Framed for Murder

by Cathy Spencer

  Chapter 23

  The EMS workers were very efficient as they checked us out. They decided that I would be all right, but started an intravenous drip on Tremaine before carrying him off to the hospital. I heard that the Emergency Room doctor discovered a lot of bruising from the battering he had taken in the river, but, thankfully, there were no broken bones. They kept him in overnight for observation, and released him the next day to one of his RCMP colleagues.

  Frieda drove me to my car after everyone left her place. I promised to come back for a visit, and drove home feeling pretty weak. I called Ben’s cell and left a message asking him to call me back, and then crawled into bed.

  I slept most of the afternoon with my own dog draped across my feet. When I woke up around supper time, I had about enough energy to feed Wendy and open a can of soup for myself. Poor Wendy; when I went back to my room, she couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t getting a walk and paced around the floor for a few minutes before joining me on the bed. I slept heavily – my body must have been recuperating from the day’s panic and the freezing river water – and felt okay when I got up early the next morning. I had some business to attend to with Amy.

  When she answered her door around nine, the expression of relief and guilt mingling in her face convinced me that I had been right to suspect her. She dragged me inside and began apologizing before I had a chance to say anything.

  “I’m so sorry, Anna, I didn’t mean to get you into trouble, but I was so worried after you phoned. I thought about what to do for a while, and then I ended up calling Tremaine. I told him that I was afraid something bad might happen to you at Jessie’s cabin. He sounded upset, particularly when I told him that it had been about thirty minutes since you called. Did he find you?”

  “Yes, Tremaine found me and a whole lot more trouble than he had expected, I dare say.” I told Amy the whole story. She gasped when I described how Tremaine had fallen into the river and how Frieda and I had rescued him.

  “You saved his life,” she said.

  “Well, yes, I guess I did, but let’s not forget that I was the reason he fell into the river in the first place.”

  “Still, you’re so brave. I’m not sure I would have gone into the water after him. I can’t even swim.”

  “Believe me, neither one of us did any swimming in that water.”

  “So, I guess that gets you off the hook.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well for pity’s sake, you saved his life. Tremaine can’t possibly arrest you for murdering Jack now, can he?”

  “I don’t think the one precludes the other, but I guess it helps.”

  “I should think so. Hmm. Tell me something, Anna. What did Tremaine look like without his clothes?”

  I laughed. “Count on you to ask me that.”

  She smiled back at me from where she lay curled up in the corner of her couch. Her living room decor was just as she had described it: floral chintzes in pinks and greens with lots of throw pillows. “Don’t tell me that you haven’t noticed how good-looking he is,” she prompted.

  “Well, that hasn’t exactly been my major preoccupation as far as Tremaine is concerned, but since you mention it, he is handsome, with and without his clothes. After all, he’s young and in good shape.”

  “He’s not all that young, is he?”

  “Pretty young. He’s only thirty-one.”

  “Thirty-one definitely makes him a grown man. You’re not that much older than he.”

  “Nine years.”

  Amy snorted. “Don’t tell me that you’ve never looked at a younger man.”

  “Looked, admired, but never seriously considered dating one. Or anyone else, for the past few years.”

  Amy wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “I wasn’t talking about dating him. For goodness sake, look at you. You’re blushing.”

  I got up from the couch and headed for the front door. “Never mind all that nonsense. I’m going now.”

  Amy trailed behind me. “I don’t know. It sounds like you two got awfully cozy in that bed yesterday. He’s handsome, smart, charming, and he’s got that cute British accent. I wish that I could have been the one under the covers with him.” She grinned, and I shook my head at her.

  “You’re beyond saving, Amy. Listen, call me if you hear anything interesting about Jessie Wick, will you?”

  The smile vanished from her face. “Anna Nolan, you don’t have any sense.”

  It was my turn to grin as I saluted her. “Bye Amy. See you at the movies.”

  “Bye. And for goodness sake, stay out of trouble!”