Chapter Twenty-Seven
TWENTY-SEVEN
“Bea!” Vivian shrieked, dropping to her knees next to her friend.
Bea’s eyes were still open, but her lashes were fluttering. “Feel all woozy,” she muttered. “Vivian? What did he…” She trailed off, blinking rapidly. “Viv?”
Vivian could feel the hot burn of tears like something at a distance. Clutching one of Bea’s hands, she turned back toward the door, trying to aim the gun at Dr. Harris. But he was grappling with Leo, and there was no clear shot.
But Dr. Harris’s only advantage was the wildness that panic gave him. He wasn’t a fighter. When Leo’s fist connected with his jaw, he went down in a crumpled heap, whimpering and clutching his face.
Leo shook out his hand, grimacing as he stood, and kicked the doctor in the ribs for good measure before hauling the other man up and shoving him toward the opposite end of the room, far away from the door and anything else he might use as a weapon.
Vivian stumbled to her feet, the gun pointed straight at the doctor. “What did you do to her?” she demanded. “What did you do? Fix it! Fix it now!”
Dr. Harris had to grab the edge of a chair to keep himself upright, wincing and gasping with pain.
There were tear tracks on his cheeks, and his breathing was heavy, but he gave her a gloating look.
“Kick that gun over here and I’ll tell you which bottle has an antidote.
” When Vivian hesitated, he gave a chuckle, though it made him clutch at his side.
“Ticktock, Vivian. Time’s running out. Kick it over here. Now.”
Vivian stared down at Bea. With a gasped sob, she started to place the gun on the floor.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Leo’s voice made her jump. He came to stand next to her, the syringe dangling from two fingers. When Vivian gave him a quick glance, about to argue, she was stunned to see that he was smiling. It was not a kind expression.
“It’s not a poison,” he said. “It’s a sedative.”
“Are you sure?” Vivian demanded. Her hands were shaking now, the gun trembling as she pointed it at Dr. Harris.
“It says so right on the label,” Leo said, calm and reassuring.
Dropping the syringe, he crushed it under one foot, and the doctor flinched at the sound.
“And he only got half of it into her. Keep that gun pointed at him.” Kneeling down, Leo lifted Bea so that she was supported by one arm.
With the other he gently patted Bea’s cheeks. “You all right, Beatrice?”
“Don’t feel so good,” she mumbled. But she lifted her head, and after a moment Leo was able to help her to her feet, though she had to lean heavily on him. “Where’d you come from?”
“I can tell when Viv is lying to me,” he said dryly. “And you girls didn’t look behind you when you were heading this way. Figured I’d tag along and see if I was needed.”
“Thanks,” Bea mumbled. “Guess I owe you one.”
“Don’t mention it. So what’re we going to do about him?”
Vivian stared at Dr. Harris, and he stared back at her, his expression equal parts sullen resentment and fear. “I don’t know,” she said at last.
Dr. Harris drew himself up, though it made him wince. “Look, I think we can all be reasonable here. Beatrice is fine, you’ve got the upper hand. Congratulations. But you know you’re not going to shoot me. So let’s—”
“I want that dress back, first of all.”
“What on earth for?” Dr. Harris asked in genuine disbelief.
“Because it’s not yours,” Vivian snapped.
“And plenty of girls could find themselves out of work because it’s gone.
” Her voice was shaking, and she had to take a deep breath.
“Why did you want it anyway? You paid off your father’s debts.
And you’ve made it clear that theft, at least, is beneath you.
So why have me steal it? Were you hoping I’d get caught and arrested? ”
“I wasn’t hoping anything, Vivian, I just needed to distract you. I was in a panic.”
“Really?” Vivian snorted in disbelief. “Because it seems like your father was hoping I’d end up dead. He almost shot me. I assume that was your father? And that he was the same helpful cop who snatched the brandy bottle from Bellevue?” She shook her head. “Can’t believe I told you about that, too.”
“He wasn’t supposed to shoot at you.” Dr. Harris sighed, but that made him wince too, and he prodded himself in the side carefully. “I think your bruiser there broke one of my ribs.”
“Happy to break more of them,” Leo said with icy cheerfulness.
“Charming company you girls keep,” the doctor said.
“My father’s job was just to watch out and make sure no one tried to follow me.
Bash them over the head or something.” To Vivian’s surprise, he smiled at them.
“Look, girls, and you, whoever you are. I may have done a questionable thing or two, but I did it for family. And I honestly tried to warn you away. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. ”
“Hurt,” Bea said coldly. “Is that what you call what you did to my uncle?”
“Beatrice, your uncle was robbing his coworkers and neighbors,” Dr. Harris said, shaking his head as though he were deeply disappointed. “He was hardly a saint.”
“Maybe not,” Bea said. “But at least he wasn’t a murderer.”
Dr. Harris flinched, as if the word murderer was one step too far. His confidence wavered for a moment, and he glanced nervously at the gun that Vivian still held. But then he pulled himself together, his smile returning.
“You’ve got no proof,” he pointed out. “Not with your bottle of brandy missing. You’d need the police to dig up some evidence, wouldn’t you?”
“You think they won’t?” Leo demanded.
“We can’t do anything to him and he knows it,” Vivian said through clenched teeth. “His dad’s a cop. There’s no way we can convince any of them to look into it. Unless … Leo?”
He knew she was asking about his uncle, and she could hear the grimace in his voice as he spoke, though she didn’t take her eyes off the doctor.
“I don’t think he would. Not just on my say-so, not for something like this.
” His voice grew colder. “But I could probably get you off if you just shot him right now.”
The revolver trembled in Vivian’s hand. Dr. Harris saw, and he shook his head, still smiling. “Would you shoot me, Vivian? Do you think you could live with yourself if you did that?”
She couldn’t, not like this, and she knew it. But she didn’t lower the gun. “Tell me why I shouldn’t.”
“Well, because I would prefer not to die.” Dr. Harris chuckled, but the sound faded quickly as he took in their stony expressions.
“And because I’m a doctor. Helping people is what I do.
Do you want to take that away from your neighbors, from all the people I help around here?
” Dr. Harris’s voice was pleading. But there was a note of confidence in it, as though he had her all figured out. She hated that he was probably right.
“Didn’t do much to help Pearlie,” Bea said coldly.
“I am sorry about your uncle, Beatrice, truly,” Dr. Harris said softly.
“But I was desperate, and it was the only thing I could think of. I didn’t have the money I needed to bail out my father, and I wasn’t going to come by it any other way.
Most of the people I see can’t even afford to pay me.
Pearlie’s death…” He shook his head. “It was awful, it was wrong, I know that. But because of it, I can keep doing the work I need to do. How many lives do you think I’ve saved, Beatrice?
How many babies do you think I can save next? ”
“Is that the story you told yourself to pretend you were the hero?” Bea asked, and her voice was shaking. “Vivian, just shoot him.”
“She won’t do that,” Dr. Harris said firmly.
“No, she won’t,” another voice said from behind them.
Out of the corner of her eye, Vivian saw Leo spin around, Bea wobbling in his arms at the sudden movement, but she didn’t take her eyes off Dr. Harris. She didn’t need to. She recognized the voice.
“Hello, Dad,” Dr. Harris said with a lopsided smile. “Not to worry, these folks are just leaving. We’re all just going to pretend this whole thing never happened.”
“And I just forget about Pearlie?” Vivian demanded. “Forget that you’re a criminal and a murderer?”
“You hang out with plenty of criminals, girl,” Arthur Harris said from behind her. “You even are one yourself now. Don’t think we don’t know how you got that dress. We’ve got as much dirt on you as you have on us. So yeah, you forget all about it.”
“There’s no need for that, Dad,” Dr. Harris said.
Absurdly, he looked embarrassed, as if his father had said something crude in the middle of a fancy restaurant.
“Look, my father is retiring and leaving the city, so I won’t need that kind of money again.
That means no more letters. I’m not dumb enough to try this again when you’d know it was me, anyway. ”
“Better decide quick,” Arthur Harris snapped. “I got a whole mess of buddies on their way from the station. I’d hate to see what happens if you’re still hanging around when they get here.”
He might have been lying. But they still had to give in, Vivian realized, her heart pounding. They couldn’t risk messing with a crooked cop. Not like this. Leo had a free pass out of trouble, and he might be able to bring her along with him. But Bea …
Bea would end up in prison or worse. She couldn’t risk that.
“If you ever come after my sister again, I will kill you.” Vivian didn’t stop to think if the threat was wise before she made it.
But Dr. Harris didn’t seem offended. If anything, he looked disappointed, even a little hurt.
“The letter was a threat to you, Vivian, not to Florence. I thought you understood that. I would never do anything to hurt your sister, she’s a delightful girl.
Before all this messiness, I was even thinking of asking her to the pictures. ”
“You don’t come near her,” Vivian snapped.
“No, I think that ship has sailed.” He sighed, then shrugged. “Shame. But now that we have all that unpleasantness sorted out, you should get going before you end up arrested for assaulting me in my own home. It really is time to put this behind us.”
Vivian stared at him, horrified by his pleasant tone. He was going to get away with it all. And she had to let him.
Slowly, she lowered the gun.
“I knew you were a smart girl,” Dr. Harris said warmly, almost as if they were having a friendly conversation. He even smiled at her, but there was a cruel edge to it. “So you can go back to serving liquor to drunks and socialites. And I can go back to helping out folks who might die without me.”
“Keep telling yourself whatever helps you sleep at night,” Leo said. “Come on, girls. We’ve gotta get out of here.”
Vivian glanced over her shoulder; Arthur had stepped to one side, gesturing toward the door with one hand in a motion that was almost a bow.
The smile on his face was mocking. Leo still had one arm around Bea’s waist and was hustling her out the door.
Vivian looked back at Dr. Harris one more time.
He raised his brows, an expression that was half question, half challenge.
The gun hanging by her side and her finger still on the trigger, Vivian backed up and followed her friends out the door.