Page 39 of The Side Road (Love Chronicles #3)

A PILL

In the garage, Leo was helping Oliver repair the aged wiring loom on the Black Shadow.

With a new battery installed and the electrical system updated, the rebuild was almost complete.

Oliver’s search for an original exhaust had so far proved fruitless.

A custom version was his only option, and the design would need to be commissioned soon.

‘Have you seen Mike’s wife lately?’ Oliver, perched on a low stool beside the bike, pointed at a nearby pair of pliers.

‘Helen? No, not for a while. Why?’ Leo passed him the pliers.

‘Every time I see Mike, he tells me she’s at the hairdresser’s or getting her nails done. Yesterday she was having her eyebrows waxed.’

‘Sounds about right.’

‘I’ve seen her once in six months and her car hasn’t moved from the driveway.’

Leo’s frown greeted his hairline. ‘You think we should check on her?’

‘Yes.’ Oliver put down the pliers .

A short time later, Leo and Oliver were standing on the front veranda of Mike and Helen’s house. A three-bedroom Californian bungalow with wide eaves. The cushions on the cane patio furniture were missing, and several chairs had toppled over.

Oliver righted the fallen chairs.

With a nod, Leo directed his gaze at the garden beds that ran along the front of the house. ‘The hydrangeas haven’t been pruned since last year,’ he noted.

Shielding his eyes, Oliver peered through the window. Inside, the house was conspicuously dark.

At the front door, Leo stepped in front of Oliver. ‘I’ve known Mike and Helen for twenty years.’ He rang the bell. ‘Mike was an animator, worked for an advertising company drawing cartoons. Retired a few years ago.’

‘And Helen?’

‘She was in insurance for a while.’

When they received no answer, Leo tried the bell again. He followed this with a firm rap on the door. There was still no answer. They directed their gazes to Helen’s car, a white Toyota parked in the driveway. Leaves had gathered on the hood.

‘Let’s go around the back,’ Leo suggested.

Leo led the way, and they headed down the side of the house.

The backyard was orderly. Someone had mulched and pruned the fruit trees.

Freshly mown grass clung to Oliver’s work boots.

At the back of the house was a raised, covered deck with an outdoor dining setting and a barbecue in one corner.

Lying on a daybed was Helen. Her legs were partly covered by a blanket and her eyes were closed.

White as a ghost, her lips were pale, but the rise and fall of her chest indicated she was breathing.

It was unclear whether she was asleep or sedated .

Wearing dishevelled pyjamas and a towelling dressing gown with scuffed slippers, her thin, grey hair hung loose. She hadn’t seen the inside of a hairdressing salon for some time.

‘Helen, it’s Leo. I’m with Oliver from next door. Is Mike around?’ Leo called from the grass.

Helen didn’t answer, but the pattern of her breathing faltered.

‘You remember Oliver from next door?’ Leo continued.

Helen’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. But no words came out.

‘Oh, dear.’ Leo sighed. ‘Helen, have you had a stroke?’

She opened her eyes and offered a discernible shake of her head.

Leo climbed the steps. ‘Are you having a bad day? Not feeling well?’

Quietly, she began to cry.

Leo kneeled beside her. ‘I understand. Do you think you might be depressed?’

From her dressing gown pocket, she retrieved a tissue and dabbed her eyes.

‘We’ll get you some help,’ Leo continued. ‘Mind if I put the kettle on?’

Helen pressed her lips together. Oliver thought she might be holding her breath. A long, painstaking moment followed before she eventually breathed and nodded at the same time.

‘Under control,’ Leo said, and he headed inside the house.

It was a signal for Oliver to leave. He knew Helen was in good hands.

The following day, the rain started early.

Not the gentle patter of a shower, but a relentless downpour that turned the streets into rivers.

Mia, snuggled up with Snood in the sitting room, worked on her patterns for Halloween accessories: knitted and embroidered pumpkins, ghosts, spiders, and wearable costume ideas like animal noses and ears.

With Holly still away, she needed a distraction, and there was nothing like a complicated lace stitch, which she was using to create an intricate pattern for spiderwebs – not all knitters were beginners – to keep her mind focused and not on the dire state of her heart.

It felt like the organ had shrivelled into a tight knot and, pressing against her ribs, it caused a deep ache in her chest.

Midway through plotting her spiderweb, Blanche called. She couldn’t find her pills. Distraught, she gasped for air.

‘What pills?’ Mia asked.

‘Tramadol for my back. I take one every night before bed. I can’t find it and Leo’s in Sydney.’

‘I didn’t know Leo was in Sydney. What’s he doing in the city?’

‘Business. Check-ups. Visiting the native plant nursery. Seeing old friends. All the normal things people do in the city. Mia, this is serious! I’m in dreadful pain. I need that pill.’

‘Is it just one pill? Don’t you have others?’

‘I get one prescription a fortnight. It’s the last in the packet.’

The panic in Blanche’s voice tugged at Mia’s heart. The poor woman was alone in a storm without her pain medication. Mia could relate to her plight.

‘I’ll come over and help you look.’ Mia wrapped up her lace and webs, placing them into a bag.

At the front door, she slipped on her rain jacket and waterproof boots. Snood took one look at her, turned and walked in the opposite direction, back to the cosy sitting area .

‘You’re not wrong. It’s an angry storm. Unhappy wind,’ Mia said. The weather was atrocious.

With both hands clutching the BMW brakes, Mia made her way carefully down the hill.

Crossing the bridge was straightforward, but the rest of the journey was terrifying.

Due to the poor visibility – helmets desperately needed wipers – she splashed through the middle of every pothole.

The bike veered across the road as the wind gusts pushed it sideways.

The rain was like a thousand tiny knives piercing any area of her unprotected skin.

Despite the double layer of gloves, her hands froze.

But there was no going back. She kept her head down and continued; the trip had ignited her adventurous spirit.

The only upside, she had the road to herself.

Blanche met Mia at the front door. ‘Why didn’t you get a taxi?’

Mia peeled off her waterlogged raincoat. ‘It sounded urgent. In weather like this, a taxi takes forever.’

Blanche stepped onto the porch. She took Mia’s raincoat and hung it over a chair. Lowering her voice, she said, ‘I think Flora took the pill.’

‘I heard that.’ A voice from inside. ‘Don’t blame me.’ There was nothing wrong with Flora’s hearing.

‘Flora is here?’ Mia asked, surprised to find Blanche was not alone.

‘Yes, we’re playing cards.’

Inside, Arthur and Flora sat at the kitchen table.

The game looked like poker. The pot held loose coins, icy pole sticks, paperclips, fake money, and the odd haberdashery item.

Mia spied a handful of gorgeous azure buttons.

They might be antique. She picked one up and studied the swirling gold detailing .

‘Art deco,’ Arthur confirmed. ‘An heirloom from my mother. Probably worth a bit.’

Flora was losing; her pile of bric-à-brac was half the size of the other players. After checking her cards, she moved everything she had into the pot, which included a spool of thread and a marking pencil. Arthur, intimidated by Flora’s boldness, folded. Flora was back in the game.

‘I’ll need that button back,’ Arthur said.

Reluctantly, Mia handed it over.

Mia turned to Blanche. ‘You didn’t think to ask the card players to help you look.’ She glanced out the back window at the torrential rain.

‘Between the three of us, we have fifty percent vision. I need a pair of sharp eyes and someone with working knees. If I don’t take my pill before bed, I might as well get in the car and drive straight off a cliff. The pain is unbearable. I won’t make it through the night.’

Seeing the Mazda keys on the kitchen bench, Mia slipped them into her pocket.

‘You take the car. I’ll take the bedroom. It might be loose,’ Blanche confessed.

They were looking for a loose pill.

Mia figured she was already wet, so venturing outside into the howling wind and rain made little difference to her comfort. Fifteen minutes later, she returned empty-handed. After searching the bathroom, Blanche was also at a loss.

‘Do you have another subscription? A spare pack?’ Mia asked.

‘I pick up my repeat every fourteen days. That’s all I’m allowed. I’m going to kill myself if I don’t take a Tramadol tonight.’

What a life, Mia thought.

There was nothing else to do but turn the house upside down.

Mia searched every drawer, cupboard, shelf, and closet.

She checked under the beds. Dark corners were scrutinised.

Cushions were overturned. She found a variety of missing items, including odd socks, reading glasses, a puzzle book, and a half-eaten chocolate bar.

Blanche’s repeated insistence that Flora had taken the pill prompted Mia to invite Flora into the bathroom for a quiet chat.

‘Flora,’ she said, ‘I’m not saying you took the pill, but I have to ask, did you take the last Tramadol?’

Flora gave Mia a sideways glance and fiddled with the crocheted fringe on a hand towel. ‘Not this time,’ she said.

‘What do you mean, not this time ?’

‘Occasionally, if I have a bit of a headache, I might take one. But I didn’t take it this time.’

Mia rubbed her forehead.

‘Am I free to go?’

Mia shrugged.

‘I’ll send Arthur in.’

Mia hadn’t intended to launch an investigation, but Arthur entered the bathroom expecting to be questioned. She didn’t want to disappoint him, so she asked. ‘Did you take the pill?’

‘Of course not.’

Arthur suggested a placebo. They could substitute another pill for a Tramadol and see if Blanche noticed. But after a brief internet search on her phone, Mia discovered Tramadol capsules were a distinctive yellow-green colour. They couldn’t swap them for a generic painkiller.

‘I just remembered,’ Blanche said. ‘Leo hid a spare tablet.’

Flora and Arthur cheered.

Mia was less enthusiastic. ‘Do you remember where he hid it? ’

‘In the dresser drawer.’

Mia’s heart sank. They had searched the dresser drawers.

‘He taped it to the underside.’

In the bedroom, Mia opened the drawer and ran her hand across the flat underside. There it was – a single pill stuck to the surface. With her fingers, she peeled off the tape, and the pill fell into her hand. Clever Leo. Disaster averted.

Blanche suggested Mia stay for dinner, but Mia declined; she had food at home and Snood was waiting for her.

However, if the card game was still happening, she would happily sit in on a hand or two.

Her mind was on the antique azure button.

After checking her pockets and handbag, she found a few loose coins, a hair clip, two pencils, and a paper tape measure.

She added a pair of reading glasses, a chocolate bar, and a few odd socks to her pile of loot.

Flora dealt the cards. ‘Men get horny in wet weather. What do you think about that?’ she asked.

‘It’s a worthwhile hypothesis,’ Mia said, checking her cards – a pair of aces. ‘I’d be interested in your research methods.’ She discarded three cards.

‘It’s just something I’ve observed. In a thunderstorm, men beat their chests.’ Flora threw out one card. Arthur disposed of three.

‘Observational research,’ Mia said. ‘I like it.’

The gamblers placed their bets. The dealer delivered fresh cards. Mia received her third ace. She shifted her gaze to Arthur. ‘What’s your take on this horny weather business?’ Mia pushed everything she had into the pot.

‘It was too long ago for me to remember,’ Arthur said, folding.

Flora showed a pair of jacks.

Mia collected the button. A reward for her rainy-day escapade. Upon leaving, she donated her pile of bric-à-brac loot to her aunt and wished her luck.

As Flora collected the cards, she said, ‘Mia, do you have a date for tonight?’

‘No, not tonight,’ Mia replied.

‘You should have a date. I always had a date, every night of the week.’

‘When you were my age?’ Mia asked.

‘When I was your age, I’d been married for fifteen years and had two children. Next time, bring a date. There are never enough men. It’s a shame they die so young.’

‘Sad, but true,’ Arthur agreed.

The following morning, Blanche found the loose Tramadol tablet in the pocket of her dressing gown.