Read My Sister's Keeper Online
Authors: Brenda Chapman
My Sister's Keeper
Brenda Chapman
Copyright © 2013 Brenda Chapman
First published in 2013 by Grass Roots Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
Grass Roots Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Government of Alberta through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication (Print)
Chapman, Brenda, 1955-, author
My sister’s keeper / Brenda Chapman.
(Anna Sweet mysteries)
ISBN 978-1-77153-004-0 (pbk.)
I. Title. II. Series: Chapman, Brenda, 1955- . Anna Sweet mysteries.
PS8605.H36M9 2013 C813’.6 C2013-902836-6
Dedicated with love to the memory of my dad, John Chapman
CHAPTER ONE
I
t was the middle of a steamy August night in Kermit, Texas, and my bedside phone was ringing. I’d worked the late shift in the Dude Bar below my hotel room, and was only just falling asleep. I felt around for the phone with my right hand, knocking an empty beer bottle onto the floor. I picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“You are one hard person to get a hold of,” my father yelled into my ear.
“Dad? Is that you?”
I propped myself up on an elbow. I’d been in Kermit a month and hadn’t gotten around to letting him know. I tried to shake off the sick feeling that came from working too many late nights.
“Of course it’s me. Your sister’s had an accident. She’s in the hospital.” He spoke matter-of-factly, but I could hear worry underneath.
“Cheri?”
“That’s what I said. Your sister. Lucky she wasn’t killed.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, aside from a goose egg on her forehead and bad nerves.”
I was sitting on the side of the bed now. I’d forgotten to close the curtains and the red neon sign from the parking lot flashed into my eyes.
“What . . . happened?”
“Brakes failed on her car yesterday on her way home from work. Cheri drove into a tree and got banged up good. She’s been asking for you.”
Cheri had to be in really bad shape if she wanted to speak to
me.
“I could give her a ring tomorrow,” I said.
“She’s waiting for your call now. Get a pen and paper.”
He’d made the command with his drill sergeant voice. A voice trained by thirty-five years in the armed forces. He rattled off Cheri’s phone number at the hospital. I copied it onto a napkin like an army private in his command.
Dad hung up before I could ask how he was doing. As usual, he hadn’t asked me either.
*********
Cheri picked up on the first ring, in her hospital room somewhere in Ottawa. She whispered into the phone. I could barely hear her.
“Speak up, Cheri. It’s not like the FBI is listening in.”
“I need to see you,” she said. Her voice was just slightly louder.
My eyes travelled around my hotel room: stained red carpet, patched holes in the walls, particle board furniture. The smell of cooking grease and stale booze seeped up from the bar below. One month in this oil town felt like forever. I still wasn’t sure how I’d ended up here.
“I have lots going on right now,” I said. “It’ll be hard to pull myself away.”
Cheri didn’t say anything for about twenty seconds. This time when she spoke, I didn’t have to strain to hear her.
“Anna, you’re the only one I can trust. You have to come home as soon as you can.” Her voice dropped. “Somebody is trying to kill me. Please, Anna, you have to get on the next plane to Ottawa. If not, I’ll be dead by Christmas.”
D
ad was waiting for me in the luggage claim area when I got off the plane. It was noon—just nine hours after my phone call to Cheri. I spotted him leaning against a wall, his eyes searching the crowd. His thick hair had gone completely white, but his sharp blue eyes hadn’t lost their brightness. I crossed to where he was standing and stopped in front of him—the man who’d driven me crazy my entire life.
“How did you know what time I’d arrive?” I asked.
“I got here early and watched a few flights come in. You had to be on one before long.”
“Well, thanks for coming.”
“I could say the same.”
I picked up my bags and we started for the parking garage. Dad pointed to a shiny red Ford truck. “My new baby,” he said. His eyes sparkled. Some men loved women. My dad loved trucks.
He glanced over at me as we walked. “So what’s so great in Kermit, Texas?” he asked.
“It’s just a place. I liked the name.”
He frowned. “You’re what, thirty-two now, Anna? You’re getting too old for this drifting around, slacking-off nonsense.”
Welcome home.
“I’ll have you know I’m gifted at serving beer. Plus I get to spend quality time in towns like Kermit, Texas.”
“You know what I think about that.”
“It would be hard not to,” I replied.
We got into the truck and Dad drove out of the lot onto the parkway. The sun was beating down on the windshield. No clouds could be seen in the clear blue sky. We were halfway to the city when Dad said, “Your sister isn’t herself these days.”
And that’s a bad thing?
“What’s going on?”
“She’s always been high strung. Lately, she’s gotten nutty. She thinks somebody’s out to get her.”
“What about her accident?”
He shrugged. “Accidents happen. Brakes fail all the time.”
“Jimmy must be worried.”
Dad shot me a sideways look. “He appears to be.”
“Aren’t we going to their house in Manotick?”
“Your sister refuses to leave the hospital with anyone but you. I’m going home. You can take the truck to get her.”
“This truck?” I looked at him to see if he was joking. Dad never used to let anyone drive his truck—and this one was brand new.
“I got another one just like it at home.”
I sat quietly for a minute. Dad turned onto his street in the south end and I saw our family home halfway down. I’d been away for five years.
“It’s good to see you, Dad.” I said.
Dad nodded once and turned his face away. But not before I saw a smile twitch at the corners of his mouth.
C
heri was dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt, her long blonde hair loose around her pale face. An angry purple and black bruise spread from a lump on her forehead. She was sitting in a chair at the foot of her hospital bed, staring at nothing, when I walked into the room. It took her a few seconds to notice me.
“Anna,” she said. She opened her arms.
I walked over to her and reached down to give her a hug. I was shocked by the changes in her appearance, even though it had been five years since I’d last seen her. Her skin was dry and her eyes were listless. Even her hair had lost its shine.
I pulled over another chair and sat close to her.
“What’s going on, Cheri?” I asked.
“Sometimes, I think I’m losing my mind.” Her blue eyes filled with tears. “I can’t sleep. Crazy things have been happening to me. I’m so scared.”
“Where is Jimmy? Shouldn’t he be here with you?”
The tears began to slide in twin rivers down her cheeks. “Jimmy moved out two months ago. We were fighting all the time. He had to take Evan because I’m such a mess.”
Their five-year-old son, Evan—I’d seen him once as a newborn. The news of Cheri and Jimmy’s marriage troubles might have given me pleasure once, but not now.
“Dad could have driven you home.”
“Dad doesn’t believe me. He thinks I’m making it all up, and I can’t . . .” Her voice trailed away.
“Are you still working?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I’m on stress leave. I was going to be made partner in the law firm, but now... I’ll be lucky if they keep me on.”
So whatever was wrong with her had been going on for a while. Cheri had always liked drama but never to this degree. I slapped my knees with both hands and stood up.
“Let’s get you home and settled before someone shows up with a needle and a bedpan.” I used the same cheery voice to clear drunks out of the bar at closing time.
I helped Cheri to her feet. She leaned against me and we started for the door.
I thought about how she was lucky to only have suffered a bump and a headache when her car hit that tree. “We’ll get through this,” I said to her. Even though I hadn’t wanted to come home, I added, “Whatever you need, I’m here until we sort it out.”
Cheri pulled me back and made me face her. “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping away more tears.
“For what?”
“For picking Jimmy over you. You won’t believe how many times I’ve wanted to say that to you. You deserved better from both of us.”
I stood stock still. I’d die for my sister, but she’d strained our bond to breaking many times. Jimmy had been the biggest betrayal along a string of others since our childhood.
“It’s okay,” I said, happy to realize I meant it. “I’ve moved on. Let’s agree to just put the whole thing behind us.”
“I’ve missed you.”
I knew she meant the words when she said them. I also knew our truce wouldn’t last long. It never did, but I hoped our newfound closeness would be enough to carry us through whatever nastiness was to come.