what Rob had told her, Zach was going through a difficult period. Rob hoped his wife would allow him to visit later that summer. Rob thought he could turn Zach around—if he had the chance.

  Outside Garth's building, Vanessa was waiting for Dana. Dressed in a blue dress that emphasized her blonde hair and blue eyes, she dashed up and hugged Dana. "Thanks for coming," Vanessa said with a bright smile, and Dana realized her sister looked happier than she'd seen her in years. "Bad day in court?"

  Dana glumly nodded, reluctant to trouble Vanessa with her problems. Her sister linked her arm with Dana's and led her over to the stone bench beneath the banyan tree. There they could have some privacy from the people coming and going from the high-rise tower.

  "There's something I should have told you a long time ago," Vanessa began. "I just didn't have the courage."

  "You shouldn't need courage to tell me anything." Dana took her sister's hand and held it in both of hers. "Vanessa, I love you. I know I haven't said it often enough, but I do."

  Vanessa's expressive eyes misted with tears. She blinked them back and squeezed Dana's hand. "You know all I've ever wanted was a home and a family. I've never had your drive, your ambition. When Eric came along I thought he was perfect. I honestly did."

  Vanessa's expression grew even more serious. "Things were fine—or so I thought—until we tried to have children. Nothing happened. We went to the doctor and discovered Eric had an extremely low sperm count. The only way for me to get pregnant was to collect his sperm and be artificially inseminated."

  "I never realized you were having those problems."

  "No one knew except Eric and his father."

  There was an edge of bitterness to Vanessa's voice that had become too familiar lately. No wonder. The Coltranes were even stranger than Dana had realized.

  "I wanted to tell you, but Eric was terrified that someone would find out he couldn't father a child without medical assistance."

  Dana nodded for her to continue.

  "The insemination worked and I became pregnant. When Jason was born I thought my world was perfect. Then Eric stopped coming home at night. I confronted him and he said he'd married me to make his father happy. Now that the Coltranes had an heir, Eric was going back to his old girlfriend."

  Dana's heart went out to her sister, imagining her trapped in a loveless marriage—with a child. "You must have been devastated. Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Because you'd tried to warn me about the Coltranes and I hadn't listened. I decided that I owed it to Jason to make the best of it. " For a moment Vanessa stared at her shoes. "I'm not as smart as you, Dana. I should have realized my father-in-law would try to raise Jason to be a macho jerk like his own sons. But I didn't, not at first anyway."

  Vanessa stopped speaking as two men walked past. "When Jason was three I decided I wanted another child. I wasn't sleeping with Eric, of course, so I went back to the sperm bank, thinking they probably still had some of Eric's sperm." Vanessa's voice drifted into a hushed whisper.

  "Did they?" Dana prompted after a few seconds' silence.

  "There was a new doctor there." Vanessa attempted a smile. "You know how I affect some men. Well, he couldn't do enough for me. He got out all the old records and found there was plenty of sperm on hand, but it wasn't Eric's. It was Big Daddy's."

  Dana heard her own quick intake of breath as she struggled to comprehend. "Oh, my God. You mean he's Jason's father?" The bile rose in her throat, and for a second she thought she might actually be ill. "That's beyond disgusting. That's… that's… sick!"

  Vanessa silenced Dana, glaring at her with burning, reproachful eyes. "That's why I never told you. I knew how much you hated him. Now you'll hate Jason. I don't care who his father is. I love my son with all my heart."

  "Oh, Vanessa, I didn't mean—"

  "You'll be looking for Big Daddy in Jason, won't you?"

  She had to confess that she'd never look at Jason in quite the same way. Then she remembered his small arms around her neck and him telling her about the wild pig that he'd confused with Wilbur from Charlotte's Web. Jason was still a sensitive child—nothing like his father. She did love him, and even this startling revelation could never change that.

  "No, Vanessa, I won't be looking for Big Daddy i
n Jason. Not at all. I'll be looking for you. He's your son. Never forget it."

  Tears glistened on Vanessa's lashes, and she reached out with both arms to Dana. She drew Vanessa close, comforting her and praying that together they could get Jason away from the Coltranes.

  "We'd better go upstairs, " Dana said after a few minutes of silence. "We want to be ready for them."

  "Garth is great with Jason," Vanessa commented as they rode the elevator to the top floor of the skyscraper. "You can't imagine how comforting that is after Eric ignoring him and Big Daddy trying to make him into 'a man.' Garth just lets Jason be himself—a little boy."

  "How do you feel about Garth?"

  "I've never met anyone like him. I know how hard it is to be alone in the world the way we were after Mom and Dad were killed. Imagine waking up and finding you're alone. Then you discover you'll never walk again. Garth was extraordinarily brave. He made a life for himself when so many would have given up."

  "It's true," Dana said. "Everyone admires Garth."

  "It's more than admiration, Dana. Knowing Garth makes me realize that all men aren't like the Coltranes or Hank. Lots of them have suffered as much as we have—or more."

  The elevator door slid open and they walked down the hall toward Garth's office. Dana wanted to tell Vanessa about Rob, but there wasn't enough time. She also needed enough time to discuss that night when Hank had assaulted them. For years they'd avoided the topic—as if it had never happened. Rob was right; talking would help. You could never overcome an enemy until you faced him.

  "I'm not returning to the ranch," Vanessa said emphatically.

  "Even if it means losing Jason?"

  "Garth will take care of Big Daddy, you'll see."

  "It's not like you to put your faith in a man."

  Vanessa opened the door to Garth's office. "It's nice to find a man you can put your faith in."

  Garth sat in the conference room with Dana on one side and Vanessa on the other as Eric and Thornton Coltrane walked in with their attorney, Vince Adams, a legal thug who thrived on lucrative litigation. Garth let Adams strut his stuff, justifying his exorbitant fee by accusing Vanessa of everything but armed robbery.