Read Gin Jones - Helen Binney 01 - A Dose of Death for Free Online

more of a lifeline than the nurse was; it wouldn’t drown her pills or knock her over. Helen glanced at the bedroom, considered making a run for it, or at least a fast hobble, but she was too far away. She’d never get all the way there, with the door slammed shut behind her before Melissa tackled her. Realistically speaking, she wouldn’t even get halfway. At least the weakness of her body hadn’t spread to her brain. She would bide her time, letting Melissa think she’d won again, until Helen had a real chance to escape.
    With Melissa right behind her, Helen retrieved the back-up cell phone from her nightstand and handed it over.
    Melissa pocketed it. “That’s a good girl.”
    Now she was treating Helen like a dog, and that was exactly how Helen felt. Like a whipped dog, in fact. In her own home.
    Melissa was going to regret ever taking on this assignment. Maybe even regret ever having become a visiting nurse. Helen would make sure of it. Just as soon as her “nap” was over.
    Melissa left, pulling the door behind her, but leaving it slightly ajar. “I’ll be right outside here if you need me.”
    Not in this lifetime.
    Helen sat on her bed. She wasn ‘t tired, and she didn’t need a nap, and no one was going to make her take one.
    Helen shook her head ruefully. She was thinking like the child Melissa thought she was.
    But Helen wasn’t a child. She had resources that a child didn’t have.
    She pushed up off the bed and crossed the room to slam the door shut and lock it. The cottage was older than it looked, with sturdy doors and locks. Melissa couldn ‘t break in without a battering ram.
    Of course, now Helen was effectively locked into her own bedroom, as unable to leave as Melissa was to enter. Once Helen got out of here, she was getting a spare phone, maybe two, to hide for emergencies like this. The basic one in her pocket at all times, another under her pillow, and perhaps one in the bathroom, hidden within the stack of towels in the linen closet. First, though, she needed to get out of here.
    Melissa was between Helen and the two exterior doors of the cottage. That left the windows. Helen peered out the nearest one. Even though the bedroom was on the first floor, there was a substantial drop to the ground. Probably six feet. Not a lot, for someone who was physically fit. A few years ago, Helen wouldn ‘t have hesitated before jumping that short distance, although, to be honest, she’d never been tempted to sneak out of her bedroom before. No one had ever dared to treat her like a child before.
    Helen unlocked the window and gave the sash a tug.
    “Are you all right?” Melissa said from just outside the door. “I thought I heard a noise.”
    “ I’m fine,” Helen said. “I just dropped a book.”
    “ Put down the book and go to sleep,” Melissa said.
    Now wasn ‘t the time to argue. She needed Melissa to think she’d won. “Whatever you say.”
    Helen sat on the bed and bounced a little to make it squeak, as if she really were lying down to nap.
    Melissa’s footsteps headed back to the kitchen, followed by the sound of the refrigerator opening and a soda can opening. A moment later, one of Melissa’s stupid talk shows blared from the radio. For once, Helen was grateful for the noise. It was more than enough to cover the small sounds of her escape.
    Helen stood up carefully and retrieved a spare walking cane from her closet. She opened the window as quietly as possible and removed the screen before tossing her cane outside. She waited a moment to make sure Melissa hadn’t heard the sounds and then placed several books against the wall beneath the window to serve as steps. She climbed up them and managed to get herself seated on the window sill with her feet dangling outside. After several minutes of trying to make herself push off the safety of her perch, she finally turned over onto her stomach and, after taking a deep breath, slid down the side of the house and then to the