Chapter 44
JUDITH
George is surprised to find me sitting up in the chair, reading, when he comes in to say goodbye before he goes to work the next morning.
‘Goodness, you’re up early!’ he exclaims.
‘I woke up and my foot wasn’t hurting much,’ I tell him. ‘And my head feels so much clearer. I think I’m on the mend, darling.’
‘That is good news.’ He bends over and kisses me. ‘What’s that you’re reading?’
‘A detective book Lizzie bought me the other day. It’s very good.’ I mark my place and put the book on my bedside table. ‘I thought I’d read for a while.’
‘Excellent. But make sure you don’t tire yourself out.’ George’s eyes are full of concern. ‘I have to go to the shop early today so I’m getting something to eat in town, but Alison is in the kitchen making breakfast. She’ll look after you.’
‘I’ll go into the kitchen and help her,’ I tell him.
I reach for my walker and am delighted that I don’t need to lean on it so much this morning.
I’m finally getting better. I wonder if it’s because I didn’t take a couple of my painkillers yesterday, I slipped them into the drawer on the bedside cabinet so Alison wouldn’t realise.
I really don’t think I need as many as she’s giving me, they could be the reason I feel so exhausted.
‘I should be able to move back upstairs to sleep, soon,’ I tell George as we both make our way into the kitchen. I’m determined. We haven’t even spent a whole night together since we got married.
‘I’m so pleased you’re feeling stronger.’ He pats my hand and then pushes open the kitchen door.
Alison looks around. ‘Morning. I didn’t expect to see you up, Mum. I was about to wake you.’
‘She’s feeling very alert this morning, which is great news,’ George says. ‘Well, I’m off to work, I’ll see you both tonight.’ He pulls out a chair for me to sit down at the table, kisses me and then he’s gone.
‘Good to see you looking stronger, Mum.’ Alison hands me a cup of tea and a couple of tablets.
I take my blood pressure tablet but leave the others, swallowing it with a sip of my tea.
I wrinkle my nose, the tea tastes bitter.
I noticed that yesterday too and wonder if the tablets are affecting my taste buds.
I’ve heard that can happen with some medications.
Even more reason to leave them off. I can take a couple of paracetamol if the pains start to bother me.
The swelling is going down now although my ankle is still tender.
‘Not drinking your tea?’ Alison asks, turning around, then her eyes rest on the tablets. ‘And you haven’t taken all your tablets either.’ She looks concerned. ‘It really is important that you take them, Mum.’
‘I’m going to try and manage without them, I think they’re making me feel woozy,’ I tell her. ‘And I fancy some fruit juice rather than tea.’
‘Let me get it for you…’
I shake my head. ‘No, thank you. You’ve been marvellous, you really have and I appreciate you looking after me, but I need to pull myself together and get up and about. I’ve got a fractured ankle but that shouldn’t stop me living my life.’
‘Just be careful. You’ve been so depleted. We don’t want you to have another mini stroke.’
‘I won’t. I’ll grab myself a drink then go and have a shower.’
I can feel her eyes on me as I go over to the fridge. Am I imagining it or is there almost an air of panic about her?
I open the fridge, take out the carton of orange juice and pour myself a glass. Then I put the empty carton in the bin. As the lid flips open I see an empty bottle of antihistamine. I frown and turn to Alison. ‘You use a lot of that, don’t you?’
‘Yes, I have a few allergies, luckily not as lethal as Mum’s were.’
A worm of suspicion wriggles into my mind.
Antihistamine can make you feel sleepy. And if you added it to a drink it would probably give it a strange taste.
She looked panicky when she saw that I hadn’t drunk my tea or taken my tablets.
Has Alison been putting some in my food to make me ill?
Or been giving me a stronger strength tablet than I need?
But why would she do that? Why would she want to harm me?
I like Alison, she’s warm and caring, but I don’t actually know her well, do I? We had a few FaceTime calls, and now she’s living in my house, making my food, giving me my medication.
Have all my years of reading Agatha Christie books made me too suspicious or could Alison be responsible for my exhaustion and fatigue?
I have a shower and get dressed, politely but firmly refusing all Alison’s attempts to help me, and go out in the garden. My progress is slow with the walker but I manage it. I need to put some distance between me and Alison. I need to think.
There are so many coincidences. George’s wife died on Lizzie’s school trip, Nick and Alison worked at Arthur’s company. Alison is a nurse and her contract ended just in time for her to look after me when I had a fall.
Are they coincidences or is something more sinister going on?