Book One, Page Twenty. Threat Or Menace?
As Julie pressed the phone's off button, it hit her that she'd not asked Winifred for her number so Jerry could return the call. She looked at the keypad and tried to remember what sequence of buttons brought up the caller ID information. That was a feature she never used, so rigorous was she about keeping track of calls. Had this one rattled her that much? She put the phone back in the charger, but kept thinking about that.
Wait a minute, she thought, looking for a way to redirect the blame for this small negligence. Why hadn't Winifred offered her number, if she wanted Jerry to call her?
Julie thought about that for a moment. Then she walked to Jerry's office. She rarely did this. She had no stomach for veterinary procedures, and didn't like Jerry to even talk about what he'd done in a day. But she had to know more about this Winifred and this luncheon date.
She found Jerry lifting a limp Yorkie into one of the upper berths, as he called them. The dog was shaved and bandaged around its midriff.
"Hey, Jule!" he said. "I'm almost done. Just gotta write down a few things about Minnie here and I'm ready to go. Hungry for lunch?"
"Maybe," she said. "After you take a shower, of course. Mrs. Lancaster's daughter just called. She wants to invite you to lunch with Mr. Roquette. She says you made a good impression on him."
Jerry turned around with much too wide a grin. "That's the best news I've heard this week!" he said. "Now I can finally talk to these people about their building! When do they want to do it?"
"They?" asked Julie. "Do what?"
"I assume Winifred is coming, too, if she's the one who called. She's a chef, you know. But they don't know I want to open a restaurant in there. This could be a very productive meeting! But when is it?"
"She didn't say," Julie said. "She wants you to call her back."
"Wonderful!," he said, again with a bit too much pleasure in his face and voice for Julie's liking. "I'll call her right now!"
So he has her number, thought Julie.
"Look, I have a few things to do," she said. "I'll see you at home."
She returned to the front desk, straightened out what she'd been doing when the fateful call came in, and sat there until the office's Saturday closing time. At exactly noon, she closed the blinds on the front door, let herself out, and turned the key in the lock.
Julie fumed all the way home. Her rational side kept the smoke from turning to flames, but no thought could get around the image of this Winifred. But, really--how much sense did her concern make? Jerry thought Winifred gave a good eulogy. Big deal. A younger woman who caught Jerry's eye. Nothing new there. Julie often pointed out good-looking young women to Jerry, because she knew he was already looking, she knew it was harmless, and her saying she noticed the target too defused the tension. The idea that Jerry would stray was ludicrous.
But still. Something about this woman bothered her.
Jerry left the office at a quarter after twelve. He stopped for gas and to pick up a prescription. He arrived home almost an hour after Julie did. He didn't see her in the kitchen or the living room. He had to climb the stairs to the second floor to find her sitting in front of the computer ordering fabric.
"What? More fabric? Where will you put it?"
The question used to rile Julie, especially with all the crap Jerry collected. Two thousand LP records that he never played, for example. It had been months since they indulged in that argument. But today she let him have it. "I was thinking of putting it in one-tenth of the space your old speakers take up in the attic," she said.
Jerry laughed. "Okay, okay. I won't go there. So. Did you get Winifred Lancaster's number? All I have is her mother's number, and nobody answers."
"Oh, I'm sorry--I didn't get it. I thought you had it," Julie said. So that whole scenario that bugged her was nothing. "It's on the caller ID back at the office, I guess. Want me to go back and get it?"
"No," said Jerry. "There's no big hurry, I suppose. Or. . ." He paused. Julie stared into his eyes, her face frozen. "Let's go to Bozo's for lunch, and we can stop at the office on the way back. You up for oysters? I know I am!"
