A Purse to Die For by Melodie Campbell, Cynthia St-Pierre Page B

Bye. Thank you. "
    " What ' s going on? " Nellie asked.
    After closing the door behind them, Gina said, " Let ' s sit in the living room before you go up to bed. "
    " Where ' s Mom? "
    They walked into the room. Aunt Mandy and Cousin Tony were there.
    " Why don ' t you sit down, " Aunt Mandy said.
    Even if it started with the word why , it wasn ' t a question. So Nellie sat in her favourite chair, the one that was good for reading. " Where ' s Mom? "
    " That ' s what we want to talk to you about, " Gina said. She looked at Tony and he looked back at her.
    Nellie knew it was going to be worse than when Father found out she spilled orange juice in his truck. He ' d wanted to get out his belt and punish her, but Mom said it was just an accident and partly her fault for letting her have a juice box while they were out running errands. And not to take it out on their daughter.
    " Your Mom ' s in the hospital, " Tony explained.
    " The doctors there are looking after her, " Gina said.
    " She ' ll be fine, " Aunt Mandy said.
    Nellie rubbed her hands on the sides of her jeans. " Can I go to the hospital and see her? "
    " Maybe in the morning. "
    " Probably. "
    " Everything ' s going to be all right , dear. "
    " Father? "
    They all looked surprised.
    " We don ' t know, dear. "
    Sometimes he was gone all night. Not as scary as Mom being in the hospital. " Do I still go to school tomorrow? "
    " Not if you don ' t want to, " Gina said.
    Nellie ' s lip quivered.
    " Do you think you can start getting ready for bed now, hon? " asked Gina. " If I help? "
    " What about Mom ' s go odnight kiss? " Nellie tried to get off the chair like she knew she was supposed to, but her legs got tangled up and she tripped. All three grown-ups reached out to catch her, but she didn ' t fall. Or cry. She thought she might make it all the way up the st airs without any tears because she almost never cried in front of people. Except it felt like an entire oc ean was pushing against her eyeballs from inside. S he let out a howl. " I want Mom! "
    Her aunt and two cousins rushed toward her. Nellie knew they ' d all put their arms arou nd her and try to comfort her. But s he turned to Gina and buried her face i n her cousin ' s stomach .
     
    Becki called the house to see how Nellie was doing and also to pass along the last thing Detective Dumont had said before leaving the hospital. One thing for sure, tell everyone in the Ferrero family that no one, including Ferrero houseguests, leaves until this case is sorted out.
    While on the phone, after assuring Becki she ' d managed to settle Nellie, Gina had passed along her own piece of startling news. Her mother and father had cut short their vacation, flown all day and were now heading to Langdon Hills in an airport limo.
    In the meantime, Becki was trying to find a comfortable position in one of the plastic chairs in Carla ' s hospital room. Jerry, Linda and Ian were still around somewhere. Maybe getting c hocolate g lazed d onuts from a Tim Hortons, if there was one in Langdon Hills. But Becki wanted to make sure Carla didn ' t wake up to an empty room. She was pretty sure the guard outside the door wouldn ' t be a reassuring presence.
    Becki knew she couldn ' t sleep even if she did find a position she could hold longer than five minutes. Some people could sleep sitting up, some couldn ' t. When she worked in Toronto, there was this annoying co-worker who bragged that after she closed up whenever she worked late, she got on the subway at Eglinton and slept until the train stopped at her station—North York Centre—and she never, ever missed her stop.
    " Ahhh! " Carla ' s body jerked under the thin blanket covering her. Her better eye opened.
    " It ' s all right , Carla, " Becki soothed. " Sleep if you want. Everything ' s fine. Sleep. "
    But Carla turned her head left, then right, and pushed herself up against the headboard. She was bandaged and her leg was in a cast, but she wasn ' t attached to any tubes or lines,