*****
“I’m afraid it’s going to take awhile.” Elspeth Newberry spoke quietly into the phone. “She’s very unresponsive. Mostly just sits by herself and stares. She doesn’t even seem to want a toy or a stuffed animal to cling to.”
“What did the doctor say?” Maggie shifted the phone receiver to her other ear and absently pushed the shift key to bring the document she was working on back to the computer screen.
“He said she’s a little undernourished—”
“I meant her mental state.”
“He recommended she be seen by someone. But I’d like to wait and see what a stable home life and love will do first.”
Maggie turned away from her computer terminal and glanced out her office window. The sky was a hard wash of blue-gray with a battalion of puffed-wheat clouds moving quickly across it, their edges heavy with the promise of rain. “Do you see any sense of Elise in her?”
“Well, of course I do. Will you be coming for dinner tonight, dear?”
“No, I’m seeing Brownie, but maybe tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow will be fine. Oh! We want to talk with you about adding a security system on your apartment too, Maggie.”
“I don’t need it, Mom.”
“It’s not for you, sweetheart. It’s for your father and me. We have trouble sleeping knowing you’re in mortal danger.”
Maggie laughed and so did Elspeth.
“Come over tomorrow if you can. And don’t worry about Nicole. These things have a way of working themselves out.”
Maggie hung up and turned back to her document on the screen, but she couldn’t seem to focus on the work. She rested her fingers on the keyboard.
What had Gerard done to the poor kid?
Come to that, what had Elise done to her?
Between thoughts of poor little Nicole and what was obviously a Franco one-night stand, Maggie felt the beginnings of a bone-wracking fatigue wash over her. Would raising an emotionally handicapped child in their twilight years serve to assuage the guilt her parents felt about their older daughter? Would it help them pay enough dues for a good night’s sleep? Maggie rubbed her eyes.
“Ready to talk about Hi-Jinks Kiddee Wear?” Gary poked his head in her office, a disposable diaper pulled down over his face.
Maggie smiled and gathered up her notebook. “Product testing?” she said as she followed him into the conference room.
Murder in the South of France, Book 1 of the Maggie Newberry Mysteries Page 7
