Read Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories for Free Online Page B

something.”
    Mike nodded. “Just answer me a couple of questions. What’s Alexandra’s favorite drink? . . . How much does she drink? Has she ever told you about any steady boyfriends? How much money has she got? Did she ever tell you she had a problem with a stalker last year?”
    â€œShe never even hinted it!”
    â€œWell, that’s my point. Honey, you see your sister as an all-generous, all-beautiful fairy godmother. You don’t really know her as a person. From everything we heard today, I’d say she needs you badly.”
    They drove over the Throgs Neck Bridge, through the Bronx into Manhattan and down the FDR Drive in silence. Then Janice said, “There’s just one thing I remember. When I was starting the spring semester this year, my tuition check was late. When Alexandra paid it, she sent me a note saying she was sorry it hadn’t been on time but she’d been away and didn’t have her checkbook with her. I didn’t think anything of it then but now I wonder, could it have meant she was short of funds?”
    â€œAs soon as we get back to her apartment we’ll go through her desk and see if we can find anything to indicate where she might have gone. Damn . . .” Mike suddenly reached up and adjusted the rearview mirror. “That idiot behind us has his brights on.”
    â€œWhy doesn’t he just pass?” Janice asked. She glanced over her shoulder, then cried, “Mike, be careful!” Through the now torrential rain, the lights suddenly weren’t being reflected in the rearview mirror. The car that was tailgating them had pulled out and was weaving next to them, forcing them against the guardrail on the right side of the Drive.
    Janice screamed.
    A short distance ahead of them was the solid mass of a concrete stanchion. Mike wrenched the steering wheel to the left but the other car prevented him from turning. Their car hit the barrier head-on. The impact threw them forward, then back. Janice smashed her head against the windshield, then snapped back against the headrest. As she slumped down, she felt Mike reach for her, but it wasn’t his voice that sounded in her ears as she drifted into unconsciousness. Instead it seemed that far off in the distance she was hearing Alexandra cry, “Janice, help me, help me.”
    â€¢Â Â â€¢Â Â â€¢
    Sirens . . . a light shining in her face . . . voices . . . “Mike.”
    â€œJust stay still, honey, don’t move.”
    The feeling of being lifted out of the car . . . rain pelting on her face. The ambulance pulling away with the sirens screeching in her ears.
    Mike was beside her. She tried to sit up and felt him gently hold her down. “Mike, are you all right?”
    â€œFine, honey. Just a few bumps. We need to get you X-rayed. That was a pretty hard bang your head took.”
    â€œMike, I think that car tried to cut us off. I saw the way he turned the wheel.”
    â€œI think so too, honey.”
    â€œI’m not staying in a hospital. I’m all right.”
    â€œYou won’t have to stay unless it’s absolutely necessary. I promise.”
    Janice felt the dizziness begin to recede. Her head throbbed violently and her back and neck were stiff. But she could think clearly. Had someone really tried to cut them off? Or was it a careless or drunk driver? Alexandra calling to her . . . She had to get to Alexandra’s apartment. She had to go through her desk and try to find out where Alexandra might be.
    But any hope she had of getting out of the hospital quickly was dashed. The emergency room doctor at Mount Sinai insisted on a complete set of head X-rays. It was a full two hours before she was told that she’d been lucky . . . she was all right except for a mild concussion. The doctor suggested she stay overnight in the hospital but agreed to let her go home as