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“Apparently, I only survived because of you. The doctor told me I would have bled out if it wasn’t for you ruining that Versace dress. Four thousand bucks and you use it as a bandage?”
“Is this your way of thanking me?”
Another bout of dizziness hits me. I feel like vomiting. My eyes half close as I wait for the nausea to pass. “I’m glad you stayed,” I manage to say through gritted teeth.
“You need to rest,” she says, putting a cool hand on my forehead. “Keep still and try to get some sleep.”
“You’re a good person,” I mumble as my eyes close. “You don’t deserve any of this.” Consciousness fades. As it does, I picture my family. All gone. “I should be dead instead of them,” I mutter. “All my fault.”
“Shush,” I hear Anna saying from far away. Her hand slips into mine. The sensation is comforting. “You rest now. It’s all going to be all right.”
A moment later, I can hear nothing at all.
Twenty
Anna
* * *
Iclose the door as quietly as I can. Outside the room, Alessandro is on the phone. He looks up when he sees me, holding the phone my way. “Someone for you,” he says.
“For me?” I walk over and take the phone from him as he smiles at me. “Hello?” I say nervously down the line.
“Anna White?” a man’s voice replies. He’s sounding more nervous than me.
“Yes?”
“Hi, there. I’m told you’re a cartoonist. Is that right?”
“Who is this?”
“Sorry, this is Clive Sinclair. I’m the editor over at the Gazette in New York. I was hoping you’d come and work for us.”
“Say that again.”
“We’ve a vacancy just come up for a cartoonist on the funny pages. I was hoping you could get some stuff over to me to take over the empty slot at the start of next week. Work from home is fine with us. Just be sure to send the PDFs of your stuff in time for the print run. I can start you at fifty grand a year and see how we get on. Health and pension are pretty good, but I can email you the details along with the contract. That sound peachy to you?”
“What did Marco threaten you with?”
“Excuse me?”
“What’s my cartoon called?”
“Erm…I’ve not got that in front of me right now.”
“Because I’ve never submitted it to anyone. Why are you offering me this job? For fifty thousand? Come on. He threatened you, didn’t he?”
He lowers his voice. “Alessandro made it very clear that you’re a talented lady, that’s all. The vacancy is yours. Tell him, you got it. I gave it to you.” He’s starting to sound scared. “Please, tell him that.”
“Hang on.” I put my hand over the receiver, looking across at Alessandro. “Did Marco put you up to this?”
“He said you’re talented and need a job. You have one. You’re welcome.”
I lift my hand away and start talking into the phone again. “Listen, Mr. Sinclair.”
“Please, call me Clive.”
“Clive, I appreciate the offer, I really do, but I’m going to have to decline.”
