The Jury

by Fern Michaels

  Myra struggled to sit up, Charles’s arms around her. “It’s just like it was with Barbara. Oh, Charles, how could this have happened? My godchild is gone. Nellie…We have to go to Nellie. She’s going to need us.”

  “Yes, dear, Nellie is going to need us. I’ll get the car ready. Here, let me help you.”

  Charles looked around, dazed. Alexis handed him the keys to the Mercedes that was sitting outside. Isabelle rushed to the coat rack for two slickers. Yoko searched till she found Myra’s purse. Charles reached for it and tucked it under his arm.

  The women huddled. “I don’t think either one of them is in any condition to drive,” Alexis whispered. The others agreed.

  “I’ll drive them,” Isabelle said as she reached for a slicker, knowing it was probably Nikki’s. She was gone a second later, following her hosts to the black Mercedes.

  Outside in the pouring rain, Kathryn did her best to herd Nikki under a tree to get out of the driving rain. There wasn’t any thunder or lightning so she felt reasonably safe. It was a cold rain and she shivered. Nikki was crying, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. All Kathryn could do was murmur soothing words that were whipped away on the wind.

  Inside the cozy warm kitchen, the phone rang yet again. Yoko answered it and listened, her face impassive. She blinked once before she handed the phone to Alexis, who in turn listened and, without saying a word, burst into tears. Yoko set the portable phone back in the cradle before she ran to the kitchen door to shout for Kathryn and Nikki to come in. She had no way of knowing if either woman heard her. She kept calling until she was hoarse. Exhausted, soaking wet from the rain that was driving across the porch, she stepped back inside the kitchen.

  Alexis looked up at Yoko. In a strangled voice she said, “You should take off those wet clothes or you’ll get pneumonia.” Her gaze swept over to the portable phone. “I can’t believe it. Don’t you think we should have felt something? Sensed something?”

  Yoko licked at her lips. “I do not know. I felt nothing, sensed nothing. Kathryn will be devastated.”

  Alexis wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. “I bet that doctor who was treating Julia was a quack. Old people die in their sleep. Not people like Julia. She can’t be dead. She was supposed to come here soon. She was recovering. I know he’s a quack. I just know it.” Sobs rocked her shoulders.

  Yoko placed a tiny hand on Alexis’s shoulder. “No, he was not a quack, Alexis. He was a fine man. Charles showed us his credentials. He is well known, sought after by people all over the world. The treatments were all experimental. Julia knew that from the beginning. We all knew it could go either way, including Charles. Julia made the final decision. Passing away in one’s sleep is…” She didn’t finish her sentence because Kathryn and Nikki suddenly swept through the door to stand puddling in the middle of the floor.

  Yoko ran to the laundry room and returned with a pile of thick yellow towels. She handed them out before she ran back to the laundry room to strip off her own wet clothes.

  Alexis wiped her eyes again. “Julia passed away in her sleep,” she blurted out. “Her doctor just called. He said…he said Julia made all her final arrangements when she signed into the hospital for her initial visit. She’s to be cremated this very afternoon and her ashes will be spread somewhere near the Alps. Maybe he said over the Alps. I can’t remember. He said it was what she wanted.” She burst into tears and ran from the room, leaving Kathryn and Nikki to stare at one another.

  The only sounds to be heard were the dryer clicking on in the laundry room, and Alexis’s choked sobs.

  Kathryn was the first to act. Her face grim, she stomped her way to the little stand under the skylight where Julia’s plant sat. Purposely, she counted the new shiny leaves, checked the soil for dampness and then stepped back. Nikki watched, her eyes full of tears. Kathryn picked up the plant, looked at it again and stomped her way to the door. She opened it and, with a baseball player’s arm, pitched the plant as far as it would go. The rain continued to pour down, driving inward to the kitchen, flooding the floor. Before Yoko could stop it the door slammed and a long stemmed leaf with the root still attached and full of tiny white pellets blew into the kitchen and settled on the floor at Kathryn’s feet. Kathryn howled an ungodly sound and ran from the room. Nikki followed her, tears running down her cheeks as she fled.

  Left alone, wrapped in her two yellow towels, Yoko picked up the leaf and stuck it in a glass of water. Some things, she thought sadly, were not meant to die.

  As Yoko made her way upstairs she thought about Julia’s empty chair in the war room and what it would mean to her and the others. They were minus a sister now. Would things start to unravel and fall apart? She looked down at the watch on her slim wrist. It wasn’t even nine o’clock and already there had been enough bad news to last a lifetime.

  Yoko walked past Nikki’s room. She could hear her crying inside. She raised her hand to knock on the door but changed her mind. Everyone needed to grieve in their own way.

  Inside her room, Nikki sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, Willie clutched to her breast, tears gushing down her face. Jenny and Julia gone. Within hours of one another. How could that be? Did the universe tilt, did God get angry, what? More to the point, why?

  Nikki brought her knees up to her chest, squeezing the worn, fragile teddy bear so tightly against her that she let out a yelp of pain. Jenny with the pug nose, freckles and laughing eyes. Jenny who could make a joke about anything, more often than not at her own expense. Best friend Jenny. A hell of a lawyer. How she’d been looking forward to motherhood, just the way Barbara had looked forward to it. Now, like Barbara, she was gone.

  Nikki’s gaze went to the pile of rainbow-colored presents she’d accumulated for Jenny’s baby shower. Most of them had been purchased before she went to the islands. Others had been ordered from catalogs while on the islands. For some strange reason, her host on the island had allowed catalog and Internet shopping. Now what was she going to do with the mountain of presents? Like that was really important. She’d donate them to someone. End of story.

  Nikki hiccuped. She always hiccuped when she was angry and she was so angry right now she thought she was capable of chewing iron and spitting out rust. Willie hit the floor as Nikki went on a rampage, ripping and gouging, tossing and kicking every single thing she could see in the bedroom she’d shared with Barbara. She even upturned the rocker and then kicked it, knowing she probably broke all her toes doing so. The pain ricocheted up her leg but she ignored it. She started to curse and when she ran through her list of dirty words, she made up some that shocked even her.

  Her wet hair flying in all directions and still wearing the same wet clothes, Nikki looked up when her bedroom door opened. The four women took in the scene at a glance. As one, they moved into the room, tidying up as they went along.

  Isabelle nudged a trembling Nikki toward the bathroom where she turned on the shower. “Get in! Your lips are blue. We can’t afford to lose you, too.” Her tone was firm and stern but not unkind. Nikki’s shoulders slumped but she did as she was told.

  Ten minutes later, Nikki emerged from the bathroom to see the four women sitting on her now made-up bed. They all started to jabber at once. Nikki just shook her head. “You don’t understand; Jenny, Barb and me, we were inseparable. We were best friends. Don’t you think it a little strange that they both died while they were pregnant and both died in car accidents?”

  Kathryn shrugged. “I admit it’s freaky, but freaky things happen all the time. We didn’t know your friend Jenny, Nikki. We’re sorry for your loss, we really are. Right now, all the four of us can think of is Julia, and I know you’re as upset as we are over that. You’ll be able to lay your friend to rest. We can’t do that for Julia. I’m never going to get over the fact that she planned her own…you know…funeral. Scattered over the Alps. Why do people do that? It’s like they were never here.”

  Their heads jerked upright at Murphy’s and Grady’s furious
barking. A second later, both dogs bounded into the room. Isabelle ran to the window. “We have company!” she shouted. “Did anyone lock the kitchen door? Whoever it is knows the code to the gate. It’s not Myra and Charles!”

  Kathryn grabbed the poker from the stand beside Nikki’s fireplace and then led the charge downstairs, the dogs running ahead. The women huddled together as they watched what appeared to be a woman holding an umbrella in front of her advancing to the back door. The dogs continued to bark and howl. The women did nothing to stop them.

  A violent gust of wind sent the visitor’s umbrella straight up in the air, affording the women a clear view of the unwelcome intruder.

  “It’s Maddie, my office manager,” Nikki said. “Quick, open the door and quiet the dogs down, then you all need to retire to the second floor. I’ll make the explanations to Maddie.”

  Maddie stood in the middle of the floor, rain dripping from her clothes. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything. Nikki, I didn’t know what else to do. I suppose I could have called you but…but I decided you might need to see for yourself. It took me almost three hours to get here. This storm is terrible. If you have company,” Maddie said, motioning to the kitchen staircase, “I can come back later.”

  Three hours on the road has to mean she doesn’t know about Jenny. She’s here for something else, Nikki thought. Jack? Oh, God, maybe something happened to Jack. Finally, Nikki managed to get her tongue to work. “What is it you want me to see?”

  “Nikki, what’s wrong? Has something happened? Where’s Myra?”

  Nikki’s shoulders slumped. “It’s Jenny. Brad was taking her to the hospital earlier and they were hit head-on by one of those big delivery trucks. Jenny is…she’s dead, Maddie, and so is the baby. Myra and Charles went to town to be with Aunt Cornelia. Brad’s OK,” she added, almost as an afterthought.

  Shocked at the news, Maddie sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, rainwater puddling at her feet. Her eyes were glazed as she tried to come to terms with what she’d just heard. Finally she raised her head and said, “Brad walked away from a head-on collision with a delivery truck? They weigh tons. I am so very sorry, Nikki. I loved that spitfire. The three of you — Barbara, Jenny and you — made it a joy to come to the office in the morning. You three were the best of the best.”

  Nikki ran her hands through her wet hair. “And now there’s just me. Kind of spooky, eh? I want you to close the office, Maddie. Put up a sign that says we’re closed due to a death in the family. But you aren’t leaving here until this storm lets up. Do you hear me?”

  Maddie wiped her tear-stained cheeks. “Yes, boss, I hear you.”

  “Now, why did you drive all the way out here? Don’t tell me Allison Banks had us served at the office.”

  Maddie shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I brought someone out here to see you. Nikki, I didn’t know what else to do or where else to go. Can I bring her inside?”

  “Of course you can bring her inside. Is it anyone I know?”

  “I’m not sure if you know her or not. I’m going to…to need some help, Nikki. Put your slicker on.”

  Nikki obliged and both women ran to the car. Maddie jerked the door open. Nikki craned her neck to see into the corner of the car where a strangely familiar face stared back at her. A sound of pain escaped Nikki’s lips. “Oh, my God!”

  “She can barely walk, Nikki. I don’t know if we’ll hurt her more by carrying her or not, but we have to get her inside. I didn’t know where else to take her. Before you can ask, she refused to go to the hospital.”

  The woman in the back seat whimpered as Nikki and Maddie did their best to extricate her from the car. She cried openly as they made a seat with their hands and carried her into Myra’s house and on into the sunroom and to the sofa.

  Her grief temporarily shelved, Nikki whispered, “She needs a doctor, Maddie.”

  “I know. I thought Myra might know a doctor who wouldn’t have a loose lip. I didn’t know what to do, Nikki. I keep saying that, don’t I?”

  “Well, I sure as hell know what to do. Please tell me she isn’t going to go back to where this happened.”

  “No, she isn’t going back. I want you to help her the way you helped those other women who had insurmountable problems and who came through our offices. Will you do it, Nikki?”

  Nikki didn’t have to think twice. “Yes.”

  Thirteen

  Nikki motioned Maddie to follow her out of earshot of the woman sitting on the sofa.

  “Maddie, I’m no doctor. I don’t know if I can even reach Charles to ask for his help. Why didn’t you insist on going to the hospital? What if she’s bleeding internally? She’s the wife of the President’s national security advisor, isn’t she? I’ve seen her pictures in the paper. What’s her name?”

  “Paula Woodley. We have to do something. I’m not sure about this but I think she’s been to every hospital in the area. How many accidents can one person have? You know all about spousal abuse. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she used other names, too, for hospital visits. We have to do something. Nikki, I don’t know the lady personally, but I know her sister Nancy. Nancy is the one who called me to ask if I would check on her sister. She lives in Pennsylvania. She said she’d been trying to call Paula but there was no answer and she was worried. I guess no one knows about…all of this. Like most battered wives, Paula hasn’t told anyone. It’s hard for her to talk; the bastard broke her front teeth. She did allow me to bring her here and she did tell me her husband is the one who beat her. I really didn’t want to ask too many questions. To tell you the truth, I was scared out of my wits that someone would try to stop me when I went to get her.”

  Nikki seethed. The anger raging through her was almost a welcome relief, driving her grief to the back of her mind and heart. “I’ll take it from here, Maddie. I don’t want you involved in any of this. I want you to go back to the office. Don’t answer any questions if you get caught up in this. In other words, you’ve had a memory lapse. You know the drill.”

  “OK. She’s going to be all right, isn’t she, Nikki?”

  Nikki massaged her temples. “I don’t know, Maddie. Call me to let me know you got back all right.”

  “I will. I think the rain is letting up.”

  The minute Maddie swept through the security gates, Nikki ran upstairs. “Quick!” she shouted. “Come with me. I need your help.”

  The women dropped what they were doing to follow Nikki down the stairs, through the kitchen and into the sunroom where Paula Woodley was lying on the sofa.

  “Get her some brandy. I’m going to call Charles. See if there’s anything we can do for her other than the brandy, and I’m not even sure we should be giving her that.”

  In the kitchen, Nikki dialed Charles’s private cell phone number. The minute she heard his strained voice, with her own high-pitched in response she updated him on Julia and Paula Woodley.

  “Charles, are you there? Tell me what to do! Charles! Look, there’s nothing we can do about Julia. We’re all as devastated as you are. I need some help here. The woman could be bleeding internally. She’s the wife of the president’s national security advisor. Do you want me to call EMS?”

  Finally Charles’s voice came through, strong and assured-sounding. “I’ll send someone immediately. I’m not going to say anything to Myra about Julia just yet. She’s coping right now, reliving Barbara’s death, and trying to be strong for Cornelia. I’ll check back with you in a little while.”

  Nikki didn’t respond; she simply clicked off the phone and then clicked it back on to call Jack. She relaxed the moment she heard his sleepy voice. Oh, how she wished she were there to kiss him fully awake. The fact that she’d woken him had to mean he didn’t know about Jenny. She didn’t waste any time in blurting out the facts as she knew them.

  “Oh, God, Nik, I am so sorry. I’ll go right over there. Where are you? Are you OK?”

  “I’m at the farm. No, I’m not all right. How coul
d I be? On top of that, Julia, Dr. Webster, passed away in her sleep last night. I know I shouldn’t be telling you that, but I don’t want to keep anything from you. I have to hang up because I have a crisis here at the farm I have to deal with. Stay in touch, Jack.”

  “I love you,” was all he said in reply.

  Nikki was about to respond when Alexis entered the kitchen. “OK. Me too. Gotta go now.”

  “The lady wants a drink. We decided to veto the brandy. Any luck with Charles?” Alexis asked as she poured iced water from a pitcher in the refrigerator.

  “Yes. He’s sending someone. I had to tell him about Julia. I think he’s as devastated as we all are. He’s not going to tell Myra until later. She’s doing her best to be strong for Judge Easter. Hey, we’re women, we can handle this.”

  Alexis set the pitcher of water back in the refrigerator. “Who is she, Nikki? She looks familiar.”

  Nikki didn’t even consider lying. “Her name is Paula Woodley. Her husband is the President’s national security advisor. You might have seen her picture in the paper at some White House function.”

  Alexis’s jaw dropped. Nikki reached out to take the glass of water from her hands. “Did he do that to her? What a stupid question, of course he did. I bet you this isn’t the first time he’s done it, either. God, how I hate wife-beaters.”

  “Me, too,” Nikki muttered as she looked down at the numbers on her watch. How long, she wondered, would it take the help Charles promised to arrive?

  Kathryn, Isabelle and Yoko were kneeling on the floor in front of the sofa. They took turns talking to the almost comatose woman.

  Nikki handed the glass of water to Kathryn, who looked at it, then at the woman. “I think she needs a straw.” Alexis ran back to the kitchen and returned with one.

  Paula Woodley tried to suck on the straw, her eyes filling with tears when she couldn’t quite manage it. Alexis ran back to the kitchen and returned with a wad of paper napkins. “Soak them and rub it over her lips. Some will ooze into her mouth.”