Gin Jones - Helen Binney 01 - A Dose of Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

need silence.”
    “ You need life.” Melissa turned the radio back on.
    Helen reached down to unplug it, her hip aching with the movement. She wrapped the cord around the radio and tossed it into a desk drawer. She braced her knee against it, daring Melissa to risk causing her patient physical harm to get at it.
    “I just thought you’d enjoy a little entertainment,” Melissa said defensively, sitting next to her at the desk again.
    “ I know what I want,” Helen said, maintaining eye contact again in the somewhat futile hope that Melissa could see what she refused to hear. “Right now, I don’t want the radio on. I want to work on my photographs. In silence. I’m not a child, and I’m not senile, and I do not need a guardian or a friend or anything else. You can either go somewhere else in the house and leave me alone, or you can just leave completely.”
    “ I’m only doing my job.” Melissa’s voice was whiney, but there was anger in her eyes.
    “ Not any longer,” Helen said. “You’re fired.”
    “ You can’t fire me,” Melissa said, no longer pretending to care about her patient. “Only the person who hired me can, and that was your niece.”
    “ They hired your agency, not you personally,” Helen said. “I’ll call your boss and ask for someone else.”
    “ You didn’t hire the agency, either,” Melissa said smugly. “My boss won’t do anything unless your nieces call him. And by then I’m sure you’ll have realized that I’m only doing what’s best for you.”
    “ I can call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.”
    “ You can try, sweetie,” Melissa said, and the anger was gone from her face, replaced by the confidence that she was in control. “But the local cops all know me. Every single one of them has had a relative or two in my care. They know that sometimes patients resist their treatment. They won’t get involved in a patient-caretaker dispute. Not without a court order.”
    Helen reached for the cell phone on the desktop, but Melissa was faster. The phone disappeared into the pocket of her unicorn-and-rainbow-printed smock. “Today isn’t a good day for a car ride. Not the right weather at all.”
    Helen glanced at the sunshine streaming in the window. “What are you talking about? It’s a lovely day.”
    “It’s a bit chilly for someone in your condition,” Melissa said. “Although, I would like to see you get more exercise. You know, the local hospital offers Tai Chi classes.”
    “ Sounds good,” Helen said. “It’s got roots in the martial arts, doesn’t it?”
    “ Don’t worry, sweetie. They wouldn’t expect you to fight anyone.”
    “ That’s too bad.”
    “ I tell you what,” Melissa said. “You can go outside, just a brief walk around the yard, right after your nap, sugar.”
    Helen was too stunned to move. Sure, her lupus caused a great deal of fatigue, but it was her choice, not someone else’s, when she was tired enough to go to bed. The woman was insane, thinking she could keep Helen a captive in her own cottage. Although, she thought ruefully, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to do. If Helen could have leaped out of her chair and run out of the house, she would have done it by now. With the inflammation in her joints particularly bothersome today, she couldn’t outrun Melissa, and wrestling her for the phone was equally out of the question.
    That didn ‘t mean Helen had to give up. She just needed to make Melissa think she’d won, long enough to escape.
    Helen got to her feet, hiding her rage and pretending to be cowed. “You may be right. I’ll just go lie down for a while.”
    Helen was halfway across the living room, when Melissa said. “I almost forgot about your other cell phone. The one in your bedroom.”
    “ It won’t bother me while I’m resting,” Helen said. “I’ll turn off the ringer.”
    “ I think it would be better if I held it for you,” Melissa said.
    “ I don’t.” The phone was much