“She said her name is Donatella Agnelli. I
don’t know who she is.”
“Never heard of her, and I would have
remembered if I’d seen her.” He mock shivered. “She looks like Maleficent in
Versace. Why is she in Henrietta’s office, and she’s going through Henrietta’s
papers.”
“I don’t know that either, except she said
that she’s in charge now.”
He stopped midway across the room, his mouth
agape. “What? In charge as in…WTF?”
Emily shook her ahead, as frustrated as Ron
at being in the dark. “I don’t know what that means or what she intends to do,
but I suspect we’ll find out soon. Is Vonnie here yet?”
“I didn’t see her.” Ron dispiritedly dragged
his coat behind him and slumped into one of the leather-backed guest chairs
facing her desk. “How’s Henrietta, really?”
“I don’t know.” Emily closed her eyes and
sighed. “God, I don’t seem to know anything.”
When Emily opened them again, she read
anxiety and compassion in Ron’s gaze and regretted making him worry. Time to
leave the pity party behind. “All the tests weren’t in last night, but the ICU
doctors seemed to think her condition is very treatable. The last word I had,
she was doing well.” She looked at her watch, even though she knew what time it
was. Past time she should have been working. “That was last night about seven.
I’m sure if anything had happened since then, Derian—”
Ron pounced. “Derian? The Derian? Derian
Winfield?”
“Is there more than one?” Emily asked calmly.
He crossed one leg over his knee and rested
his elbow on his bent leg, eyeing her with speculative interest. “Derian. First
names already. How did that happen?”
“I met her at the hospital,” Emily said, not
at all sure why she felt like she needed to explain. “She and Henrietta are
obviously really close. She was very kind and I’m sure she would let me…us…know
if there were any worrisome changes.”
“What’s she really like?” Ron asked. “I’ve
only met her a couple of times, brief introductions, and she wasn’t exactly
friendly.”
“She’s very gracious and very…polite.”
“Polite? What does that mean, polite?”
Emily could feel her cheeks heating. That was
a stupid thing to say. Of course, what she’d wanted to say was chivalrous,
which would’ve sounded even more inane. “Never mind. I just meant that she was
very kind, and very helpful. She was clearly worried about Henrietta and nice
enough to recognize that I was too.”
“So you met her at the hospital.”
“I said that.”
“And talked with her.”
“Yes, Ron, I talked with her.”
“And…”
“And nothing.” Emily tried not to bristle.
“We were both there because of Henrietta. It was only natural that we talk, and
it was a long day and we were both hungry, so we had dinner.”